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Mr McGee and the Elephants by Pamela Allen Year 4 Activities (English…
Mr McGee and the Elephants by Pamela Allen Year 4 Activities
English
Language
Text structure and organisation: Understand how texts are made cohesive through the use of linking devices including pronoun reference and text connectives (ACELA1491)
Connective cohesion – This activity will follow a reading of “Mr McGee and the Elephants.” The teacher will select sentences from the book and write them on the white board, leaving blank spaces where connective words were present in the sentences. Students will recognise that the sentences do not make sense without the use of connective words and they will think of connective words, to fill in the blank spaces and establish cohesion in the sentences. The teacher will choose students to read aloud the sentences before and after the connective words are added, so that students can hear and see the difference that connective words make, regarding the cohesion of the sentence.
Personal pronouns – After students have read “Mr McGee and the Elephants,” the teacher will select example sentences from the book, which demonstrate pronoun reference. Students will identify the pronouns in the sentence, asking themselves:
. Which character is the sentence referring to?
. Is the character male, female or neither?
. What elements of the text indicate that I have accurately identified the pronoun references?
Example: “Mr McGee turned very pale. He strode across… and pulled its tail.” The pronoun for Mr McGee is ‘he’ and the elephant’s pronoun is ‘its.’ The illustrations help to identify the pronoun references.
Phonics and word knowledge: Understand how to use phonic knowledge to read and write multisyllabic words with more complex letter combinations, including a variety of vowel sounds and known prefixes and suffixes (ACELA1828)
Sound aloud – After students have read “Mr McGee and the Elephants,” they will use their phonic knowledge to find words, in the book, that share the same sounds, however are spelt with different letter combinations. Students will work in partners to find such words in the book and read the words aloud to practise the sounding out strategy.
Example: The “air” sound in chair and the “ere” sound in there. The “ea” sound in head and the “ai” sound in said.
Letter scramble – The teacher will provide each pair of students with pieces of paper and on each piece, will be the letters of the alphabet and different letter combinations. Students will experiment with the letters of the alphabet and the letter combinations in their attempts to spell out words. They can swap and experiment with the letters and letter combinations, creating a list of which letter combinations create accurately spelt words.
Example: The letters ‘b’, ‘r’ and ‘d’ can be joined with the letter combination ‘ea’ to spell bread. The same letter combination ‘ea’ can be joined with letters ‘p’, ‘c’ and ‘e’ to spell peace.
Expressing and developing ideas: Understand that the meaning of sentences can be enriched through the use of noun groups/phrases and verb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases (ACELA1493)
Imagination appreciation - Students will close their eyes and listen as the teacher reads selected and modified sentences from “Mr McGee and the Elephants.” Students will attempt to imagine and create a visual image based on what the teacher reads. The teacher will read a sentence from the book, skipping the adjectives and prepositional words when reading, where possible. Students will describe their imaginings to the class. The teacher will read the original sentence from the book (with adjectives and prepositional words). Students will discuss their imaginings and mental images and explain why one sentence was easier to imagine than the other. The teacher will repeat this process with various sentences from the book.
Literature
Responding to literature: Discuss literary experiences with others, sharing responses and expressing a point of view (ACELT1603)
Venn diagram (Department of Education, 2013) – Students will construct a Venn diagram to present the differences and similarities between two characters in the book; Mr McGee and the elephants.
Students should consider:
. the characters’ personality traits
. the type of character (human or animal)
. the actions of the characters
. the tone of each character’s voice
Students will later have a discussion amongst themselves to compare other students’ Venn diagrams with their own.
Debate (Department of Education, 2013) – The teacher will divide the class of students into two opposing debate teams. One team will support the elephants and the other will support Mr McGee. The debate will explore the point of view of Mr McGee and the elephants. Students will debate on which characters are better-behaved in the book, taking turns to share their point of view and justify their statements.
Students should consider key points for the debate:
. the motives of each character
. the actions of each character
. the personality of each character
Examining literature: Discuss how authors and illustrators make stories exciting, moving and absorbing and hold readers’ interest by using various techniques, for example character development and plot tension (ACELT1605)
Think, pair, share – Students will independently reflect on the engaging and exciting aspects of “Mr McGee and the Elephants.” Students should think about which aspects of the book were engaging and explain why they consider those aspects engaging. Students will then find a partner and discuss their thoughts with them. The teacher will then conclude the activity by asking each pair of students to share their thoughts and opinions with the class.
Modified story – Students will discuss the characters and plot development in “Mr McGee and the Elephants.”
Students will think of ways in which they would alter the
storyline to make it more interesting.
Students should consider changes such as:
. Adding new characters
. Changing the events in the story
. Adding more events to the story
. Changing the setting of the story
Creating literature: Create literary texts that explore students’ own experiences and imagining (ACELT1607)
Exciting endings – After reading “Mr McGee and the Elephants,” students will discuss ideas for an alternative ending to the book. The teacher will facilitate the discussion, asking about their ideas and the reason behind their ideas. Students will then write their own ending to the story, using their imagination to think and write as creatively as possible. Students should consider ideas that will capture their audience’s attention.
Literacy
Interpreting, analysing, evaluating
Content descriptions: Read different types of texts by combining contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge using text processing strategies for example monitoring meaning, cross checking and reviewing (ACELY1691)
Text deconstruction – The teacher will read “Mr McGee and the Elephants,” with students. After the book has been read, the class will read the book again however, will pause at times to deconstruct the meaning of the text.
Examples:
. “Had they heard a plaintive cry?” – ask students what is the meaning of plaintive? How does the word ‘plaintive’ contribute to the text? Does the ‘cry’ in this question refer to tears and weeping? How do the students know this?
. “Mr McGee turned very pale” – what does paleness indicate? Might Mr McGee be ill? What are the reasons behind the students’ answers?
. “GET DOWN FROM THERE!” – how might have Mr McGee felt when he said this? Why? What tells you that he feels this way? What tone of voice might be used to say this?
Prediction – Each student will be provided with a piece of paper, a pencil and eraser. The teacher will read “Mr McGee and the Elephants” to the students and they will record notes of their predictions and responses during the reading. When reading the book, the teacher will pause at pages which end with questions or suspense. Students will be asked to use their knowledge of the text to make a prediction regarding the future events of the story. After predictions have been made, the teacher will allow the students to have time to reflect upon the accuracy of their predictions.
Creating texts: Re-read and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure (ACELY1695)
Synonym swap – After reading “Mr McGee and the Elephants,” students will re-read the book and select one noun, adjective or verb from each page. Students will record their selected words as a list in their notebook. Students will then find synonyms for each of their chosen words and replace the words in the text with their respective synonym.
Students will ask themselves:
. Does the sentence still make sense with the synonym?
. Does the synonym improve the sentence?
. Has the author made the best possible vocabulary choices for the text?
Questioning – Students will work in small groups to discuss the role of questions in “Mr McGee and the Elephants.” They will complete a worksheet which explores the importance of the use of questions in texts.
Questions on the work sheet will include:
. What is the importance of using questioning in texts?
. How does your experience of a book change when the text includes questions?
. Does the use of questions improve the content of the book?
Interpreting, analysing, evaluating: Identify characteristic features used in imaginative, informative and persuasive texts to meet the purpose of the text (ACELY1690)
Text conventions – The teacher will facilitate a class discussion about the text conventions that are used to construct imaginative texts. “Mr McGee and the Elephants,” will be used as an example and the students will identify the use of text conventions in the book.
Discussion points will include:
. What are the imaginative features of the book?
. How do you know that these features are imaginative?
. What other imaginative features could be added to the book?
. How do the imaginative features contribute to the overall purpose of the text?
Humanities and Social Sciences
Science
The Arts
Mathematics
Health and Physical Education
Students will research elephants and write a report to present their findings. The report should include the habitat, diet, life span and interesting facts about elephants.
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Investigate the ways that human activity have affected the elephant population and their well-being. Write a short persuasive speech to present your findings and convince people to protect elephants.
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After reading "Mr McGee and the Elephants," students will work in groups to choreograph a dance which will communicate ideas from the book through interpretive movement. Students will perform their dance to the class and the audience will guess which part of the book was being explored in the dance.
Perform dances using expressive skills to communicate ideas, including telling cultural or community stories (ACADAM007))
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Students will work in groups to write a script for a short skit, exploring an alternative ending to "Mr Mcgee and the Elephants." Each group of students will practice their skit and perform it to the class.
Explore role and dramatic action in dramatic play, improvisation and process drama (ACADRM027)
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Students will work in pairs to write a rap about Mr McGee. The rap should include rhyming and should be performed with a consistent tempo and rhythm.
Create, perform and record compositions by selecting and organising sounds, silence, tempo and volume (ACAMUM086)
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After reading "Mr McGee and the Elephants," students will design their own story board. Students will choose four events from the story and draw each of them on the story board. Each event of the storyboard should be labelled to best suit the student's personal interpretation of the story.
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Each student will generate two questions regarding the endangered status of elephants. The questions will be used in a news report (to be filmed by the class) which will investigate elephants and how people can help protect them
Pose questions to investigate people, events, places and issues (ACHASSI073)
Inquiry and Skills: Questioning #
Students will plant an apple tree - just like the one in "Mr McGee and the Elephants." Students will track and record the growth of the apple tree over a two month period of time. They will then create a simple column graph to present their data on the growth of the apple tree.
Use a range of methods including tables and simple column graphs to represent data and to identify patterns and trends (ACSIS068)
Science Inquiry Skills: Processing and analysing data and information #
Four major events occurred in "Mr McGee and the Elephants."
1) Elephants drinking tea
2) Apples growing on an apple tree
3) Mr McGee living under an apple tree
4) Mr McGee being thrown in the air by an elephant
Students will order the events from least likely to occur to most likely to occur in real life, writing down their answers.
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Students will design a symmetrical illustration for the cover page of "Mr McGee and the Elephants." After students draw their symmetrical illustration, they will write a few sentences about the symmetrical qualities of their picture and describe the location of the line of symmetry.
Create symmetrical patterns, pictures and shapes with and without digital technologies (ACMMG091)
Measurement and Geometry: Location and transformation #
Students will explore equivalent fractions with apples from Mr McGee's apple tree. The teacher and students will work together to cut up the apples to demonstrate and explain the concept of equivalent fractions with segments of the apples. Students will write down the respective fractions for each demonstration with the apples.
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Students will go on an excursion to the zoo and make a list of the observations they make as they watch and learn about the elephants.They should reflect on the differences between the elephants at the zoo and the elephants from "Mr McGee and the Elephants."
Locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations (ACHASSI074)
Inquiry and Skills: Researching #
The teacher will facilitate a discussion about Mr McGee's possible emotional experiences in the story. Each student will develop one strategy, which they think could help Mr McGee manage his emotions. Students will write each of their strategies on a post-it note and create an "emotional health" post-it note wall.
Explore strategies to manage physical, social and emotional change (ACPPS034)
Personal, Social and Community Health: Being healthy, safe and active #
In "Mr McGee and the Elephants," Mr McGee encounters some accidents which require medical attention. Students will design a poster to advertise a first aid kit. Students should consider selecting materials which will help people recover and heal after accidents, just like Mr McGee.
Describe strategies to make the classroom and playground healthy, safe and active spaces (ACPPS040)
Personal, Social and Community Health: Contributing to healthy and active communities #
Students will research the nutritional information of the foods that were consumed by Mr McGee and the elephants in the book. They will record their findings in their notebooks and make judgments on the nutritional value of the foods. Students will also reflect on their own eating habits and the nutritional value of what they consume.
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