Instructional Series
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Welcome to the English medium literacy instructional series teaching and learning resources for years 1 to 8.
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168 items - Showing 131 - 140
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Inside the Maize Maze
by Sharon Holt
photographs by Anthony Russell
This text begins with an explanation about mazes and then recounts the narrator’s experience of being inside a maize maze. There is another example of a maze on the inside back cover.
Turquoise 2
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Kapa Haka
by Lisa Rangiaho and Kahurangi Rangiaho-Katipa
illustrated by Adele Jackson
When she joins the school kapa haka group, Marama feels nervous but is supported by her older sister and Whaea Mere. In this recount, Marama practises hard and is honoured to wear her nan’s pounamu for their performance.
Turquoise 2
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Timo’s Shorts
by Marie Langley
illustrated by Andrew Burdan
In this lively narrative, Timo can’t wait to show off his hot new swimming shorts. But when it’s swimming time, they’ve disappeared. Timo anxiously retraces his movements from the school pool back to the cloak bay, where he solves the mystery.
Turquoise 2
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Guide Dogs
by Sue Walker
This report describes how guide dogs are trained and how they help blind and visually impaired people.
It provides opportunities for students to identify and summarise main points and to use the information to explain why guide dogs are special.Purple 1
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Skate Champs
by Janice Marriott
photographs by Diana Dobson
This text recounts Luka’s experiences at the Skateboarding Championships and includes an interview. Luka also features in the Magenta-level book Off I Go! The sporting themes and specialised vocabulary link well with Tom’s Tryathlon (also at Purple).
Purple 1
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A Quilt for Kiri
by Don Long
pictures by Judith Kunzlé
This sensitive narrative tells of the death of Kiri’s grandmother far away in the Cook Islands. Grandma’s gift of a quilt to Kiri sparks special memories for Kiri and her dad. A Gift for Aunty Ngā (Gold) is a sequel to this book.
Purple 2
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Scarecrows from Space
by Philippa Werry
photographs by Mark Coote
The students at Gladstone School are making scarecrows for the Gladstone Scarecrow Festival.
It’s their favourite time of year! This year, the theme is “space”. This report describes how some of the scarecrows were made, including some challenges the students needed to think about and overcome.Purple 2
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Blue Eggs
by John Dekker
This report describes the life cycle of a song thrush, how the song thrush came to New Zealand, and why some people consider this bird to be a problem.
This text provides opportunities for students to find and summarise information and to consider different points of view.Gold 1
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A Quiet Evening (from Night is a Blanket)
by Johnny Frisbie
illustrations by Judith Künzlé
This personal report describes a peaceful evening on a Pacific island beach. This story has been adapted (in consultation with the author) from a version that was published in the Tupu series in 1990.
Gold 1
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Red Rattlers
by Philippa Werry
This report describes the old Wellington cable cars and compares them with the current cable cars.
It includes an explanation, supported by photographs and diagrams, of the technology behind how the
old cable cars worked. The text concludes with an interview with a present-day cable car driver.Gold 2
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