Weeks 6 & 7 Hatching Chickens

This learning sequence forms part of the Setting the context stage of the Teaching and learning cycle. It introduces life
cycles of animals that develop from an egg. The students will be able to observe a chicken hatching as a starting point
for further investigation of other creatures that hatch from eggs. They will be led in a discussion of life cycles and their
prior understandings of this concept. Concurrently, observation and recording of eggs and chicks progress will occur
as the sequence of lessons unfolds.
English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN3-1A; EN1-5A; EN1-7B; EN1-9B
Teacher Resources:
! YouTube clip - Our chickens hatching
! YouTube clip The baby chickens hatch! (song is a bit odd so you may want volume down).
Introduction: Show the students the YouTube clips of chicks hatching, both in an incubator and a henhouse.

Activity 1: Developing prior knowledge - Develop a concept map as you record the students responses on the
whiteboard. Begin a word wall, with words such as incubate, hatch, egg, down and feathers.
Use some or all of these questions as a starting point:

What do we know about chickens?
What did you learn from the video?
Do any students have chickens at home?
How are baby chickens (chicks) born?
How long do you think it takes for an egg to hatch?
What kinds of things do eggs need to hatch?
What happens to an egg if it doesnt get these things?
Once a chick has hatched, what kinds of things does it
need to grow up healthy?
Can you think of any other animals that hatch from
eggs?
Activity 2: Recording facts about chickens - The students write three facts about chickens, and one or two
things they would like to know. They may use their workbooks or the Facts about chickens worksheet to do this. As
preparation for writing, the students form pairs and discuss what they know about chickens. Each pair rehearses three
facts they know and something they would like to know. Pairs then report back to whole group.

Model one fact (for example, chickens hatch from eggs). Review the structure of the sentence. It tells us whats
happening (the verb hatch), who or what is involved (the noun or noun group chickens) and the surrounding
circumstances (when, where or how from eggs). On the board, write chickens hatch from eggs and colour the
different elements of the sentence so that the students become aware of the patterns of simple sentences. The
Processes, expressed by verbs or verb groups, should be green; the Participants, expressed by nouns or noun groups,
arhould be red; and the surrounding Circumstances, expressed by such forms as adverbs and prepositional phrases,
should be blue.

Next, jointly construct another sentence, again making the structure explicit, before students write their own facts and
one or two things they would like to know. Again, model the sentence structure simply by providing a heading: What
I would like to know and sentence starters such as:
*What do? *What does? *How do/does? When do/does? e.g. What do chickens eat?
Reflection: Lead a discussion about where the students might find further information
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Weeks 6 & 7 Life cycle of a chicken explanation & joint construction
This learning sequence encourages students to recognise that living things have predictable characteristics at different
stages of development, and begins to explore some of those characteristics. Students will also begin to consider which
other animals reproduce by laying eggs.
Note: This topic could be sensitive if children are unaware of the cycle of life and death.
English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN1-2A; EN3-1A; EN4-1A; EN1-5A; EN1-8B; EN1-9B
Teacher Resources:
! A large copy of the Stages of a chickens life and multiple copies of Stages of a chickens life, with the pictures
and labels cut out so students can match them back up again.
! Research materials for students to learn about different egg laying animals. Include different types of resources
such as books, posters and multimodal material
Introduction: Review the previous sequence, where students observed a chick hatching from an egg (either in a
video or in real time). You may wish to view this again. Ask the students to describe what happened, encouraging
detailed descriptions of each stage of the event.

Activity 1: Ordering the stages of a chickens life - Display the large copy of the Stages of a chickens life or
have it on the interactive whiteboard. Ask the students:
Why are there arrows between the stages?
Where does the egg come from?
What is a female chicken called and what is a male chicken called?

Activity 2: Constructing a diagram of a life cycle of a chicken - Jointly construct another diagram using the
set of pictures of the Stages of a chickens life. This time, the pictures are to be pasted in a cycle formation, again with
arrows and labels. Discuss the cyclic nature of the continuation of life of a species in contrast to the life of a single
animal. Students paste the same set of pictures into their science journals and add arrows.
The students can now examine how the life cycle can be expanded to show more explicitly the stages a chick goes
through from egg to maturity. If you wish, you can show them the completed diagram of the detailed life cycle of a
chicken on the interactive whiteboard, and they can then independently, or in collaboration with a partner, work on
the Detailed life cycle of a chicken worksheet. Depending on student needs, the text can be blanked out and provided
as labels that can be pasted beside each of the five images. More able students can be given the diagram with the
label spaces blanked out and asked to write the correct information on the diagram.

Activity 3: Thinking about time frames - Explore the time frames referred to in the life cycle. Ask the students
the following questions:
How many days in three weeks? (Relate this time to events in the students lives.)
What happens over three weeks at school or in your family?
How long is three months? How many weeks? How many days? What about 12 months?

Reflection: What other animals lay eggs? Begin a list of animals that lay eggs, which will be developed over the next
few days. Do these animals have similar life cycles? Let the students know that the class will be investigating this. Start
a class glossary of technical words encountered in this unit of work. Students can record their understandings on a
class chart with headings: Animals that lay eggs, Animals that dont lay eggs and Not sure.
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Weeks 6 & 7 Explaining the life cycle of a chicken
This sequence allows you to monitor the students developing understanding of an explanation of the life cycle in terms
of its structure and the information contained within it related to chickens. This sequence provides an opportunity to
model the increasing amount of technical terminology used in factual texts.
English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN3-1A; EN4-1A; EN1-5A; EN1-8B; EN1-9B; EN1-12E
Teacher Resources:
! The chart of the life stages of a chicken and the chart of the life cycle of a chicken (displayed in classroom)
! Two large sheets of paper on which to display the completed life cycles
Introduction: Review both the Stages of a chickens life and the Detailed life cycle of a chicken worksheet, inviting
individuals to explain both. Jointly read the explanation text How chickens reproduce and as you do, point out the
words that indicate the order of the events in the life cycle, such as after, then and they soon become. You might also
draw attention to the use of subject specific words, such as rooster, mate and egg tooth, and explain how words such
as these help make the explanation more scientific. Tell the students that the class is going to create its own life cycle
explanation to demonstrate what they have learnt.

Activity 1: Developing a rubric - Jointly develop a rubric, using this information on Developing a rubric, that will
indicate whether or not the life cycle the class creates is successful in conveying information.

Activity 2: Developing collaborative outlines of the life cycle - As a whole class, develop an outline of the
life cycle. Divide the class into collaborative learning teams of two or three students, so that there are approximately
nine teams (enough to construct two similar complete life cycles of chickens after you have demonstrated the first
phase of one of the cycles).
Jointly construct the first phase of the life cycle, with questions and comments such as:
Where does the egg develop?
What is the female chicken called?
So rather than writing: The egg develops inside the female chicken, lets write: The egg develops inside the hen.
How should we illustrate this? I think Ill draw a hen and draw an egg on her middle so that we can understand that it
is inside her body.
Each team can then be given a phase of the life cycle to illustrate and add text to, using the notes from the previous
sequence.

Activity 3: Completing the diagrams - Circulate between the teams as they work, clarifying where necessary,
and providing more support to those students who need it. When the students have completed their task, come back
together as a class and have the students, team by team, show and read their phase and paste it on the cycle. The two
cycles can be completed simultaneously.
Reflection: Check the completed life cycles against the rubric to determine the degree of success. Invite comments
about what worked well and what could be improved.The students could use the Self-reflection worksheet to write a
reflection on their teamwork
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Weeks 6 & 7 Construction of a life cycle of another creature
This learning sequence encourages students to recognise that living things have predictable characteristics at different
stages of development, and begins to explore some of those characteristics. Students will also begin to consider which
other animals reproduce by laying eggs.
Note: This topic could be sensitive if children are unaware of the cycle of life and death.
English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN1-2A; EN3-1A; EN4-1A; EN1-5A; EN1-8B; EN1-9B;
Teacher Resources:
! Puggle by Catriona Hoy and Andrew Plant (copy in school library)
! Access to childrens author Catriona Hoys website
! Books, posters and websites such as the Echidna pages on the Australian Animals website, or on the Our
Animals section of the ABC website
! Access to WIX site about mini-beasts created by school students
Introduction: Read Puggle, the story of an orphaned echidna. You may like to read the Teachers notes (.pdf 86 kB)
for this book on the publishers website for ideas for visual literacy and looking at the language of the book in more
depth. Draw the students attention to the dual purpose of the book, which is:
*to tell the story of Puggles life, how he was saved and how he grew up in an animal rescue shelter
*to provide information about echidnas
In other words, the text both tells a story (narrative) and provides information (information report). Before reading the
story, alert the students to the fact that readers can find many facts about echidnas in this story. Ask them to listen for
information as you read. After the reading, ask the students to respond to the text on a personal level and to recall
any information they learned about echidnas.
Read the book a second time using a think-aloud strategy to demonstrate what can be learned about echidnas and
puggles (baby echidnas) from the text. Much of this information can be inferred from the text (for example, ... Puggle
swayed gently to and fro as his mother shuffled through the forest). From this extract, you get the idea that echidnas
move slowly.

Activity 1: Researching the life cycle of the echidna - tell the students that we can create a life cycle about
echidnas in a similar way to our life cycle of chickens. Have a Life cycle research worksheet ready to record
information about how echidnas reproduce. Elicit and enter information from the book. Visit a website or use other
source material and add any new or extra information. Students may like to do independent research using the i-Pads
or computer time.

Activity 2: Constructing a life cycle for the echidna - Revisit the marking rubric you created in Sequence 3 to
revise the elements of the life cycle the class needs to include. Decide on how many stages should be included and
then jointly devise a template, and construct the life cycle of an echidna.

Activity 3: Which animals begin life as an egg? - What other animals begin life as an egg? Revisit the list that
the class began at the end of Sequence 2, where they started to think of animals that lay eggs and animals that do
not. Explain that animals that do not lay eggs give birth to live young and provide an opportunity for students to relate
their knowledge and experience of this. One of the students may have a baby sibling or a pet that has given birth and
they might like to tell the class about these experiences. Provide Pictures of animals that lay eggs or give birth to live
young for them to sort into three columns using the Animals that lay eggs or give birth to live young worksheet.

In groups of 4 (two sets of i-Pad partners), students select their own egg laying animal to research and construct a
life-cycle for. Children check their life cycles against the rubric. They can then show their life cycles to others.


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Weeks 8, 9 & 10 Looking at information reports
This learning sequence builds on what the students have learnt about the life cycle of egg-laying animals and places
these life cycles in the context of an information report (factual description). In this sequence they will learn how
information reports are organised to achieve their purpose.
English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN4-1A; EN1-7B; EN1-8B; EN1-12E
Teacher Resources:
! Tick Tock Tick Tock: Whats up Croc? By Kim Michelle Toft and the books, charts or websites that have been used
in earlier sequences (may need to find alternative if this book is unavailable)
! Two copies of the Note taking worksheet for each student.
Introduction: Revisit the life cycles the students have already produced and select one or two teams to explain the
life cycle of their chosen animal. Point out that the life cycle or reproductive cycle is just one element of what we might
want to know about an animal. (Discuss and add reproduction to the word wall.) What else might we want to know
about an animal? Write the students responses on the whiteboard or interactive whiteboard.

Activity 1: Whats in an information report? - Show the students the Sample information report on chickens
worksheet. Carefully guide them through each paragraph, making explicit the type of information it contains.

Show the students the Note taking worksheet and explain that it is designed to help them organise their information
into paragraphs when they come to write their information reports. Model how to take notes by underlining the key
words in each section of the information report about chickens and entering them on an enlarged worksheet (or on the
interactive whiteboard) to demonstrate how the sentences have been composed from notes.

Review the questions together and then read Kim Michelle Tofts Tick Tock Tick Tock: Whats Up Croc? As you read the
book (both the narrative and the factual text that follows), fill in the boxes in the table in a large class copy or on the
interactive whiteboard. The students could take on the role of scribe to do this.

The information in the book is comprehensive and quite detailed. In order to focus on the language features and
structure of an information report, you will need to extract manageable chunks of information for each box,
remembering that, at this point, the main focus is the structure and language features of an information report, rather
than a comprehensive investigation of an animal.

Ask the students to write the information into their own copy of the table. If additional support is required, repeat the
task using a different resource, possibly from the internet or a brochure or another book, and add any new relevant
information to the table.

Activity 2: Researching an animal - The students can now begin to research the egg laying animal that they
created a life cycle for, using a fresh Note taking. Explain that they will be working on these notes during the next
couple of sessions, as they discover more about their chosen animal.

Reflection - Each group of students shares their work with another group. Provide a structure for sharing, such as:
*work completed so far *most useful resources *what we will do next
Encourage the groups to provide feedback to each other (for example, something that has been done well, something
that could be improved, anything that was unclear).
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Weeks 8, 9 & 10 Language features of an information report
During this sequence the students will learn how to expand noun groups using adjectives that describe and classify to
build up appropriate technical language for information report writing. They will also analyse the different ways the
animals and their features are referred to in the report, and how this creates cohesion and clarity. The students will
make comparisons to the less technical, more everyday language that is used in narrative texts.
English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN1-9B; EN1-12E
Teacher Resources:
! Prickety Prackety by Diana Ross and Caroline Crossland
! Sample information report on chickens worksheet *Flying creatures pictures
! Copies of What chickens look like noun chart worksheet.
Introduction: Revisit the Sample information report on chickens worksheet and the Note taking worksheet that
accompanies it. Draw the students attention to the section on What it looks like and tell them that they will now be
learning about the kind of language needed to describe something well in an information report.

Activity 1: Filling in a noun group chart- Elicit from the students the things that are described in this section:
chickens, comb, wattle, claws and feathers, and enter these on the What chickens look like noun chart worksheet.
When introducing this activity, the Using the noun chart table will help clarify the terminology.
Remind the students that the things we can describe are called nouns. Work together to fill in the describer and
classifier boxes of the What chickens look like noun chart worksheet and then check the answers using the What
chickens look like noun chart worksheet solutions.
The focus here is on the order of words that are used to expand nouns: classifiers, being factual, go nearest to the
noun, or thing being described while describers, which (unlike classifiers) are able to be intensified or modified with
words such as very, quite or bright are further from the noun. Other expanded noun groups can also be found in the
How they have their young paragraph. Students could fill in the describers and classifiers of these nouns.
Activity 2: Building noun groups about parts of other animals - Refer to the What chickens look like noun
chart worksheet that the class has jointly completed. Explain that they will work in groups to build some noun groups
about other animals and that the rest of the class must guess which animal is being described.
Each team is given a picture of one of the Flying creatures and the This animal has noun chart worksheet. Point out
that not every category needs to be included.
The students select one body part and write it in the noun or thing column and then build up an expanded noun group
around it. They then repeat the process for another two or three body parts. The pictures can then be collected and
displayed for the class to view. Each group reads their sentences with their expanded noun groups and the others must
guess the animal being described.
Activity 3: Thinking about language choice - Return to the information report about chickens and draw the
students attention to the technical language used in it (other words in addition to nouns such as incubate and hatch)
and compare this with the more everyday, emotive language used in narratives (for example, in Prickety Prackety by
Diana Ross and Caroline Crossland). As you read the story to the students, write on the board the words that describe
the hen and the chicks: pretty feathers, a pretty brown speckeldy egg, good little hen and a golden hen set with
diamonds. Add these words to your noun chart to see more clearly how the nouns in a narrative have fewer classifiers
than those in an information report. Also note that many of the adjectives used in narratives convey an opinion (for
example, pretty and good). Then write the technical words in the information report on the whiteboard and discuss the
reasons for the authors choice in each. The students can now each complete a Cloze worksheet where they fill in the
pronouns.
Reflection - The students can fill in a Self-reflection worksheet.
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Weeks 8, 9 & 10 Writing an information report
This sequence focuses on students completing their information reports. It may take two or more lessons, or additional
time elsewhere during the day, for students to research their animals, draft and edit their reports and then publish
them.

English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN1-2A; EN3-1A; EN4-1A; EN1-5A; EN1-7B; EN1-8B; EN1-9B; EN1-12E
Teacher Resources:
! Developing a rubric information
! material for students to research: books, charts and websites
! Access to poster board, i-Pads so that students may choose mode of presentation.
Introduction: Begin with a review of what the students know or have learnt about information reports in the last two
sequences. Record their responses on the board and tell them that they are going to put all this knowledge together to
write their own information reports. First the class will jointly construct an information report about crocodiles and then
they will work in their teams to construct their own report.

Activity 1: Construct a report on crocodiles- Jointly construct a rubric (see the information on Developing a
rubric) that will support students in the composition of their information reports. Jointly construct the first paragraph of
the information report on crocodiles (this gives the crocodiles classification, or the group they belong to) and allocate
different stages to each team (keep the same teams that are working on their research projects). Teams who have
been allocated the same stage can then combine to read their texts to each other, comment on each others work and
edit their own text. The class then regroups and you can call on a representative from each stage to add their
paragraph to complete a jointly constructed information report on crocodiles. The groups dealing with reproduction
will support their verbal text with a diagram of the life cycle.
Activity 2: Group information reports - Staying in the same teams, the students can now continue to research
the animal of their choice. Allow enough time for the students to research from one or two sources. However, the
emphasis should be on organising the information into the relevant paragraph and using appropriate technical
language.
The completed information reports could be in hard copy for a book, or as posters or charts or as a PowerPoint or
other computer presentation (Prezi).
Reflection - The students can fill in a Self-reflection worksheet. Alternatively, students can provide feedback on each
others final products.
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Term 4 Literature study: Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen
Students will be introduced to the different purposes of literary and factual texts. They will examine the ways in which
literary texts deal with issues and themes that affect human lives.
Issues such as acceptance, peer pressure and commitment to doing what you know is right will be examined through
reading the picture book Guji-Guji. This is a classic story with a twist; a mother duck has an egg that doesnt match the
others it is a crocodile egg. This first literature study learning sequence introduces the students to the story and the
narrative structure, and begins to make comparisons between some of the language features of the narrative genre
and those of informative texts.
English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN1-2A; EN3-1A; EN4-1A; EN1-5A; EN1-6B; EN1-7B; EN1-8B; EN1-9B; EN1-10C; EN1-11D; EN1-12E
Teacher Resources:
! the online version of the story read by Robert Guillaume at Storyline Online or YouTube
! the book or story of The Ugly Duckling (any version).
Introduction: Re)familiarise the students with the story of The Ugly Duckling by reading a traditional version and
discussing it. Suggestions for discussion questions include:
*How did a swans egg come to be in a ducks nest *How did the mother duck and the ducklings treat the ugly
ducking? *How did the ugly duckling feel? *What could the swans and the ducks have done differently?
Activity 1: Thinking about differences and similarities - Read and/or view Guji-Guji. Think-pair-share
differences and similarities between the two stories. Provide some guiding questions such as:
*Which characters are the same in both stories *Which are different? *How did the characters treat the strange
hatchling? *How did the hatchling (the crocodile and the ugly duckling) feel?
Come together and jointly construct a Venn diagram comparing Guji-Guji and The Ugly Duckling.
Activity 2: Describing the characters - Initiate a discussion about the characters from both stories. Which
characters did students like and admire and which did they dislike? What words might describe these characters? Give
the students the Describing characters worksheet, with the characters listed and match some describing
words/adjectives with each character. The students can now write a character profile using the Character profile
worksheet, or deliver a short oral presentation. This could be accompanied by a painting, drawing, collage or model
of one of the characters (which could be done in an art lesson) from either book and should also include a statement
about what they did or did not like about that character.
Reflection - Lead the students in a discussion about which story they preferred and why. They should provide
evidence from the story to support their opinion.
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Term 4 - Visual Literacy: Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen
So far we have focused on the written language of Guji-Guji, but a picture book, by its very nature, is so much more.
In this sequence we will undertake a close examination of how pictures and text work together to make meaning. The
Analysis of image and text in Guji-Guji provides background information. This will support you in devising questions
that help the students in their reading and understanding of the story. It is a useful model that can be adapted to
analyse other picture books.
English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN4-1A; EN1-7B; EN1-8B; EN1-10C; EN1-11D; EN1-12E
Teacher Resources:
! the online version of the story read by Robert Guillaume at Storyline Online or YouTube
! Book cover analysis worksheets
Introduction: The students sort a selection of images according to the type of text they come from: an informative
text or an imaginative text. Ensure they are familiar with these terms and their meanings; do not assume that they
are.Discuss and record the images on a chart for display (hard copy or digitally). Explain that the students will now
look closely at how illustrations are used in Guji-Guji.
Activity 1: Analysis of a book cover and finding out about an author - Revise or teach the different
elements and features of the cover, front and back of a book: title, illustrator, author, publisher, blurb, web address,
reviews, picture and so on. The students can fill out a Book cover analysis worksheet (which could be used as the basis
for comparison and study of other books).
The author/illustrator, Chih-Yuan Chen, is from Taiwan. Ask the class to find Taiwan on a map. Next, search for
information about Chih-Yuan Chen on the internet (Wikipedia may be a good place to start). The students could
highlight Taiwan on photocopies of a map of Asia and write a short report about Chih-Yuan Chen. This material could
be made into posters for display in the classroom.
Activity 2: Thinking about the relationship between texts and pictures - Read the story or play the audio
from the Flash or YouTube version, without showing the illustrations, and lead a discussion about what the students like
and dislike about not seeing the illustrations as they hear the story. Read the story again, this time showing the
illustrations, inviting comments and asking questions page by page. The focus is to encourage students to glean
information from both text and image and to become aware of how images and text support each other, either:
in a symmetrical relationship, where the words and images closely convey the same information
in an enhancement relationship, where the images expand on the words or the words expand on the images
in a counterpoint or contradictory relationship, where the words and pictures give contradictory information.
(From de Silva Joyce and Gaudin, Words and Pictures.)
Examples of questions you might ask:
Pages 1 and 2: Why are there three brown eggs on these two pages? The words tell us the egg rolled; how do the
pictures show the movement? How do we know there is going to be a surprise for Mother Duck? What do we
learn from the picture that the words dont tell us? (The new egg is much bigger than the others.)
Pages 3 and 4: What does the picture of Mother Duck sitting on her eggs tell us? (It emphasises the fact that she
was engrossed in her book, because the size of the strange egg is so obviously out of place.)
Pages 5 and 6: How do we know the rather odd duckling is really a baby crocodile?
Continue questioning for other double-page spreads. Use the Book cover analysis worksheet to suggest questions and
discussion points.


Activity 3: Thinking about colour and visual representations - We can discover a lot about the characters
from the way they are illustrated and the colours that are used. Ask the students the following discussion questions:
What are the main colours in the illustrations? Why are the main colours so drab and gloomy?
Which characters have some bright, cheerful colours (red and/or yellow)? Why?
What colour is used on the crocodiles to emphasise that they are mean, cold, cruel creatures?
What other techniques does the illustrator use to help the reader learn more about the characters? (Hint: Consider
types of lines, shapes and size as well as position on the page.)
The students can fill in the Character comparison worksheet that lists the characteristics of the three main creatures
according to how their body features are represented. Use this worksheet as the basis for a discussion about what the
author is trying to convey through these elements of his illustration. You can show the students a sample of a
Completed character comparison worksheet to compare with their own worksheet. ACELT1591
Reflection - Ask the students to think about other picture books they have read. Ask them:
How important were the illustrations in your enjoyment of the book and in your understanding of the story?
Are there some books that you would rather listen to or read without seeing the illustrations so you can use your
imagination to create your own interpretation of the story?
Have a selection of books available to prompt the students thinking. These books should be kept available for reading
during independent reading sessions.
List some of the classs favourite picture books and illustrators.
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Term 4 Comprehension and Connection
To date the class has examined the story of Guji-Guji for its narrative structure and for some of the salient language
features, and has looked at how the visuals enhance the story and our reading of it. This learning sequence looks at
comprehension strategies that help students gain a deeper understanding of the story by going beyond literal
meanings. It also explores how students can make connections between the texts they read and their own lives as a
means of deepening their understanding of a text.
English Outcomes:
EN1-1A; EN1-2A; EN3-1A; EN4-1A; EN1-5A; EN1-9B; EN1-10C; EN1-12E
Teacher Resources:
! Guji-Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen
! class copies of the How Guji-Guji sees himself worksheet and the How I seemyself worksheet.
Introduction: Write the words positive and negative on the board and elicit what students understand by these
terms. Tell them they are going to think about the words in terms of the positive or negative emotions they give rise to
as they categorise the words in the table below according to whether they see them as positive or negative.
smile fierce terrible laugh
grin help happy content
odd bad dance celebrate
worry pointed (teeth) vanish strong





When you have done this as a class, provide opportunities for the students to justify why they categorised the words as
they did (laugh is a positive word/action because you do it when you are happy). Point out that some words can be
used either as a positive or negative, depending on the context (laugh can be negative in the sense of an evil laugh).
Activity 1: Words that convey positive and negative emotion- Go through the text of Guji-Guji with the
class and find some of the words in the story that confirm your placement as positive or negative. You could make a
second chart that is titled Words that show positive and negative emotions in Guji-Guji. For example, on the page
that tells us the crocodiles were smiling and that they laughed, we can see this as relating to negative emotions in the
reader because we are told it was a terrible day and we can see the picture of the three menacing, bad crocodiles
even though there are no words that tell us these things. Point out that sometimes words might say one thing but mean
another (for example, sorry, when the person saying it does not mean what they are saying). Add words not
mentioned in the story that describe the characters in either positive or negative terms (evil, nasty, kind, loyal, trick,
save, smelly and so on).
Activity 2: Creating more expanded noun groups - Revisit the noun group charts from Sequence 10 for
evidence of positive and negative descriptions of the animals and develop some other expanded noun groups based
on the lists you have just compiled.
Activity 3: How does Guji-Guji see himself? - The different characters in the story see Guji-Guji in different
ways. From the text, identify words that tell us how Guji-Guji sees himself and how others see him, and describe how
they see him. Students can use the How Guji-Guji sees himself worksheet to record their answers. After the students
have filled in the worksheet, they can discuss their answers as a class. For the first part of the worksheet their answers
might look something like this: He sees himself as a duck, as a good brother and a good son, and also as happy, but
then he questions himself and sees himself as perhaps not belonging to the duck family, and looking a little ridiculous.
However, he also sees himself as responsible and resourceful, clever, and at the end of the story he sees himself as
truly part of the duck family and community.
Ask the students to then think about how this worksheet connects with each of them. They can fill in the How I see
myself worksheet or answer the same questions in their writing/English books.

Activity 4: Thinking about the issues - This activity invites the students to connect more deeply with the issues
underlying the story. The following questions will help to draw out what those issues are:
Why was Guji-Guji confused after meeting the bad crocodiles?
Why did Guji-Guji feel closer to the other ducks than to the crocodiles?
How did he feel about the ducks?
How did he feel about the crocodiles?
What else could Guji-Guji have done to save the ducks?
Would you like to share a time when someone asked you to do something that is wrong? What did you do? What
could you have done?
Optional Assessment Task: For Assessment task 2, the students will be writing a character profile of one of the
characters from the picture book Guji-Guji.
Reflection - The students should use the rubric to self-assess their character profile before handing it in for formal
assessment.
Registration & Evaluation: