Topic: A Lion in the Meadow by Margaret Mahy.

Focus: Vocabulary development / poetic writing.

Achievement Objectives:

1. Listening to texts.

2. Use text as a basis for development of oral language.

3. To build up a "stock" of imaginative language that can be used in children's own poetic writing.

Skills Focus:

Poetic writing.

Learning what is required of actors in play performance.

Specific learning Outcomes:

*Each child will complete a piece for poetic writing for their publishing books.

*Each child will complete a map for their publishing book.

Teaching and Learning Sequence:

1.Read the story "A Lion in the Meadow" draw attention to the wonderful illustrations in the story. Discuss the story fully - what do you think, how would, what if, etc.

2. Discuss the difference between fact and fiction.

3. Circle story. (Retelling the story) Teacher starts the story and each child continues it, adding a little more round the circle.

4. Brainstorm exciting words that describe lions and make a chart of them. (Same for dragons) Use these words for writing lion or dragon poems.

5. Paint pictures of lions and dragons. Use colour mixing. Outline in black greasy crayon or sharpie. Chalk in your creature before painting.

6. Mapping. Re read the story. Discuss where the house is situated, where the paddock is, where the dragon is etc. Children make a map showing location of characters, house, paddocks etc.

7. Dramatise the story. Perform it for another class or parents.

8. Make lion or dragon masks.

* These are assessment tasks.

Criteria:

*Map: Have children listened well enough to be able to draw the map accurately?

*Poem: Language - have children used "new" descriptive language. Can they cope with the poem format? Does the poem "make sense"