Whole class books in year two? Teachers thoughts particularly appreciated.

[twocatsinthedark]

I've namechanged for this as the particular set up might out me, but hey ho.

DD has just started in Year 2. They are currently doing some work around Handa's Surprise, while when I went in to help last week, they were being read Alfie's Boots by Shirley Hughes. Both of which are great books that we have read at home a lot, but both of which DD lost interest in really quite a while back.

But I don't know if my expectations are wrong here or not. DD is quite a good reader, so they might be. But I can't help feeling that there are quite a few children in her class who could cope with something more challenging than this. Or do whole class books always have to be inclusive, and thus pretty simple?

There is always extension work that can be done at any level. Very simple language can still convey whole depths of meaning.

I studied children's literature at university.

I think from seeing online a lot of the Yr2 class texts that it depends what they are using the text for.

if they are using it purely for reading then a different type of text will be used I expect but for a whole class then it would have to be at a level they could all cope with. Guided reading is done in ability groups I assume in Yr2 so this can be level specific.

Handa's Surprise my daughters like now (at 4 and just turned 6 and the elder one could read it herself over a year ago) but it is a commonly used text for the discussion it can raise. I think Katie Morag and The Lighthouse Keeper are others that are used quite a lot which are more wordy than Handa's Surprise.

I must admit my daughters aren't hugely interested in reading some of the books that the whole class do at school because we have a lot of books so they have already come across the majority but they still enjoy them because they like the discussion.

not sure I have answered your question, or even what your question was but I think that yes some of them could cope with more but some of them can't and that even if they could cope with more the hope would be that they can still get a lot out of a text like this and use it to inform their own writing.

I know that in DD's class a book is used as a start of a subject. They had Rainbow Fish last term as a way to teach PSHE and talk about feelings, treating somebody else and solving problems.

DD liked the book but it was definitely below what she reads in guided reading or at home. These books are not part of the "learning to read" teaching but for discussions and to establish/support topics.

You're right, there wasn't really a question in there!

I think what I'm asking is whether this is the usual kind of level for a Year 2 class? If it is, then fine, but I just don't know.

daftdame, agreed, but it is very different doing the meta-study of children's literature as an adult. I'd enjoy that too, but I'm not sure I could stand much of being asked what the problem was with Alfie's boots.

Just I think books, generally, work at all sorts of levels. They could look at literary features such as beginning, middle and endings of stories, also setting, character's motivations, how characters are feeling, predicting what might happen next. In year 1 children are beginning to discuss these sort of features. They could write their own 'Rainy day stories' or do some descriptive work. The possibilities are endless...

^Sorry Year 2

My DD is Y1 and they are doing Handa's Surprise as a class book this term. I do think it quite a nice book for discussion and there are layers to the plot which are interesting even if the actual text is quite simple. My 3 year old enjoys having it read to him but what a 6/7 will get out of it is a lot more complex. The teacher may start a discussion about Africa for example.

We read The Spiderwick Chronicles & Percy Jackson & the Lightening Thief as class books.

Interesting, mrz. Quite advanced content according to

www.arbookfind.co.uk/UserType.aspx

How do you find them with regard to comprehension for your class? I should think that there is plenty to get your teeth into but are they a bit scary for some (wimp with active imagination here)?

Percy Jackson in Year Two? Really? (Scurries away to inspect copy that has been in the cupboard as a surprise for DS1, who is in Y4, who I thought was quite a decent reader!!)

They didn't have a problem with understanding the stories but I would imagine if they revisit them in the future it will be added maturity and fresh eyes. A number of my better Y2 readers went off and bought other books in the Percy Jackson series to read at home. With Spiderwick I planned to read one book but we ended up reading the whole series as they loved the books.

I don't think my daughters would like either Percy Jackson or Spiderwick.

mind I would be surprised if all the kids in their school were capable of reading those texts in Yr2. Your school must be very good Mrz.

DD1 did studying Handa's surprise as a class in year 2. She didn't find it boring, came home very excited about it. Out of school she was reading Alex Rider and Roman Mysteries.

I think one of the nice things about reading a whole-class book is it exposes children either to books they are yet to discover, or takes them back to books they may already know but can get more out of. The teacher can prompt discussion, or support understanding.

I have to say I have stopped myself passing on books that my two seem to have tired of as I know they will see them differently in a year or so.

I think DDs year 2 did some work around Owl Babies and similar but I assumed that it wasn't literacy as such, just jumping off points for discussion, other subjects, for fun? Her guided reading books were always appropriate.

DS's y2 class is also 'doing' Handa's Surprise. I also thought it was a bit young but they looked at different aspects of the book - for example, the images in this book don't correspond to the text so they tried to find other books in which the images don't match the text and learn how it impacts on the story. They looked at all the fruit in the story and tried a few fruit in the class and they had to talk about the fruit - the shape, the texture, etc. And also they had to find information about Kenya - the people, languages, culture, nature, etc. I thought the teacher handled it very well and I don't ever think that a book is 'too young', 'too old' or whatever. My kids (6 and 7) still like books like 'the snail and the whale' and 'dogger' for example.