Mirvat

Mirvat Sayah  || || “What Happens to a Hamburger?” is a picture book written by Paul Showers, which takes the reader on a journey inside the human’s digestive system and allows them to discover the various organs which form this system as well as their functions and roles within the body as a whole. Additionally, readers also learn about how food is used to make energy, bones and muscles.   || In terms of the Science and Technology syllabus outcomes, in particular the Living Things strand, this resource is highly relevant as it illustrates the structure and function of a very important system within the human body – the digestive system. The illustrations interpret the text in a very effective way which makes it more interesting and enjoyable for kids.  || Paul Showers and Edward Miller have worked really well together to produce one masterpiece with very attractive, informative and structured illustrations/diagrams that convey the meaning of the written text in a very powerful and exotic way. Very meaningful and effective illustrations, diagrams and photos are used throughout the book in order to provide students with the most informative journey, of every bite of food that enters their bodies. This will be a very interesting grammatical aspect (visual) to explore with the students while reading the book as they will be able to appreciate the role, illustrations and diagrams play alongside the written and read text to explore meanings and enhance deep knowledge and understanding of the concepts and processes presented. “A picture is worth a thousand words” is a phrase which Showers’ kept in mind when writing his book. He relied heavily on the diagrams and illustrations to get his point across. Because the information needed to explain the role and importance of the systems of the human body is somehow complicated and the terms used need to be explained accurately and made explicit to students, the use of diagrams and illustrations serve a very purposeful idea so students are better able to comprehend how their body works. For example, on page 25, a flow diagram (synthetic) of digestion is embedded on the page, which assists readers in comprehending the information presented, on page 23, a cross section (analytic) of the digestive system had been used to formulate the readers’ knowledge about the important organs involved in this system and many more. Segun (1988) argues that pictorial language is literature in its own right as it helps develop the children’s imagination, arouses and sharpens their perception, increases their sense of imagination and develops their potential. Additionally, according to Olshansky (2008), including pictures or illustrations in children’s books, helps students learn a great deal about the relationship between the language of the pictures (visual grammar) and the language of the words (verbal grammar), which in return allows them to open their eyes to phenomena that is likely to go unnoticed. Additionally, students are better able to comprehend the authors’ perspective and become more adept comprehensibles of pictures/diagrams and more perspective interpreters of visual and written language; they become real readers. In conclusion, being able to promote this important literacy aspect in our classrooms helps teachers to provide the students with the most meaningful learning experience that they can extract from their books or texts and make meaning of the world around them.
 * **__RESOURCE 1 __****: Picture book **
 * Insert a **screen capture** **/ image or copy of the text**
 * **Explanation of the resource **
 * **Relevance to the outcome **
 * **Aspect of Literacy suitable to be explored **


 * References:**

Olshansky, B. (2008). //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Power of Pictures: Creating Pathways to Literacy Through Art, Grades K-6 //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">. <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">San Francisco: Jossey-Bass <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Segun, M. (1988). //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;">The Importance of Illustrations in Children’s Books. //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> Ibadan: CLAN <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt;">Showers, P. (2001). //What happens to a hamburger?// <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> New York: Harper & Row <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt; mso-bidi-language: X-NONE;"> ||