Upsy Down Town Analysis

The book chosen for this story stack was ‘Upsy Down Town’. It was chosen because the colourful pages would attract and help keep a child entertained and interested in the book. There was a large variety of animals in the book so this book would help children learn about different animals. There is a rhyming scheme running through the book which makes it easier for the child to remember the story. In the story sack there is a book, characters, matching card game, fact sheet, and parent guide and a scenery board. Each item will be discussed and linked with to the learning and developing needs of a 3-4 year old.
Using a story sack is a way of introducing pre reading skills. Helping children to predict the storyline, ask questions and show pictures
Ability to use pictures as clues to predict the storyline, Awareness of print and knowledge of nursery rhymes and song. ( Tassoni and Hucker, 2005, p. 91 & 193). The illustrations in Upsy down town will give the children a good understanding of the book and will help children predict the story line. Reading the story slow to allow the child to enjoy, understand and look at the illustration on each page will help with the development of language. As children ‘develop a favourite story’, children demand the story or ‘favourite sections to be read over and over again’.( Sharma and Cockeril, 2014, p.53)
Reading the story and using the characters with the child will help the child to learn animals. As the characters in the book are animals, reading the book extends vocabulary and extend general knowledge. The child will be able to play and use the characters which will develop the child’s ‘interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences’. Using and allowing the children to play with characters further enhances the enjoyment of the story and deepen the understanding. This makes the experience more interactive for the children as they are invited in to the
Matching cards helps with the development of the Childs mathematical skills. Tong and sucker have noted that it is important to promote maths in early years. Maths in early years is an important milestone. In early years counting, matching, sorting, ordering are recognised as mathematical skills. For children to be able to match card, children have to ‘look at an object and compare it to another and decide whether the features are the same’. ‘This process leads into many area of mathematics, for example the concept of ‘equals’ means the same value’. ‘Sorting card into matching pairs leads the child to be selective and logical’. Sorting allows the child to group according the shapes, sizes and features of the matching card. Tidying up can be made fun for children. It can be made into a game, for example the child could gather all the cards with pictures of a fish on it and put them in the box. As the matching card are a variety of sixes the children can use mathematical words to describe the size of the cards ‘big’ ‘smallest’ ‘upside down’ ‘sideways’’ underneath’ and ‘next to’ are word that can be used to describe the size or location of the cards p.215
The extra item in the story sack is a scenery board. This board allows the child to place the animals onto the board. This will help the child to learn the animals easier. The story board is designed so the child can communicate and ask question about the animals as they are being placed