Series of Lessons 8 English lessons using Luke & Freebody’s Four Reading Resources Model for reading(1999) ,
and Rose’s genre teaching and learning cycle for writing (2005).
One picture book and one factual text have been used as a focus for the series of eight English lessons. The narrative The Heart and
the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers was chosen as the picture book for two reasons; weighty themes of loss, grief, loneliness and love are
explored; and visual literacy is needed to de-code, interpret, and comprehend the text. The main character in The Heart and the
Bottle has a fascination with stars and which was the deciding factor in choosing the corresponding factual text, The Science of the
Stars, by Derek Agnew (taken from the website ABC Spark). The similar subject matter of the texts enabled the lessons to be linked
coherently and enhances the teaching of both texts. The issues covered in the picture book and both the content and vocabulary of
the factual text are appropriate to be explored at grade 5/6 level and AusVELS level 4 descriptors have been outlined for each lesson.
The sequencing of the lessons is fluid and introduces each text allowing children to explore and critically reflect on the texts both
grammatically and structurally whilst working through the lessons. Each writing lesson uses the Rose’s 2005 genre teaching and
learning cycle for writing which the DEECD (2012) describes as a three step process; joint deconstruction, join construction, and
individual construction of text. The reading lessons incorporate all four of the reading practices according to Luke and Freebody’s
model (1999) which are described by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development [DEECD] (2009) as what
students need in order to be literate. Using both these models in the lessons builds on the children’s prior knowledge and produce
skills which are required to obtain the aims of the English domain. These aims are outlined by the AusVELS (2012) as “to engage
imaginatively and critically with literature to expand the scope of their (the students’) experience”.
Lesson no. 1
Outcomes / Indicators /
Descriptors
Explore the effect of choices
when framing an image,
placement of elements in the
image, and salience on
composition of still and moving
images in a range of types of
texts (ACELA1496)
Discuss how authors and
illustrators make stories
exciting, moving and absorbing
and hold readers’ interest by
using various techniques, for
example character
development and plot tension
(ACELT1605)
Use metalanguage to describe
the effects of ideas, text
structures and language
features of literary texts
(ACELT1604)
Use comprehension strategies
to build literal and inferred
meaning to expand content
knowledge, integrating and
linking ideas and analysing and
evaluating texts (ACELY1692)
Discuss literary experiences
with others, sharing responses
and expressing a point of view
(ACELT1603)
Text: The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers
Reading practice: Code Breaker
Explicit teaching
Before reading:
Show the book with the title covered. Discuss what the title of the book might
be and what it might be about.
Field building - Talk about the image of the heart – what does a heart
symbolize (feelings e.g. love, heartbreak, heartache). Discuss how the heart
symbolizes this even though the brain processes feelings. What about the
bottle –what could it symbolize? Discuss bottling up feelings. Why would
someone bottle up feelings? Is it healthy to bottle up feelings? Discuss again
what the book might be about.
During reading:
Read through the book allowing children to absorb the imagery that goes
along with the story.
After reading:
What information does “once there was” give us? (time code, past tense)
Discuss: what does “curiosities” mean? Have children look it up in the
dictionary, or online, including the etymological definition and brainstorm
what some curiosities of the world might be. How does the girl abate her
curiosity? (the man tells her things, they read in books, they discover
together)
What does the use of the punctuation…mean/infer? Refer to several pages
where this is used. Discuss how it continues the sentence or phrase and
makes us read further or turn the page
Discuss imagery and how it affects the story. What information can we gather
from the images that we don’t get from the text? (the man, friendship,
sharing, death, sadness). What else is used in the images to add to the
feelings in the story (colour, weather)
Have children complete worksheet (see appendix 1a)
Reflection: group discussion on findings after completing worksheet. Look at
The Heart and the Bottle iPad app – what does being able to interact with the
images bring to the story? How do sound effects support the story?
Assessment
Contribution
to class
discussion
Resources
Multiple
copies of
The Heart
and the
Bottle by
Oliver
Jeffers
Worksheet
(see
appendix
1a)
Completion of
worksheet
(appendix )
with good
reasoning and
comprehensio
n of visual
literacy cues
ipad(s) and
The Heart
and The
Bottle app
for iPad
Appendix 1a – The Heart and the Bottle worksheet (Code breaker)
The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers
Write the definition of curiosities.
List some things that you think are ‘curiosities of the world’
How has the author used colour in his images to represent feelings?
What effect has the use of diagramming (speech bubbles) had on the story?
How has movement been shown in the pictures? (give some examples)
What emotions can you see from looking at the pictures?
How is colour used in the images?
What do you think the images with no background symbolize?
Write a brief summary of the story in your own words.
Lesson no. 2
Text: The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers
AusVELS level 4 Descriptors
Use metalanguage to
describe the effects of ideas,
text structures and language
features of literary texts
(ACELT1604)
Read different types of
texts by combining
contextual , semantic,
grammatical and phonic
knowledge using text
processing strategies for
example monitoring
meaning, cross checking
and reviewing (ACELY1691)
Use comprehension
strategies to build literal and
inferred meaning to expand
content knowledge,
integrating and linking ideas
and analysing and evaluating
texts (ACELY1692)
Reading practice: Text Analyst (grammar)
Explicit teaching
Before reading:
Tell students we are going to analyse what the author is trying to
convey in the story. Brainstorm on WB what themes the children can
pick up and what they think the author is trying to infer
During reading:
Re-read story and add any more themes that might appear. Is the
author trying to give us a message? If so, what?
After reading:
Watch Oliver Jeffers interview on YouTube until 1’50”. Discuss other
themes mentioned and how the author’s opinion is portrayed in the
book (i.e. it’s unhealthy to bottle up your feelings, celebrate life).
Model making a wordle using text from blurb inside the front cover of
the book. Ask children to create a Wordle using pertinent words from
the text up until the page where the girl is running with her
drawing|(see example appendix 2a) Then ask students to create a
wordle using pertinent words from the rest of the story (see example
appendix 2b). Have children compare the Wordles and answer the
question “how has the author used grammar to construct meaning in
the text?”
Discuss the positive words in the first wordle
Discuss negative connotations of the words in the second Wordle.
Get children to brainstorm more words that would fit into the story
and add to the first wordle (friend, explore)
Get children to think of 2 more contractions, adjectives and verbs that
would suit the story and the second wordle.
Reflection: show each person’s wordle and discuss what words they
have added and why
Assessment
Observation of
understanding
of themes and
author’s opinion
Creation of 2
Wordles with
appropriate
words added to
fit in with the
story.
Understanding
of contractions,
verbs and
adjectives
Resources
The Heart and the
Bottle by Oliver
Jeffers
IWB
Appendix 2a and 2b
for reference
You tube clip : Oliver
Jeffers interview
http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=_F1frN
rpglA from beginning
until 1’50”
PCs/net books
www.wordle.net
Appendix 2a – example Wordle from start of text
Appendix 2b – example Wordle from completion of text
Negative contractions; couldn’t, didn’t. Adjectives; empty, awkward, heavy. Verbs; forgot, stopped
Lesson no. 3
Text: The Heart and the Bottle by O. Jeffers
AusVELS Descriptor Level 4
Understand how to use
strategies for spelling words,
including spelling rules,
knowledge of morphemic
word families, spelling
generalizations, and letter
combinations including
double letters (ACELA1779)
Spelling (hard and soft C)
Explicit teaching
Building the field:
Ask children what sound does the letter c make? (kuh)
Prompt for (sss) if not heard. Explain the terms hard and soft c.
Brainstorm other words as a class. Make a table on the whiteboard
with two columns titled Hard C and Soft C and sort each brainstormed
word into columns
Contribution to
class discussion
Joint:
Give children 5 minutes in small groups to see if they can work out a
rule for identifying whether there should be a hard or soft c when
spelling a word
Come back together as a group and talk about theories. Make a rule
as a group which can be displayed in the room for future reference
(see example appendix 3a)
Incorporate new vocabulary
from a range of sources into
students’ own texts
including vocabulary
encountered in research
(ACELA1498)
Assessment
Independent:
Give children a copy of the text of The Heart and the Bottle. Ask
children to go through and find words that start with and contain the
letter c, and put them in the right column (appendix 3b). Early
finishers can look through other texts and identify c words and add
them to their table
Reflection: Bring children together and talk about which column had
the most words, is there a trend? Are there any words that contain
both a soft and hard c? E.g. cycle, circle, circus, circuit. Write some
challenging c words on the whiteboard and get children to work out
the pronunciation using the rule
Resources
Individual copies of
the text from The
Heart and the Bottle
by Oliver Jeffers
Display paper and
markers (A3)
Identifies all
hard c and soft c Appendix 3a and 3b
words from the for reference
text and places
them
appropriately in
the table
Uses the
spelling rule to
identify where
to use a hard or
soft c
Appendix 3a
Rule for Hard and Soft C
When c is followed by e, i or y, it says "s". Otherwise it says "k".
Appendix 3b
Hard or soft C – from the text from The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers
Hard C
Soft C
curiosities
become
came
occurred
couldn’t
notice
decided
bounced
once
Lesson no. 4
AusVELS level 4 Descriptors
Understand how texts vary in
complexity and technicality
depending on the approach to
the topic, the purpose and the
intended audience
(ACELA1490)
Identify features of online
texts that enhance readability
including text, navigation,
links, graphics and layout
(ACELA1793)
Identify characteristic features
used in imaginative,
informative and persuasive
texts to meet the purpose of
the text (ACELY1690)
Use comprehension strategies
to build literal and inferred
meaning to expand content
knowledge, integrating and
linking ideas and analysing and
evaluating texts (ACELY1692)
Text: The Science of Stars by Derek Agnew from ABC Spark website
Reading practice: Text Participant
Explicit teaching
Assessment
Before reading: Read the title of the text “The Science of the Stars” and
discuss what sort of text it might be (informative). Who would the
audience be? (people interested in stars, students) What sort of
word/writing would we expect to see in an informative/factual text? (facts,
scientific words, formal language). Explain that we will be reading the text
and then charting the facts that we have learned from the text.
Contribution to
discussion on
informative/
factual texts.
During reading: Read text aloud and ask for some facts that the children
heard mentioned. Joint deconstruction:
Discuss how we could classify the information we have heard. (colour, size,
names etc)
Joint construction:
Model using information from the text and classifying into a table (see
appendix 4a for list of facts)
Individual construction:
Give each child a copy of the text and get them to write down as many
facts as they can from the text.
Get the children to make a chart of all the facts that they have found using
own headings to group facts.
Extraction of
facts from the
text classified
correctly
according to
labeling
After reading: Reflection: Discuss some of the headings children used for
their information. Now show the image from the text. Discuss how this had
added meaning to the text or what the children have gleaned from the
image. Can we be sure that the information we have gleaned is factual?
Talk about inferences. What other information can we infer from the text what would it sound like, look like, feel like in space amongst the stars
using the knowledge we have gleaned from the facts?
Contribution to
discussion
regarding
inferring
information
from texts
Resources
Individual
copies of the
factual text –
The Science
of the Stars
by Derek
Agnew, from
ABC Spark
website
Whiteboard
Appendix 4a
for reference
Appendix 4a
Facts from text of The Science of the Stars by Derek Agnew
Stars are giant balls of burning gas
A star is formed by a nuclear reaction
Stars release energy as light and heat
Stars are described by their colour and size
Blue stars are the hottest, then white, yellow, orange and red (coolest)
Small stars are called dwarves
Large stars are giants
The biggest stars are supergiants
Our sun is a yellow dwarf and is quite common
A giant star is 30 times the size of the Sun
A supergiant is 10 times the size of a giant
Stars eventually fade out or explode
White dwarves get dimmer until they become black dwarves or dead stars
Blue supergiants create and enormous explosion called a supernova.
Sometimes when a huge star dies it creates a black hole
Lesson no. 5
Text: The Science of Stars by Derek Agnew
AusVELS level 4 Descriptors
Incorporate new vocabulary from a
range of sources into students’ own
texts including vocabulary
encountered in research (ACELA1498)
Recognise how quotation marks are
used in texts to signal dialogue, titles
and quoted (direct) speech
(ACELA1492)
Plan, draft & publish imaginative,
informative & persuasive texts
containing key information and
supporting details for a widening
range of audiences, demonstrating
increasing control over text structures
& language features (ACELY1694)
Reread and edit for meaning by
adding, deleting or moving words or
word groups to improve
content and structure (ACELY1695)
Understand how texts vary in
complexity and technicality
depending on the approach to the
topic, the purpose and the intended
audience (ACELA1490)
Use comprehension strategies to
build literal & inferred meaning to
expand content knowledge,
integrating & linking ideas &
analysing & evaluating texts
(ACELY1692)
Stage in the curriculum cycle: Complete Cycle
Explicit teaching
Building the field – Explain to students that we will be using facts
gleaned from informative text The Science of the Stars in lesson 4
to make a conversation between the little girl and the man in The
Heart and the Bottle
Joint deconstruction:
Brainstorm facts that can be remembered from The Science of the
Stars text as group and refer to fact table created in lesson 4.
Reintroduce the text on IWB and add any facts overlooked.
Show image from The Heart and the Bottle ( page with text “with
thoughts of the stars”) on IWB
Discuss: How would we need to change the facts to use them in an
imagined conversation between the little girl and the man to suit a
narrative text? How do you think a conversation between them
would look? (girl asks questions, man answers them, girl observes
aloud, man explains). Ask what kind of punctuation would we use
for a conversation of this kind (quotation marks, question marks)
Joint construction of text:
Model example on white board e.g. The man and the girl lay on the
ground and looked at the stars. “I like the red star over there” said
the girl. “Did you know you can tell how hot a star is by its colour?”
asked the man. “Red stars are the coolest and blue are the hottest”
he added.
Ask children for more examples of how the two could interact using
the facts from the list.
Independent construction of text: children work on creating a
conversation of their own between the man and the girl using the
facts from the WB and the image from the picture book to set the
scene
Assessment
Resources
Detailed list of
facts from The
Science of the
Stars text
created
Text from The
Science of the
Stars by Derek
Agnew on IWB
Creates a
conversational
narrative text
appropriate to
the image
using facts
gleaned from
the factual
text
Image from
The Heart and
the Bottle on
IWB (see
appendix 5a)
Appendix 5a – scanned image from The Heart and the Bottle – with thoughts of the stars.
Lesson no. 6 Text: The Science of Stars by Derek Agnew Reading practice: Text User (grammar- pronoun reference and connectives)
Outcomes / Indicators /
Descriptors
Understand how texts are
made cohesive through the
use of linking devices
including pronoun reference
and text connectives
(ACELA1491)
Understand how texts vary
in complexity and
technicality depending on
the approach to the topic,
the purpose and the
intended audience
(ACELA1490)
Explicit teaching
Assessment
Resources
Before reading: reflect on the text introduced in lesson 4 Discuss the
purpose of the text (to gain facts about stars). What tense is the text?
(present). Why is present tense used? (as its current and factual)
Contribution to
discussion
regarding
informative
texts
Individual copies of
text from The Science
of the Stars by Derek
Agnew from ABC
Spark website
During reading: Introduce connectives. Connectives are words such
as but, if and therefore which indicate logical relations between two
clauses or sentences. Give an example and ask children to find
examples in the text (see appendix 5a). Have children underline each
connective in red. What is the purpose of each connective – what
would the sentence look/sound like without using a connective?
Discuss pronoun reference. E.g. Jan went to bed as she was tired. She
is the pronoun referring to Jan. Note ‘as’ is a connective.
Ask the children to identify pronoun references in the text and mark
each one in green. (See appendix 6a) Discussion regarding how
pronoun reference helped the text.
Activity – children use conversation from lesson 5 and underline
connectives used in red and pronoun reference in green. Re-read the
text taking out the pronoun reference and the connectives.
After reading: Discuss: How has the text changed? How have
connectives and pronoun references helped the text structure and
meaning?
Correct location
of connectives
in the text
Correct location
of pronoun
references in
the text
Contribution
to discussion
regarding how
grammar has
helped
construct
meaning
Appendix 6a for
reference
Appendix 6a: connectives highlighted in red, pronoun references in green
Derek Agnew investigates the Science of... the Stars.
In the night sky, stars are distant little twinkling lights. But if you could get up close you would find stars are actually giant balls of burning
gas.
Great Balls of Fire
A star is formed when a huge cloud of dust and gas called a nebula is drawn together by gravity until it's hot enough to ignite in an enormous
nuclear reaction. Unlike nuclear weapons, which split atoms to release energy (nuclear fission), stars join atoms together (nuclear fusion) and
release energy as light and heat. Most stars fuse hydrogen into helium. Old stars that have burned all the hydrogen in their core start to fuse
helium into heavier elements like carbon and oxygen. Nearly all heavy elements in the universe were originally made inside stars, including the
carbon our bodies are made of and the oxygen in the air we breathe.
White Dwarves and Red Giants
Stars are described by their colour and size. The colour of a star's light can be used to estimate the temperature on its surface, and ranges from
blue (the hottest) down through white, yellow, orange and red (the coolest). The size of a star fluctuates throughout its life. Small stars are
called dwarves, larger stars are called giants and the biggest are called supergiants. Our Sun is a yellow dwarf, a fairly common type of star.
A giant is 30 times the size of the Sun and a supergiant is 10 times the size of a giant. Some supergiants are almost as large as our entire solar
system.
This is the End
Eventually stars exhaust their fuel and either fade out or explode. White dwarves go quietly, growing cooler and dimmer until all their energy is
gone and they become black dwarves or dead stars. Blue supergiants go out with a bang in an enormous explosion called a supernova. Usually
an extremely dense neutron star is the result but sometimes the death of a massive star gives birth to a black hole.
Did you know?


The Sun is one of over 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Sun is already 4.6 billion years old and is expected to shine for about another 5 billion years.
Lesson no. 7
Text: The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers
AusVELS level 4 Descriptors
Create literary texts that explore
students’ own experiences and
imagining (ACELT1607)
Plan, draft and publish
imaginative, informative and
persuasive texts containing key
information and supporting
details for a widening range of
audiences, demonstrating
increasing control over text
structures and language features
(ACELY1694)
Stage in the curriculum cycle: Complete cycle
Explicit teaching
Joint deconstruction of text:
Building the field:
Discuss would the story of The Heart and the Bottle make sense
without the pictures? Why not? What is missing from the text that
we can glean from the images? (the man, the friendship/relationship
b/w man and girl, feelings)
Explain task: to re-write the text so that the story will be
understood without the images but aimed at the same audience.
What would we need to include? What can only be seen or gleaned
from the images that are not in the text?
(thoughts, conversation, emotions)
Joint construction of the text:
Model the first page – what do we need to include here? (the man).
How could we describe the little girl? (curious) How could we
Reread and edit for meaning by
describe the man? (old) What is their relationship? (friends) Explain
adding, deleting or moving words
or word groups to improve content that we will need to add a lot of the descriptive language that the
pictures bring to the story. E.g.
and structure (ACELY1695)
“Once there was a little girl and an old man who were friends. The
little girl was very curious and the old man would help her find the
Use comprehension strategies to
build literal and inferred meaning answers to her questions. They would do a lot of things together like
reading books and going to the beach and exploring.”
to expand content knowledge,
integrating and linking ideas and
Independent construction of the text:
analysing and evaluating texts
Independently students write the text in narrative form so it can be
(ACELY1692)
read without the pictures and aimed at a primary school audience.
Reflection: Regroup to share each other’s stories. Discuss
Identify characteristic features
appropriateness of text and inclusion of all aspects of the story.
used in imaginative, informative
Construct a class story using component from all texts
and persuasive texts to meet the
purpose of the text (ACELY1690)
Assessment
Interpretation
of images
Construction of
a narrative text
aimed at
appropriate
audience
interpreting
cues and
symbolism in
the imagery and
converting into
descriptive text.
Resources
Heart and the
Bottle by Oliver
Jeffers – several
copies.
Lesson no. 8 Text: The Science of Stars by Derek Agnew Stage in the curriculum cycle: Grammar - Prepositional phrases using
complete curriculum cycle
AusVELS level 4
Descriptors
Incorporate new vocabulary
from a range of sources into
students’ own texts
including vocabulary
encountered in research
(ACELA1498)
Reread and edit for
meaning by adding, deleting
or moving words or word
groups to improve content
and structure (ACELY1695)
Understand that the
meaning of sentences can
be enriched through the use
of noun groups/phrases and
verb groups/phrases and
prepositional phrases
(ACELA1493)
Explicit teaching
Assessment
Joint deconstruction of text: Field Building: explain to children that
we will be reviewing the factual text. Then, posing as an astronaut,
children will write a journal entry describing the sights and sounds
around them using information from the factual text and knowledge
gleaned from field-building activities. Discuss what the children
already know about stars from the text and how they could use this
knowledge in a journal entry. How would this kind of writing differ
from the factual text? What would the tense be?
Introduce prepositional phrases - prepositional phrase is one that
begins with a preposition -- such as "in," "with," or "to" -- and ends
with a noun, pronoun, gerund or clause, which serves as the object of
that preposition for example: in the universe. Give children a copy of
the text and get them to highlight other prepositional phrases.
Discuss how the prepositional phrases help give meaning to the text.
Introduce Genre; Journal writing. Children will pretend to be a space
explorer who is submitting an entry into his journal describing where
they are and what they see and feel. As a group discuss elements of a
journal. Discuss what sort of language will be used, in particular
adjectives and nouns.
Joint construction of text: Model a sample entry including date and
using facts from lesson 4 (see appendix 4a). Include prepositional
phrases as often as possible to enhance the text e.g. Today I was
travelled to Jupiter and I landed on its surface.
Independent construction of text: Children independently create
their journal entry using facts from their fact table from lesson 4
including and underlining as many prepositional phrases as possible in
the entry.
Assessment:
diagnostic
assessment during
field building at the
beginning of the
lesson to assess what
they already know.
Formative
assessment:
observation and
questioning during
the lesson.
Summative
assessment: Each
student’s entry will
be assessed
according to
structure, tense,
punctuation, use of
facts, punctuation
and grammar.
Inclusion and
identifying of
prepositional phrases
will also be assessed.
Resources
Text from The
Science of the
Stars by Derek
Agnew
Fact tables from
lesson 4
References
Agnew, D. (2009). The Science of the Stars. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/spark/scienceof/stars.htm
AusVELS. (2012). English: Rationale and Aims. Retrieved from http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/English/Overview/Rationale-and-Aims
Bold Creative Apps. (2011). Oliver Jeffers Interview: The Story of a Sketchbook [Video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F1frNrpglA
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2009). Teaching Reading Using the Four Resource Model. Retrieved from
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/english/literacy/strategies/4codebreaktsl4.htm
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2012). Overview of Literacy Learning. Retrieved from
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/teachingresources/english/literacy/litoview.htm#2
Jeffers, O. (2010). The Heart and the Bottle. Hammersmith, UK: HarperCollins
Weheartbooks. (2010). The Heart and the Bottle Cover design [digital image]. Retrieved from http://weheartbooks.com/2010/01/29/the-heartand-the-bottle/
Winch, G., Ross Johnston, R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L., & Holliday, M. (2010). Literacy Reading, Writing and Children’s Literature. (4th ed.).
Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press