Cloud Tea Monkeys

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The little girl is kind and hardworking, as is her mother and the other women in the story. Because the girl befriends the monkeys, they in turn help her out. The overseer is "bad-tempered," "beaky," and cruel. He laughs a cruel laugh and humiliates the little girl for trying to fill her mother's shoes. He gets his comeuppance from the more powerful tea-taster for the empress. The tale has the feel of a time-honed fable—simple, elegant, and moving—which is especially well complemented by Wijngaard’s sumptuous illustrations.” learning about adjectives, verbs, tense, conjunctions and punctuation within the context of the book

Rosoff, Meg. "Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet – review". The Guardian. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2011. I think that the book could be used in a variety of ways within the classroom environment. It could be contained within the classroom book corner for the children to access on an independent basis but it may also be explored as a key literacy text. A cross curricular approach could be used in which children could write a daily diary entry perhaps from the perspective of Tashi with a focus on her feelings and emotions during the story. This would therefore not only be a literacy focus but would also relate to PSHE. The teacher would then be able to explore feelings and emotions with their class perhaps through a discussion initially with their peers and then through a whole class approach. For some of the learners to be extended during this activity they may be encouraged to tell the story from an additional characters perspective. understand what they read, in books they can read independently, by: identifying how language, structure, and presentation contribute to meaning Elspeth Graham was born during a snowstorm in Northumberland, England. After university, she became passionately interested in reading to her children and understanding how children learn to read. Elspeth began to write books for children - some with her husband, and fellow author, Mal Peet. Mal’s stories became longer and longer and he went on to be an award- winning author of books for young adults. Mal and Elspeth loved writing picture books together and continued to do so until Mal’s death in 2015. The Treasure of Pirate Frankis one of the last picture books that they wrote together. Elspeth is still passionately interested in stories and the pleasure that there is in the simple act of reading. Elspeth lives in Devon with her dog Pedro.Although helpful for basic structure of planning, some days planning is missing due to the author's school trips (e.g. Wednesday - Flamingo Land trip, Wednesday – FOOD EXTRAVAGANZA). Therefore days are missing within the planning.

read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear. This is a very beautiful book. The story, based on Himalayan tales collected by the authors, is illustrated with visionary-romantic paintings, in which sublime landscapes, imperial splendour and human misery are depicted in radiant detail.” This book would be best suitable for upper key stage two, however, it could also be read to a year four class and high ability year three as it has beautiful illustrations which help tell the story. There are lots of opportunities for cross curricular work such as in Geography by looking at developing countries, child labour and fair trade. Children will then analyse a model diary entry in role as Tashi and identify use of expanded noun phrases and fronted adverbials (position). They will use this as inspiration to write their own version, describing the village setting and journey to the tea plantation. At the end of the lesson, children will read each other's writing and evaluate it against the agreed success criteria.Further ideas that would be incorporated using a cross curricular approach include the idea of using Science alongside Literacy. Perhaps for a more hands on approach to learning children may explore the process involved in making tea and then have the opportunity to taste and smell it. They could then produce a piece of writing which explores the use of instructional writing on how to make tea. One further subject that I had in mind was Art due to the brilliant illustrations used throughout the book. Children could use the illustrations to inspire their own artistic creativity, perhaps exploring the effective use of colour to create light and dark features to their own pieces of art. They will then read the next part of the story and will look for other effective similes used by the author. Throughout, they will learn to explain why particular similes were chosen by the author and will be encouraged to suggest their own alternatives. They will then, through writing in role as Tashi, use similes of their own to describe this part of the story. At the end of the lesson, your Year 4 class will return to the description in the book of the Overseer and will identify the metahor used. They will then see if they can develop their own metaphors to describe this character. Goodnow, Cecilia. "A powerful late start for young-adult book author Mal Peet". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 2 March 2007. Retrieved 5 July 2011. Archived 5 July 2011. Cloud Tea Monkeys (Ragged Bears, 1999), written by Elspeth Graham and Mal Peet, illustrated by Alan Marks — "based on a Chinese folktale" [8] ISBN 9781406333862 (pbk) This is a lovely book with excellent writing and beautiful illustrations. The descriptions are fantastic: "he looked like a man whose brain was on fire" was a favourite of mine! This would be a brilliant story to read aloud to children of 6-7 because although it is long for a read aloud book and uses challenging vocabulary, it is good for children to be exposed to advanced language and they will be captivated by the illustrations.

This is athree-session spelling seed for the book Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet. Below is the coverage from Appendix 1 of the National Curriculum 2014. A delightful story enriched by the beautiful illustration, which tells us much about how legend develops.Why do bees buzz? How does thunder shake, rattle, and roll? Where does the best tasting tea come from? calendar, circle, enough, fruit, medicine, regular, strength, woman/women Spelling Rules and Patterns The quality of the book itself is great with very detailed and picturesque scenery that would impress any primary aged child. This book is written with great care and precise, detailed description appealing to all the senses. Intrigue and mystery are delicately managed and fed to the reader while always leaving you feel as if there was more to be said or told which fires the imagination. Juan Wijngaard’s accompanying illustrations add to the sense of mystique with the mist laden mountains, attention to detail and earthy colours. I would suggest this book is most suitable for upper key stage 2.

Life: An Exploded Diagram (2011), a semi-autobiographical novel, was his last book for young readers. [9] [15] I have always adored legends, myths, and tall tales. They add a dash of magic to the why, how, and where of the “simple” things in life. For me, the little things are what add up to make life magical! understand what they read, in books they can read independently, by: drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence

Using a bank of helpful words, children will taste a range of teas and describe their aromas, appearances and flavours. They will be taught how to use conjunctions to extend their sentences and to use similes to help describe the teas accurately. No. Miraculously, monkeys save the day. Tashi and her mother become rich and move. Screw all the other women, they can go on working themselves to death. Recognising its excellence, the benevolent Royal Tea-Taster rewards Tashi, her mother is cured, and their livelihood ensured.