A Puzzling Tale: Tracking Down Trouble

Orbit Issue 9 – Orbit 2021 Learning Resource

A Puzzling Tale: Tracking Down Trouble story by Karen Jameyson | illustrated by Michael Streich

EN3-1A | ACELY1796 Conduct a group discussion about possible solutions to the mystery in the story.

Divide the class into groups of 3-4. They read the story in their small group and then discuss the following:

• The who (main character), where (setting), when (time) and what (problem). Answer: Fraser visits Krupperville to discover the thief in the town. It is set a long time ago.

• What did Fraser do to identify the thief? Answer: Tied a kettle to a rooster and made the townsfolk touch the kettle in a dark room.

• What is the riddle in the story? Answer: How did Fraser know that Peter was the thief at the end of this story?

• What are the clues to help solve the riddle? Answers include: the kettle in the fireplace, the rooster, the candles, the townsfolk.

As a group they should discuss possible theories and answers to the riddle. During the discussion they write down their favourite group answers on post-it notes, or using interactive post-it notes on a platform such as Google Jamboard. Students should use the sentence starter, “Fraser solved the crime by…”

Next, explain that modern detectives often visit or reconstruct a crime scene to help find the criminal. Provide students with a reconstruction by displaying a photo of the interior of an old inn (suggested image: The Cornwall Bush Inn) and images of the various clues in the story: kettle in the fireplace, candles etc. Remember to draw students’ attention to the soot in the fireplace and how it would leave a mark on things that it touches, like the kettle. If you have a digital subscription, you can do this step as an interactive activity

In their groups, students ‘explore’ the recreated crime scene and discuss any changes that need to be made to their theories. Then they should choose their favourite theory to present to the class, before revealing the answer to the riddle on page 33.

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Character interview

1. What is your name? Where do you live?

2. List six to ten words that describe you.

3. How do the people in your town treat you?

4. Describe the scene that night at the Krupperville inn.

5. How did you feel once the truth was revealed?

6. What do you think the punishment will be for stealing the large sum of money?

Read ‘A Puzzling Tale: Tracking Down Trouble’ and imagine that you are Fraser, the crime solver, or Peter, the thief.Choose one of these characters and complete theinterview questions below.

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Early Sydney article by Susan Hall | photos by Dreamstime

EN3-7C | ACELT1612 Compose a diary entry based on the information presented in the article.

After reading through the article, remind students of the difference between facts and opinions. You may want to look at the Twinkl wiki resource on Opinions for suggested definitions.

Instruct students to read through the article independently and locate as many facts as possible. Facts can be structured as a bullet point list, on post-it notes, or using a digital tool such as Google Jamboard. After students have collected their list of facts (aim for at least ten) they should classify these facts as being about the Gadigal people or the European arrivals, through colour coding or rearranging post-it notes. Remind students that there are facts about both the Gadigal people and Europeans under some subheadings. Other subheadings only contain facts about one group.

Explain to students that the next text in this issue, ‘Lizzy’s Thimble,’ is an narrative about a European child in Early Sydney. Before reading this story, students write their own diary entry of a European child’s day. Their account should incorporate all the facts in their list.

Provide the following success criteria to structure student responses:

• The narrator should have a name, age and have explained who makes up their family. • The diary entry should recount the day’s activities including paid work and forms of

play and games. • The diary entry should not focus on information not covered by the article (for

example types of food). • Contains a description of a range of events that occurs throughout the day, which are

ordered chronologically. • Written using first person pronouns. • Written in the past tense.

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Lizzy’s Thimble story by Susan Hall | illustrated by Anna Bron

EN3-8D | ACELT1608 Identify aspects of historical context in a text.

Provide students with a simple definition of historical context: what the world was like at the time a text was either created or set. You may like to visit the English Textual Concepts webpage on Context for more information.

Show students a variety of archival images of Sydney and ask them to guess the historical context in which they were taken. (Suggested resource: 200 Years of Sydney – a collection of historic photos.) Prompt students to observe whether the image is a photograph or painting, if the photos are colourised, technology used, fashion and any missing landmarks.

Read the story in conjunction with the article ‘Early Sydney’. After reading, explain to students that they will identify aspects of historical context in the text.

Provide students with a Venn Diagram and ask them to label one circle ‘My Life’ and the other circle ‘Lizzy’s life’. Instruct students on how to complete the Venn Diagram, with areas of difference in the outer parts of the circle, and areas of similarity in the overlapping section. Students should populate their graphic organisers from memory and from rereading the story. Sample answers could include:

• Areas of similarity: lives in Sydney/Australia; owns marbles and a doll; lives with her mum, dad and brother

• Areas of difference: they live right near Sydney Harbour, the children help mum and dad with paid employment, Da built their simple wooden house

After students have completed their Venn Diagram, display the following question:

Could this difference still happen today, or is it something that only happened in the past?

Ask students to read the differences underneath ‘Lizzy’s life’. They should label each difference as either T: it could still happen today, or P: it only happened in the past. Explain to students that the differences labelled P show the historical context.

Ask students to list their top three features of historic context. Then ask them to reread ‘Early Sydney’ (also in this Issue). Did their contextual details feature in the article?

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Walking Through a Cloud poem by Stephen Whiteside | illustrated by Marjorie Crosby-Fairall

EN3-2A | ACELT1798 Compose a piece of creative writing inspired by the poem.

Read the poem as a class and discuss its meaning. Students should be able to identify that the poem is about going for a walk on a cloudy day and the speaker identifying that fog is just like a cloud.

Explain to students that they are going to write a descriptive paragraph based on this poem. They must include the key details from the poem: the speaker is going for a stroll, they are walking their dog and they think that the fog looks thick and spooky. Students must then include an original sensory description of what walking through fog may be like.

At this point you may want to read the Kids’ News article: What does it feel like to touch a cloud? After reading the article, students should be able to answer this question. You can prompt answers by providing scenarios where students have been in cloud-like situations, e.g. standing in a bathroom after a hot shower has been running. Students may describe a cloud as damp, wet, cold, fluffy, sticky etc.

Next, view the clip Relaxing Virtual Drive Through Foggy Forest. As the clip is playing, students complete a sensory Y chart, describing what the clip looks like, feels like and smells like. Instruct students to come up with at least five answers for each category, to extend their creative thinking. Some suggested answers are:

Looks like Feels like Smells like Gloomy Blurred trees Grey horizons

Clammy on skin Damp air Makes things wet

Clean Fresh Muddy

Using their word bank as inspiration, students complete a paragraph of descriptive writing using the sentence starter: “As I took my dog for a leisurely stroll …”. Provide students with the following success criteria to guide their responses.

Success Criteria:

• Contains the key details from the poem (stroll, walking the dog, fog is thick and spooky).

• The paragraph focuses on description. It should use words to create a vivid picture of the fog.

• No events happen in the paragraph. • The speaker describes his/her experience of what the fog looks, feels and smells

like. • A range of interesting nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are used.

ORBIT

Walking wordsThere are many synonyms for the verb ‘to walk’. The poem ‘Walking Through a Cloud’ shares one of these—strolled.

1. Use a thesaurus to find five more synonyms for the verb ‘to walk’.

2. Choose three synonyms and write a sentence for each. Use an appropriate character who’d walk likethis (for example, a camper might hike).

(a)

(b)

(c)

3. Now make three new words to describe a kind of walk by blending two words together: e.g.‘stroll’ and ‘walk’ make ‘stralk’. What kind of walk do they describe?

Word 1

Word 2

Word 3

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

The Path poem by John Malone | illustrated by Matt Ottley

EN3-3A | ACELT1611 Identify the poet’s use of metaphor and compose similar metaphors with accompanying images.

Present the poem without Matt Ottley’s illustration. Ask students to guess what type of path is being described by the poet. Prompt students to look for clue words that hint at its substance and location (glisten, rocky shore and horizon).

Next, present the poem embedded in its illustration. Students should quickly recognise that the path is really the sun’s reflection on the ocean during sunset. Lead a class discussion where students can identify the components of the path is (the sun + it’s reflection + the ocean + sunset).

Introduce/revise the term metaphor. Then, through discussion or teacher-led explanation, explore the extended metaphor in this poem. (The sun’s reflection on the ocean is called a path. It is compared to the Yellow Brick Road in the ‘Wizard of Oz’. They are similar because both are golden, but different because you cannot walk on both.)

Provide students with some examples sourced from the website: 15 Best Winter Metaphors, Similes and Idioms. Explain to students that they will compose their own metaphor about the weather. Create a class list of weather features that are worthy of a metaphor. These may include:

• Stormy clouds

• Sunrise

• A dust storm

Students should choose their favourite weather feature and compare it to something else, creating a metaphor. For example: stormy clouds are a bruise spreading across the sky.

Return to Matt Ottley’s illustration. Discuss why it so effectively represents the poem. It clearly indicates the time (sunset), and the place (the ocean). The metaphor, of a golden path is the salient image and placed right in the centre. The golden path also creates a nice space that the poem fits into.

Ask students to come up with a similar illustration that represents their metaphor. Their illustration should include a salient space where they can write their metaphor in full.

The illustrated metaphors can be collected into a class display.

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Making a moonlight poem 'The Path' creates and image of sunlight on water. Close your eyes and create an image of moonlight on water. Complete the questions below before making your own moonlight poem.

1. Write words that the image suggests to you. This might include colours, shapes, feelings or other ideas.Two examples have been given to start you off.

glowing, quiet

2. What does the long path of moonlight in your chosen image remind you of? For example, a silver ribbonthat ties back hair or a flowing river that leads to a dark meadow. Write at least three more ideas.

3. Choose your favourite words and ideas from questions 1 and 2. Now use these and the image to create amoonlight poem with the line beginnings below.

It’s not

nor does it

but it is

and it does

stretching all the way

from

to

the path the moon lays down

on which none can walk.

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Luminous Tubes article by Anne Renaud | illustrated by Sylvia Morris | photos by Alamy

EN3-3A | ACELA1504 Compare the degree of formality used in two nonfiction articles.

NB: This activity complements the activity for the article ‘Bee Your Best’ in Orbit (Issue 5), if you have a digital subscription.

Before reading the article, watch the clip Formal and Informal Language | English Language SPaG | KS3. Revise the key points of this clip:

• Formal writing is used in serious situations or when you don’t know the person well.

• Informal writing is relaxed and used when addressing people you know well.

• Formal writing creates a serious tone/mood and makes it seem as if they know what they are talking about.

• Informal writing creates a more personal tone or mood, and can make the writing more engaging and interesting.

To consolidate their understanding of formal/informal language you may wish to use a Formal and Informal Language letter writing activity, or use a Tarsia Maker to create a puzzle where students match sides of triangles to create a larger 2D shape.

Read the article ‘Luminous Tubes’. After reading provide students with a formal language checklist. Alternatively, as a class construct a formal language checklist. It could include the following criteria:

• Formal voice (without colloquial language or slang)

• Uses a range of vocabulary including technical words

• Does not use contractions, symbols, or abbreviations

• Does not use second person (the word you)

• Does not ask questions or use exclamations

Ask students to reread the text and identify/highlight the features of formal language. Challenge students to find quotations that are written using informal language, for example the use of a rhetorical question and an exclamation on page 15:

What helped Georges see the light? Perhaps it was lightning!

Next, ask students to construct a checklist for informal language. This could be done by reversing the formal language checklist, for example: uses colloquial language and slang, does not use technical words, etc. They read ‘Bee Your Best’ in Orbit, Issue 5 and identify/highlight the features of informal language. Also challenge them to find aspects of

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

the text that deviate from informal language, such as its use of technical vocabulary (honeycomb cell, drones, pheromones).

Ask students to answer the following question using a SWOC analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, challenges):

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using formal language in a nonfiction article?

The SWOC analysis could be done using a collaborative platform such as Google Jamboard. Some suggested answers are:

Strengths Sounds very knowledgeable Clearly communicates information

Weaknesses May not be as engaging Cannot use humour

Opportunities Communicates a lot of information in a short text Can be read by a number of age groups

Challenges Might have less appeal for reluctant readers Longer sentences could be more difficult to read

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

GlassSlipper.com poem by Louise Pocock | illustrated by Ana Maria Méndez Salgado

EN3-8D | ACELT1608

Experiment with changing the context of a traditional tale.

NB: This activity links to the activities for ‘Early Sydney’ and ‘Lizzy’s Thimble’ (this issue of Orbit) which also focus on context.

Provide students with a simple definition of historical context: what the world was like at the time a text was either created or set. You may like to visit the English Textual Concepts webpage on Context for more information.

Discuss the context of the Brothers Grimm, who wrote the most popular versions of many fairytales. Cover aspects of daily life: the gap between the rich and the poor, entertainment such as parties and the opera, poor children often had to work as servants, huge technological advances but no cars, phones, computers etc. You may want to access some of the following resources:

• Grimm Brothers from Kids Britannica

• What was it like to live in 18th-century England? from Ancestry

• Life in Industrial Britain a selection of teaching resources from CBHS

Next, prior to reading the poem, read a traditional version of Cinderella. (Note that this link is the original Grimm’s tale, which includes a step-sister cutting off her heel to fit into the shoe and the step-sisters being blinded by birds as punishment.)

Read the poem to the class. Then as a class, conduct a line-by-line analysis of the contextual changes the poet has made. These include references to a webpage, an Uber, the mall, a start-up, modern slang such as ‘fancy frock’ and the feminist ending where Cinderella finds independence, not a prince.

Ask students to recall another fairy tale popularised by the Brothers Grimm, such as Hansel and Gretel, The Pied Piper of Hamelin or The Frog Prince. Students should read a version of the tale and write a dot point summary of key details in the plot. This should be placed in a T-chart with the heading ‘Original Tale’.

Next, ask them to highlight parts of their summary which show the historical context of The Brothers Grimm. For example, in the Pied Piper of Hamelin the town has a rat infestation that they can’t fix, the town is lead by a chief, the Pied Piper has old fashioned clothing, he uses a pipe.

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Ask students to come up with a modern equivalent to these historical features. Explain that by doing this, they are changing the context of the story. They should write their modern elements into the right-hand column of the T-chart under the heading ‘Modern Tale’. Some suggested answers are as follows:

Original Tale Modern Tale • The people in the town of Hamelin had

a big problem. • There were too many rats and people

could not get rid of them, even with cats.

• The Chief offered 10 sacks of gold to anyone who could get rid of the rats.

• People could not get rid of them, even

with a specially designed rat app! • The Chief offered 10 million dollars.

Extension: students compose a poem in the style of ‘GlassSlipper.com’, with four-line stanzas and an AABB rhyme scheme. For example:

The peeps of the town of Hamelin fair Kept finding grimy rats everywhere. The chief implored them to put on their hats To design the ultimate anti-rat app!

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Fractured fairytale characters

Choose a fairytale that you would like to ‘fracture’. Think carefully about its characters. Complete the first table with details about the original fairytale’s main characters. Complete the second table with details of the version you wish to write. Think carefully about the ideas you want your readers think about.

The traditional fairytale I’m focussing on:

Character Personality What does this character want?

The title of my fractured fairytale:

Character Personality What does this character want?

'GlassSlipper.com' is a fractured fairytale, based on a traditional fairytale. It changes aspects of theoriginal characters, as well as other details like setting and plot.

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Stop that Punctuation play by Philippa Werry | illustrated by Aska

EN3-6B | ACELA1506

Explore how grammatical rules can be used to humorous effect.

Read through the playscript as a class. At its conclusion, ask what genre of text it is (drama, sci-fi, comedy, horror, historical). Students should identify that it is a comedy text because it has lots of jokes. Next, ask them why the text is funny. They should identify that the premise is funny (the idea of a Grammar Zoo) and that jokes are made about the definitions of different types of punctuation.

Students complete the worksheet Punctuation Cut and Paste to revise the definitions of the grammar and punctuation referenced in the playscript and attempt to explain why the jokes about these terms are funny.

After students are familiar with the stye of jokes made in the playscript, explain to students that they will now create a visual joke. Unpack a few examples of funny grammar posters. Suggested resources include:

• Every time someone types ‘to funny’, I immediately picture them fist in the air, going on a quest to find funny.

• The streets were oddly desserted that night. • Let’s slow down right here. We better stop right now. • Let’s eat Grandma! • Help a thief!

Next, look at Aska’s illustration on page 23. Ask students to explain the visual joke in this picture. (Suggested answer: an outbreak of brackets means that they are surrounding or trapping people, like they are additional information in a sentence.)

Instruct students to choose their favourite joke from the playscript (they might like to look at the list on the worksheet for ideas. They need to turn this quotation into a visual joke.

For example:

Shop Keeper: Why can’t I stop asking questions?

Second Keeper: Because you’re covered in a swarm of question marks.

Students could illustrate a person almost completely covered up with question marks, with even more flying out of a structure that looks like a bee hive.

Cut out the boxes below. Find their matching categories and arrange them in the correct columns

Punctuation cut & paste

Column A: type of punctuation

EXCLAMATION

MARK

QUESTION

ADJECTIVE

COMMAS & FULL STOPS

SYMBOLS

APOSTROPHE

HYPHEN

BRACKETS

Column B: example and definition

A describing word

@#$* A picture that

means something specific

! Used to end an

exclamation (strong feeling).

, and . Used to indicate a

pause or the end of a sentence

‘ Indicates a

contraction or possession

( ) [ ] Encloses an

explanation or extra detail

? Used to end a

question.

- Another way to

indicate a pause in a sentence

Column C: joke in the text

“No ones getting any emails because

their email addresses are all

confused.”

“Just a string of hyphens.”

“Help! I can see one! Over there!”

The society

for the “Protection of Unwanted Apostophes”

“Why can’t I see any? Why can’t I

stop asking questions?”

“Exciting, enjoyable and educational.”

“Holding up all the

traffic.”

Create your own joke

about brackets.

ORBIT

Type of punctuation

Example and

definition

Joke in the text

Your explanation of why the joke is

funny

ORBIT

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

A Dictionary poem by Bev Wood | illustrated by Marjorie Crosby-Fairall

EN3-1A | ACELT1795

Understand the use of enjambment in a poem and experiment with the technique in an original poem.

Read the poem as a class and ask what stands out about the structure. Students should notice that most of the lines are incredibly short; many are only two words.

Introduce the technique of enjambment. Provide a simple definition: when a sentence or a clause continues across more than one line. Contrast enjambment with an end-stopped line, where a line ends with punctuation that closes the thought or phrase.

You could compare ‘A Dictionary’ with a poem that uses end-stopped lines, such as ‘GlassSlipper.com’ (in this issue). There is also an activity on enjambment based on the poem ‘Nearly’ in Orbit Issue 5, which will help consolidate a student’s understanding of the technique.

Ask the class to look at how the poet has used enjambment in ‘A Dictionary’. Suggested answer: many of the things a dictionary does is split over two lines. For example:

to bring a story to life to send

the mind soaring

You can link enjambment to the opening lines of the poem ‘a list of words waiting to be arranged’ as the poet has used the technique to decide the order of the words and the line breaks.

As a class, create a list of objects in the classroom, such as pencils, globes and iPads. Ask students to choose their favourite and to write a list of powers this object has. It should follow the same format as the poem (to <verb> a/the <noun> <verb>). For example, if a student chose a globe, some of their responses could be:

• To spin on a new adventure

• To send the imagination wandering

Once students have written their list, ask them to enjamb their responses in a similar style to ‘A Dictionary’. As an extension students could add two lines at the beginning and four lines at the end which provide another interpretation of their object.

The structure of their poem is as follows:

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

a ____________ is a ____________

________________________

to ____________

________________________

to ____________

________________________

to ____________

________________________

to ____________

________________________

to ____________

________________________

a ____________

is a ____________________

________________________

________________________

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Sylphie’s Squizzes: The Girl Who Spotted an Exploding Star article by Kate Walker | photos by Photo source

EN3-3A | ACELA1504

Compose a short informal piece of writing in the style of Sylphie’s Squizzes.

Read the article as a class. After reading, ask the following questions:

• Is it fiction or nonfiction? (Nonfiction)

• How do you know? (It contains the true account of a girl’s discovery and is full of facts.)

• Is this article similar or different in style to ‘Luminous Tubes’ (in this issue). (Different because it takes a narrative and chronological approach to explaining the discovery and uses features of informal language such as many exclamations and questions.)

Explain to students that this is about a very important topic: women in STEM/STEAM. Instruct them to read extracts from ‘A Mighty Girl’s’ blog post Women Who Dared to Discover. Students choose the scientist they find most interesting and conduct additional research. For example, if they chose Mary Anning they could look at some of the following resources:

• Mary Anning the Unsung Hero of Fossil Discovery from the British National History Museum

• Mary Anning Facts! from Nat Geo Kids

• The True Story of Mary Anning from BBC Ideas

While conducting research, students should identify a great discovery they made or a major achievement and write a short narrative account of it in the style of Sylphie’s Squizzes. Explain to them that the success criteria (below) should guide their responses.

Success Criteria:

• Begins with a one sentence exclamation of their achievement • The first paragraph provides the four Ws (who, what, when, why) • A paragraph explains the events leading up to the discovery/achievement • A paragraph explains the details of the discovery/achievement • A paragraph explains the significance or consequences of the discovery/achievement • Events are told in chronological order • A range of sentence types (statement, question, exclamation) are used

Student contributions can be used to create a ‘Women in STEM’ display board.

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

Summer’s Secret story by Wendy Fitzgerald | illustrated by Amy Golbach

EN3-5B | ACELY1701

Understand the use of foreshadowing in a text.

Prior to reading the text, introduce the concept of foreshadowing: when an author gives hints about future events in the texts through clues and description. You may also want to access the Literary Terms definition of foreshadowing.

Read the first page of the story up until the line:

… bounced when she moved.

Using a chart, construct a class list of negative and positive examples of foreshadowing in relation to Summer’s circumstances. Challenge: encourage them to infer or guess what event is being foreshadowed. Some examples include:

Negative Foreshadowing

Guess the event! Positive Foreshadowing Guess the event!

“icy dark secret” “narrow eyes peered suspiciously”

Something bad in her life, like a family tragedy Principal may be the villain of the story

“bright red nail polish, smelt like roses and had blonde curls like mine.”

Miss Bumball may be her champion as they have so much in common

As the class continues to read through the story you may wish to identify other examples of foreshadowing through underlining or highlighting them. Students may also want to reevaluate and change their guesses, as the foreshadowing becomes more specific. For example, students may realise that Summer has reading difficulties after the following quotation on page 28:

I stared at the blank lines in front of me. My secret stirred and a dull ache hurt my chest.

At the story’s conclusion, ask the class to assess how accurate their guesses were based on the clues given by foreshadowing. Award points using the following system:

• 1 point if they were successfully able to categorise the example of foreshadowing as positive or negative. (For example, Miss Bumball’s description was an example of positive foreshadowing.)

Orbit Issue 9 – October 2021 The School Magazine – Learning Resource

• 3 points if they were able to correctly guess an event in the story based on foreshadowing. (For example, if they worked out that Summer could not read earlier than page 31, based on the clues.)

Finally, to consolidate understanding of foreshadowing, provide students with the sample story that appears on page 28. They should highlight examples of negative foreshadowing.

It was a cold dark night. Jamie lay huddled in his sleeping bag listening to wild noises … shuffling in the grass, hooting from the trees, splashes in the creek … The thin nylon cover of his tent was no protection from the cold …

Ask students to rewrite this passage, changing all the examples of negative foreshadowing into positive ones. The end result might look something like this:

It was a warm star-filled night. Jamie relaxed in his sleeping bag listening to beautiful noises, the gentle rustling of the grass, evening bird song, the trickle of the creek. The thin nylon cover of his tent kept him snug and comfortable.