Year 3 and 4 students explore a picture book, Fly Free, set in Vietnam, to develop their understanding of the power of giving and to improve their literacy skills, particularly in visual literacy, and in their language skills.Drama is also incorporated through roles plays that include empathy and tension. This Learning Module addresses both the Australian Curriculum and CCSS.
English, Giving, Visual Literacy, Dialogue, Tension, Empathy, Grammar, Noun Groups, Verb Groups, Punctuation..
Learning Intention: To create a quality learning environment.
Let's sit in a circle on the floor. We are going to play a ball game. We have a soft ball here, so let's play.
Let's reflect on that game. What did we need? What was missing? We will take turns in the circle to share our thoughts and feelings about that game we just played.
We are going to create a Code of Cooperation for our class. A Code of Cooperation is a list of statements created by a team that identify how we will work cooperatively with one another.
Why is a Code of Cooperation used?
Think-Pair-Share the purpose of a Code of Cooperation.
- it brings people together with a common bond
- prevents team dysfunction
- promotes positive feelings between team members
- provides an agreement of how we will work together
Comment: Why do we have a Code of Cooperation? How will it help you this year?
The main purpose of this update is to create a Code of Cooperation with your class. As this is a familiar tool used at the school, students will know how to positively frame the content and include the school values.
School values:
- Honesty
- Tolerance
- Responsibility
- Respect
Start with the students sitting in a circle. Using a soft ball, give it to one students and tell them we are playing a ball game. Prompt students to "play". The activity intentionally lacks structure to allow student reflection on the importance of structure and shared understandings. Allow the game to become chaotic enough for students to experience a lack of success within the game.
Students then reflect in a circle time. Pose questions to the students, such as:
- Did this game work? Why? Why not?
- What was missing here (structure, guidance, game rules etc)
- Who was included in the game, who was not? ( concept of exclusion)
- How could we make the game more successful?
Create a Code of Cooperation with the class.
Refer to page 32 of "Tool Time for Education", Langford International, Inc. 201.
Make sure a structured brainstorming approach is used to generate the code.
Create a separate update in the community for students to repond to the following:
Why do we have a Code of Cooperation? How will it help you this year?
Alternatively, students can do this in their workbooks, or using a cooeprative learning structure.
Teaching Tip
You can differentiate the teaching by allowing multimodality in students representing their thinking. They can type reflections in Scholar (see above- creating a separate update), write reflections in learning journals or workbooks, discuss their thoughts and feelings with peers and by using cooperative learning structures in class.
Australian Curriculum
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) General Capabilities:
Typically by the end of Year 4, students:
Personal and Social Capability
Typically by the end of Year 4, students:
This Learning Module focuses on the book, Fly Free by Roseanne Thong. Through it, you will explore the following questions:
How can setting something free be an act of giving?
How can you use color and shot type in a drawing/image to influence an audience?
How can you write dialogue in a narrative?
How can you give?
Learning Intention:To connect to what you already know by thinking, talking, listening and writing about some images of Vietnam and Cambodia.
Look at the images in the Powerpoint. With a partner in a Think-Pair-Share, discuss your thoughts about the images; this may include what you know, any questions you have and what you liked. Make sure you listen to and acknolwedge your partner's opinions as well as stating your own.
Comment: Share some of the points you discussed with your partner. Comment on the comments of other students, stating the things that you agree upon and things that you think differently about. When you comment on another student's comment, start with @Name, and write in their name after @.
The focus text is: Fly Free by Roseanne Thong, Illustrated by Eujin Kim Neilan (Boyd Mills, 2010).
When you do a good deed, it will come back to you. Mai loves feeding the caged birds near the temple but dreams that one day she'll see them fly free. Then she meets Thu and shares the joy of feeding the birds with her. This sets a chain of good deeds in motion that radiates throughout her village and beyond. Set in Vietnam, Roseanne Thong's inspiring story, an Asian-Pacific American Librarians Association Honor Book, is elegantly illustrated with watercolor on wood by Eujin Kim Neilan. Read More plus see Roseanne Thong's website. It is also available on Amazon.
Activity 1, Images of Vietnam, builds students' background knowledge of the text and values their prior knowledge. It also aims to engage students in the topic and the text, by drawing connections between personal experiences and the worlds of texts, sharing responses and expressing a point of view.
Use a Think-Pair-Share to engage students in and scaffold the discussion of what they know, think and understand. As you introduce the images, use some of the language in the text, Fly Free, to foreground it and build the language of the students. Images include: Buddhas, Temples, Banyan Trees, Vietnamese clothing, buildings, housing, and landscapes.
Australian Curriculum
Literature
Responding to literature
Year 3: Draw connections between personal experiences and the worlds of texts, and share responses with others (ACELT1596)
Year 4: Discuss literary experiences with others, sharing responses and expressing a point of view (ACELT1603)
Literacy
Interacting with others
Year 3: Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations (ACELY1676)
Year 4: Use interaction skills such as acknowledging another’s point of view and linking students’ response to the topic, using familiar and new vocabulary and a range of vocal effects such as tone, pace, pitch and volume to speak clearly and coherently (ACELY1688)
CCSS Focus
SL.4.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
SL.4.1c: Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow upon information, and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others.
Learning Intention: To use your background knowledge and the cover of the book to predict what it is about.
Let's have a look at the front cover of the book Fly Free.
Use a prediction strategy, as all good readers do, and think about what the story may be about.
Comment: Share your prediction about what you think the story will be about. Read other students' predictions and give positive feedback to one student by writing @Name, I like your prediction. Add more predictions if another student's prediction makes you think of something else.
The purpose of this activity is to engage students in the text by valuing their background knowledge and to practice the prediction strategy.
Emphasise that predicting is what good readers do, and allow the students time to think about and draw conclusions of what they think the text Fly Free may be about.
Encourage them to think about the images they saw in the Powerpoint to help them predict too.
To encourage students to think independently about their prediction, they could write their prediction in the Comment box and then post their comments at exactly the same time. They can then read through and comment on each other's predictions. This will engage students, especially when they refresh the page and see so many predictions. They will be engaged furtherwhen they check to see if any student has given them feedback on their prediction; plus they will be doing quite a bit of reading!
Australian Curriculum
Literature
Responding to literature
Year 3: Draw connections between personal experiences and the worlds of texts, and share responses with others (ACELT1596)
Year 4: Discuss literary experiences with others, sharing responses and expressing a point of view (ACELT1603)
Literacy
Interacting with others
Year 3: Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations (ACELY1676)
Year 4: Use interaction skills such as acknowledging another’s point of view and linking students’ response to the topic, using familiar and new vocabulary and a range of vocal effects such as tone, pace, pitch and volume to speak clearly and coherently (ACELY1688)
Interpreting, analysing, evaluating
Year 3: Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on a growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features (ACELY1680)
Year 4: Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts (ACELY1692)
CCSS Focus
SL.4.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
SL.4.1c: Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow upon information, and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others.
Learning Intention: To build the bank of words I know and can use when speaking, writing and reading.
'The more words you know the more words you can read, and the more you read the more words you learn.' Jennifer Miller
Learn two new words a day, every day. Many interesting words to learn about are in Fly Free, such as; risen, cast, parasol.
Add the new words to the class word wall.
Two words a day is an ongoing daily activity that focuses on building and expanding student vocabulary.
There are many opportunities for vocabulary or word study in the text Fly Free; risen, parasol, cast, glow, pagoda, familiar, temple, twittered, comical, vendor, release, deed, spare, eased, nearby, belonged, custom, temple, outstretched, whispered, softly, noticed, roadside, cradling, wound, disbelief, pomegranites, uncrushed, chores, drawing, shouldered, slished and sloshed, approached, parched, awaited, midday, hobble, balancing, atop, delicious, savoured, flavour, whistled, cheerful, business, brisk, returned, lone, rushed, steaming, streaming, robe, drifted, touched, acupuncture, chanted, completely, recovered, temple, tenderly, familiar, kindness, existed, countryside, origin, hesitating.
Students should focus on developing semantic(meaning), syntactic(grammar) and graphophonic(letter-sound) knowledge for new words. Some things to focus on:
Teaching Tips
There is a strong relationship between reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. As Jennifer Miller says 'the more words that you know the more you can read, and the more you read the more words you learn' (2015, Learning Vocabulary in Context, Primary English Teaching Association Australia). Typically in junior primary schools the focus is on building high frequency word knowledge. In middle primary the focus should broaden and develop vocabulary to include extended vocabulary and some technical terminology. Students will need frequent exposure to new vocabulary (in a text, on the word wall, orally, on the board, in a new context, as part of homework).
Australian Curriculum
Year 3
Year 4
Learning Intention:To read and respond to Fly Free through asking questions.
We are going to read a story which is set in another country called Vietnam. We've already learned a little about Vietnam from the images we saw. You need to use a device to find Vietnam on a world map and post one in the community.
Look at the pictures in Fly Free as I flick through them. What do you see? What words do you think are important. In a Think-Pair-Share, talk about whether our predictions in Activity 2 look right or whether we might change them or add others.
Now listen to the reading of Fly Free.
With a partner do some thinking about the story and discuss some "I wonder " questions. You might wonder why Roseanne Thong wrote Fly Free? Or you might wonder why Roseanne Thong set her story in Vietnam.
Start your questions with:
Comment: Post one or two "I wonder" questions. Then read other students' questions and respond to them with a possible answer if you have one. Give reasons for your answers to other students' questions.
The purpose of this activity is to engage students further in the text and comprehend the text through thinking and discussion. In doing so, students will use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning.
Orientate the students to the text, Fly Free. Flick through the text, familiarizing students with the story by talking about what is happening in the pictures. Use some of the vocabulary from the text, especially words and phrases that might be new to the students or that may hinder the students' understanding of the story. For example:
parasol
pagoda eaves
vendor
Buddhist
deed
pomegranates
velvet
ox cart
Banyan Tree
parched
monk
acupuncture
Students participate in a vocabulary match activity where they match the words listed above to the appropriate picture to demonstrate meanings. For differentiation, more able students could also be asked to provide a definition for some of the words.
Once orientation is complete, read the text to the students. Then using the reading strategy of Self-Questioning, students complete Clouds of Wonder on any questions they may have related to the text Fly Free.
Continue to re-read the book in following lessons as students will continue to see more in it, and become very familiar with its language.
World Map:
Students locate Vietnam on a world map. Use this as an opportunity for formative assessment of how capable students are using ICT such as their ability to log on, use search tools, locate an image, identify the country and post in the Community space in Scholar. This will support you in future groupings of students and scaffolding understanding in other activities as part of the learning module.
Australian Curriculum
Literature and context
Year 3: Discuss texts in which characters, events and settings are portrayed in different ways, and speculate on the authors’ reasons (ACELT1594)
Responding to literature
Year 3: Draw connections between personal experiences and the worlds of texts, and share responses with others (ACELT1596)
Year 4: Discuss literary experiences with others, sharing responses and expressing a point of view (ACELT1603)
Literacy
Interacting with others
Year 3: Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations (ACELY1676)
Year 4: Use interaction skills such as acknowledging another’s point of view and linking students’ response to the topic, using familiar and new vocabulary and a range of vocal effects such as tone, pace, pitch and volume to speak clearly and coherently (ACELY1688)
Interpreting, analysing, evaluating
Year 3: Read an increasing range of different types of texts by combining contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge, using text processing strategies, for example monitoring, predicting, confirming, rereading, reading on and self-correcting (ACELY1679)
Year 3: Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on a growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features (ACELY1680)
Year 4: Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts (ACELY1692)
Read an increasing range of different types of texts by combining contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge, using text processing strategies, for example monitoring, predicting, confirming, rereading, reading on and self-correcting (ACELY1679)
CCSS Focus
RL.4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
L.4.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
L.4.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).
Learning Intention: To understand what giving is.
Read the story of Fly Free again. What was something new that you noticed in this reading? Use a Think-Pair-Share.
Look at the diagram of the wheel. What does it remind you of? What shape is it.
Use the wheel to name the six main events of the story. Draw a picture of each event in the section of the wheel. You can start anywhere but make sure the pictures are in the right order. Look back at the story to check. You can decide if your pictures move to the right - like a clock - or move to the left - just to be different.
Remember the poem in the story:
Fly free, fly free,
in the sky so blue.
When you do a good deed,
it will come back to you.
Now look at your wheel and think about all the acts of giving in the story - these are things or objects that were given or someone doing something for another person or an animal.
Comment: What is giving? After posting your ideas, read other students' comments. Comment on one that you agree with and add more information by building on their idea or giving other examples.
The main purpose of this activity is for students to come to an understanding of 'giving' by illustrating the events of the story and identifying acts of giving. In doing so, they will be using comprehension strategies to make literal and inferred meaning. They will also be developing their understanding of the concept of setting something free, how it is elaborated through the plot of a narrative, and how it relates to 'giving'.
Use the template of the story wheel to capture the events of the story. Once students have completed these, they can be displayed around the room.
In defining giving, differentiate between giving objects or things, and acts of giving - doing something for someone else.
Australian Curriculum
Literacy
Interacting with others
Year 3: Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations (ACELY1676)
Year 4: Use interaction skills such as acknowledging another’s point of view and linking students’ response to the topic, using familiar and new vocabulary and a range of vocal effects such as tone, pace, pitch and volume to speak clearly and coherently (ACELY1688)
CCSS Focus
RL.4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
RL.4.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
RL.4.7: Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
Learning Intention: To understand the importance of clause, subject and verb agreement.
Re-read the story Fly Free.
We are going to look at and analyse different sentences from the text and examine the way these sentences have been put together. We will be learning about clauses, subjects and verbs.
A clause conveys a message to the reader and provides them with information about what is happening, who is taking part as well as when, where and how.
The following sentence has been cut up and rearranged.
Ong Hai savoured the sweet coconut flavour during the ride to the market.
With your table group, put the sentence back together. Re-read the sentence to make sure it makes sense.
Now, take out the words Ong Hai and re-read your sentence again. Without these words, how does the sentence change? what is the purpose of these words in the sentence.
Reflection
The words Ong Hai are called subjects or nouns. Nouns are used to tell the reader who is taking part in the action of the text and in stories refers to the characters. Stick the sentence into your Literacy books. We will be using this sentence again a little later.
Find the subject, who or noun in this sentence:
As much as Mai loved to visit the birds, she hoped someone would pay for their release.
Reflection: Discuss this with your peers and as a class.
Find the word she in the sentence, who do you think this word refers to? Discuss with your peers and as a class. The word she is called a pronoun and the author has used the word she rather than using the character's name Mai a second time.
With your table group, read through the story and identify the subjects, nouns and characters within the text. Record these and share what you have found with the class.
Looking at this sentence, we are going to identify some of the 5W's: who, what, when, where and why. We will use the sentence we have already glued into our Literacy books. Share your findings with the class.
Ong Hai savoured the sweet coconut flavour during the ride to the market.
Label or highlight the...
who; the character/noun in the sentence
what; the character is doing
what; they are doing it to
when; the action is taking place
REFLECTION
Who (subject/noun): Ong Hai
What :savoured
What: the sweet coconut flavour
When: during the ride to the market
The words the sweet coconut flavour is telling us what has been savoured. The what is not just one word, it is a group of words. We call these noun groups and they provide us with information about the people, places, things and ideas in the text. This noun group provides us with more information about the old woman's cakes, given to Ong Hai.
Now, let's look at the sentence Mai looked for the familiar cage of sparrows for sale by the temple gates.
In this sentence there is a noun and a noun group.The noun is Mai and the noun group is the familiar cage of sparrows for sale. Mai is the subject or noun in the sentence and the familiar cage of sparrows for sale is the object or noun she is looking at.
Australian Curriculum
English
Expressing and developing ideas
Year 3: Understand that a clause is a unit of grammar usually containing a subject and a verb and that these need to be in agreement (ACELA1481)
Year 4: Understand that the meaning of sentences can be enriched through the use of noun groups/phrases and verb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases (ACELA1493)
The purpose of this lesson is to have students develop their understanding of the importance of clause, subject and verb agreement.
Students will complete sentence transformations with a range of sentences from the text to develop this understanding.
Students may be paired (like ability) to identify subject, characters and verbs and discuss their significance.
Differentiation: Allocate only characters or verbs (for example) to some pairs.
Learning Intention: To understand the purpose of verbs within a sentence.
In our previous activity, we looked at the following sentence.
Ong Hai savoured the sweet coconut flavour during the ride to the market.
We looked at other sentences within the story and used the 5W's to determine who, what, when, where and why .
REFLECTION
Who (subject/noun): Ong Hai
What :savoured
What: the sweet coconut flavour
When: during the ride to the market
Take out the word savoured and re read the sentence. Does it make sense? What purpose does the word savoured serve in the sentence.
Replace the word savoured with taste and discuss with a partner how the sentence changes. Does Ong Hai like the taste of the coconut flavour? How do you know?
Now I would like you to eat an M and M. Now you need to eat the M and M following these instructions.
- you can have this one (another one), but you can only look at it, smell it and touch it, but cannot eat it.
-now place it in your mouth but do not move it around.
-now you can use your tongue to move it around, but you cannot chew it.
-now you can bit it once, but you must leave it in your mouth and not chew it any more. Close your eyes and concentrate on the taste.
-now you can push it all around in your mouth to really taste it, but do not chew or swallow it.
-now you can chew it and swallow it.
You have just savoured the taste of the second M and M. How was this different to the first one? Savouring is when you take your time and enjoy and appreciate what it is you are doing (not just eating), taking in the flavours, smell, sights and sounds. For example: if you climb a mountain, when you reach the top you can take a moment to stop and savour the moment. You will think about all of the effort that was put into reaching the top, how wonderful it is to achieve your goal of climbing to the top and what a magnificant view you have from the top of the mountain.
Read through Fly Free and identify several other verbs that have been carefully chosen by the author and discuss with a partner how the sentence is "brought to life" and "creates images" in the reader's mind.
REFLECTION:
Add a post explaining to your peers about the savoruing activity.
1. What did the M and M taste like?
2. Was the second M and M tastier than the first? Why?
3. Describe the taste, texture, smell and look of the second M and M.
4. Choose three strong adjectives to describe the M and M.
5. Define savoruing.
Australian Curriculum
English
Expressing and developing ideas
Year 3: Understand that verbs represent different processes, for example doing, thinking, saying, and relating and that these processes are anchored in time through tense (ACELA1482)
Year 4: Understand how adverb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases work in different ways to provide circumstantial details about an activity(ACELA1495)
The purpose of this activity is for students to develop understanding of how important verbs are, what purposes they serve. Students will develop their understanding of why authors carefully choose verbs and the impact they have on the sentence and the wider context of the story.
Students will complete a similar activity to that of the Noun Group activity, articulating how the verb savoured is highly effective in achieving the purpose of creating an image in the reader's mind.
Students will then complete an activity where they eat an M and M (at a normal pace). They then eat it again, slowly, savouring it.
Students:
-eat this M and M
-now you can have this one (another one), but you can only look at it, smell it and touch it, but cannot eat it.
-now place it in your mouth but do not move it around.
-now you can use your tongue to move it around, but you cannot chew it.
-now you can bit it once, but you must leave it in your mouth and not chew it any more. Close your eyes and concentrate on the taste.
-now you can push it all around in your mouth to really taste it, but do not chew or swallow it.
-now you can chew it and swallow it.
You have just savoured the taste of the second M and M. How was this different to the first one? Explain the concept of savouring something to students.
Learning Intention: To understand how we communicate empathy and tension.
Symbols
Look back at the wheels you have created. Wheels are circles and like a circle that goes on, with no starting or ending point, the acts of giving in the story go on. The circle is a symbol. A symbol is something that stands for or represents something else within a text. In this way the circular wheel is representing the idea that one act of giving leads to another and then another and they go on and on.
In a Circle Time, let's discuss some other symbols you know?
What do these symbols mean?
|
Insert images of Olympics, heart, recycling, disabilty access, emoticons
What is the symbol for Macdonalds?
What is the symbol for our unit? (Hint - it's a flower)
What is the symbol for our school? (Hint - it's our school logo)
Symbols help us to understand information or to make meanings without using words.
Gestures
Another way that we can understand or make meaning without words is through gestures. In an Inner-Outer Circle, use your hands, faces and bodies to communicate that you are:
You can see that you use your face, hands and the shape of your body to comunicate how you are feeling.
Sometimes people use threatening or negative gestures. What do these gestures tell you?
Now look at the pictures your teacher will show you in Fly Free. As a class, discuss what some of the gestures tell us:
Reflection: Are the gestures in Fly Free, positive or negative?
Positive gestures are a way of showing empathy. Empathy is when you show that you understand and share the feelings of another. Nodding, smiling, facing the person, eye contact, and hands by your side or at the front. You can also show empathy by saying words such as "Yes", "I agree" and "I understand".
Let's practise some gestures that show empathy. Again in an Inner-Outer Circle, share your favourite game or toy with other students in your class. The idea is to share your favourite and then listen to another person share their favourite. As you lsten, show empathy. Repeat this 2-3 times in the circle. Remember to thank the person before moving to another person. Then at the end, with a partner, do a Think-Pair-Share about how giving and receiving empathy made you feel.
Role Plays
Next, let's do some role plays about showing empathy through an act of giving. In a group of 3, plan a dialogue about giving. It can be about giving an actual object or doing something for someone else. They might know that you did it, like cleaning up after an activity for them, or maybe they won't, like sharpening someone's pencil without telling them.
Here are some ideas for planning what you will say in your role play.
Person 1: Look at the mess we made when we were doing art.
Person 2: We will have to stay in at lunch to clean up.
Person 1: Let's clean up as much as we can together.
Person 3: I'm not cleaning up. You made most of the mess so I shouldn't have to do it.
Person 2: That's okay. I would love you to help but I can finish cleaning up for all of us after I have had lunch.
Person 2. That's very nice of you. Thank you. I will clean up next time.
Person 3: Oh, okay. Maybe I can help next time too.
Reflection: In a Think-Pair-Share discuss how Person 3 created tension. What do you think tension is? Include tension and empathy in your role plays. Remember to give positive feedback and show empathy for each performance.
Comment: Let's create a list of ideas of ways that we can give inside our school. Use some of the ideas from your role plays. Keep adding ideas until you can't think of any more. Then, look through what other students have added. Show empathy by giving positive feedback to any ideas you liked. You could say, @Name, I liked that idea!
The purpose of this activity is to develop students' empathy and deepen their understanding of giving through discussion and drama activities, culminating in role plays of scenarios that might occur in their own lives. The activities reinforce the Code of Cooperation and allow students to demonstrate giving and empathy.
Symbols
The discussion of symbols links this Update to Update 6. Symbols are also a link to meaning making through the gestural mode.
Gestures
If there are enough books for the students to work in pairs, then the students can look at the images in Fly Free in order to analyse the gestures. Alternatively, show the relevant pages from the book, or perhaps scan some of them and show them on the SmartBoard.
Empathy
Contextualise this activity by referring to the emotions of fear, sadness, joy etc as shown in "Inside Out". For example, "What if you had a character called empathy?
The reflections are important for students to understand the purpose of the activities and to address key concepts in the Australian Curriculum: Drama.
Role Plays
Create a Readers Theatre type activity for the model role play, assigning roles to 3 students to read the script. This could be repeated a number of times with different studnets taking the roles.
In the role plays that students develop, use similar situations as the story - giving objects or doing something for someone else. They are not required to write the script, just plan it and act it out.
As students are planning their role plays, go around and support them, giving them ideas for what they can give and what they can say when they perform. Prompt them to use a third character to create tension and to resolve their conflict at the end.
Use a circle for the students to perform their role plays, and then debrief and reflect more on giving.This will promote thinking and reflection, and will scaffold their comments.
Australian Curriculum
Literacy
Interacting with others
Year 3: Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations (ACELY1676)
Year 4: Use interaction skills such as acknowledging another’s point of view and linking students’ response to the topic, using familiar and new vocabulary and a range of vocal effects such as tone, pace, pitch and volume to speak clearly and coherently (ACELY1688)
Drama
Years 3 and 4
Explore ideas and narrative structures through roles and situations and use empathy in their own improvisations and devised drama (ACADRM031)
Use voice, body, movement and language to sustain role and relationships and create dramatic action with a sense of time and place (ACADRM032)
CCSS Focus
RL.4.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
RL.4.7: Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
Learning Intention: To understand who gains most when we give.
Read Fly Free again. In Buddhism, to set an animal free is a good deed. In an Inner-Outer Circle activity, discuss about how Mai felt when she set the bird free and gave it freedom.
Now think about how you felt in the role plays when you were the giver. Here are some questions to discuss in the circle. Make sure you listen as well as express your opinions.
Think about a time when you received a gift. Share it.
How do you feel when you are the receiver of the giving?
Think about a time when you gave a gift to someone. Share it.
How did you feel when you gave that person the gift?
We all like Christmas and birthday presents. Think of an act of giving that you did that wasn't a present. Share it.
Did the person know that you were the giver?
What feelings do you have when the person knows you are the giver?
What about when the person doesn't know?
How does knowing or not knowing make a difference?
Do you always have to get something back when someone gives you something?
Comment: So is giving better for the giver or the receiver of the giving? Or is it both? Write your opinion and provide at least one reason to support it. You can add more, including examples.
The purpose of this activity is to understand who gains and who loses through giving. The Inner-Outer Circle reinforces the circle symbol. It might be useful as a warm up activity to discuss sharing a time when students received or gave a gift - birthdays and Christmas should prompt most students.
Australian Curriculum
Literacy
Interacting with others
Year 3: Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations (ACELY1676)
Year 4: Use interaction skills such as acknowledging another’s point of view and linking students’ response to the topic, using familiar and new vocabulary and a range of vocal effects such as tone, pace, pitch and volume to speak clearly and coherently (ACELY1688)
Drama
Years 3 and 4 Content Descriptions
Explore ideas and narrative structures through roles and situations and use empathy in their own improvisations and devised drama (ACADRM031)
Use voice, body, movement and language to sustain role and relationships and create dramatic action with a sense of time and place (ACADRM032)
Shape and perform dramatic action using narrative structures and tension in devised and scripted drama, including exploration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander drama (ACADRM033)
CCSS Focus
RL.4.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
Learning Intention: To understand the rules of punctuation in a dialogue.
Look at the dialogue between Ong Hai and an old woman. A dialogue is a conversation between two people. Let's read the section together. Then in a Think-Pair-Share discuss what it is about.
Later that day, Ong Hai saw an old woman hobble down the road, balancing a basket of cakes high atop her head.
"Do you need a ride to market?" called Ong Hai.
"Yes," said the woman, "but I have no money."
"Hop in," said Ong Hai. I'll trade a ride for one of your cakes. They look delicious."
"That they are," the woman replied. "I made them myself from an old family recipe."
With a partner, see if you can work out some of the rules when you are writing speech. The first one is done for you.
Punctuation Mark | How it is used in Dialogue |
Question Mark | It is used at the end of a sentence that is a question. It goes before the closing speech marks. |
Exclamation Mark | |
Comma | |
Full Stop/ Period | |
Speech Marks | |
Capital Letter | |
Paragraphs |
Comment: Make a list of all the words the author used instead of 'said'. Keep adding words, looking up a dictionary and a thesaurus to add more words. Then with a partner, sort the words on a word cline.
This Update provides students with tools to write dialogue with correct punctuation. It will support them to recognize how quotation marks are used in texts to signal dialogue, titles and reported speech.
This can be done as a whole class or students can be assigned the worksheet. In this case, model the initial activities and then students can complete them. Work in pairs or small groups to encourage discussion.
Use the text to draw out the punctuation rules so the students see them in context and can refer to the text as a model when writing their own dialogue in their Giving Literacy Projects (Update 13).
Punctuation mark | How it is used in dialogue |
Question mark | Goes before the close of speech marks |
Exclamation mark | Goes before the close of speech marks |
Comma | Goes before the close of speech marks |
Full stop | Goes before the close of speech marks |
Speech marks | Go around the actual words of the speaker |
Capital letter | Used for the first word of the speaker |
Paragraphs | A new paragraph for a new speaker |
Looking at punctuation provides a great opportunity to look at the difference between a statement and question and build more understanding of what makes a sentence and a paragraph.
Word Cline: Display the word cline as a graph with the strongest words at the top on the Y axis and the weakest words at the bottom of the Y axis. Display in the classroom for the students to refer to when writing their dialogues.
Australian Curriculum
Language
Text structure and organisation
Year 4: Recognise how quotation marks are used in texts to signal dialogue, titles and quoted (direct) speech (ACELA1492)
CCSS Focus
L.4.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
a. Use correct capitalization.
b. Use commas and quotation marks to mark direct speech and quotations from a text.
d. Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.
L.4.3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
a. Choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely.
b. Choose punctuation for effect.
L.4.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g., wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).
Learning Intention: To understand how colour and shot type are used in Fly Free to create effects on the reader.
Look at the picture of the old woman and Ong Hai driving to market on the ox cart. The choice of colors can create a certain mood - happy, sad, peaceful or threatening. List all the colours you can see. These are pastel colours. How do they make you feel?
Now we are going to recolour this page, using bright colours. You can choose the colours you like but they must be bright. Compare and contrast the colours in the two pictures - your picture and the one from the book.
As a class, let's complete the table.
Colour | Effects on Mood |
bright colours | |
pastel colours |
What do you think the overall mood of Fly Free is?
Now look at shot type. Illustrators select a shot type on purpose. With a partner, tally the number of close ups, mid shots and long shots. Then as a class, complete the table.
Shot Type | Definition | Number | Example from Fly Free | Effects on Reader |
Close up | Face or part of body | Show characters' emotions | ||
Mid shot | Most of body and only part of the setting | Show action in the story and setting | ||
Long shot | Setting and background | Show the setting of the story |
What did you find out? What is the strongest focus of the images in Fly Free?
Comment: What is your favourite image in Fly Free? Give reasons for why it is your favourite. You can refer to the illustrator's use of colour and shot type. Comment on other students' comments, explaining why you like their favourite too.
This activity focuses on visual grammar so students can dentify the effect on audiences of techniques, for example, shot size. This will support them to create drawings in which they make deliberate choices about colour to create mood, and shot types to complement the written narrative through providing information about characterization, action and setting.
Color: For the visual literacy activities, photocopy the image of Ong Hai and the old woman in the cart in black and white. The students can then color over this with bright colors. Give them bright red, green, blue and yellow colours only so there is a very distinct difference between their pictures and those in the book.
In the discussion draw out the mood - calming, inner feelings of peace etc from the pastel colours while the bright colours suggest excitement and action. Both make you feel happy.
Shot type: Students can go through the images in the story and tally the number of each shot type.
Australian Curriculum
Expressing and Developing Ideas
Year 3: Identify the effect on audiences of techniques, for example shot size, vertical camera angle and layout in picture books, advertisements and film segments (ACELA1483)
Year 4; Explore the effect of choices when framing an image, placement of elements in the image, and salience on composition of still and moving images in a range of types of texts(ACELA1496)
Creating literature
Create imaginative texts based on characters, settings and events from students’ own and other cultures using visual features, for example perspective, distance and angle (ACELT1601)
CCSS Focus
RL.4.7: Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
SL.4.5: Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.
Learning Intention: To plan and draft my writing project.
Project Name: Writing and Illustrating Giving
Description: Think about an act of giving that you did recently in class or outside of school. Write a dialogue about it, incorporating the rules of punctuation that you have learned about. Then, illustrate your act of giving. Think about your choice of colours and shot type so that your picture adds meaning to your dialogue. Attach it to your writing project.
You will begin this work in one of three workshops run by your teachers.
Scholar Group
Check your Notifications and click on the "Work Request". The link will take you to Creator where you can start writing. Clicking on the "Work Request" is very important so that the work that you create is connected to the project that your teacher has set up.
You should look in the "About This Work" to find out more information about the project, change its title, create an outline for your work using the "Structure" tool, and check the timeline. You can even have a dialogue with your teacher.
For what you need to do in order to write a good informative/explanatory text, go to "Feedback". In "Reviews", open the "Rubric". Keep the rubric open and refer to it as you write.
Comment: Do you have any questions about how Scholar works? Make a comment in this update. If you think you have an answer to another student's question, please answer it - be sure to name the student you are replying to in your comment by starting with @Name.
In this activity students demonstrate their understanding of giving, use of colour, and punctuation through writing a short dialogue and illustrating it, making deliberate choices about colour.
This activity can be differentiated by running three concurrent writers workshops:
2. For those students who need some scaffolding:
3. For those students needing less scaffolding:
Australian Curriculum
Literature
Creating literature
Year 3: Create imaginative texts based on characters, settings and events from students’ own and other cultures using visual features, for example perspective, distance and angle (ACELT1601)
Literacy
Creating texts
Year 3: Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over textstructures and language features and selecting print,and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1682)
Year 4: Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features (ACELY1694)
Year 3: Re-read and edit texts for meaning, appropriate structure, grammatical choices and punctuation (ACELY1683)
Year 4: Re-read and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure (ACELY1695)
Year 3: Use software including word processing programs with growing speed and efficiency to construct and edit texts featuring visual, print and audio elements (ACELY1685)
Year 4: Use a range of software including wordprocessing programs to construct, edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements (ACELY1697)
CCSS Focus
RL.4.7: Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
W.4.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events, using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
W.4.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.
W.4.6: With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
SL.4.5: Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.
Learning Intention: To give feedback on other students’ works and then revise my own.
Giving Feedback
Work in one of three writers' workshop groups to give and recieve feedback to improve writing.
Scholar Group
Revising
The next stage of the writing process is to revise your own work.
Check your "Notifications for a "Revision Request". While you revise your work, take account of any feedback that other students have given you by checking "Results".
Writing a Self Review
Once you have gone through all the feedback and revised your work, go to "Review Work" and write a self-review. In this self-review, describe what feedback you have taken on board how you feel that you have met the criteria.
Comment: Do you have any more questions about Scholar at this stage? Make a comment in this update. If you think you have an answer to another student's question, please answer it - be sure to name the student you are replying to in your comment by starting with @Name.
This update covers two stages of the writing process in Scholar: Review and Revision.
Students will continue working in one of three workshop groups for feedback and revision:
Australian Curriculum
Literacy
Creating texts
Year 3: Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over textstructures and language features and selecting print,and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1682)
Year 4: Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features (ACELY1694)
Year 3: Re-read and edit texts for meaning, appropriate structure, grammatical choices and punctuation (ACELY1683)
Year 4: Re-read and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure (ACELY1695)
Year 3: Use software including word processing programs with growing speed and efficiency to construct and edit texts featuring visual, print and audio elements (ACELY1685)
Year 4: Use a range of software including wordprocessing programs to construct, edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements (ACELY1697)
CCSS Focus
W.4.5: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
W.4.6: With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
L.4.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
L.4.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Learning Intention: To identify what is successful writing and give positive feedback to others.
Work in one of two groups to see what others have written and give positive feedback to two of your peers.
This Update focuses on the publication and reflection phases of a writing project.
Students work in one of two groups to share their writing and reflect on the writing process;
Resources:
Sticky notes
Australian Curriculum
Literacy
Creating texts
Year 3: Use software including word processing programs with growing speed and efficiency to construct and edit texts featuring visual, print and audio elements (ACELY1685)
Year 4: Use a range of software including wordprocessing programs to construct, edit and publish written text, and select, edit and place visual, print and audio elements (ACELY1697)
CCSS Focus
W.4.6: With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
Learning Intention: To show you understand the importance of giving by giving inside and outside of school.
Look back at the ideas you came up with in Update 9. Take one idea or come up with another. You could do some giving to the environment or the community. Illustrate your act of giving on the circular wheel. Display your wheels in your classroom.
Comment: Describe your act of giving. How did it make you feel? Look at the wheels of other students. Comment on your favorite ones. Also, comment the comments of other students, reflecting on what you have learned about giving in this learning module, and through applying what you have learnt.
Through this activity students show evidence of true learner transformation by applying their learning inside and outside of school.
Use the template of the circular wheel to scaffold this activity. It would be a good idea to let parents know that students are being asked to practice acts of giving and reflect on them.
Sharing the illustrations can be through displaying them around the room, or by scanning them and posting them as "Shares" in the Community. In both cases, promote reflection by looking at the completed wheels and discussing them. Students could also create their own Updates to share their images and to receive feedback through other students' comments.
Australian Curriculum
Literacy
Interacting with others
Year 3: Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations (ACELY1676)
Year 4: Use interaction skills such as acknowledging another’s point of view and linking students’ response to the topic, using familiar and new vocabulary and a range of vocal effects such as tone, pace, pitch and volume to speak clearly and coherently (ACELY1688)
CCSS Focus
SL.4.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
SL.4.5: Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.
Title: (Source); Fig. 1: Phptograph by Christopher Antram; Fig. 1a: Australian Curriculum Personal and Social Capability (Source); Figs: 2, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13 & 15: Photographs by Sue Gorman; Fig 3: Amazon (Source); Fig. 4: Diagram by Sue Gorman; Fig. 7: Cage (Source); Fig. 8: To add (Source); Fig. 9: Inner-Outer Circle (Source); Fig. 9a: Heart (Source); Fig. 9b: By Original author: Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons (Source); Fig. 9c: Happy Emoticon (Source); Fig. 9d: Disability Access (Source); Fig. 9e: Recycling (Source); Fig.14: (Source); Fig. 16: (Source).