Kōkiri Learn

Week 1 of 5

Who are stories for? Meet the novel

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Session 1 · AUTHOR: Audience

Book tasting

  1. 10 minHook: the teacher reads the first two pages of the class novel aloud, then stops. What do you already know about the main character, and how?
  2. 20 minBook tasting: tables set like a café with six novels and short-story collections. Spend three minutes with each, noting the first line, the cover and one question it raises.
  3. 10 minWho are these books written for? Discuss how the authors hooked their readers.
  4. 10 minMeet your audience: the junior class and whānau at the story evening. What do they like in a story? Write three ideas.

Session 2 · AUTHOR: Understand

Reading between the lines

  1. 15 minShared reading of the first chapter.
  2. 20 minCharacter iceberg: above the line, what the text tells you about the main character; below the line, what you infer, with a quote for each.
  3. 10 minLiterature circle roles: set up groups with a discussion leader, word finder, connector, questioner and summariser.
  4. 5 minExit card: one inference about a character and the evidence for it.

Getting started

Use the character-iceberg template with two inferences already started.

Stretch

Find a sentence where the author tells you nothing directly but you still learn a lot about a character.

Checkpoint

Every student has started the class novel and can make one inference with evidence.

Activities for this week

  • Character iceberg: What does the author want me to work out about this character without saying it?
  • Book tasting: Which story will I choose to read next, and why?

Useful this week