Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 Learning Resource

The Big Bad Wolf story by Bill Condon | illustrated by Greg Holfeld

EN3-3A | ACELY1711 Understand the use of foreshadowing in a narrative and experiment with foreshadowing in creative writing.

Read through the text, pausing at key moments. While pausing ask students (possibly in a Think-Pair-Share set up) the following questions:

1. Can you guess what happens next?

2. What clues in the text led to this guess?

Suggested points to pause are:

Page 4: “Meanwhile the twins strutted about … Her name as Miss Wolf.”

Page 5: “The twins worked quietly … But then …”

Page 6: “That night Jodie and Geena went to bed … play on Miss Wolf.”

Page 7: “Miss Wolf’s eyes became pools of darkness … sharp and pointy teeth.”

After completing the story, provide students with the definition of foreshadowing: a device that gives hints about something that will happen or appear later in the story, usually to heighten suspense.

Ask students to read through the text again and highlight examples of foreshadowing that hint the evil intentions of Jodie, Geena and Miss Wolf. Alternatively, they could collect this information in a table, like the one below.

Jodie and Geena Miss Wolf “Cute as fluffy ducks” “Warmth from their smiles could almost fry an egg” “Beaming angelically”

Referred to in the title “Big Bad Wolf” “I don’t handle stress very well. In fact it makes me quite beastly.”

Explain to students that they will experiment with using foreshadowing by writing an additional paragraph of the story. It will appear between paragraphs 6 and 7, on page 4.

Generate a class list of Miss Wolf’s features and personality traits. These may include: beastly when stressed, afraid of mice, fast reflexes and very wide mouth. Explain to students that they should choose two items from the list and place these items as clues into a paragraph that gives the reader the first description of Miss Wolf. For example:

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

With an unusually wide smile and beady round eyes, Miss Wolf prowled the playground. A ball came flying towards her, but with lightening fast reflexes she pawed it away.

Publish students’ paragraphs on a class platform, such as Google Classroom.

TOUCHDOWN

Read 'The Big Bad Wolf' and explore the idea that what you see is not always what you get.

1. How do the twins present themselves to other people? What impression do they want to make?

2. What is it about the twins that other people like so much?

3. What hints are given early on about the twins' true character?

4. What five words do you think best describe Geena and Jodie?

5. When Miss Wolf says that the snake's skin looks almost rubbery, do you think she knows it's a trick?

6. How is the saying 'Don't judge a book by it's cover' relevant to this story?

7. Is there a moral to this story? If so, what would it be?

Exploring ...The Explorer

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Bagpiper Walrus poem by Geoffrey McSkimming | illustrated by Sheree Fiala

EN3-7C | ACELA1518

Explore how authors use incongruity to create humorous texts.

Read the poem as a class and ask students to identify the purpose of the text (to entertain). Create a class list of reasons why the poem is entertaining. This list could be compiled through interactive software such as Google Jamboard or Mentimeter. Suggested answers include:

• Walruses don’t know how to play music. • It would be hard for a walrus to find a set of bagpipes in the wild. • A walrus’s tusks would puncture the instrument.

Define the word incongruous: two or more things that are incompatible or inappropriate together. Provide students with its antonym: harmony. Students could complete a Frayer Model graphic organiser to consolidate their understanding of this term.

Return to the class list of reasons why the poem is entertaining. Identify the incongruity in the statements; for example, a walrus and music are incompatible because walruses live in the wild and musical instruments are manmade, not natural. Then draw students’ attention to the final line of the poem:

who prefer things in a harmony fashion.

Ask students to explain this line. They should be able to identify that harmony is the antonym of incongruous and the joke is that the walrus is happy to play the bagpipes, even if they are incompatible with his lifestyle and tusks.

Instruct students to apply the theory of incongruity to their own compositions. First you may wish to show students a selection of incongruous images (use Google image search and the terms incongruous + images + photographs or juxtaposition + pictures). Then provide an Incongruity Table, such as the one below, and ask students to generate a list of animals and their humorous and unlikely hobby.

Animal Physical characteristics Typical personality traits

Unlikely or incompatible hobby

Cat Thick coat of fur. Very coordinated

Solitary. Dislike of water.

Olympic swimmer

Snake Long scaly body. No limbs.

Cold blooded. Can be aggressive.

Classical harpist

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

After students have assigned five animals an incongruous hobby, ask students to select their favourite one. Challenge students to either compose a poem in the style of Geoffrey McSkimming, or draw an illustration in the style of Sheree Fiala.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

The Incredible Journey of the Red Crab Article by Beverly McWilliams | photos by Alamy

EN3-3A | ACELA1524

Design an infographic to aid the comprehension of the text.

As a class, read the text and discuss the key textual features: the form, purpose and audience. (It is a nonfiction text written in the style of an article, primarily to inform a primary school audience.) Explain to students that they are going to extract key information and organise it as an infographic.

View the clip: What is an Infographic? After watching the clip, explain to students that an infographic communicates information in a highly visual and engaging way. They condense a large amount of information and explain it quickly and clearly. Then provide students with a range of infographics to view. Some examples include:

• Recycling Infographic • Waste in space • Education around the world

Next, students individually reread the article. Instruct them to generate a list of topics that will be covered by their infographic and to list 3-5 facts under each topic. You may wish to provide a suggested list of topics, such as: Christmas Island, the Red Crabs’ annual cycle, predators, how humans assist, how breeding works and a Red Crab’s lifecycle. Students could compile information using a grid, such as the one below:

Christmas Island 2600 kilometres north west of Perth 200 endemic species 50 million red crabs

Annual Cycle Risks and Predators Travel over roads and cliffs May be attacked by the giant robber crab Introduced yellow crazy ant has had a devastating impact

Human Assistance Breeding Male crabs build a burrow Females move into the burrow Each female lays 100 000 eggs that she incubates for 12-13 days

Life Cycle

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Once students have extracted key information and arranged it into topics, they should design a draft of their infographic. Using Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Sway, Google Slides (or your own choice of presentation software) students should experiment with their layout.

Cover the following points relating to the graphic design of their infographic:

1. Pictures/Visuals

An infographic needs pictures to hook the reader. These images should be simple.

If using Microsoft Office, teach students how to use clip art to find simple images to make their infographic appealing. Find these images through the following route: pictures stock pictures icons. Students could use a Christmas tree to represent Christmas Island and a hand for Human Assistance. Encourage students to be creative in their selection of images.

2. Text:

Students should use a simple and easy to read font. They should bold important information and use a larger font to ensure that essential information is read first. Colour can be used to differentiate between topics.

3. Numbers

Facts with numbers can be made larger to stand out and be eye catching.

At the conclusion of the activity, display the infographics in the style of an art gallery so that students can compare the different approaches to the task and the different design styles.

TOUCHDOWN

All things crustaceanRed crabs are crustaceans. They have a hard shell, numerous pairs of legs, and they live in water. Research another crustacean and complete the table below.

Name: Scientific name:

Description

Habitat

Diet

Breeding

Behaviour

What more do you want to know about your crustacean? Devise three interview questions for a crustacean expert. Make sure your questions have to be answered with more than just a yes or no answer. Test them out on a friend!

1.

2.

3.

Now imagine that you work at the aquarium and your chosen crustacean has escaped. On a separate piece of paper, write a short 'Missing Crustacean' advertisment to go in the aquarium's newsletter. Make it no longer than 30 words.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Ghost Crabs poem by Beverly McLoughland | illustrated by Vivienne To

EN3-7C | ACELT1617 Visualise key phrases in a multimodal presentation to understand the use of extended metaphor.

Prior to reading, revise the definition of metaphor and introduce the concept of extended metaphor. (You may wish to use or modify the LiteraryTerms definition of metaphor and extended metaphor.) Then, as you read the poem instruct students to spot the metaphors. Create a list and discuss the examples after reading:

• The moon as a “round spotlight”

• The crabs “sideways dance”

• The crabs are compared to “sprightly ballerinas”

• Stating that the ocean was “designed as their scenic backdrop”

Ask students to find the link between each of these metaphors (it describes a ballet performance, because the poem references a spotlight, dancing, ballerinas and the backdrop of the stage).

Using Google Slides (or a similar presentation software) instruct students to find images to illustrate the poem.

Explain that students will find two illustrations for each of the following sections:

Under the round spotlight Of the moon They dance their sideways dance On pointed toes, These sprightly ballerinas of the dunes, With the wide blue ocean Designed as their scenic backdrop.

One illustration must represent the literal meaning of the poem (for example, a picture of the moon). The other illustration must represent the figurative meaning (for example, a picture of a spotlight on a stage). These illustrations should be placed side by side on the corresponding slide.

Extension: you can teach students how to search for gifs to include in their multimodal presentation. A gif would be particularly beneficial in visualising the movement of a crab and ballerina. The article How to add a GIF to Google Slides using a URL provides a straightforward guide which can be adapted for students.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

After students have completed their multimodal presentations, they should present them to in small groups, or publish them on a platform like Google Classroom. Once students have viewed a range of interpretations, they should write an explanation about why the poet has used an extended metaphor in ‘Ghost Crabs’.

Sample answer:

‘Ghost Crabs’ contains an extended metaphor which compares the crabs on the beach to ballerinas on a stage. This is because there are similarities between the two scenes. The moon looks like a spotlight, crabs and ballerinas move in a similar way and stages often have a beautiful backdrop, just like the view of a beach at night.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Vitus of Rome part one of a two-part story by Claire Catacouzinos | illustrated by Amy Golback

EN3-2A | ACELY1714

Plan a narrative using features of the historical fiction genre.

Reread part one and then read part two of the story.

After reading the story, revise the class definition of historical fiction devised in the learning resource for ‘Vitus of Rome Part One’ (June, could you please add a link to TSM website’s page for this learning resource). Then hand out the worksheet Historical Fiction Characteristics.

Ask students to be text detectives and locate examples of each of these characteristics in the complete story. For example:

Characteristic Example in the text (there may be more than one) Characters Vitus is a fictional armpit plucker and gladiator while Emperor Titus was

a real Roman Emperor from 79-81 CE. Setting The story is set in three common locations in Ancient Rome: a bath

house, a grand home, and an amphitheater. Conflict Vitus is forced to become a gladiator, which really happened in Ancient

Rome. Plot In Ancient Rome there really were arm pit pluckers, which was a job

that many people didn’t want to do. People were also forced to become gladiators and battle to the death unless they were shown mercy by the Emperor. Ancient Romans also believed that the gods could solve their problems, in the same way that Fortuna rescues Vitus and blesses him with luck, education and fortune.

Description The vivid description of the battle between the gladiators - including the armour, the size and noise of the crowd and the brutality of battle – very accurately describes what it would have been like in Ancient Rome.

Dialogue The characters sometimes speak in Roman, the language of Ancient Rome. For example, Fortuna says: ‘And you have shown the virtue of celeritas, to act with swiftness.’

After completing their characteristics table, explain to the class that they will plan their own historical narrative set in Ancient Rome. Students can use the fact files on Life in Ancient Rome created in the learning resource for ‘Vitus of Rome Part One’ to assist them in this task.

Divide students into groups of 3-4. In their groups they should brainstorm, shortlist and generate an example of each of the above characteristics. (For example: their character might include age and occupation; their dialogue might include an appropriate Roman word). Group answers should be published on a collaborative platform such as Google Jamboard.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Individually, students then view the class contributions to the Google Jamboard. Using a blank characteristic table they plan their story.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Storm in a Teacup (Not Your Average Beverage) poem by Kate O’Neil | illustrated by Stephen Morris

EN2-6B | ACELT1615

Identify idioms within a text and experiment with idioms in creative writing.

Introduce the concept of idiom with your class. You may like to use the Literary Devices definition of Idiom: a phrase that means something quite different from what the individual words or phrases literally mean. If you have a digital subscription, you can complete two idiom activities

Read the poem as a class and ask students to identify two idioms and challenge them to find one word used in an idiomatic way:

Storm in a teacup

stole my thunder

storm would brew (brew is the idiomatic word)

Extension: at this point you may want to revise the technique of extended metaphor, explored in the learning resource for ‘Ghost Crabs’ (this issue). Ask students to identify the extended metaphor in this poem: nature making a cup of tea. This metaphor is achieved through frequent references to tea terminology: teacup, beverage, brew, Nature’s Own Café, percolate, flavour … bland.

Ask students if this poem is serious or humorous (they should be able to identify that it is funny). Next, ask them why it is funny. Acknowledge answers that explain that the poem’s narrator interprets idioms literally. For example she thought that when the weatherman talked about a storm brewing he meant that Mother Nature would be making cups of tea for people.

Explain to students that they will now write their own humorous use of idioms.

Provide students with the Huge List of Idioms and instruct them to choose the three idioms they find most silly or hilarious. Then provide students with the following prompts:

My __________________ exclaimed last night (insert idiom) ___________________________________. The next day …

The __________________ suddenly cried (insert idiom) ___________________________________. Immediately afterwards …

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Our __________________quietly stated (insert idiom) ___________________________________. Then it dawned on us …

Students should find the most appropriate of their shortlisted idioms for each prompt. They should also name a person or type of person who would say each idiom. Finally, they should write down what could happen if the idiom literally happened, making it as dramatic as possible.

For example:

My football coach exclaimed last night that we were wet behind the ears. The next day I brought a sponge and bucket to school and made sure that everyone was wet and cool, just like me!

TOUCHDOWN

Create a weather warning poem'Storm in a Teacup (Not Your Average Beverage)' uses words and phrases to help the reader believe that a storm is brewing. Plan and write a weather-type poem of your own.

Some things to think about: • Describe your weather phenomenon: sunny, snowing, windy, tornado etc• Are you going to start with a bang?

• Are you going to give your reader some kind of conclusion at the end?In the spaces below, record phrases describing how you felt. Some examples have been done for you.

Sense Word bank Phrases

smell aroma, sweet, floral A light aroma wafted by, Fresh, sweet and floral.

taste

touch chilly, damp, biting, drafty

A chilly breeze tickled my cheek, Biting cold, drafty and breezy.

Hear

See

Now rearrange your phrases to build a poem!

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

In Defence of Hansel and Gretel play by Elizabeth Klein | illustrated by Stephen Morris

EN3-5B | ACELA1517 Understand the use of subjective language and bias in a court room scenario.

Prior to reading the text, introduce the concepts of subjective language and bias to students. Define subjective language: when the speaker clearly states their opinion on an issue, showing things in a positive or negative light. Contrast this to objective language: when the speaker tries to remain neutral and just presents facts. Then introduce the concept of bias: a tendency to prefer something or someone and to not give an equal chance to another idea, thing or person.

As these are difficult concepts, you may wish to consolidate student understanding through creating a class list of biases (favourite sporting teams, foods), creating a Frayer Model for the terms bias and subjective, or reading a two newspaper articles on the same topic and identifying bias. (The BBC Newsround article on Bias has two articles on a football match between Tottenham and Bolton written by opposing sides.)

Next, recall or reread the tale of Hansel and Gretel. After reading, conduct a class poll are the class biased towards Hansel and Gretel, or the witch? Ask for students to give reasons about why they are biased towards one side or the other.

Finally, before reading the text, set up the classroom like the NSW Criminal Court. Use the resource Who’s who in court to explain the role of various people in a court case (the clerk is a court officer, judge, prosecutor, defence) and where they should sit. Assign students the various speaking roles in the drama. Remaining students should be divided into the jury and supporters of the prosecution / supporters of the defence (sitting on the appropriate side of the courtroom). The arrangement of students into ‘sides’ should help them visualise bias in the case.

Read the play as a class, following the stage directions, with characters entering and exiting the witness box.

After reading the play, ask students to remain where they are seated. Place students in pairs. Students should be matched according to the side of the court case they are on. Members of the jury should be on the defence’s side. Place the clerk and judge on the prosecution’s side.

Students work with their partner to identify a speech in the script that shows bias towards their side of the case. They highlight examples of subjective language used.

For example:

Sister I saw my poor sister’s feet dangling inside the oven door and those two (pointing to Hansel and Gretel) ugly fat children dancing and singing in her kitchen.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Students return to their regular seats (after the classroom has been rearranged). Looking specifically at their highlighted text extract, students rewrite the text so that the bias transfers to the other side of the court case and they change the subjective language to favour the other side.

For example:

Sister I saw my evil sister’s feet dangling inside the oven door and those two (pointing to Hansel and Gretel) scared, starving children hiding and crying in her kitchen.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Dossier of Discovery: Gargantuan Gourds Galore article by Anne Renaud | photos courtesy of Tourism Nova Scotia

EN3-7C | ACELT1618

Compose video commentary of a clip of the Pumpkin Regatta, based on information in the article.

Read the Dossier of Discovery article. After reading, ask the following questions:

• What type of text is this? (Article)

• Is this fiction or nonfiction? (Nonfiction)

• What textual features make it nonfiction? (Use of facts, details and objective language.)

Instruct students to read through the article and create a bullet point list of facts and interesting details. They should aim for at least ten points. Examples include: pumpkins weigh 360 kilograms, 50 people take part in the annual event, the race is 800-metres long. Encourage students to put the facts into their own words.

After extracting facts from this article, provide students with the CBC article Get your pumpkins ready…it’s the Great Pumpkin Boat Race! Students should aim to extract at least five more facts from this article.

Show students the clip Windsor Pumpkin Regatta. Explain that they will provide commentary about the Pumpkin Regatta over the top of the images in the clip (the video will be muted).

Ask students to revisit their facts list and group similar facts together. For example, they may have a section of facts about the Dill brothers and their pumpkin growing, about the type of pumpkins, and about how the pumpkins are turned into boats. Next, show the clip several times without sound. Students should decide on the order that they will present their grouped facts. For example, they may introduce the facts about the Dill family when Howard Dill’s statue is shown.

Encourage students to speak using the dot points as prompts, rather than writing their commentary out in full (however, modify this expectation to suit the needs of your students).

Students present their commentary to a small group of their peers. One of their peers should record their commentary with the clip playing in the background.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Sharing a Day story by John O’Brien | illustrated by David Legge

EN3-1A | ACELY1709

Conduct a class debate on issues raised in the story.

After reading the story, check for comprehension by asking a series of questions:

1. Who is Jamie? (The boy who’s mind is inhabited by Fashet Rutch.)

2. Who is Fashet Rutch? (A body-less alien who inhabits other peoples’ minds, including Jamie’s.)

3. How do they communicate? (Using thought power, speaking and answering using thoughts.)

4. What can Fashet Rutch do when he is in Jamie’s mind? (Feel sensations like taste, use Jamie’s body parts like his eyes and fingers, do things for Jamie, speak for Jamie.)

5. What happens to Jamie when his mind is being controlled? (He disconnects with his body and can drift through Fashet Rutch’s memories.)

Then conduct a class poll on the statement: Would you like to share your mind with Fashet Rutch once a month?

Divide the class into small groups of 2-3 students. Ask them to brainstorm reasons for and against sharing their mind with Fashet Rutch. Their initial reasons may be taken directly from the story. As they come up with more reasons, they should start to use inference. Encourage groups to have 10 reasons for and 10 reasons against. Some sample answers are below:

Reasons to share my mind Reasons not to share my mind • Assistance to play touch football really

well • Having someone else to chat to when

I’m bored and lonely

• Embarrassed when doing certain things, like changing

• Not wanting to share my mind because it belongs to me!

After students have generated their list of reasons ask them to choose which side they agree with more: sharing or not sharing. They then need to reread their list for this side of the debate and identify the three reasons they think are the strongest.

Instruct them to convert these three reasons into a well explained argument with the following structure:

• Point: give a one sentence summary of your argument.

• Explain in 2 – 3 sentences why your argument is true and makes sense.

Touchdown Issue 8 – September 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

• Give an example of how your argument works, either from the text or from your imagination.

For example:

Sharing my mind with Fashet Rutch would be beneficial because he could make me more coordinated. He says that he has great control of his feet and can sidestep really well. This would help me improve my balance so that I can do more challenging moves while playing sport. For example, if I was playing touch-football I would be able to control the ball with more accuracy and score more tries.

Once students have constructed their arguments, group them into the side of the debate they agree with and place the two sides facing each other.

Ask for two volunteers, one to speak first and the other to speak second. The first speaker will present their argument. Instruct the second speaker to offer a piece of rebuttal before they give their argument. Structure the rebuttal as follows:

• ‘They say’ (briefly summarise of their main point)

• ‘We say’ (explain why you don’t agree with their argument)

A third speaker then follows, offering rebuttal before their prepared argument. Periodically remind students that they need to listen carefully to the speaker before them to make sure that they can make a rebuttal.

After the class debate, conduct an exit poll on the same statement:

Would you like to share your mind with Fashet Rutch once a month?

See if class opinion has changed.

TOUCHDOWN

Sharing your thoughts1. List the three things that Fashet enjoys about sharing a day with Jamie.

2. What are some of the sensations or experiences that Fashet gets to feel?

3. Would you like the idea of waking up somewhere new each day? Why /why not?

4. Fashet Rutch wants to change his name. Give him a new one.

5. If you had to share your day with someone, who would it be and why?

6. Would you call Fashet and Jamie friends? Explain your answer.