Giants츨 Week Year 5 Scheme of Work Literacy Hour & · PDF fileGiants츨 Week Year 5 Scheme of Work Literacy Hour & Beyond Particularly fo lower ability children Barbara Heath & Jo

’Irish literature has created a magical learning environment for our children,its range and quality enabling all of them to participate in our Ireland project

and to produce work of fantastic quality.�

’Ireland in Schools娨 Delivering the NLS through Ireland QLS, Staffordshire

Giants츨 Week

Year 5 Scheme of WorkLiteracy Hour & Beyond

Particularly fo lower ability children

Barbara Heath & Jo RobinsonGorsemoor Primary School

Contents

Gorsemoor‘s Ireland project 1

The story of Finn MacCoul 2

Lesson plans 3

STIMULUS MATERIAL, WORKSHEETS, ETC.

áHuffer & Cuffer‘ by Jack Prelutsky 4

áGiants I have known‘ by Colin McNaughton 5

Pronouns - activities 1 - 3 6

Giant ABC - poems 1 - 3 10

WRITING FRAMES

What happened when the two giants met 13

My Irish Giant - writing frames 1 - 2 14

CHILDREN‘S WORK

áMy Irish Giant‘ 16

Heath & Robinson, Giants' Week, 1

Gorsemoor츨s Ireland projectGorsemoor Primary School lies on a large new housing estate on the outskirts of Cannock in Staffordshire. A 5-11 schoolwith an Early Years unit, it has 430 pupils on roll. For two years the school has made a special study of the island of Irelandin Years 5 and 6, particularly by using Irish texts in the Literacy Hour. The school re-inforces this learning experience withvisits by Irish authors and by forging links with children in a primary school in Belfast and another in County Dublin.

Involving all childrenIn Years 5 and 6 there are some very gifted children, but there is also a significant minority of children on the SpecialEducation Needs register - 18 in the current school year (2001-2), of whom 15 are boys. The range and quality of Irishchildren‘s literature suits such a mix of children, allowing all the children to participate in a common project. They can allenjoy reading books which are suited to their individual interests and abilities.

Teaching schemesFor the texts used, Gorsemoor has produced teaching schemes, which generally contain NLS weekly planning sheets,examples of worksheets etc., and samples of children‘s work. The schemes are reproduced in pdf format in the ’Ireland in Schools�CD-ROM, No. 01. The location of each scheme on the CD-ROM is given in italics. Setting the sceneChildren are introduced to the island of Ireland through cross-curricular activity sheets (IiS CD-Rom 01 in the History &citizenship directory: C208 Ireland Activity Sheets).

SENTextsA favourite with the SEN group, as well as other children, is the tale of the two giants, the outwitting of Cucullin by FinnMacCoul and his fearless wife. Such stories enable the children with special education needs to play a full part in the Irelandproject by providing high interest material at a low reading age while at the same time offering opportunities to address keygrammatical features and extend spoken vocabulary.

An even firmer favourite is The Lough Neagh Monster (IiS CD-Rom 01 in the New trials directory: NL22 3 Irish & OtherMonsters). The group also will shortly read two books by Siobhan Parkinson, an author who is fast becoming a favouritethroughout Years 5 and 6: The Leprechaun Who Wished He Wasn�t (O‘Brien Press, 0-86278-334-8) and Cows AreVegetarians, the misadventures of a Dublin girl visiting her cousins in the country (O‘Brien Press, 0-86278-694-0).

Teaching objectives & objectivesTeaching objectives and methods are dictated by the needs of the children. For instance, the scheme of work for áIrish &Other Monsters‘ draws its objectives from Years 2 to 6 of the NLS Framework. Since some of the children have speechimpediments, a considerable amount of oral work is included. Each day the children use some of the lesson time onindividualised spelling programmes (spelling machines). The school also runs a remedial reading scheme as well(Wellington Square), and provides additional phonic work for the Year 5 pupils who are on the verge of dyslexia usingLaunch the Lifeboat Scheme of work, and STILE, a system of self corrective Literacy. The BROGY word game - colourcoding each part of the sentence to re-inforce the correct use of nouns verbs adjectives and adverbs in sentences - is a popularactivity. After practice, the pupils then try and make up their own examples. Finally, the group has a formal phonic lessonand a formal handwriting lesson. Work is always marked with each child. The teacher talks through her comments ratherthan writes them as reading is very troublesome for many of the children.

Other texts used in Years 5 & 6Other Irish texts used in Years 5 and 6 include the favourite historical novel Under the Hawthorn Tree by MaritaConlon-McKenna (O‘Brien Press, O-86278-206-6), the first of an award-winning trilogy, with exciting cross-curricularpotential (IiS CD-Rom 01 in the Literature & literacy directory: L217 Under the Hawthorn Tree - Famine Story). A Channel 4 filmof the book assists the less able and reluctant readers, as does the existence of excellent easy readers on the famine (suchas The Great Hunger by Malachy Doyle, Franklin Watts, 0-74963-447-2, and Famine by Arthur McKeown, Poolbeg, 1-85371-505-0).

Among Irish myths, legends and fairy tales, the one which most captures the children‘s imagination is áThe Sea Woman‘as retold by Sionbhe Lally in the lavishly illustrated Favourite Irish Fairy Tales Poolbeg Press, 1-85371-777-0 (IiS CD-Rom01 in the New trials directory: NL224 Sea Woman - Gorsemoor. For the cross-curricular aspects, see ’Human Beings under a Spell�on the IiS CD-Rom 01 in the Literature & literacy directory: L219) .

Reluctant readers among the boys have responded well to fast-moving fantasies by Irish authors, such as The Battle belowGiltspur by Cormac MacRaois, Wolfhound Press, 0-86327-356-4 (IiS CD-Rom 01 in the Literature & literacy directory: L211and L216), and Cirque du Freak, by Darren Shan, Harper Collins, 0-00675-416-3 (IiS CD-Rom 01in the New trials directory:NL221 Cirque du Freak). Finally, it remains to be seen how the children respond to the reality of urban life in contemporaryIreland when they begin reading The Moon King by Siobhan Parkinson, (O‘Brien Press, O-86278-573-1).


The intriguing basalt columns of the Giant娨sCauseway, County Antrim, have been attractingvisitors since the 17th century. Since 1986 it wasbeen a World Heritage site. Formed some sixtymillion years ago by molten lava, the estimated37,000 columns range up to 12 m/40 ft high. Mostare hexagonal, with some pentagons, and otherpolygonal shapes. They can look man-made.

The six counties of Northern Ireland, part of thehistoric nine-counties province of Ulster.

The story of Finn MacCoul

The Two Giants by Eve Bunting and Finn MacCoul and His Fearless Wife by Robert Byrd are contrasting re-tellings of a traditional story of the unfinished series of stepping stones, the Giant‘s Causeway, which, formedfrom volcanic basalt, still exists.

This causeway was meant to link the north of Ireland with Scotland and enable the bragging and boasting FinnMacCoul to conquer giants there, despite the warnings of his wife, Oonagh. In the event, it is Oonagh whooutwits the Scottish giant, Cucullin, who took one long jump from Scotland to Antrim to kill Finn. Oonagh‘strick was to pretend that Finn was, in fact, a baby giant.

The encounter with Cucullin is the one of the funniest of the many adventures of Finn MacCoul and both thesere-tellings do justice to the story in their different ways.

Finn & Cucullin in the Irish mythical cyclesThe mythical hero Finn MacCoul (in Gaelic spelled Fionn Mac Cumhal, the anglicisation varies) appears in acycle of tales set in the third-century AD. This particular story takes place in Ulster, the northernmost of the fourold kingdoms that make up what we now call Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Finn led the Fianna, or Fenians, great warriors who protected the ancient High Kings. Finn‘s son Ossian (Oisin)was a warrior poet and is credited with recording most of Finn‘s adventures. Finn was descended from theTuatha De Danann, an early race of giants. He seems to have been the most mortal of the old mythical heroes,considered a thinking man and therefore more susceptible to human foibles.

In Celtic mythology, gods, men and beasts move together across a confusing landscape where magic plays acentral role. A belief in faeries and speaking animals flourished in such stories. In Finn MacCoul and HisFearless Wife the old spelling áfaery‘ is used; the word refers both to the Land of Faery and those who live there.

This is the only story in which Cucullin plays the villain. In all other descriptions he is a great champion ofUlster, even referred to as a Celtic Achilles.

The decorative letters and designs used in Finn MacCoul and His Fearless Wife are based on images from theilluminated manuscripts of Celtic monks. Incorporated into the pictures are some of the animals and birdsmentioned in Irish poetry, particularly the epic poems. Even the great Irish elk, now extinct, whose rack ofantlers reached fifteen feet, appears in the night scene.


SPELLING PATTERNSSee Y5 spelling folderThematic wordsGiant (and ’ia븐 words for SEN group)Ireland, myth, culture, character, geology,rocks, volcanic

Homework: Read Giants I have known byColin McNaughton, then the childrenwrite giant poems and illustrate them. Tobe used for display work.

NATIONAL LITERACY KS2 PLANNING SHEETClass: Year 5 Texts used: The Two Giants by Eve Bunting*

Finn MacCoul and His Fearless Wife by Robert Byrd**Offering two different views of Finn - a traditional and amodern re-telling

Week: Term 2 Range: Myths, legends, fables from a range of cultures

DAY LEARNING OBJECTIVES WHOLE CLASSSHARED TEXT WORK

WHOLE CLASSWORD/SENTC WORK

INDEPENDENT WORK GUIDED GROUPREADING/WRITING (Y3/4)

PLENARY (Y5/6)�

M � To be aware of Irish culture throughthe texts of the Two Giants *

� To read the text together pp 1-22� Discuss the culture/non-fiction

aspects and fiction (characters andhow they develop in the story)

� Using p, 8 of the ext, revise/consolidate speechmarks. Highlight the spoken word and in pairschildren to read the text with appropriate expression.

� Higher group: using the text to change thespeech from direct to reported (i.e., ásaid‘ toáshouted‘). Children to write it out insentences - áwhat happened when ...)

� Lower: Use cartoon form/speech bubbles asa writing frame to so the same task

� Choose some groups to readout their work. Emphasison delivery and intonationof voice.

T � Investigating characters, andcomparative character studies (T8)

� To know what a pronoun is and itsfunction (S4)

� To re-read the text, explaining tochildren that we will beinvestigating the character of FinnMacCoul. Use life-size cut out(draw round a child on wallpaper

� Character profile of Finn) as awriting frame to brainstorm aboutthe character

� Discuss what a pronoun is (NLS definition - wordused instead of a preceding noun or noun phrase toimprove writing and avoid repetition, NLS, p. 86).Explain to high groups that there are different types,with oral examples as appropriate.

� Independent work on pronouns, based onthe giants sheet, p. 37.

� Using life-size character, brainstorm.Children to choose 5 words that describe hischaracter and write one/two sentences.

� Children to read out theircharacter sentences

W � To know what a synonym and verbare and how to use them (S4, S2)

� To perform poems in a variety ofways (T5)

� Read áHuffer and Cuffer‘ by JackPrelutsky and the Giant ABCpoem

� To revise and consolidate synonyms and verbs.Read through the Giants ABC worksheet togetherand complete examples to ensure understanding.

� To read the Huffer and Cuffer poem out asa class with expression and action

� Differentiated giants ABC using synonymsand verbs.

� Have a final practice beforechildren perform the poemin assembly

T � Writing composition: to write, plan,compose and edit a short reportusing reading as a source (FinnMacCoul) (T22)

� To use punctuation correctly (S5)

� Discuss the plight of FinnMacCoul, discuss the concept áDoyou think it is a true story? Why?,etc, and briefly summarise thestory in a short spokenphrase/sentence.

� To consolidate basic punctuation (When do we usecapital letters, full stops, speech marks, questionmarks etc) - orally. We need to punctuate correctlyin order to write complex sentences. (Have twowrong sentences on the board for children topunctuate.)

� Ask the children to close their eyes and then play some atmospheric music (suchas Fingal‘s Cave or the Alton Towers theme) . Teacher acts as the storytellerreading the Finn MacCoul again.

� Task is for children to write a newspaper report highlighting Finn‘s plight (usenewspaper writing frame)

� Children continue writing their reports in the plenary session

Extended writing Short story writing from one of these opening sentences:áI blinked again in case I had imagined it. There in front of me at the bottom of the garden was a tiny little fairy ... ‘áThe Giant clapped his hands, the room shook and suddenly ... ‘áI opened the parcel to find an enormous pair of shoes. I took them out of the box and a strange thing happened ... ‘

� Guided reading Over the week children to do some independent research on giants, comparing, eg., Oscar Wilde‘s giants, The Sleeping Giant and version of Jack and the Beanstalk .

* Ginn & Company, 1978, ISBN 0-60224-064-6** Macdonald Young Books, 1999, ISBN 0-75002-873-4 ’Ireland in Schools娨 Staffordshire Pilot Scheme Gorsemoor PS


Huffer and Cufferby Jack Prelutsky in The Walker Book of Poetry for Children (Walker Books, 0-74450-224-1)

Huffer, a giant ungainly and gruffencountered a giant called Cuffer.said Cuffer to Huffer, I’M ROUGH AND I'M TOUGHsaid Huffer to Cuffer, I'M TOUGHER.

they shouted such insults as BOOB and BUFFOONand overblown BLOWHARD and BLIMPand BLUSTERING BLUBBER and BLOATED BALLOONand SHATTERBRAIN, SHORTY and SHRIMP.

then Huffer and Cuffer exchanged mighty blowsthey basted and battered and belted,they chopped to the neck and they bopped in the noseand they pounded and pummelled and pelted.

they pinched and they punched and they smacked and they whackedand they rocked and they socked and they smashed, and they rapped and they slapped and they Throttled and thwackedand they thumped and they bumped and they bashed.

they cudgelled each other on top of the headwith swipes of the awfulest sort,and now they are no longer giants, insteadthey both are exceedingly short.


Giants I have knownby Colin McNaughton in Who�s Been Sleeping in My Porridge compiled by Colin McNaughton (Walker Books, 0-74457-779-9)

Of all the giants I have met,Here are a few I can't forget:Giant Grim was tall and slim,While Giant Splatt was round and fat.Giant Grave was strong and brave,While Giant Howard was a downright coward.Giant Grart was always smart,While Giant Tess was a proper mess.Giant Shnean was cruel and mean,While Giant Tweet was soft and sweet.Giant Floon was bald as a spoon,While Giant Camilla looked like a gorilla.Giant McGrew was honest and true,While Giant Mulroney, appeared to me phony.Giant Delaney was ever so brainy,While Giant Shabim was incredibly dim.Giant Skewark could sing like a lark,While Giant Von Krup got told to shut up.Giant O'Gloot had tootsies minute,While Giant O'Groats had feet like rowboats.But the strangest giant I've met in my time,If I brought all the others and stood them in line,He'd stand out a mile and you'd see what I mean -He's the weirdest giant that I've ever seen.He's charming, polite and his first name is Ken,He weighs seven stone and he stands - four foot ten!


PronounsDeveloping Literacy Skills: Grammar KS2 Y3-4 by Mary Pattinson (Hopscotch Educational Publishing, 1-90223-910-5), pp 36-9

Activity sheets Other ideas for using pronouns

Activity sheet 1Ask the children to decide whichpronouns in the giant’s cloak are pluraland which are singular.

Using the sentences, change thepronouns from singular to plural andvice-versa where appropriate. Forexample, The giants ran very fast andthey soon caught up with Mary.

Ask the children to imagine they arechased by a giant and then suggest theywrite a story about what happens.Remind the children they need to usethe first person ‘I’.

Activity sheet 2Ask the children to imagine they arethe giant and write the passage in thefirst person instead of the third. Forexample, ‘I chased after Mary because .. .’

Make up sentences which describeMary and the giant. For example, Maryis ... ; The giant is ... ; They are ...

Activity sheet 3Ask the children to rewrite the passageas if they were Mary. They must writein the first person - ‘I ran very fastthrough the woods. . .’

Ask the children to find sentences inThe BFG that use incorrect English.Challenge them to rewrite them usingcorrect English.

Make further use of first/third personwriting. Discuss with the class whattypes of text are written in firstperson - diaries, eye witness reports,autobiographies and so on. And discussthose written in third person - mostnarratives. Ask the children to writeexamples of these. Which do theyprefer to write? Stress the importanceof keeping to the same ‘person’throughout their own writing.

Work with the children on the correctuse of ‘I’ and ‘me’ in their writing, sincethe concept is difficult for manychildren to grasp and these terms areoften missused.

Give the children practice in correctusage by multiple choice exercises, suchas Should it be: ‘John and me are goingto the cinema’ or ’John and I are goingto the cinema.’? Remember to teach thechildren to split the sentence to see ifit makes sense -‘John is going to thecinema.’; ‘Me am going to the cinema.’and ‘I am going to the cinema.’ Whichsounds correct? So ‘John and I aregoing to the cinema’ is the correctversion.

If the class is ready to understand newtypes of pronoun, introduce thepossessive pronoun - mine, yours, his,hers, theirs, its and ours. Give manyexamples and exercises for thechildren to gain experience in usingthem. Cloze exercises and multiplechoice questions give good practice intheir use.


Name ______________________________ Date ______________________Activity 1

䂧 Copy these sentences. Choose pronouns from the giant's cloak to replace the underlinedwords.

1 The giant ran very fast and the giant soon caught up with Mary.

2 The girl thought that the giant would eat the girl.

3 “Please don't eat Mary,” said Mary.

4 The giant was very friendly so the giant did not eat Mary.

5 “I thought all giants were mean,” Mary said.

6 “Giants are often friendly like me,” the giant said.

7 So Mary and the giant became friends and Mary and the giant had many adventurestogether.



䂧 Re-write the following using pronouns from the giant's cloak so that each sentence makesbetter sense.

The giant began to chase after Mary but the giant could not catch up with Mary for quitesome time. Mary began to get tired so Mary sat down to rest.

“Please don’t hurt Mary,” Mary said to the giant. “Mary am very tired!”“The giant won't hurt you,” the giant said. “Mary look very tired.”The giant and Mary began to talk. The giant and Mary became good friends.

䂧 These sentences are incorrect. Re-write them using correct English.

1 The giant and Mary is good friends.

2 The giant are very large but he are very kind.



䂧 Underline all the pronouns in this passage and write them in the giant's cloak. The first onehas been done for you. You should find 12 different pronouns.

Mary ran very fast through the woods. She looked behind her to see if the giant wasstill following. He was. Mary was terrified. She ran faster until her sides began toache. Suddenly she ran into the branch of a tree. It snapped in two, causing Mary tostumble. This enabled the giant to catch up. “There you are,” he said. “I have reached you at last.” “Don't come anywhere near me,” Mary shrieked. “My mother and father will be heresoon. Our house is just over there. They will soon sort you out!”

“But Mary, I only want to be your friend. We could have so much fun together,”stammered the giant. “Well, that is a relief,” said Mary. “I thought you wanted to eat me!”

䂧 These sentences are incorrect. Re-write them using correct English.

1. Mary are a good runner. She can runs very fast.

2 The giant are not mean, he want to be friends with Mary.

3. Mary and the giant is both happy now that they is friends.


Draw a picture of your giant here:

Name ______________________________ Date ______________________Giant ABC 1

Barbara Heath - adapted from ’Monster ABC娨 in Developing Literacy Skills: Using Poetry KS2 Y3-4 by Frances Mackay (Hopscotch EducationalPublishing, 1-90223-913-X), p. 41

Complete this ABC poem about a terrible giant, by writing a suitable verb in each space. Use adictionary to help you. Invent a name for the giant.

The ______________________ is a horrible creature. It can:

a attack you,

b you,

c you,

d drill you,

e you,

f you,

g you,

h you,

i infect you,

j you,

k you,

l you,

m you,

n you,

o you,

p you,

q you,

r you,

s you,

t you,

u you,

v you,

w you,

x you,

y you, or

z you!!!


Name ______________________________ Date ______________________Giant ABC - 2

Barbara Heath - adapted from ’Monster ABC娨 in Developing Literacy Skills: Using Poetry KS2 Y3-4, p. 42

Read this ABC poem about a giant. Then rewrite the poem by using a thesaurus to find synonymsfor each verb, beginning with the same letter of the alphabet. Some of the verbs have beencompleted for you. Invent a name for the giant.

The _________________________ is a horrible creature.

It can:

annoy you, you,belt you, you,chop you, you,dissolve you, you,entrap you, entangle you,frizzle you, fry you,grab you, you,harm you, you,inject you, you,jolt you, you,knot you, knit you,lap you, lick you,mangle you, you,nibble you, you,overcome you, you,prod you, you,quiz you, question you,repel you, you,stab you, you,trick you, you,unsettle you, upset you,vex you, peeVe you,wobble you, waver you,eXtinguish you, you,

yell at you, yelp at - you,

or ZAP you!


Name ______________________________ Date ______________________Giant ABC 3

Barbara Heath - adapted from ’Monster ABC娨 in Developing Literacy Skills: Using Poetry KS2 Y3-4, p. 43

Read this ABC poem about a giant. Then rewrite the poem by using a thesaurus to find synonymsfor each verb, beginning with the same letter of the alphabet. Some of the verbs have beencompleted for you. Invent a name for the giant.

The _________________________ is a horrible creature.

It can:

antagonise you, you,bewilder you, you,chastise you, you,dissect you, you,eradicate you, you,flatten you, you,guzzle you, you,harass you, you,incapacitate you, immobilise you,jostle you, you,knuckle you, knead you,lunge at you, at you,mutilate you, you,neutralise you, you,outmanoeuvre you, you,pierce you, you,quash you, you,rebuke you, you,startle you, you,terrorise you, you,uncover you, unearthvilify you, vituperate you,wither you, you,eXterminate you, you,yap at you, at you,

or ZAP you!!!


Name ________________________________________ Date __________________________________

What happened when The Two Giants met.




Examples of children츨s workMy Irish giant - poems

1. High2. Very high3. Low - very special needs4. Middle





Documents

Giants츨 Week Year 5 Scheme of Work Literacy Hour & · PDF fileGiants츨 Week Year 5 Scheme of Work Literacy Hour & Beyond Particularly fo lower ability children Barbara Heath & Jo