EN 5.1
Information
Guided Reading
Objectives
•
To investigate the features of different fiction genres (in this case an ICT
‘adventure’)
Prior learning
To benefit from this lesson children should be able to:
•
navigate a simple interactive text.
Vocabulary
adventure, genre, narrative, explain, justify, consequence, interactive text,
navigate, hyperlink
Resources
•
data projector or interactive whiteboard linked to a laptop
•
ICT suite or set of laptops
•
interactive text Viking Quest, BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/games/vikingquest/index.shtml
ICT skills needed by teachers
To teach this unit, teachers need to know how to:
Lesson outline
•
load and use an interactive text;
•
access and download files from the Internet.
Introduction to the text
Make sure that you and all the children have the interactive text open on the
computer screens.
As an introduction, explain that this is an interactive text in the ‘adventure’ genre.
As they read the children will, at certain points, need to make choices and these
will influence the outcome of the story or adventure.
They will need to read information carefully, so that they can make informed
choices. They should be able to explain and justify their choices based on the
information in the text, the narrative it is conveying and their response to it.
Tell the children that they are going to use information to explore and discuss what
happens as they move through the story, what choices they make and why, and
what the consequences are.
Before reading proper begins, ensure that all the children are confident in
manipulating the text, using the simple buttons to operate the hyperlinks and to
navigate through the screens.
Read the first sections of text collectively. Ask:
Q What information are you given? What information can you deduce?
Q What is your response to what you have read so far?
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Push them particularly to refer back to the text to justify their thoughts and
responses.
At the first decision point (to take the money or not), ask children to discuss their
choice in pairs, considering the possible consequences of either decision. Discuss
their choices collectively and agree as a class which route to follow.
Now ask the children to read on independently in pairs, investigating the choices of
location for boat building, and the type of boat they will build.
Bring the whole class together.
Q What decisions did you have to take?
Q (For a particular decision): Why did you make that decision? What did
you base it on? (e.g. textual evidence, prior knowledge, or intuition)
Q What do you think the consequences will be of that decision?
Independent reading
Ask the pairs to read the rest of the text independently, remembering that they
need to discuss all choices fully. Tell them that they will have to report back, at the
end, on what decisions they made, why, and what the consequences proved to be.
Work around the pairs, supporting their reading and extending their response
through challenge and questioning.
Plenary
Discuss with the class what features made the story you just read an adventure
story. Why wasn't it a horror story, or a love story or a fable? What features of
Viking Quest might you change in order to change its genre?
Finally, discuss with the children the quality of experience of reading a text of this
genre.
Notes
Links to the Literacy Framework
The lesson links to:
Year 5 Term 2 Text 9:
To investigate the features of different fiction genres (in this case an ICT
‘adventure’).
It also prepares the class for:
Year 5 Term 2 Text 14:
To make notes of story outlines as a preparation for oral storytelling;
Year 5 Term 2 Text 21:
To convert personal notes into notes for others to read.
Context of this lesson
On this occasion, an ICT text is being used for guided reading as an alternative to
a paper-based text. The text is also being read as a preliminary to note-making for
oral and written storytelling.
Subject links
Links can be made to work on the Vikings in history and places in geography, and
to work in art.
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DfES xxxx-2004 © Crown copyright 2004
Why use ICT?
The advantages of using ICT are as follows.
•
ICT allows teachers to project text and images for whole class discussion and
collaborative learning.
•
Children can practise reading strategies in an on-screen environment (a reality
of our contemporary world).
•
The ICT text used in this lesson is an interactive text. Its advantages are:
–
the interactivity of the text is motivating and stimulating;
–
the text requires skills that are significantly different from those related to
paper-based texts.
Why use ICT?
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DfES xxxx-2004 © Crown copyright 2004