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Where is the green sheep? - experience plan

In this book reading experience, children are engaged in conversation with an educator to develop their vocabulary, concept and print knowledge.

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This experience should be differentiated depending on the individual child/group level.

This learning experience plan relates to:

  • integrated language and literacy
  • early language user (12-36 months)
  • learning foci: concept development and vocabulary, concepts of print
  • teaching practice: reading with children.

Collect information

  • What information has been gathered as evidence to inform this experience?

Outcome 5: communication

Children express ideas and make meaning using a range of media.

  • Children use the creative arts such as drawing, painting, sculpture, drama, dance, movement, music and story-telling to express ideas and make meaning.

Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes.

  • Use language to communicate thinking about quantities to describe attributes of objects and collections, and to explain mathematical ideas.

Children engage with a range of texts and get meaning from these texts.

  • View and listen to printed, visual and multimedia texts and respond with relevant gestures, actions, comments and/or questions.
  • Begin to understand key literacy and numeracy concepts and processes, such as the sounds of language, letter-sound relationships, concepts of print and the ways that texts are structured.

Victorian Curriculum levels F-2: literature

  • Identify some features of texts including events and characters and retell events from a text.

Learning intentions

  • For children to understand and use specific vocabulary related to the text.
  • For children to develop knowledge of directional and descriptive concepts (up/down, blue/green).
  • For children to develop book handling skills and early understanding of directionality.

Assessment of learning

Learning is demonstrated when children:

  • understand and/or use specific vocabulary related to the text (e.g. child points to the sun or says “sheep”)
  • understand and/or use descriptive and/or directional concepts (e.g. child points to the down sheep or says “red sheep”)
  • hold the book the right way up and turn some of the pages; look at the book from front to back with the educator.

Resources

  • Where Is the Green Sheep? By Mem Fox.

Group size(s)

Small group (two-five children).

Differentiation

Differentiation should be based on prior assessment of the child/children’s communication skills. Examples of differentiation:

  • modifying question types according to the child’s language abilities. For example, for a child who uses some single words educators may focus on supporting their comprehension of specific concepts through pointing or gesture (e.g. “point up”)
  • for a child who is able to use simple phrases, educators may focus on developing their use of simple phrases using descriptive concepts (“red sheep’’).

Experience process

  1. Clearly introduce the book:
    • “We are going to read a book called Where is the Green Sheep?” Point to the front cover as this is said
    • Ensure body positioning allows view of children’s faces
    • Encourage and support the children to hold the book starting at the front
  2. Sharing the book together:
    • Engage in back and forth dialogue with the child about the book, (dialogic/interactive book reading)
    • Ask questions and talk about what you see on each page. (‘’you’re looking at the blue sheep’’, ‘’where’s the up sheep?’’ and/or “is this the rain sheep or the sun sheep?)
    • Support the child to initiate the communication by pausing to see what he/she says or does
    • Expand on what the child says, e.g. child: “sheep” educator: "it's the rain sheep”
    • Use specific praise and encouragement throughout. E.g. “turning the page, well done!”
  3. To consolidate the vocabulary learning, revisit some of the pages and continue to talk about what you see.

Going Further

This experience could be extended by:

  • engaging in a discussion with the child/children about a real-life experience such as a visit to a farm or zoo
  • providing props alongside the book to extend the child’s/children’s concept and vocabulary knowledge and use. For example, educators could introduce a sheep and encourage the child to move the sheep up and down, near and far according to text.

Reflect/review

Reflective questions for educators may include:

  • What learning has occurred? How do you know?
  • What have you realised about the child’s interests, knowledge, and capabilities?
  • In discussion with colleagues, what would you plan next to consolidate or extend children’s learning?

Additional/alternate resources for this learning experience

  • Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
  • Noisy Farm by Rod Campbell
  • That’s Not My Train by Fiona Watt
  • The Crayon’s Book of Colours by Drew Daywalt
  • Where’s Spot? By Eric Hill.

Updated

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