Instructional Series
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Find Literacy resources at Tāhūrangi - Literacy.
Welcome to the English medium literacy instructional series teaching and learning resources for years 1 to 8.
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24 items - Showing 1 - 10
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Mrs Brown’s Garden
by Dawn McMillan
illustrated by Dede Putra
In this story, Grace helps her neighbour, Mrs Brown, by watering her tomatoes. When Dad invites Mrs Brown to their family barbecue, she and Grace arrive with a large bowl of tomatoes from her garden.
Red 2
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Mr Archibald
by Oliver McLean, Arrowtown School
Winner of the 2015 Elsie Locke Writing Prize
illustrations by Craig Phillips
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Shrinking Violet
by James Brown
illustration by Sarah Wilkins
This sophisticated poem plays with the natural tension created when a poem’s form doesn’t seem to match the content. James Brown’s jaunty use of structure and rhythm challenges the reader to understand both what the poem is about and why the author made the decisions he made.
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New Zealand Dinosaurs
by Hamish Campbell
illustrated by Spike Wademan
This engaging article explains what is known about the dinosaurs that once roamed New Zealand. It provides some background information on dinosaurs in general, including the most popular theory about why they became extinct. It also explains that for a long time, people believed no dinosaurs had ever lived in this country. Then it gives details of the dinosaur fossils found in various parts of New Zealand, which proved that idea to be wrong.
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Das Piano
by Bernard Beckett
This dark, humorous narrative is set during the First World War and, through exaggeration, shows the effects of extreme patriotism that can appear in wartime. Thomas, the narrator, hates Mrs Biggs, his teacher. He also hates singing. When Mrs Biggs finds him playing Catch the German, she punishes him by making him sing in front of the mayor. Thomas’s desperate attempt to avoid singing has unexpected results when Mrs Biggs and the mayor decide to smash the piano – because it was made in Germany.
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Happy Birthday
by James Brown; illustrations by Josh Morgan
The nameless narrator and his friend Jeet, as featured in “The Polterheist”, reappear for another round of humorous high-jinks, this time involving an awkward birthday and a backyard tunnel.
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Plastic Planet
by James Brown
illustrated by Fraser Williamson
"Plastic raincoats, plastic rain. Plastic in our hearts and brains. Long after we’ve come and gone, our plastic footprints will live on."
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