4b Lesson 16 A Pet Called Cucumber

= Language comprehension = Word recognition Group/Guided reading

Introducing the story

(Questioning) Read the title together. Ask: Why do you think a pet would be called Cucumber?

(Questioning) Look at the picture under the title and ask: What do you need to do to look after a pet?

Pay attention to the tricky words (oh, Mrs, looked, called, asked) used in the book. Read these words for the children if necessary, to help build familiarity before they read the story independently.

Strategy check

Remind the children to use their knowledge of phonics to sound out and blend new words, for example ph-o-t-o-g-r-a-ph-s, s-n-a-k-e.

Reading the story

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Ask the children to read the story aloud and help where necessary. Praise and encourage them as they read.

(Explaining and clarifying) Look at page 107-③, ④, ⑤, ⑥ and talk about Uncle Max’s pet. Look at the suggestions given by Biff, Chip, Kipper and Dad. Ask: What do you think Cucumber is? Do you think any of the family had guessed correctly?

On page 108-⑨, draw the children’s attention to the word

gently. Help them to sound out and blend the word and explain that this word uses the grapheme “g” as code for the

/j/ sound.

On page 109-⑫ help the children to sound out and blend the word beautiful, b-ea-u-t-i-f-u-l. Talk about what the word means and ask the children to think of other descriptive words that Anneena could have used to describe Cucumber.

(Clarifying) On page 109-⑲, ask: Why do you think Dad doesn’t like Cucumber? Why do you think he says “I like snakes, but not in my house!”? Observing Can the children get the main idea of the story? Can they use

their phonic knowledge to decipher new words?

Returning to the story

(Evaluating) Look again at page 108-⑨ and ask: How do you think the family feel when they discover that Cucumber is a snake? Do you think that Mum and Dad are pleased? What do you think Biff, Chip and Kipper think about Cucumber?

(Describing) Ask: How does Anneena help the family to look after Cucumber? What does she teach them to do? (Describing) Look again at page 110-⑱ and talk about how Mum feels about Cucumber. Ask: Has Mum’s opinion of cucumber changed during the story? How has it changed? Look at the words read (page 106-②), eat (page 108-⑩), beautiful (page 109-⑫) and draw attention to the pronunciation of the “ea” grapheme. Ask: What other words in the story also have “ea”? (clean, creature)

Independent reading

Objective Read a range of familiar and common words and simple

sentences independently.

As they read, encourage the children to sound out and blend

new words, for example w-a-e-er, sh-a-m-e.

Support children with reading challenge word:

beautiful gorilla If a word is too difficult, simply read the word for them. Remind the children that the text in speech marks shows that characters are speaking. Model for the children how to read all the speech with lots of expression and encourage them to do the same.

Observing Did the children read independently with emotion and

confidence?

Speaking, listening and drama activities

Objectives Listen to others; take turns in speaking; present different

views.

● Talk about what happened in the story. Ask: Did Dad, Mum, Biff, Chip and Kipper enjoy having Cucumber as a pet?

● Ask the children to take turns to be Uncle Max or Anneena.

Encourage the other children to ask the character if they think a snake is a good pet and why.

● Encourage some children to act in role as Dad, who was less

keen to have a snake as a pet, in order to get both sides of the argument.

● Hold a class vote at the end to decide if a snake is a good pet.

Writing activities

Objective To think about and plan what they intend to write, ahead of

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writing it.

Ask the children to write about what happened in the story as if they were writing Cucumber’s diary. Suggest a title, e.g. My diary and write a first sentence, e.g. Uncle Max went on holiday.

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Write some words on the board to help with the diary: That day, Then, Next.

Remind the children to plan their story first by looking at the pictures to see what happened to Cucumber.

Help the children to write their diary as Cucumber, and encourage them to add details about what happened to Cucumber during the story and how she might have felt at each point.

Cross-curricular suggestion

Science – Talk about Cucumber, the snake, and Anneena’s presentation about snakes. Help the children to use books and the Internet to research snakes. Encourage them to research different types of snakes, what habitats they live in, what they eat and how they move.