Forming and testing hypotheses

The following is a series of conversations that explicitly model, in a shared book situation, the reading strategy of visualising for Year 3/4 students, using 'A Summery Saturday Morning', written by Margaret Mahy and illustrated by Selina Young, published by Puffin Books, 1998. The conversations could be held over different time frames. Student visualisations could be recorded directly onto the suggested chart, or on "stickies" (using a different colour for each sense), as keywords, drawings, and/or sentences.

Instructions are in italics

Conversation 1

Say:
I'm going to read you a book. I am not going to show you the pictures because you are going to make them in your head while I'm reading. That's a reading strategy called visualising. When we read words and visualise, we use our senses and what we already know, to build pictures in our head. It makes the words come alive. This helps us to really understand what we are reading.
The book I am going to read to you is called 'A Summery Saturday Morning', and I am going to read it to you in parts. Close your eyes so you can visualise and make the words come alive in your head. I will tell you when to open your eyes.
Read the first page of the book about the 'wiggly track'. Pause, then say:
Visualise your wiggly track. I wonder what your track looks like? Is it wide or narrow, stony or grassy? What's on either side of the track? Does it go up hill or down hill, or is it flat? Visualise what your wiggly track looks like.
When the students have had a little silent, visualising time, ask them to open their eyes and share what their wiggly tracks looked like. Their sharing conversations could start with "I saw…." Record their responses on their chart.

Conversation 2

Close your eyes and visualise the next part of the book, especially the 'rattly bike'.
When you've read up to the rattly bike, pause, then say:
Visualise the rattly bike. Which part of the bike is rattling? I wonder why it's rattling? What sorts of rattling sounds is it making? Are they loud or soft? Fast or slow? A low or a high sound? Imagine the sounds of that rattly bike.
When the students have had a little silent, visualising time, ask them to open their eyes and share what their rattly bikes sounded like. Their sharing conversations could start with "I heard….” Record their responses on their chart.

Conversation 3

Close your eyes and visualise the next part of the book, especially the wind.
Read the next page of the book. Pause, then say:
Visualise how the wind blowing wild and free makes you feel. Is it blowing around you and tugging at your
hair and your clothes? Is it a cold or a warm wind? Visualise how that wind makes you feel.
When the students have had a little silent, visualising time, ask them to open their eyes and share what they felt. Their sharing conversations could start with "I felt….” Record their responses on their chart.

Conversation 4

Close your eyes and picture the next part of the book.
Read the next 5 pages of the book and stop when you've read the page about the guggliwugs. Pause, then say:
I wonder what the mud feels like on your feet? Is it squeezing through your toes? Can you run properly? Visualise what the muddy guggliwugs feels like as it touches your feet.
When the students have had a little silent, visualising time, ask them to open their eyes and share what their guggliwugs felt like. Their sharing conversations could start with "It felt….” Record their responses on their chart.

Conversation 5

Close your eyes and visualise the next part of the book, especially the geese.
Read the next page of the book about the geese who 'flap and hiss'. Pause, then say:
Visualise and listen in your head to all the sounds the geese are making. I wonder what sort of sound their wings make as they flap? Are they hissing very loudly? What does the hiss sound like? Is it a high or a low pitch? Imagine all the sounds of the geese vibrating around you.
When the students have had a little silent, visualising time, ask them to open their eyes and share all the sounds they heard. Their sharing conversations could start with "I heard….” Record their responses on their chart.
Finish the reading of the book.

Conversation 6

Reflect on the completed chart/s. Draw students' attention to:

the variety and uniqueness of their visualisations;

their similarities;

their differences;

their richness (detail and descriptive language used);

how a person can recall an event by using a particular visualising strategy (sense);

other visualising strategies (taste, smell);

where their visualisations came from (their schema);

how visualising Effective Literacy Practices helps us when we read and write.

Read aloud the whole book again, this time showing students the pictures as you read it. Reflect on the illustrations done for this book, and the similarities and differences between the illustrator's interpretations and those of the students'.

Chart

Our Visualisations:
What our wiggly tracks looked like
What our rattly bikes sounded like
How our wild and free wind made us feel
What our muddy guggliwugs felt like
What our flapping and hissing geese sounded like