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PINOCCHIO This is one of 16 activities to try during Michael Morpurgo Month, each of which explores an extract from a different book written by the world famous author. The books are grouped into four themes: natural world, animal adventures, tales retold, and times of war. All the activities can be usedt as either a quick starter or a longer lesson and provide a great opportunity to develop children’s comprehension and vocabulary - not to mention a love of Michael Morpurgo’s books.
Pinocchio
Now – there’s no point in pretending here – I was, and still am deep down, a puppet. Everyone knows Pinocchio is a puppet. I reckon I must be just about the most famous puppet the world has ever known. But the truth is I’m not just a puppet, I’m more than just bits of wood and string. I’m me. So I thought it was about time that I, Pinocchio, told you my story… Pinocchio is the famous story of the naughty puppet who is desperate to become a real boy, retold in his own words.
Using the resource
This resource shares a scene where Pinocchio is bored with school and life at home and decides to run away to see the world and have adventures. After reading the text, there are suggested discussion activities considering: • Retrieving and recording key information from a text • Author’s craft and expressing a character’s distinctive voice • Specific vocabulary choices made by an author for effect Depending on time and the needs of your class, you may want to work through all of these interrelated activities or focus on just one.
There is also a sheet with a writing challenge based on the extract. For Pinocchio it focuses on writing in character. This could be used as a short classroom activity or as homework to consolidate the learning in the teaching session. After reading and discussing the extract some children may be inspired to read the book itself. You could read it aloud as a class novel or direct children to where they can find a copy to read themselves: the book corner, school library, local library or a local bookshop.
Teacher’s notes for the PowerPoint Slide 2 • Share the front cover and blurb to introduce the book and give context.
• Ask children if anyone has read the book before. Does the blurb make them want to read on?
Slide 3 • Tell the children that Pinocchio is a puppet made by his father, Gepetto. One day, he decides he doesn’t like school and wants to explore the world. So he runs away to have adventures!
• Read aloud together (either with the
teacher reading aloud and children following, children reading together as a class or children reading together in pairs).
• Ask the children: - Who is telling the story? (Pinocchio) - Is running away to have adventures as much fun as Pinocchio was hoping?
• Remind the children that this story
is told in the first person. Pinocchio is telling his own story.
• Working with a partner, ask the children
to look through the extract and look for examples of where Pinocchio’s voice might be different to how a story is normally told. The children might suggest: - use of ‘I’ as a pronoun - colloquial phrases (it rained cats and dogs, it chucked it down) - informal language (tummy-gurgling hungry)
Slide 4 • Show this slide and draw out how Michael Morpurgo uses the highlighted features to give Pinocchio a distinctive voice. Slide 5 • Ask the children to work with a partner to devise what happened to Pinocchio next.
• Ask them to practise telling the next part of the story to each other, trying to use Pinocchio's voice.
• Look at what happens next in Michael
Morpurgo’s retelling. Can the children see any more examples of Michael Morpurgo showing Pinocchio’s voice (Perhaps: Some old man; leg it; And… And then…)
Slide 6 • Ask the children for their suggestions as to what pail and blunderbuss might mean.
• Draw out that pail is a bucket and
blunderbuss an old-fashioned type of gun. Discuss why the author might have chosen these words instead of bucket and gun, drawing out that it helps to show the story happened a long time ago.
Slide 7 • Return to the front cover and blurb.
• Ask the children if they would like to read Pinocchio having looked at this extract in detail and thought about Michael Morpurgo’s skillful writing.
• Point children to where they can find a
copy (either any copies you have in the classroom, the school library, or suggest the local library or a bookshop).