Collins Big Cat Whole-class Reading Handbook Ruby to Sapphire by Collins

Emerald

Complete teaching and assessment support

Ruby

Whole-class Reading Handbook

Sapphire

Series Editor: Gill Matthews

Bendemolena Book band: Ruby A play based on an American folk tale about Bendemolena, a kitten who makes a noisy house quiet by putting a pot on her head, and what happens when she runs messages for her mother.

Skills focus • 2c Summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph • 2d Make inferences from the text/explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text

• 2g Identify/explain how meaning is enhanced through choice of words and phrases • Reading aloud with fluency and expression

Whole-class reading session Skills focus

You will need

• 2c Summarise main ideas from more than one paragraph • 2d Make inferences from the text/explain and justify inferences with evidence from the text • Reading aloud with fluency and expression

• • • •

Multiple copies of Collins Big Cat Bendemolena Individual whiteboards and pens Flipchart or whiteboard Resource sheet: Muddled messages

Tune in

Heads together

Ask children to look at the front cover of Bendemolena and to identify what sort of text it is (a play). Ask them to work with their Reading Partners and give them a couple of minutes to note down, on their whiteboards, what they know about plays and what they expect to find in the book.

Give children time to practise their parts in Scene 2, and then read it aloud.

Take feedback, listing children’s responses on the flipchart or whiteboard. Ask children to skim the book to check which of the listed features appear in this play. Take feedback, ticking off the features on your list as children mention them. Turn to page 2 and ask children to summarise the characters in the play. Challenge them to skim Scene 1 to identify the characters that appear in this scene. Allocate roles to each child and take one yourself. Focus on page 3. Ask: • Who do you think is in the Kitten Chorus? (Kittens 1–4) • What is important to think about when we read plays aloud? (using expression, speaking clearly, using facial expressions, and so on) Give children a few minutes to practise their parts, and then read the scene aloud. Draw attention to the title of this scene. Discuss how a noisy atmosphere could be created, for example, shouting, singing, or sound effects. Reread the scene, incorporating the noisy atmosphere.

Ask: • What message did Mother Cat send? (telling the kittens what to do/to put the fish on to bake) • What was Bendemolena’s problem? (She couldn’t hear properly.) • Why do you think the kittens followed Bendemolena’s message even though they were surprised? • What do you think is going to happen in the rest of the play? (Bendemolena is going to give muddled messages.)

Fast finishers Ask children to create some other muddled messages Bendemolena might have heard.

Wrap up Write two headings on the flipchart: ‘Mother Cat’s message’ and ‘Bendemolena’s message’. Ask children to identify these messages in Scene 2. Write each message under the relevant heading. Give each child a copy of Resource sheet: Muddled messages, asking them to write the messages on it. Explain that when they read the play in independent reading sessions, they will look for and write down the other messages.

Ask: What messages do you think Mother Cat wants to send to the kittens?

Big Cat Whole-class Reading Handbook: Ruby to Sapphire

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 Bendemolena • Partly completed copies of Resource sheet: Muddled messages • Flipchart and pens

You are reading Bendemolena. Work as a group. You are going to read Scene 3. Decide who will be the director. The director can check how many characters there are and make sure everyone has a part to read. As a group, talk about what makes a good play reading. The director can write these ideas on a whiteboard and display it on your table. Read your part quietly to yourself. When you are all ready, read Scene 3 aloud. Ask the director to tell you about your reading and whether you need to make anything better. On your Resource sheet: Muddled messages, write down Mother Cat’s message and Bendemolena’s message from Scene 3.

You are reading Bendemolena. Work as a group. You are going to read Scene 4. The director can check how many characters there are and make sure everyone has a part to read. Remind yourselves of what you need to think about when you read aloud. Read your part quietly to yourself. When you are all ready, read Scene 4 aloud. Ask the director to tell you about your reading and whether you need to make anything better. On your Resource sheet: Muddled messages, write down Mother Cat’s message and Bendemolena’s message from Scene 4.

Big Cat Whole-class Reading Handbook: Ruby to Sapphire

You are reading Bendemolena. Work as a group. You are going to read Scene 5. The director can check how many characters there are and make sure everyone has a part to read. Remind yourselves of what you need to think about when you read aloud. Read your part quietly to yourself. When you are all ready, read Scene 5 aloud. Ask the director to tell you about your reading and whether you need to make anything better. On your Resource sheet: Muddled messages, write down Mother Cat’s message and Bendemolena’s message from Scene 5.

You are reading Bendemolena. Work as a group. You are going to read Scene 6. The director can check how many characters there are and make sure everyone has a part to read. Remind yourselves of what you need to think about when you read aloud. Read your part quietly to yourself. When you are all ready, read Scene 6 aloud. Ask the director to tell you about your reading and whether you need to make anything better. Work with your Reading Partner. Skim back through the play and look at your Resource sheet: Muddled messages. On your whiteboard, draw a story map that summarises the plot of the play. Share your story map with the rest of the group. The director can draw a group story map on the ﬂipchart. Check that the story map shows all the main events. Practise using the story map to retell the story of the play.

Big Cat Whole-class Reading Handbook: Ruby to Sapphire

Vocabulary boost session Skills focus

You will need

• 2g Identify/explain how meaning is enhanced through choice of words and phrases

• • • •

Multiple copies of Collins Big Cat Bendemolena Group story map Flipchart Individual whiteboards and pens

Vocabulary table Focus words

Suggested synonym

noisy

raucous

shiny

polished

quiet

tranquil

muddled

confused

hurried

hastened

Tune in Ask children to use their group story map to retell the story of Bendemolena. Ask: • What caused the problems in the play? (Bendemolena not being able to hear properly and mishearing all of the messages.) • What do you think about how Mother Cat reacted at the end of the play? Did you think she was going to be cross? • Why didn’t the kittens tell Bendemolena that the messages made no sense? Explain that in this lesson, the focus is on looking at some of the words the author has used and thinking of other words that could be used instead. Involve children in reading Scenes 1 and 2 aloud. As they read the focus words, write them on the flipchart. Ask children to look at the focus words on the flipchart. Challenge them to work with their Reading Partner and give them a time limit of three minutes to list, on their whiteboards, as many synonyms as they can for each of the focus words. Record children’s synonyms on the flipchart. The idea of this activity is to develop children’s vocabulary and

introduce them to words that they may not be familiar with, so ask if you can add some suggestions to the lists as well. Use the synonyms from the Vocabulary table above as your suggestions, if children haven’t come up with them already. You may wish to concentrate on your synonyms or those that children have suggested. Either way, choose a more sophisticated synonym for each of the focus words.

Heads together Ask children to work with their Reading Partners and challenge them to develop five sentences that each contain one of the chosen synonyms.

Wrap up Focus on each of the chosen synonyms in turn and ask children to read their sentences aloud. Check that the sentences demonstrate understanding of the synonyms. As a group, read Scenes 1 and 2 once more, replacing the original focus words with the synonyms. Ask: Does it make a difference to how the play sounds? Ask children to choose one of the synonyms as their word of the week. Challenge them to use it as often as they can, both at home and at school.