Whistling Wi n ds
Teachers and parents
Before tackling these Blue Level Readers, a child will need to be able to:
l Recognise the basic 42 letter sounds, ‹y› as in happy and fly, the ‘hop-over ‹e›’ digraphs in words like take, these, bike, code and mule, and the other alternative spellings in the leaves below;
l Read (blend) regular words containing these letter sounds;
l Recognise the tricky words shown in the flowers below;
because made ay play
were right put does goes
could should
saw
Satellites can show us what a hurricane looks like. Hurricanes can uproot trees, smash windows, and strip roofs from houses. Very strong hurricanes can even lift cars and buildings off the ground!
In a hurricane, the winds twirl around and can cause a lot of harm.
Sometimes, a hurricane can make a whirlwind (or twister). A whirlwind is a narrow funnel of wind and cloud that is swirling very quickly. Like hurricanes, whirlwinds can do a lot of harm.
Whirlwinds can pick up dust and small objects, and blow them around.
Many sports would not be possible without the wind. Windsurfing and kitesurfing are just two of them. Windsurfers have a sail attached to a surfboard. The sail catches the wind and makes them speed across the waves.
Kitesurfers use a kite and a surfboard. The wind in the kite drags the kitesurfer along.
Like kitesurfing, ballooning and kite-flying would be impossible without the wind.
Did you know that a balloon cannot be steered left or right? A balloonist can take off and land, but when the balloon is in the sky it goes wherever the wind blows it.
Children and adults have been flying kites for a very long time. Kites are even shown in cave paintings from thousands of years ago! a rainbow kite
Teachers and parents
An important part of becoming a confident, fluent reader is a child’s ability to understand what they are reading. Below are some suggestions on how to develop a child’s reading comprehension. Make reading this book a shared experience between you and the child. Try to avoid leaving it until the whole book is read before talking about it. Occasionally stop at various intervals throughout the book.
l Ask the child if they learnt anything in the book that they did not know before.
l Ask the child which part of the book they thought was the most interesting. Ask them to explain why this part interested them most.
l Ask the child to describe what is happening in the pictures.
l Relate what is happening in the book to any real-life experiences the child may have.
l Pick out any vocabulary that may be new to the child and ask what they think it means. If they don’t know, explain it and relate it to what is happening in the book.
l Encourage the child to summarise, in their own words, what they have read.
What’s in the book?
l What is a wind with a speed of eight knots called?
l Name two things that can show you which way the wind is blowing.
l How do sailors sail into the wind?
What do you think?
l Do you think we should have more wind turbines? Why (not)?
l Would you like to fly in a hot air balloon?
