French story books with purpose 2015!

Last month whilst in France I had a shopping list of books that I wanted to buy and spent a brilliant hour in Cultura in Carcassonne doing just that! 


The books I had on my list are to support and extend the work we already have organised in our SOW.





Here are the books and my reason for buying thjem:

Books that are linked to festivals and are also stories based on popular French story characters.
Our young learners like the idea that they are looking at books that real French children enjoy.So Tchoupi and Petit Ours Brun cam immediately to mind!

Birthdays: 

Christmas

Carnival 

Books that are educational books for French children that we can use to introduce or investigate a specific learning context that we cover.

The first two books I selected are for LKS2, short stories about visitrs to sepcific places.They are   inexpensive and again I chose two from the Petit Ours Brun series:

I found these three Kididoc books ( I love Kididoc) and feel that they can be used in UKS2 too as we can discuss how we can make books to help younger learners, focusing on the way the books inmtroduce language and use visuals , flaps etc.The books are also very informative and the text is accessible.With these books non specialist teachers can also  be creative aswell- I am thinking display made by the children etc.

I chose these three themes:

School for our Y5 school focus

The beach again for our Y5 focus

......and finally this Kididoc book caught my eye.We are extending our cross curricular work and here is a gift all about planet earth .Each double page spread is a different focus withon this context.Brilliant!

Our cross curricular focuses are already part of the network packages we create and whilst looking for stories within a series based on a fictional French character. I came across the character Barri and could not leave this book behind!It is beautiful .On each page it poses a question and then you need to lift the flowers or the pond or the grass flaps to see what mini beasts are hidden underneath! Fantastic.

Great for our KS1 mini beast focus and new resource for a theme we use each year plus what a great book to use with KS2  linked to DT and making lift the flap books for KS1 - or even a performance and use of questions and answers.

Last year I saw both of the following books but just didn't have room to bring them home! As I have just mentioned we are working in mofr detail on our cross curricular themes in the next couple of months I decided to hunt them out and bring them home! 

First a sophisticated look at travel to France by ferry- so UKS2 definitely!.Makes  lot of sense as so many of our children travel by ferry to France!  Several sentences per page , very detailed pictures to discuss what we can see in English and to look up key nouns in dictionaries etc and then to create our info docs!

And this wonderful book from larousse!" Le bord de mer" .It is a book to cherish I think .On some pages there are facts on others just pictures to discuss.There is a story that explains how to get to the seaide , pages on sea animals, rock pools ,under the sea, divers, keeping safe by the sea..... and  the list goes on.I love it!!

...And finally I wanted to find a book using instuctional text for Year 6 and our cafe culture theme! I found the most incredible recipe book which will be so easy to use in class because it is all about making sandwiches.

Double page spread, colour pictures and the most clear instructions and pictures! Great ideas that link to alsorts of themes too so you can use it with Y3,4,5 and down in KS1 too and not just in primary foreign language teaching either!

  

New Spanish books and the reasons I selected them

So last week I was in France and Spain and I spent sometime looking in book shops (as I always do). Here is my list of books from my last visit to Spain (Barcelona) Spanish books 1  but this time I had a specific shopping list. 

Here are my buys and my reasons why I selected the book(s)!

A book of simple KS1 rhymes
I wanted a book to refresh the rhymes we have been using in KS1 language learning.
This book has 6 traditional rhymes in it-one per half term as a new action rhyme to learn and practise with Year R/ Year 1 

• a train rhyme (let's change the mode of travel too!)
• hands and actions (verbs- possibly useful in Y3 and Y4 too!)
• a rhyme about riding a horse ( we could change the animal here!)
• a rainy day rhyme (que llueva,que llueva- we can learn and then watch from a clip on You Tube and use on rainy days whenever they hapen!)
• a rhyme about ducks in the water- great for a lazy summer rhyme with actions!
• a bedtime rhyme - one for the children to learn and                                                  then teach their parents!

A Colours book for KS2 (beginners to moving on)

We have lots of books aboout colours but i wanted to find a book in spanish that began to unpack adjectival agreement.

Lovely book which has two objects per double page with the spelling similarities or changes using on colour (e.g.fresa roja/bol rojo)

We are going to be able to use this as a model to discuss and then also to create our own booklets about colours and adjectival agreement!

A book to develop and extend vocabulary at word level (Y4)

We seem to have spent some time this hyear developing our yooung learners use of bilingual dictionaries and this very simple book allows us to investigate "opposites" 

I have written a blog post abpouyt a game I think we can create with the children using this book - or the concept of the book. 

Twizzle Stick Opposites

A book to develop or reinforce  cafe language and roleplay  about the cafe (KS2)

If you read the blog mentioned at the top of this post you will know that I breally love this series of books.I bought " supermercado" last time!

This time I have bought the cafeteria.

It's got signage , language in speech bubbles , lists and the wonderful pull out roleplay frieze at the back , that makes in to a small cafe.

I think teachers will be able to use this frieze to create or adapt their own role play areas.

I see teachers across KS2 being able to use the book to develop roleplay , performance and signage for their own role play areas!

Links with maths (KS2)

This book packs a punch! I was looking for a book about shapes as we have probably got enough counting and number books and I wanted ot investigate another area of maths through language learning.

• The book has a lift the flap page at the front with the names of the shapes under the different shaped flaps.(We could cretae our own books like this!)
• It has double page spreads with a theme - at the port/at the circus /birthdays - so we can revisit thew book over and over again!
• Each double page spread has simple questions- problems to solve (We could create our own simple problem questions!)
• Plus there are maths problems such as how many sides/corners fo the shapes have! (We can do some                                                  shape/ sides and corner maths here too!

Year 6 Leavers and writing full sentences

The new DFE POS aspires to language learners writing independently sentences using  nouns, common verbs and adjectives.This book met the criteria I had as a coourful lighthearted book at the end of Year 6 to celebrate what our Y6 can do in the target language and to look forward to the future.

It is a book about roles and jobs in the first person singular describing thje role each character has / does.

Here is my Y6 leavers blog post with ways I think we could use this book  roles and jobs and statements

A book with instructional text to help us be creative and make items for special events (KS2)

I was looking for a book that had clear instuctions and pictures to guide non-specialist/specialist teachers and their classes in the target language as they made special items to celebrate events .

It contains colour,well laid out clear double pages for:

party bags

birthday cakes and candles

christmas cards

lanterns

butterfly mobiles

summer flowers

witches hats

pirates hats and eye patches 

etcetra!

Books that are just that bit more sophoisticated for UKS2 with links to other areas of the curriculum (UKS2)

I found two great books one about the faarm and one about castles by Usborne!!
What I like about these is there is detail e.g crops, machinery, seasons etc about the farm and in the book below aboit the castle double page spreads on key features of life in a medieval castle- a banquet/ the kitchen / the grand hall / the tower etc
Both books have flaps to lift and ask and answer questions

Spanish books to support language learning contexts and content

Last week in Barcelona I went book shopping for Spanish books (Castillian of course!) to support the schools in our network that teach Spanish.
Here are my finds!
The books were chosen because they will be useful for teachers who use the JLN SOW , follow similar themes or are happy to create their own schedule for learning.

A book to help all teachers and which is available in other target languages too,a book too to let your imagination run wild! Great primary teacher's resource.It's from Usborne!
I liked the way that there were activities for children to do independently but also that there were double page spreads dedicated to specific artist e.g. Gaudi.
One double page spread looks at how we the children could create a range of creatures in the style of the Gaudi lizard from Parc Guell.
The book also has double page spreads on designing your own town or city of the future ,with really useful instructions that a non-specialist teacher with some Spanish knowledge could use tp develop class instructions in the target language.

A fun book to use with children in KS1 and KS2. One simple repetitive question per page - in the style of  "Brown Bear, Brown Bear what can you see?" .I liked it for this reason as it would be a familiar style to KS1 and Year 3 and could be used as a reading to the class activity and a joining in  with the question activity.the green hair you can see on the face can be moved as the there is a space to pop you hand inside the green hair and move it about
In Year 4 and Year 5 we could take the book further,the children could design their own books and write their own full sentence responses with their own characters.The green hair isn't really hair - it becomes an astronaut's moustache,a martian's hair do , a caveman's brain,  a witch's hat trim, and guess what finally " an enormous caterpillar ". The book could then be linked to the hungry caterpillar too .
It would be a great book to use when describing people as a stimulus to using our imaginations and  creating our own simple target language descriptions.

We are always revisiting colour and so I wanted to find a book that was suitable for children who have already met some colours and that incorporated a guessing game too.This book met the requirements. On each page there are three questions about three different items.the children need to read the question , guess the object and then decide on the colour that is going to be revealed.There is a card in an inside sliding sleeve between the pages that you reveal and show the key colour and the three objects that the children should have guessed.
Great book for dictionary work- understand the question, guess the object and remember in the target language or locate in a bilingual dictionary.guess the shared colour of the three items.Finally see if the class is correct by revealing the slide card!  
Could  be a great book to use with Year 4 and Year 5 moving on learners to encourage them to write their own questions about three objects, that are then revealed once someone else has guessed the items.
Could be a great stimulus for lift the flap books or a hide and reveal interactive whiteboard game etc. 

We go shopping several times in the JLN SOW which allows us to practise dialogues etc.I wanted to find a book for out Year 4 classes which was authentic and shared incidental language of signage too in a Spanish food shop.This book about el supermercado fits the bill!
this is a book that  non specialist or specialist could use with a class and with the aid of bilingual dictionary work the class could investigate the signage independently.
On every double page there is a cartoon scenario in the supermarket.There is a statement about the aisle or the area in the shop and the character Clara participates in interactive activities and there are speech bubbles etc with language that might actually be used in the supermarket The signage is great as it share with the reader key items and objects that you would find in a supermarket plus there are examples of shopping lists and signs.
At the end of the book there is a pull out supermarket with detachable characters- great for role play activities or a puppet show! 
Once again the book could be the stimulus for independent writing and creating your own class supermarket role play area with signs etc.

In the Summer term our attention with UKS2 turns to the seaside and with KS1 we develop our sea creature puppet shows.This book meets the needs of both age groups.
Each double page shares items you may need to use to do something linked with the seaside e.g build a sandcastle,look for seashells, go swimming.....
The text is in Spanish cursive handwriting .
On each page an object is concealed and has to be revealed or moved etc.
with KS1 the fun would be in the reading of the book and the revealing or moving of the objects.
With UKS2, once again there is bilingual dictionary work, understanding the question posed on each page and then creating your own questions and guide to the items you need for example to sunbathe, go swimming or to have a picnic on the beach!

I loved this series of stories from Rose Forshall, which I found in the book shop all about "la abuela pirata" and her friends.
I picked this book out from the series not on,y because teachers and children love the context of pirates but also  next year is an Olympic year! 
The text is challenging but the pictures tell the story as the pirates get fit through Olympic sports to get that Olympic gold treasure!
It is humorous and is a great read, may be several pages each time you read it to the class and a discussion of what has taken place.There are a variety of tenses in the text but this wouldn't prevent primary language teachers  from using the book to develop performance and  class simple Spanish story about pirates or other characters (monsters for example ) getting ready for the Olympics 2016!

Above is a great book - that I actually saw one day and went back to buy as I couldn't leave it behind!It fits really well with the Anthony Browne book "mi mama" we sometimes use in our work around describing people. The  book above  is straight forward and describes the qualities of a well loved mum (or carer) .

It would be really useful when trying to look at adjectives or activities to describe people and their personalities .

This is a book to be read to the class by a specialist or confident (target language speaking) teacher either just to enjoy or pages could be acted out and phrases could be used to build examples of how to write extended and interesting sentences. 

  

Next to the book "te quiero mama" was this wonderful book about "el mejor padre del mundo" .I couldn't leave this book behind either!

Each double page has a text that explains why this Dad is the best Dad in the World and then a full page picture explaining  the text!

This is  a book that could  be read to the class by a specialist or confident (target language speaking) teacher, to stop,unpick the language and explore key words.

It is also a book that could be used as a double page focus to explore a text about specific content - for example Dad and daily routine and helping tie shoe aces, Dad at the seaside building sandcastles. Dad at the school concert, Dad looking after his poorly daughter etcetra.

It is a book that could be picked up used for one double page text and then put down and returned to when the content fits the context that the children are exploring etc.

In my opinion it's a book for UKS2. 

And finally ....it will soon be European Day of Languages (26 September)

I found this book.What a find for Spanish target language work about children from around the World!

It describes the similarities and differences between children  from all over the World- physical descriptions, homes, food ,animals that the children may come in to contact with, and then finally ends with a view of the World as a globe.The final statement reminds us that

"Pero todos tienen los mismos sentmientos.Todoos quieren ser felices y tener amigos ....."