We are currently experiencing our beloved Literary May here at the school This is a whole month dedicated to literature, with the intention of celebrating a field of knowledge that is so important for human development, while bringing families closer to the children’s learning process.
And it is with great joy that we invite family members and our entire school community to participate in “Literary Saturday”, which will take place on May 20, here at be. Living. This will be a very special moment for sharing where we will present all the literary work written by the children to the families, explaining the stages in the process so that mothers and fathers can learn about their children’s experiences through literature.
“Literary Saturday is a time when we bring family members into the work we do with children so they can help them with their writing. We not only present the final work, but rather the whole process experienced by each class: text planning, the first textualization, review processes and repertoire. This means all the books they have read and the choices each group made to develop a final product that will eventually be seen by their families. This is a day for sharing knowledge and showing the extent of the work we’re doing.” – explains Gabriela Fernandes, Elementary School coordinator at be. Living.
Gabi explains that at be. Living, learning about reading and writing happens through literary genres and that this choice is based on the social function of writing. “The way we propose that writing be taught is an approach that many parents may not have experienced in the past. We come from a time when we didn’t learn to write by genre, or learn the social function of writing. We were simply asked to do an essay talking about our vacations. Today, we understand that children learn to read and write in a more meaningful way if they understand what they are writing, why they are doing so, and who it is for. So the choice of genre is considered from a pedagogical perspective, in other words which one is more appropriate for a child of that age to evolve and advance with this reading and writing process, while always contextualizing each curriculum.”
Year one works on the literary nominations genre in Portuguese and book reviews in English, preparing a series of book nominations for families. “This year we read a lot to kids because it’s the year of literacy. So at this point they know several books and on Literary Saturday (which is a celebration of reading) we invite the children to share these recommendation with the community, so they realize that they’re already able to do this. This is about assuming a posture where the reader reads and shares what is read” – says Gabriela.
The year two children, who are learning through the genres of fables in Portuguese and proverbs in English, wanted to present to their families a theater of shadows, inspired by the light, colors and shadow they are studying in natural sciences. “In the second year we worked a lot on each child’s story. We show them that life is deeper, so that they understand there is change and permanence, and that time has chronology. That’s why we use fables and proverbs, which are texts that emerged to help us convey morals or some particular lessons over time. We use these texts to encourage reflection in the present so that they question these morals. As part of such a reflection, we present a reading of “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales”, in English by Jon Scieszka.
Year three is working on the fairy tales genre in Portuguese and English and will put together an exhibition where families will be able to see the whole text production process, which is an exercise in rewriting a short story and listening to a podcast where the child reads his retelling. “In the third year we work with fairy tales, as this is a time for doing long work on various ways of life, starting from the original peoples of the Earth all the way to the Greeks. Fairy tales are one way of looking at the everyday life situations that are portrayed. It’s a more complex genre from a text point of view. The texts are longer and denser. We have adopted a book where they read the original Brothers Grimm’s tales. This genre allows children to work more on writing, and this year they may already be experiencing a bit more pressure in this regard. It’s the first time they’re going to do a major rewrite of a text. We chose a fairy tale because they already know these stories very well, and it’s easier for them to understand the retelling and create a good text.”
Year four works on the folk tales genre in both English and Portuguese, opting to do storytelling for families as well as presenting their book. “This class produced a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, from the point of view of a character from the story they chose. This is a much more complex writing exercise, where they work on changing the narrator, verb tenses and reflect on different points of view on things that are happening in the world. The folk tales work in English is all derived from the African folktales brought forward by the author Virginia Hamilton, who is a great African-American storyteller. This literary genre allows children to perceive very clearly the difference between what is said and what is written. We want to show them that there is a genre that includes such speech, but that not all writings support this language.”
Finally, year five will present an exhibition of the whole process, where families will be able to see how the children collected the information to create their texts and why they decided write them. “As this is the kids’ last year at be. Living, the fifth year works with the genres of memory in Portuguese and memoir in English. In the English language, they retrieve memories of their school life to write a very authorial text, while in Portuguese they write about the memories of another person, from their or another character in the story´s point of view. This year, they chose to create a memory text from a pet’s point of view,” concludes Gabi.
As well as setting the class work, Professor Vinicius Medrado will present some very special storytelling to celebrate this day! We invite our entire community (which we know is one that reads), to participate in a celebration that is being prepared with great dedication and affection by both the children and the whole team of educators. Come and bring literature to life!
