Action Pack First Grade: Content Analysis

Purpose of the content analysis

This paper aims at analyzing the content of the exercises in Action Pack First Grade to determine the extent to which they include these specific reading outcomes: reading English from left to right, showing understanding of learned simple words about names, objects, actions, and numbers when reading through different activities and recognizing the characters in the reading materials.

Questions of the content analysis

1.To what extent does Action Pack First Grade include exercises to enhance teaching reading from left to right?

2. To what extent does Action Pack First Grade include exercises to show understanding of simple words about names, objects, actions, and numbers when reading through different activities?

There are many exercises including this category in Action Pack First Grade Activity book. For example, in exercise 5, page 41 in the Activity book, there are three pictures of different objects and under them, there are words with missing letters and pupils may show understanding of the objects by reading them first to help in completing the words with the missing letters. Another example can be seen in exercise 3, page 45 in the Activity book, in which pupils have a group of words in a blue box and four pictures, and each one needs a word from the box to describe it. Therefore, pupils will look first at the words, read them and complete using them in order to describe the pictures . In this exercise and others, the integration of the skills is found. It can be said that each exercise may include more than one specific outcome to be achieved. For example, exercise 1.Look and write, unit 16, page 52 asks pupils to look at the pictures and writ the verbs from the blue box, but they also need to identify the words first and read them before completing the simple sentences to describe what is happening in the pictures and by this, pupils' abilities will be improved in both reading and writing in the same

Therefore, it is useful to ease recognizing of the characters in the reading materials. There are main characters playing different roles in the stories in all listen and point exercises in Pupil's book from unit 11-20. The main characters are Mazen, Asma, Miss Mariam, Dad, Mum and the robot, Dann. The choice of the characters may based on the actual life of a pupil in this age at school and home . Moreover, Mazen , Asma, Miss Mariam and the other pupils in the classroom are similar to the pupils' colleagues in their schools and the stories chosen are sometimes happened to pupils as they the live the life of school. For example, exercise 1. Listen and point, unit 12, page 8 has two different scenes: in the first one, Miss Mariam and the children are outside in a sunny day, while in the second they are inside their classroom in a rainy day. This is simply what happens to pupils in sunny and rainy weather so they will easily recognize the characters and enjoy the stories as well because they may have the same experiences in school