Stage 1
Theme:
Australian Animals
Time Frame:
8-10 Weeks
Key Concept:
Characterisation
Text Set
Learning intention: To enable students to view, understand, interpret, question, create and analyse children’s
literature through the deconstruction of their characters. Students will be exposed to and asked to think
about how authors use poetic language to bring their characters to life for example; alliteration,
onomatopoeia and chant.
Objective A
Communicate through
speaking, listening, reading,
writing, viewing and
representing.
Objective B
Use language to shape and
make meaning according to
purpose, audience and
context.
Speaking and Listening 1
Speaking and Listening 1
EN1-1A Communicates with a range of
EN1-6B Recognises a range of
people in informal & guided activities
purposes & audiences for spoken
demonstrating
interaction
skills
and
language & recognises organisational
considers how own communication is
patterns & features of predictable
adjusted in different situations.
spoken texts
 Develop & apply contextual knowledge
 Develop & apply contextual
 Understand & apply knowledge of
knowledge
language forms and features
 Respond to & compose texts
 Understand & apply knowledge of
Writing & Representing 1
language forms and features
EN1-2A Plans, composes and reviews a
 Respond to & compose texts
small range of simple texts for a variety of
purposes on familiar topics for known
Writing & Representing 2
readers and viewers.
EN1-7B Identifies how language use in
 Develop & apply contextual knowledge
their own writing differs according to
 Understand & apply knowledge of
language forms and features
their purpose, audience and subject
 Respond to & compose texts
matter.
H’writing & Digital Technologies
 Develop & apply contextual
EN1-3A Composes texts using letters of
knowledge
consistent size & slope & uses digital
 Understand & apply knowledge of
technologies.
language forms and features
 Develop & apply contextual knowledge
 Respond to & compose texts
 Understand & apply knowledge of
language forms and features
Reading & Viewing 2
 Respond to & compose texts
EN1-8B recognises that there are
Reading & Viewing1
EN1-4A draws on an increasing range of
different kinds of texts when reading
skills and strategies to fluently read, view
and viewing and shows an awareness
and comprehend a range of texts on less
of purpose, audience and subject
familiar topics in different media and
matter.
technologies.
 Develop & apply contextual
 Develop & apply contextual knowledge
knowledge
 Understand & apply knowledge of
 Understand & apply knowledge of
language forms and features
 Develop and apply graphological,
language forms and features
phonological, syntactic & semantic
 Respond to, read & view texts
knowledge.
 Respond to, read & view texts
Spelling
Grammar, Punctuation & Vocab
EN1-5A Uses a variety of strategies,
EN1-9B Uses
basic
grammatical
including knowledge of sight words and
features, punctuation conventions and
letter–sound correspondences,
to spell
vocabulary appropriate to the type of
familiar words.
text
when
responding
to
and
 Develop & apply contextual knowledge
composing texts.
 Understand & apply knowledge of
language forms and features
 Develop & apply contextual
 Respond to & compose texts
knowledge
 Understand & apply knowledge of
language forms and features
 Understanding & apply knowledge of
vocabulary
 Respond to & compose texts
Objective C
Think in ways that are
imaginative, creative,
interpretive and critical.
Objective D
Express themselves and their
relationships with others and
their world.
Objective E
Learn and reflect on their
learning through their study of
English.
Thinking Imaginatively & Creatively
EN1-10C Thinks imaginatively and
creatively about familiar topics, ideas
and texts when responding to and
composing texts.
 Engage personally with texts
 Develop and apply contextual
knowledge
 Understand and apply knowledge
of language forms and features
 Respond to and compose texts
Expressing Themselves
Reflecting on Learning
EN1-11D Responds to and composes a
range of texts about familiar aspects of
the world and their own experiences.
 Engage personally with texts
 Develop and apply contextual
knowledge
 Understand and apply knowledge of
language forms and features
 Respond to and compose texts
EN1-12E Identifies and discusses
aspects of their own and others’
learning.
 Develop and apply contextual
knowledge
 Understand and apply knowledge
of language forms and features
 Respond to and compose texts
Objectives
Objective A
Communicate
through speaking,
listening, reading,
writing, viewing
and representing.
Outcomes
Content
EN1-1A A student: communicates with a
range of people in informal and guided
activities demonstrating interaction skills and
considers how own communication is adjusted
in different situations
Speaking and Listening 1
 identify, reproduce and experiment with rhythmic, sound and word patterns in
poems, chants, rhymes and songs (ACELT1592)
 use role-play and drama to represent familiar events and characters in texts
Writing & Representing 1
 create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts using growing knowledge
of text structures and language features for familiar and some less familiar audiences,
selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose
(ACELY1661, ACELY1671)
 compose texts supported by visual information (eg diagrams and maps) on familiar
topics
H’writing & Digital Technologies
 understand that handwriting and presentation of work needs to reflect audience
and purpose in order to communicate effectively
Reading & Viewing1
 discuss different texts on a similar topic, identifying similarities and differences
between the texts (ACELY1665)
 understand patterns of repetition and contrast in simple texts (ACELA1448)
 identify visual representations of characters' actions, reactions, speech and thought
processes in narratives, and consider how these images add to or contradict or
multiply the meaning of accompanying words (ACELA1469)
 compare opinions about characters, events and settings in and between texts
(ACELT1589)
EN1-2A A student:plans, composes and
reviews a small range of simple texts for a
variety of purposes on familiar topics for
known readers and viewers
EN1-3A A student:composes texts using
letters of consistent size and slope and uses
digital technologies
EN1-4A A student:draws on an increasing
range of skills and strategies to fluently read,
view and comprehend a range of texts on less
familiar topics in different media and
technologies
Objective B
Use language to
shape and make
meaning according
to purpose,
audience and
context.
EN1-6B A student:recognises a range of
purposes and audiences for spoken language
and recognises organisational patterns and
features of predictable spoken texts
EN1-7B A student:identifies how language
use in their own writing differs according to
their purpose, audience and subject matter
EN1-9B A student:uses basic grammatical
features, punctuation conventions and
vocabulary appropriate to the type of text when
Speaking and Listening 2
 listen to, recite and perform poems, chants, rhymes and songs, imitating and
inventing sound patterns including alliteration and rhyme (ACELT1585)
Writing & Representing 2
 identify the audience of imaginative, informative and persuasive texts (ACELY1668)

draw on personal experience and feelings as subject matter to compose imaginative
and other texts for different purposes
 make inferences about character motives, actions, qualities and characteristics when
responding to texts
Reading & Viewing 2

Grammar, Punctuation & Vocab
 explore differences in words that represent people, places and things (nouns,
Resources
responding to and composing texts
Objective C
Think in ways that
are imaginative,
creative,
interpretive and
critical.
EN1-10C A student: thinks imaginatively and
creatively about familiar topics, ideas and texts
when responding to and composing texts
including pronouns), happenings and states (verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details
such as when, where and how (adverbs) (ACELA1452)
 recognise, discuss and use creative word play, eg alliteration and onomatopoeia
Thinking Imaginatively & Creatively
 recognise the way that different texts create different personal responses
 recognise and begin to understand how composers use creative features to



Objective D
EN1-11D A student:responds to and
composes a range of texts about familiar
aspects of the world and their own experiences
Learn and reflect
on their learning
through their study
of English.
Expressing Themselves
 discuss aspects of imaginative texts such as setting and dialogue, making
connections with students' own experiences
Express
themselves and
their relationships
with others and
their world.
Objective E
engage their audience
identify creative language features in imaginative texts that enhance
enjoyment, eg illustrations, repetition
recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing, performance and digital
forms of communication (ACELT1586)
use creative and imaginative features in role-play and drama
EN1-12E A student:identifies and discusses
aspects of their own and others’ learning
Reflecting on Learning
 reflect on own reading: 'What reading have I done today/this week?', 'Which
part of my reading do I like best?', 'What do I want/need to read about?'
Speaking and Listening 1
- Identify, reproduce and experiment with rhythmic, sound and
word patterns in poems, chants, rhymes and songs (ACELT1592)
Reading and Viewing 1
- Discuss different texts on a similar topic, identifying similarities
and differences between the texts (ACELY1665)
Speaking and Listening 2
Blossom
Possum
Gina Newton & Kilmeny
Niland
- Identify visual representations of characters' actions, reactions,
speech and thought processes in narratives, and consider how
these images add to or contradict or multiply the meaning of
- Listen to, recite and perform poems, chants, rhymes and
songs, imitating and inventing sound patterns
including alliteration and rhyme (ACELT1585)
Writing and Representing 2
- Make inferences about character motives, actions, qualities
and characteristics when responding to texts
Grammar, Punctuation and Vocab
- Explore differences in words that represent people, places
and things (nouns, including pronouns), happenings and states
(verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such as when, where
and how (adverbs) (ACELA1452)
accompanying words (ACELA1469)
Writing and Representing 1
- Recognise, discuss and use creative word play, eg alliteration
and onomatopoeia
- Create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts
using growing knowledge of text structures and language
features for familiar and some less familiar audiences, selecting
print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and
purpose (ACELY1661, ACELY1671)
Thinking Imaginatively and Creatively
- Recognise the way that different texts create different
personal responses
- Recognise and begin to understand how composers use
creative features to engage their audience
- Identify creative language features in imaginative texts
that enhance enjoyment, eg illustrations, repetition
- Recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing,
performance and digital forms of communication
(ACELT1586)
Expressing Themselves
Reflecting on Learning
- Discuss aspects of imaginative texts such
as setting and dialogue, making connections
with students' own experiences
- Reflect on own reading: 'What reading have I
done today/this week?', 'Which part of my reading
do I like best?', 'What do I want/need to read
about?'
Objectives
Objective A
Communicate through
speaking, listening,
reading, writing, viewing
and representing.
Objective B
Use language to shape and
make meaning according to
purpose, audience and
context.
Objective C
Think in ways that are
imaginative, creative,
interpretive and critical.
Teaching/Learning Activities
Resources
1. Introduce the book to the children by showing them the front cover and reading the title. Talk about the
sub title The sky is falling down under. Do any of the children know what it means? Where is down under?
2. Discuss original version of Henny Penny and compare and contrast with the Australian version of the
story.
3. Have students retell the story – whom did Blossom Possum meet first? Who did she meet next? You
may like to use puppets for retelling the story. The children can choose who they would like to be Echo
Gecko, Joanna Goanna or Toey Joey.
1. Students imitate and invent sound patterns to describe animals featured in the text.
2. Students explore rhythm through rhyming couplets.
3. Identify examples of personification throughout the text.
4. Explore the use of Australian slang throughout the text.
5. Students explore how verbs describe characters movements and study the author’s choice of verbs for
the movement of each character.
6.
Write a letter to the Prime Minster. Blossom Possum is very worried about the sky falling and decides to
go and see the Prime Minister. What are the children in your centre worried about? Encourage the
children to write a letter to the Prime Minster with their concerns.
Blossom Possum by
Gina Newton & Kilmeny
Niland
1. Have students draw a map of possums journey to find the Prime-Minister.
2. Using small paper plates cut in half the students can make their own masks. Which animal will they
choose? Don’t forget to include feathers, faux fur, cotton wool, and shiny wrapping paper for the children
to use to decorate their masks.
Blossom Possum by
Gina Newton & Kilmeny
Niland
Blossom Possum by
Gina Newton & Kilmeny
Niland
Craft materials for
masks
Objective D
Express themselves and
their relationships with
others and their world.
Objective E
Learn and reflect on their
learning through their study
of English.
1. Students explore and discuss their own interpretation of the texts and how it relates to personal
experience.
Blossom Possum by
Gina Newton & Kilmeny
Niland
1. Students discuss their opinions of and enjoyment of the text.
2. Ask students what they liked and disliked about the story.
Blossom Possum by
Gina Newton & Kilmeny
Niland
Reading and Viewing 1
- Discuss different texts on a similar topic, identifying similarities
and differences between the texts (ACELY1665)
Writing and Representing 2
The Cocky Who
Cried Dingo
- Understand patterns of repetition and contrast in simple texts
(ACELA1448)
By Yvonne Morrison & Heath
McKenzie
Writing and Representing 1
- Draw on personal experience and feelings as subject
matter to compose imaginative and other texts for different
purposes
Grammar, Punctuation and Vocab
- Explore differences in words that represent people, places
and things (nouns, including pronouns), happenings and states
(verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such as when, where
and how (adverbs) (ACELA1452)
- Create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts
using growing knowledge of text structures and language
features for familiar and some less familiar audiences, selecting
print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and
- Recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing,
performance and digital forms of communication
(ACELT1586)
purpose (ACELY1661, ACELY1671)
- Compose texts supported by visual information (eg diagrams
and maps) on familiar topics
Thinking Imaginatively and Creatively
Expressing Themselves
Reflecting on Learning
- Recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing,
performance and digital forms of communication
(ACELT1586)
- Discuss aspects of imaginative texts such
as setting and dialogue, making connections
with students' own experiences
- Reflect on own reading: 'What reading have I
done today/this week?', 'Which part of my reading
do I like best?', 'What do I want/need to read
about?'
Objectives
Objective A
Communicate through
speaking, listening,
reading, writing, viewing
and representing.
Teaching/Learning Activities
Resources
1. Read the original Aesop’s fable - The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Discuss how the two stories are the same /
different. Act out both versions. Students develop their own ‘wolf/ dingo” crying scenario then write the
story, create a video, and dramatise it.
2. Discuss the importance of friendship and truth. Students prepare a speech explaining what they have
learnt.
3. Create another verse that the birds could recite should cocky ever try his ‘cry dingo’ trick again.
4. Ask students to rewrite the story from the point of view of the dingo.
5. Identify the orientation, complication and resolution and discuss an alternate resolution
Cocky Who Cried Dingo
by Yvonne Morrison &
Heath McKenzie
1. Rewrite the story in different forms such as a narrative or a report.
2. Students choose an Australian animal and write an information report about their chosen animal.
3. Discuss collective nouns. Identify collective nouns used in the text and have students come up with a list
of other types of collective nouns. Students construct their own portions of the text using different types
animals incorporating collective nouns.
4. Students
identify and list adjectives from the text.
Cocky Who Cried Dingo
by Yvonne Morrison &
Heath McKenzie
Objective C
Think in ways that are
imaginative, creative,
interpretive and critical.
1.
beyond’. Students then choose one
animal and research the animal (include the scientific name) and present the information to the class.
Cocky Who Cried Dingo
by Yvonne Morrison &
Heath McKenzie
Objective D
Express themselves and
their relationships with
others and their world.
1. Students explore and discuss their own interpretation of the texts and how it relates to personal
experience.
2. Students compose a modern day version of the story set in the classroom instead of the Australian
outback.
Cocky Who Cried Dingo
by Yvonne Morrison &
Heath McKenzie
1. Students discuss their opinions of and enjoyment of the text.
2. Ask students what they liked and disliked about the story.
Cocky Who Cried Dingo
by Yvonne Morrison &
Heath McKenzie
Objective B
Use language to shape and
make meaning according to
purpose, audience and
context.
Objective E
Learn and reflect on their
learning through their study
of English.
Speaking and Listening 1
- use role-play and drama to represent familiar events and
characters in texts
Reading and Viewing 1
- Understand patterns of repetition and contrast in simple texts
Speaking and Listening 2
Edward the Emu &
Edwina the Emu
By Sheena Knowles
- Listen to, recite and perform poems, chants, rhymes and
songs, imitating and inventing sound patterns
including alliteration and rhyme (ACELT1585)
Writing and Representing 2
- Identify the audience of imaginative, informative and
(ACELA1448)
persuasive texts (ACELY1668)
- compare opinions about characters, events and settings in and
between texts (ACELT1589)
- Draw on personal experience and feelings as subject
matter to compose imaginative and other texts for different
purposes
Writing and Representing 1
- Create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts
using growing knowledge of text structures and language
features for familiar and some less familiar audiences, selecting
print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and
Grammar, Punctuation and Vocab
- Explore differences in words that represent people, places
and things (nouns, including pronouns), happenings and states
(verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such as when, where
and how (adverbs) (ACELA1452)
purpose (ACELY1661, ACELY1671)
- Recognise, discuss and use creative word play, eg alliteration
and onomatopoeia
Thinking Imaginatively and Creatively
Expressing Themselves
Reflecting on Learning
- Recognise the way that different texts create different
personal responses
- Discuss aspects of imaginative texts such
as setting and dialogue, making connections
with students' own experiences
- Reflect on own reading: 'What reading have I
done today/this week?', 'Which part of my reading
do I like best?', 'What do I want/need to read
about?'
- Recognise and begin to understand how composers use
creative features to engage their audience
- Identify creative language features in imaginative texts
that enhance enjoyment, eg illustrations, repetition
- Use creative and imaginative features in role-play and
drama
Objectives
Objective A
Communicate through
speaking, listening,
reading, writing, viewing
and representing.
Objective B
Use language to shape and
make meaning according to
purpose, audience and
context.
Objective C
Think in ways that are
imaginative, creative,
interpretive and critical.
Objective D
Express themselves and
their relationships with
others and their world.
Objective E
Learn and reflect on their
learning through their study
of English.
Teaching/Learning Activities
Resources
1. Have students focus on the picture on the front cover and the back cover…
- Use this to focus on the question: “What do you notice about Edward/Edwina? “
- Read story all the way through.
- Think/Pair/Share: Why do you think Edward/Edwina tried to be another animal/someone else?
2. Draw attention to p.5‐6 Edwina reading the newspaper. Features of a newspaper‐ headline & photo,
anything else the students know about newspapers. Discuss how Edwina’s story might be presented in a
newspaper (to adults reading the paper). Students will write their own newspaper article/recount of a trip
to the zoo.
Edward the Emu &
Edwina the Emu by
Sheena Knowles
1. Students find examples of direct speech and identify punctuation marks used throughout the texts and
experiment with their own.
2. Students explore rhythm through rhyming couplets.
3. Draw attention to the repeated lines in the story, read book again and encourage students to join in the
repetitive refrain “YEEK…choking… you’ve got to be joking” etc. Discuss why the author has repeated these
lines.
4. Interpret story illustrations and identify personification within the text.
5.
Pre-teach words: snarled (pgs.11/12), gumption (13/14), (23) gasped, (27) considered Have students act
out ‘snarl’ and ‘gasp’. Decide together which words to put on the classroom word wall. Consider including
‘basked’, and ‘reside’. Encourage students to use these words in speaking and writing.
Edward the Emu &
Edwina the Emu by
Sheena Knowles
1. Students can be put into a group so that they can be the characters from the story and act out a
retelling of the text in order to fully familiarize themselves with the storyline.
2. Students presents newspaper article/recount to an audience. Encourage students to put on a
newsreader voice ‐ they are not the author telling a children’s story but a reporter retelling an event.
3. Discuss target audience for both texts.
Edward the Emu &
Edwina the Emu by
Sheena Knowles
1. Students explore and discuss their own interpretation of the texts and how it relates to personal
experience.
Edward the Emu &
Edwina the Emu by
Sheena Knowles
1. Students discuss their opinions of and enjoyment of the text.
2. Ask students what they liked and disliked about the story.
Edward the Emu &
Edwina the Emu by
Sheena Knowles
Sample newspapers
Newspaper articles
Speaking and Listening 1
- Identify, reproduce and experiment with rhythmic,
sound and word patterns in poems, chants, rhymes and
songs (ACELT1592)
- Use role-play and drama to represent familiar events and
characters in texts
Speaking and Listening 2
Wombat Stew
By Marcia Vaughan
- Listen to, recite and perform poems, chants, rhymes and
songs, imitating and inventing sound patterns
including alliteration and rhyme (ACELT1585)
Writing and Representing 2
- Draw on personal experience and feelings as subject
Reading and Viewing 1
matter to compose imaginative and other texts for different
purposes
- Understand patterns of repetition and contrast in simple
texts (ACELA1448)
- Identify visual representations of characters' actions,
reactions, speech and thought processes in narratives, and
consider how these images add to or contradict or
multiply the meaning of accompanying words (ACELA1469)
Grammar, Punctuation and Vocab
- Explore differences in words that represent people, places
and things (nouns, including pronouns), happenings and states
(verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such as when, where
and how (adverbs) (ACELA1452)
Writing and Representing 1
- Recognise, discuss and use creative word play, eg alliteration
and onomatopoeia
- Compose texts supported by visual information (eg diagrams
and maps) on familiar topics
Thinking Imaginatively and Creatively
Expressing Themselves
Reflecting on Learning
- Identify creative language features in imaginative texts
that enhance enjoyment, eg illustrations, repetition
- Discuss aspects of imaginative texts such
as setting and dialogue, making connections
with students' own experiences
- Reflect on own reading: 'What reading have I
done today/this week?', 'Which part of my reading
do I like best?', 'What do I want/need to read
about?'
- Use creative and imaginative features in role-play and
drama
- Identify creative language features in imaginative texts
that enhance enjoyment, eg illustrations, repetition
Objectives
Objective A
Communicate through
speaking, listening,
reading, writing, viewing
and representing.
Objective B
Use language to shape and
make meaning according to
purpose, audience and
context.
Objective C
Think in ways that are
imaginative, creative,
interpretive and critical.
Objective D
Express themselves and
their relationships with
others and their world.
Objective E
Learn and reflect on their
learning through their study
of English.
Teaching/Learning Activities
Resources
1. Read Wombat Stew to your students for sheer enjoyment. Pause to induce the children to chime in on
repetitive sections. In the first reading, use the story structures to invite prediction of words or outcomes.
Encourage children always to use print to confirm their predictions. Allow all the time necessary for full
enjoyment of the illustrations. Recognise that it is not necessary for all children to understand all of the
words in order to thoroughly enjoy this experience.
2. Arrange a bulk loan from your school library of other stories and expository texts relating to Australian
animals and encourage children to research further information about the animals featured in Wombat
Stew. Students record their research on simple wall charts, with either their own art work or old magazine
pictures as illustrations. They may like to report their findings to the class
as a group, or to small groups within the class
3. Use visual literacy to deconstruct representations of the characters and compare their traits.
1. Students are introduced to chant and encouraged to write and perform their own chants to the class.
2. Students imitate and invent sound patterns eg; alliteration to describe animals not featured in the
picture book.
3. Students explore how adjectives effect character qualities and adverbs effect details such as when,
where and how a character behaves.
Wombat Stew by
Marcia Vaughan
1. Work with the students in creating a mural of how they think the billabong scene would look. Discuss
with them where the different features should be placed and what materials would be most effective to
give atmosphere to the mural. Also, encourage the children to collect resources from the
environment to make the mural more authentic, eg bark for trees, birds’ feathers, sticks for echidnas’
quills.
2. Students construct their own imaginative, brightly coloured ‘creepy crawlies’ through availability of a
variety of art materials. A number could be made, easily, with sections of egg cartons painted or collaged.
3. Students re-create Wombat Stew through role-playing activities.
1. Students explore and discuss their own interpretation of the texts and how it relates to personal
experience.
Wombat Stew by
Marcia Vaughan
1. Students discuss their opinions of and enjoyment of the text.
2. Ask students what they liked and disliked about the story.
Wombat Stew by
Marcia Vaughan
Animal books from
school library.
Wombat Stew by
Marcia Vaughan
Materials for mural
Wombat Stew by
Marcia Vaughan
Assessment / Collecting Evidence
Observation
Anecdotal Records
Checklist / Matrix
Rubric (CTJ)
Self-Assessment
Peer Assessment
Student Teacher Conference
Journals
Assessment task
1. Have students compare and contrast the five texts;
 What are the poetic devices used in each text?
 How does the use of personification by each author contribute to the mood of his/her story?
 What are the different types of words and patterns that each author uses?
 Which story do you like the most?
 How do the illustrations help to make the reader relate to the characters?
2. In groups of 4/5 have students write and present a podcast reviewing each story.
3. Have students write their own descriptive paragraph of an Australian animal of their choice. Complete
with illustrations.
Possible Links to Other KLA’s
Mathematics
History
Mapping/Position
Australian Culture
Science &
Technology
Use of slang
investigate endangered
species
Computer software & IT
– Podcasts