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Not As We Know It Limited
www.notasweknowit.co.uk
Planning for Quality Texts: Cloud Tea Monkeys
These documents are intended to support the planning of effective literacy units based on high quality picture books. They are not intended to
be lesson plans, but offer a menu of possible ideas for teachers to use as starting points to plan for purposeful learning and give pupils reasons
for writing as well as the skills they need to write with impact on their reader. They follow a learning sequence:
 a hook to fully engage and interest the children
 responding to reading activities to allow immersion in and exploration of the text, including picture exploration, book and writer talk
 capturing ideas activities which include drama and talk to support understanding of the text and to develop vocabulary, language and
ideas for writing
 possibilities for the contextualised teaching of grammar
 sentence games to develop creativity, vocabulary, language and grammar
 links to guided reading
 a range of writing tasks which may be final unit outcomes or incidental opportunities during the unit
Specific mention is made of the writing sequence:
 modelled writing - teacher models the writing process aloud and the decisions writers make about sentences, paragraphs etc to create
impact on the reader. This can also include the modelling of planning and spelling strategies.
 shared writing - collaborative composition with discussion and suggestions about what to write and how to write it to create the
intended effect. At this point children may write a sentence/s, often in pairs, on whiteboards which are then discussed.
 guided writing - small group sessions based on specific needs of a specific group of children. The session may address misconceptions,
bridge gaps or extend learning and can take place at any point during the unit.
In addition, cross-curricular links are suggested, including links to challenges from the Learning Challenge Curriculum.
Copyright statement: This document should be used within the purchasing organisation only.
© Focus Education UK Ltd 2014
Possible Written Outcomes or Incidental Writing
Opportunities
 TV/Radio advert for Cloud Tea
 Report on tea growing
 Retell of legend of monkeys who pick tea
 Use illustration to write a descriptive paragraph/s
using sentence structures of book opening as a
model
 Newspaper report about the monkeys which pick
cloud tea
 Parallel recounts of scene with Royal Tea-Taster
from different points of view - overseer, Sonam,
monkeys, Tashi
 Royal proclamation about the discovery of cloud
tea
 Note from Tashi to the monkeys, thanking them for
their help
 Letter to overseer from tea-pickers requesting
better conditions and treatment
 Rewrite story with different crop and creature
coming to Tashi’s rescue
2. Capturing Ideas
 Identify the key events in the story
 Research the legend of tea-picking monkeys and
record the main points
 Retell the legend orally
 Research the growing of tea and text mark
relevant information
 Collate and organise information under subheadings
 Role play scene with Royal Tea-Taster. Freeze
frame and thought track each of the characters
 Organise a tea tasting
 Role play reporter live on the scene following the
departure of the Royal Tea-Taster
 Debate - Sack the overseer?
 What if activity - what if they had been picking
another crop? What if another creature had
helped Tashi?
 Use planning format - map, mountain boxing up to
plan in changes
© Focus Education UK Ltd 2014
UKS2


Hook
Tea making and tasting
Watch video of tea-picking/growing (see
useful links)
Sentence Games (use throughout unit)
 Simile game
 Metaphor game
 Complex sentence game
 Improve a sentence- focus on the
grammatical elements that need
consolidation or review
Guided Reading Possibilities
 Cloud Tea Monkeys. Look at quality of
language, discuss effects. Collect words etc.
 Information books on India, tea growing
 Identify and discuss features of text type for
final written outcome. Level of text can be
pitched at each groups’ level, ensuring both
access and challenge.
1. Responding to the Text
 Visual Literacy: how do the illustrations help us to
understand the time of day?
 Visual literacy: there are coloured illustrations and some
small pen and ink drawings. Why do you think the
illustrator has done this?
 Book talk: find clues that tell the reader that this story is
set in another place and time
 Book talk: Have you any questions about the story? Does
it remind you of anything?
 Book talk: what does Tashi discover as a result of her
kindness to the monkeys?
 Book talk: what might be the themes in this book?
 Writer talk: look at the way in which the writers use
descriptive language to create pictures in the reader’s
head. What grammatical features have they used?
 Writer talk: look at how the writers have used action,
description and dialogue. How does this tell the reader
about the characters and their feelings and reactions
 Writer talk: look at the types of sentences the writers
have used. What is the effect?
3. Contextualised Grammar Teaching
 Simile and metaphor to create effective description
which creates a picture for the reader
 Semi-colon in a sentence to describe and add detail
 Developing characterisation through action, description
and dialogue - showing not telling
4. Modelled Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing
Independent Writing
MAKING LINKS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
Geography/Science
• Investigate India and the Himalayas
• Fair trade tea
PSHE
• Child labour - look at children in other countries
who work and do not attend school
Art
• Pen and ink line drawings in the style of the
Illustrator
Author: Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham
Publisher: Walker Books
ISBN- 978-1-4063-0092-5
© Focus Education UK Ltd 2014
History
 History of tea - cultivation, drinking etc
DT/ICT
 Create slideshow with voice-over on process of tea
production
Useful links
http://vimeo.com/66260870
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-story-of-india-tea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJFaYKEDle4