Instructional Series
Welcome to the English medium literacy instructional series teaching and learning resources for years 1 to 8.
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Search results
138 items - Showing 31 - 40
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Our Rocks Rock!
by Jill MacGregor
When Jack brings his rock collection to school, his classmates are amazed to find the rocks aren’t “dull and boring” like they thought. This article describes the rocks the children collect, “make”, and experiment with and explores their wonderment at the variety of rocks in their collection.
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Ramadan is Coming
by Marita Vandenberg
Obay’s family has come to New Zealand from Saudi Arabia. The article describes his family’s daily life, then focuses on the activities that occur at Ramadan. Obay and his brothers attend regular school, and their mother maintains their Arabic learning at home.
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Making a Sentence
by John Parker
This is a light-hearted, entertaining play that will engage students – it is set on a dairy farm where eight characters try to make a sentence. Two of the characters are nouns (animals) and the other six represent articles, a verb, an adjective, an adverb, and a full stop. This clever idea provides readers with a visual way of learning how parts of speech work to form an interesting sentence that sounds correct.
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Backyard Chooks
by Susan Paris
Jean loves eating eggs for breakfast, but one morning, there are no eggs left. This engaging article describes how Jean asks her family about getting their own chickens to ensure a constant supply of eggs. The family discussions about the costs and benefits of keeping chickens bring out financial literacy concepts that will be familiar to many students.
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Kaitiaki of the Stream
by Pātaka Moore and Monique Lagan
This non-fiction article is based on the work of Pātaka Moore of Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa in Ōtaki. In a talk to local students, he explains the history and significance of the Mangapōuri Stream. He also discusses how the stream, which is now unhealthy, might be restored.
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Nasty Nits
by Sylvia Thomas
All children know about head lice, and most will want to find out more about them. The detailed information will have a “yuck” appeal to children, but the text doesn’t make judgments about students who might be suffering from head lice.
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Shipwrecked
by Sharon Udy
Using a graphic novel format, the narrator tells a story about her father. Many students will identify with the narrator who thinks her parents are a bit boring – until she finds an old newspaper clipping.
Information and tips for using comics in the classroom:
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Flying Fungi
by Jill MacGregor
The discovery of a strange object on the beach sets three friends off on an investigation that involves their whole class. Using questions from the class as a catalyst, the article recounts information they find about bracket fungi from their own observations, research, and experiments.
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Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira
by Oho Kaa
This article about the writer Kāterina Mataira was written in the first person as a form of eulogy after her passing in July 2011. The article shares aspects of her life and highlights the importance of her culture.
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The Anzac Button
by Judy Raymond
This is the story of a button that was sewn onto the jacket of a First World War soldier. After the war, the soldier returns to New Zealand and wears the jacket to annual Anzac Day parades. Many years later, Ella, the soldier’s great-granddaughter, discovers the jacket. She sews the button onto a ribbon and proudly wears it to another Anzac Day parade. The story ends with a factual note about the meaning of Anzac Day.
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