Giants

29 Feb 2008

Published in Literacy Time PLUS Ages 5 to 7 March 2008

By Helen Watts — Editor, Literacy Time PLUS

This information text encourages children to think about different kinds of giants – not just fairy tale ones! Some of the subject-specific vocabulary will be new to the children, so some support will be necessary.

These teachers’ notes accompany the PRINT ONLY guided reading leaflet in Literacy Time PLUS for ages 5 to 7 March 2008

Before reading

Ask the children what they think of when you say the word giants. Explain that the leaflet they are going to read explores all sorts of giants from all over the world.
Look at the front page. Decide with the children whether it is a fiction or non-fiction text. What are the clues? Discuss other non-fiction texts they have read and the way these were organised.
Scan the other pages and pick out some of the presentational features. How do the headings and bold text help you?
Remind the children that some non-fiction texts do not have to be read from beginning to end. They can be read in any order. Let the children choose which page they would like to read first.
Remind the children to make sure that what they are reading makes sense, and to stop and re-read sentences where they have had to work out unfamiliar words. Read a few of the difficult words with the children, modelling how to read them and work out their meaning.

Previous learning

Children should: understand how information can be found in non-fiction texts to answer where, who, why and how questions; be able to make phonetically plausible attempts at more complex words; have some experience of writing for different purposes.

Key learning outcomes:

To apply a wide range of strategies when reading new or difficult words;

To find specific information from across a whole text, using simple signposts;

To read independently, and with increasing fluency, longer and less familiar texts.

Reading the text

Challenge the children to find out some interesting facts about giants. Eg: Who are the giants in the animal kingdom?
Where do we get the word giant from?
We all know about giants in stories, but are there really any giant people?
Tell the children that at the end of the session you will be asking them to share a fact they have found out about giants.
As you listen to them read individually, encourage the children to use strategies mentioned above.

Responding to the text

Ask the children what they found out from the part of the text they read. What made them read that part?
Discuss features that were helpful in finding information.
Talk about new words that the children found while reading. How did they work them out? Do they know what the word means?

Poetry about giants

Gynormous!: The Ultimate Book of Giants by Adrian Mitchell, illustrated by Sally Gardner (Dolphin Books, 978 18588 13028).

‘Giant’ by Tony Mitton, in Mrs White Had a Fright and other songs and chants edited by Sue Ellis and Myra Barrs, illustrated by Judith Allibone (Walker, 978 07445 68790).

‘The Giant Visitor’ by Irene Rawnsley, in A Blue Poetry Paintbox edited by John Foster (OUP, 978 01991 66794).

‘Giant Jojo’ by Michael Rosen in A First Poetry Book edited by John Foster (OUP, 978 01991 81124).

‘The Great Water Giant’ by Ian Souter, in A Green Poetry Paintbox edited by John Foster (OUP, 978 01991 94223).

Follow-up to guided reading

Ask the children to find a friend who read a different page to them. Tell them to show each other which page they read and then listen to each other reading the unfamiliar page. The child who has already read the page will be able to help with unfamiliar words.
Find some of the story books mentioned on the back of the leaflet and read them.
Find poems about giants (see below) – or write your own.

Using the photocopiables

Let the children the Create a fairytale giant photocopiable to create their own giant. Encourage them to look through story books and poems to gain some ideas about fictional giants.
Use the Giants photocopiable together, modelling how to answer questions using signposts in the text to find the information.