Divide students into groups according to the punctuation they are focussing on i.e. exclamation mark, question mark etc.
Pick out sentences from the book to reflect their focus for e.g. if they are focussing on exclamation mark, then pick out sentences from the book that contains the punctuation e.g. "I'm the only one who is right!" .

Write the sentences on strips of paper provided and when the group has completed the task, insert the strips of paper with all the written sentences into the punctuation pockets as shown:

Discuss with students during shared reading the phrases that are repeated in the book. Have students to practice reading repeated words and phrases in the book.

Have students to write down high-frequency words used in the text for e.g. the word 'moon' and 'right'. These words will then be displayed on the word wall. Students could also create their own story using the high-frequency words found in the text.

Have students to search for a website that will give information about the moon and the lunar cycle. Students to make comparisons between the website the selected children's literature on the style of how information is conveyed.

Teacher to choose one of the landscapes from the book that is similar to the local landscape and prepare A3 photocopies of this page for display on an interactive whiteboard or wall. Show the students the A3 copies or a representation of this page and ask them who or what is in the illustration and what is taking place in the illustration. Model for the students how we can use this information to help us write a simple sentence such as, ‘The wide river is flowing through the trees’. Get the students to turn to a partner and rehearse constructing a sentence. Bring the group back together to share some of the sentences they have constructed in pairs. Provide each pair with a strip of paper for them to record a sentence that they constructed themselves or one that they heard from another group. Display the sentences in the display area.

Before reading the book, ask students to skim through the pages to get an idea and make predictions on what the book might be about. Practice reading repeated words and phrases in the book with children, encouraging them to finish the sentences.

Before reading the book aloud to students, have them to predict the plot based on the title and the illustrations on the cover. Encourage students to talk about their own experiences of observing the shape of the moon at different times of the year and what they think the shape of the moon is. At the end of the read aloud session, get the students to retell the events or key information in the text orally, in writing, and/or drawing.

Introduce the book 'What shape is the moon?' and engage in relevant book talk and prediction activities. Children work in small groups and discuss their responses to either the written language or images (pictures). They record their collaborative response on a prepared recording sheet. Students will be asked to record what they know about the moon as a result of engaging with the written text only. While one group (or groups) of students works on this activity, another group of students completes the same task with a recording sheet that only includes the images use in this text. In other words, what do we know about the moon based on the images. Once the groups have completed their recording, consolidate the learning to construct a shared understanding of the shapes of the moon. Encourage the students to justify their comments and opinions so that the focus is always on relationships between language and images and representations. Teacher to record the results of the discussion for display in the classroom.

Before sharing 'What Shape is the Moon?', cover up the written text on each page. Before introducing the book, tell the students that as they look through it, they should think about what they are seeing in the illustrations and which landscape the author and illustrator might be showing. Tell them that the text has been covered up so that they can focus on the illustrations. Conduct a ‘picture walk’ of the text. As the illustrations are displayed, ask students to suggest which landscapes they depict and to justify their thinking with evidence from the illustrations. Ask questions such as, ‘What are you seeing in the illustrations that makes you think this?’

Like or Unlike? is an activity that helps students to make connections and comparisons between what they know about the world in which they live and the way characters or people are represented in a text.

– Select a main character or person from the text
– Before reading the text, invite students to share what they know
about that type of person or thing in real life; for example, ask: What do we know about owls/ bears/fox?
– Record responses on a class chart
– Ask students to draw their impressions or ideas of the character
– Have them share their portraits with the whole class, discussing
the characteristics they have included
– Read the text to the class
– Discuss how the character has been represented in the text
Record student responses on the class chart
– Draw students’ attention to any differences or similarities between what they know and how the characters may have been represented in the text
– Provide opportunities for them to discuss how the author could
change the way the character or person was represented, and the impact this would have on the text.

Have students to work in groups. Each student in a group starts off by writing a word about the moon e.g. round. Pass the paper on to the next person in the group and he/she writes another word until each student has had a turn.

Gross motor game to learn phases of the moon combining gross motor movement with educational activities. Have students cut out moon shapes as shown in image and stick them on to the floor in no particular order. Call out, "New Moon!" or one of the other phases, and jump to it. Switch up the order. To get more technical, add more moon shapes like waning and waxing moons. This activity promotes listening skills.