Unit 1: Turtles and Wombats

Transcription

1 Student Book pages 2 9 Unit 1: Turtles and Wombats The Big Picture This unit s poems rely on rhyme and rhythm to entertain readers. Students will benefit from hearing the poems read aloud and from experimenting with their own reading of the texts. Discuss with students how a poem can contain examples of other text types, such as narrative and description. Ask students why these poems continue to entertain today both poets were born well over 100 years ago. In this unit Source texts Classic and contemporary literature (poetry) Text features Poetry (rhyme, rhythm, repetition) Writing A rhyming poem; Examples of alliteration On the DVD Text and audio recordings of poems by A. B. Paterson: Weary Will, High Explosive and Fur and Feathers; Glossary for the Paterson poems; Biographies of A. B. Paterson and Vachel Lindsay Other resources Diary of a Wombat (HarperCollins Publishers Australia, 2002); Wombats, see animals/wombats.htm and au/inter.nsf/webpages/bhan-53f7kj See Teaching Guide pvii for this unit s syllabus outcomes. The Little Turtle is a poem by Vachel Lindsay, an American poet born in It is a relatively easy poem for students to learn, due to its rhythm, rhyme and repetition. Ask students to identify the repeated words and patterns. Discuss the effectiveness of the word snapped. What other word could be used instead? Is it as good? Introduce the term onomatopoeia. Ask students why the turtle caught everything except the poet. Weary Will is an extract from a poem by A. B. Banjo Paterson, an Australian poet born in 1864 (the complete poem is seven stanzas; see the DVD). Ask students if they know anyone called Banjo. How do you think the poet got this name? Do you have a nickname? Show students a $10 note; a drawing of Paterson is on it. Discuss the meaning of words such as combat, dwell and shrewd (p6 q4). Ask students if they have seen a live wombat and what makes them such good diggers. Ask students to identify the rhyming words, and discuss how the spelling of the rhyming sections of these words can differ. In the texts pages 4 5 Read the questions with students and make sure they know which questions relate to each poem. Demonstrate to students the different ways of answering the questions, eg writing words, yes/no, ticking boxes. Discuss the meaning of rhyme, line and stanza (q4). Listening, speaking and extension Students read aloud Paterson poems from the DVD. (The recording of Weary Will is used in Work Sheet 3.) Ask them to experiment with tone, volume and pitch. They then listen to recordings of the poems. Was hearing the poems more enjoyable than just reading them? Why? Hold a class vote for the favourite poem. Students work in small groups to add background sounds to the readings. A glossary for the three poems is also on the DVD; explain to students how to use a glossary. Students research the life of Banjo Paterson. A basic biography of Vachel Lindsay is on the DVD, with an incomplete biography of Paterson students complete the Paterson biography and read both aloud to the class. Students research and write an information report about the common wombat or the northern hairy-nosed wombat, one of the most endangered mammals in the world see Other resources. Students include some or all of these words in their weekly spelling lists: there, didn t, skies, little, puddle, climbed, forever, caught, mosquito, creature, shrewd, equipped. 2 TARGETING ENGLISH Lower Primary TEACHING GUIDE

2 Allow time for students to experiment with reading the poems aloud (q5). Encourage constructive comments from peers. Read and learn pages 5 6 Revise rhyme (q1) and remind students that words that rhyme do not necessarily have the same spelling patterns, eg flea/me. Encourage students to think of more words that rhyme with examples from the text. Guide students to the dictionary on page xi of their Student Books, and watch as they use their knowledge of alphabetical order to find the entry for verb (q2). Explain that verbs determine the tense of writing. Ask students to locate the verbs in The Little Turtle (all past tense) and change them to present tense. Provide dictionaries for q4. Encourage students to check that each meaning matches the context of the word in the poem. Revise punctuation marks: their names and uses (q5). See other activities on pp Copy the table onto an OHP transparency and complete it as a class first. Your turn page 7 When students have completed q1, discuss the term alliteration. See specific activities on p126. Brainstorm lists of relevant rhyming words (q3). Allow students to draft poems before writing their completed poems on p7. Encourage students to have fun writing short, catchy poems; alternatively, they could modify and expand The Little Turtle. Provide time for students to practise reading their poems aloud. Invite a neighbouring class to act as an audience. Adjectives pages 8 9 Show different classroom items and ask students to say adjectives that describe the colour, size, number or feel. Encourage students to use a range of adjectives, rather than relying on the same ones. After students have completed q6, ask them to reverse the order of the adjectives they used and read aloud again. Can you hear the difference? Work Sheets Work Sheet 1 extends students understanding of rhyme. For the It s your choice option (q3), students write rhyming words that use the spelling patterns of baby or key (eg truly, monkey). Work Sheet 2 revises knowledge of adjectives and verbs. For more activities on verbs, see Student Book pp38 39 and pp Work Sheet 3 prompts students to write their own ideas for the next stanzas of Weary Will. The complete version of Banjo Paterson s poem is on the DVD. Discuss the many new, difficult words in the full text of Weary Will (refer to the glossary on the DVD) and explain the role of Australia s wild dog fence, the longest fence in the world. Assessment Work Sheet 4 reinforces rhyme and adjectives; see Assessment Answers below. To assess Student Book writing, use the poetry rubric (Teaching Guide p91). Assessment Answers (see Teaching Guide page 7) 1 c 2 cat/mat, fly/cry, jump/bump, ground/round, said/fed, you/through 3, 4 and 5 Teacher to check. TARGETING ENGLISH Lower Primary TEACHING GUIDE 3

3 Work Sheet 1 The Little Turtle 1 Use the words in the box to complete the poem. rocks box turtle puddle There was a little. He lived in a. He swam in a. He climbed on the. 2 Draw lines to match the words that rhyme. turtle box mosquito flea rocks me puddle minnow 3 Write rhyming words that match the spelling patterns. Some have been written for you. me flea tree It s your choice! he pea see 4 Write six pairs of rhyming words. 4 Copyright Blake Publishing 2009 TARGETING ENGLISH Lower Primary TEACHING GUIDE

4 Work Sheet 2 Adjectives and Verbs 1 a Complete the sentence. An adjective is. b Draw the turtle from the poem The Little Turtle. c Write some adjectives that describe the turtle. d Circle any word that is an adjective. little running hard slimy swims he snapped brown patterned hide 2 a Complete the sentence. A verb is. b Draw the wombat from the poem Weary Will. c Write some verbs that tell what the wombat is doing. d Circle any word that is a verb. fat runs eats hairy clever digs looks weary he sleeps TARGETING ENGLISH Lower Primary TEACHING GUIDE Copyright Blake Publishing

5 Work Sheet 3 What Happens to Weary Will? The story of Weary Will on page 2 is only the start of a longer poem. Write an idea for what might happen next in the story. Now, read and listen to all of Banjo Paterson s poem and see what really happens! 6 Copyright Blake Publishing 2009 TARGETING ENGLISH Lower Primary TEACHING GUIDE

6 Assessment Animal Words (First name) (Family name) 1 Colour in the box for the correct answer. Work Sheet 4 Rhyming words sound the same at the a b c beginning of the words. middle of the words. end of the words. 2 Draw lines to join the rhyming words. cat fly jump ground said you round through cry bump fed mat 3 Write adjectives around the kangaroo to describe it. 4 Write adjectives around the mosquito to describe it. 5 Write a poem about one of the animals above and use adjectives. TARGETING ENGLISH Lower Primary TEACHING GUIDE Copyright Blake Publishing