The Crazy Critters Book band: Copper This rhyming play includes a funny old man plus a pizza-eating boy who knows a lot about llamas, chimpanzees, giraffes, kangaroos and dinosaurs.
Skills focus • 2a Give/explain the meaning of words in context • 2b Retrieve and record information/identify key details from fiction and non-fiction
• 2c Summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph • Reading aloud with fluency and expression
Guided reading session Skills focus
You will need
• 2b Retrieve and record information/identify key details from fiction and non-fiction • 2c Summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph • Reading aloud with fluency and expression
• Multiple copies of Collins Big Cat The Crazy Critters • Individual whiteboards and pens • Reading Journals
Tune in Look at the front cover of the book together. Ask: What is the title? (The Crazy Critters) Explore children’s understanding of the word ‘critters’ (another word for creatures or animals). Challenge children to find clues on the front and back covers to the contents of the book. (It is a play, written in rhyme, about a lot of different animals.) Ask children to turn to page 2. Explain that this page lists the characters in the play. Ask: Who do you think the narrator is? (the person telling the story) Ask children to look at page 3 and discuss with their Reading Partners how it is laid out and what information is given. Take feedback from the discussion. Establish that the names of the characters are on the left, followed by the words that they say (the script). Draw children’s attention to the colon after each character’s name that introduces the script. Ask children what they think the words in italics are for. (They are stage directions that tell the actors what to do. They also identify props needed.) Allocate roles. You may wish to take on the role of narrator yourself. Suggest that the whole group acts as the chorus. Ask Reader 1 to pretend they have the props listed in the stage directions. Ask children to read page 3 aloud, and then discuss what they could do to make it sound better, for example, read with more expression. Together, read pages 3 to 5, encouraging children to apply the techniques you have discussed.
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Ask: What other prop do we need? (a sign reading ‘Surprised’)
Heads together Ask children to remind you which character they are playing. Ask: What are you going to think about when you are reading? (reading with expression) Ask children to read pages 6–9. Comment positively on individuals who have put dramatic effect into their reading. Explain that you are going to ask some questions and that the answers are in the text. Tell children they will need to look for clues to help them find the answers. Demonstrate this by asking: What props do we need in this scene? (hat, glasses, cane and sign saying ‘Amazed’) Remind children that the props are written in italics, so they should look for italics to help them to find the information. Ask: • Which character picks up the ‘Amazed’ sign? (Reader 4) • What clues were you looking for? (the word ‘Amazed’ in italics) • What crazy critter has been introduced in this scene? (chimpanzee) • What clues were you looking for? (The name of the crazy critter is in capitals each time.)
Wrap up Ask children to read page 6 again, thinking about any actions they could add. For example, Reader 2 could shuffle, Reader 3 could point, and Reader
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Big Cat Guided Reading Handbook: Copper to Topaz 4 could scratch their head. Challenge the group to read pages 6 to 9 again, using expression and adding some actions.
summarises what has happened in the play so far. Ask each pair to hold up their whiteboard and read their summaries aloud.
Discuss what children feel worked well in their reading and what they feel they could improve on. Ask them to work with their Reading Partner to write a single sentence on their individual whiteboard that
Challenge them to reduce their sentence to a five-word summary and then a three-word summary. Once they are happy with their summaries, they can write them in their Reading Journals.
Independent reading sessions Skills focus
You will need
• 2c Summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph • Reading aloud with fluency and expression
• Multiple copies of Collins Big Cat The Crazy Critters • Individual whiteboards and pens • Generic resource sheet: Book talk
You are reading The Crazy Critters. Share the summary you wrote in your Reading Journal. Tell each other which character you were when you were reading the play. Check that you have enough people to read each character’s script and decide what to do if you haven’t. In your group, read aloud pages 10 to 12. Talk about how you could make your reading even better next time: ●
If you had to tell another group how to read this play well, what would you say?
Write down your advice in your Reading Journal.
You are reading The Crazy Critters. Share the advice on reading the play well that you wrote in your Reading Journal. In your group, read aloud pages 14 to 16, thinking about the advice that you wrote. Talk about your reading. ●
Do you think it was the best it could be?
●
How could it be even better?
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Big Cat Guided Reading Handbook: Copper to Topaz
You are reading The Crazy Critters. Choose one person in your group to be the scribe. Tell the scribe the names of the crazy critters in the play. Help the scribe to write them down on the whiteboard. Copy these names into your Reading Journal. Tell the scribe what has happened so far in the play. Help the scribe to write this summary on the whiteboard. Copy this summary into your Reading Journal.
You are reading The Crazy Critters. Share the summary you wrote in your Reading Journal. In your group, read aloud pages 17 to 20. Talk about what you think happened at the end of the play. Write down your thoughts in your Reading Journal. Work with your Reading Partner to complete Resource sheet: Book talk.
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Š HarperCollinsPublishers 2017
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Big Cat Guided Reading Handbook: Copper to Topaz
Vocabulary boost session Skills focus
You will need
• 2a Give/explain the meaning of words in context
• Multiple copies of Collins Big Cat The Crazy Critters • Reading Journals • Flipchart or whiteboard
Vocabulary table Focus word
Brief explanation
Example sentence
Definition
surprised
shocked
I was surprised when the lights suddenly went out.
If you’re surprised you’re suddenly shocked by something.
amazed
stunned
I was amazed when I won the competition.
If you’re amazed by something, you feel filled with wonder.
dumbfounded
speechless
I was dumbfounded when I saw If you’re dumbfounded, you are made the magician doing amazing tricks. speechless by something.
bewildered
puzzled
I was bewildered when it snowed in the middle of summer.
If you’re bewildered, you feel puzzled or confused.
astonished
gobsmacked
I was astonished when my class got all their spellings right.
If you’re astonished, you feel very surprised… and amazed!
Tune in
Heads together
Discuss children’s responses to the play, asking them to refer to their Book talk resource sheet. Display the five focus words. Ask children to work with their Reading Partners, and give each pair two of the focus words. Ask them to picture the length and shape of the words and then scan the text to find them, reading the narrator’s line and the associated reader’s response.
Place the word cards face down on the table, asking each child to pick a card and to read their word silently. Ask each child to decide on a facial expression and a sound effect that represent their word.
Ask: • When are your words used in the play? • Why are they used? (They are used to describe how the narrator feels when he is told he looks like a crazy critter.)
Ask each child, in turn, to hold up their word card, making the relevant facial expression and sound effect. Ask them to repeat this, asking the rest of the group to join in. Finally, ask the child holding the word card to stay still and silent whilst the rest of the group make the expression and sound effect. Challenge children to respond as quickly as they can when a card is held up.
As you read each of the focus words, give a brief explanation of their meanings, using the information in the table above to help you.
Turn the activity around so that a child makes the facial expression and/or sound and the rest of the group call out the associated word.
Ask: What do all the focus words have in common? (They are all adjectives describing feelings. They also all have similar meanings.) If appropriate, introduce and explain the term ‘synonyms’ (words with similar meanings).
Wrap up
Go through the Vocabulary boost process, elaborating on the meaning of each word by using it in a sentence and then giving children a definition. Ask children to record the focus words, definitions and sentences in their Reading Journals.
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Revisit the list of focus words, challenging the group to read each word aloud with as much expression and drama as possible. Ask the group to choose one of the words as their word of the week. Challenge them to use the word as often as they can, both at home and at school.
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