This is a unit of work from Reading Australia based on the picture book ‘Who sank the boat?’ by Pamela Allen. The unit focuses on emotional responses by the characters and explores the grammar of questions and clause structures.
Structure and features
For this unit, students create a storyboard.
The unit of work is sequential. It involves:
- Exploring the context – questioning and predicting what might happen, exploring the theme of sinking and floating.
- Responding to the text – comprehending the text through making personal connections and inferring emotions.
- Examining language patterns – looking at text structure and grammar of questions and the clause patterns that are used to tell the story.
- Creating text – creating a storyboard showing the beginning, complication and ending of a story.
A video of the text read aloud is available on YouTube.
For teachers
Most activities need teacher direction but could be adapted to a shorter unit at home with family support.
Teacher notes
Focus areas
- Narrative
- Responding to characters
- Language of questions and clause structures.
Curriculum links
- Science – floating and sinking
- Maths – measurement, size and weight.
Assessment
Creating a storyboard.
