ading com
prehensio n
A visit to
the aqu
arium Sasha and Josh are vi siting an aq “I want to uarium. see all the fish!” Josh excitedly as shouts he rushes in . “Wow!” ex claims Sash a. “L ook at that enormous fish tank!”
1. Read the story Read the story to the class. Ensure the children can see the text, pointing to the words as you read. Read the story again, sounding out any difficult or unusual words, such as aquarium and shoal. Check that the children know the meaning of these words. Briefly look at the punctuation: mention the speech marks and explain that the words inside them are the words that are actually said, and point out the exclamation mark following Wow!
“Look at al l the differ ent fish,” Josh whisp ers. “I can see a shoal of red fish,” sa ys Sasha. “I wish we could swim in there,” sa ys Josh. Just then a big shark sw ims out of shadows an the d across th e tank. “Per mutters Jo haps not,” sh with a sh iver. Finally, they do some sh opping. Sa chooses a sha bag of shel ls and Josh a toy shar gets k. “He’s fin-ta stic,” says Josh, cudd and smiling ling his shar happily. k
2. Talk about the story
Kate and the Fishes Kayley Turner (author) and MBE Studioz (illustrator) Hooray for Fish! Lucy Cousins
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1. Read the phrases and draw a picture for each one. 2. Complete the yes / no questions by circling the correct answer. 3. Read and answer the question. Encourage the children to write a complete sentence. The children can also...
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Read the story again as a class. Encourage the children to use the punctuation to help them read with expression and fluency.
Further activities • Create wax-resist aquarium pictures. Draw an aquarium scene on a rectangular sheet of white paper using wax crayons. Mix blue paint and water to get a very watery paint and brush this lightly over the wax-crayon picture.
Story time
The Rainbow Fish Marcus Pfister
Look at Pupil Book page 3 with the class. Tell the children to:
4. Plenary
• What is an aquarium? • What are the names of the children? • Why don’t they see the shark to begin with? • Why do you think Josh does not want to swim in the tank after all? • What do they buy? • Why does Josh say fin-tastic? • How do you know Josh is having a good time? • Why do you think they are visiting the aquarium? (They like fish or they are on an outing.)
Read some stories about fish, for example:
3. Comprehension activities
• Find all the words in the story with a ‹sh› spelling. • Read the story with a partner. • Write a sentence from the story and draw a picture to illustrate their words.
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Further reading
UNIT 1: Reading comprehension lesson
Story
A visit to the aquarium
UNIT 1: Reading comprehension lesson
A visit to the aquarium
UNIT 1: Re
• Draw, paint or make some collaged fish, which can be real or imaginary. An aquarium display could then be made by the whole class. • The children can make a display of books about fish that they find in the library.
Learning objectives Rhyme time Encourage the children to sing this song with you to the tune of The wheels on the bus: The teeth on a shark are sharp, sharp, sharp, Sharp, sharp, sharp, Sharp, sharp, sharp. The teeth on a shark are sharp, sharp, sharp. Snap! Snap! Snap!
The children are learning to: • Listen to, discuss and recall details from story texts. • Link what they hear to their own experiences. • Discuss word meanings, linking new words to those they already know. • Use inference and prediction. • Recite rhymes by heart.
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