Storm Boy

Stage 2 | English

Summary

Reading Strategies

Duration

This unit is based on the short novel, Storm Boy.

The novel deals with a young boy and father living
remotely and their plight to save wildlife in the area,
particularly the birdlife. It demonstrates how a young
illiterate boy gains friendship through a pelican and
how he deals with the loss of the pelican.

Making Connections

Term 3

Summarising

4 weeks

Predicting

Detail: one hour, two lessons per

week

Monitoring
Questioning
Visualising

Unit overview

Key Concepts

The unit will encourage students to become familiar with the two Super Six Strategies, Making
Connections and Summarising. It will provide opportunities to explore themes, including
friendship, loss, grief, family bonding and exclusion.

Values
Interconnectedness
Reflection
Communication
Characterisation

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Outcomes

Assessment overview

English K-10

EN2-2A plans, composes and reviews a range of texts that are more demanding in terms of topic,

audience and language

EN2-4A uses an increasing range of skills, strategies and knowledge to fluently read, view and

comprehend a range of texts on increasingly challenging topics in different media and technologies

EN2-5A uses a range of strategies, including knowledge of lettersound correspondences and common

letter patterns, to spell familiar and some unfamiliar words

EN2-7B identifies and uses language forms and features in their own writing appropriate to a range of

purposes, audiences and contexts

EN2-9B uses effective and accurate sentence structure, grammatical features, punctuation conventions

and vocabulary relevant to the type of text when responding to and composing texts

EN2-10C thinks imaginatively, creatively and interpretively about information, ideas and texts when

responding to and composing texts

EN2-11D responds to and composes a range of texts that express viewpoints of the world similar to and

different from their own

EN2-12E recognises and uses an increasing range of strategies to reflect on their own and others learning

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Lesson
1

Modelled, Guided and Independent Learning Sequences

Think, Pair, Share to predict what the novel is going to be about.

Write a short paragraph to make a connection to the front cover. It may

relate to the picture or the title. Students have 10-15 minutes to complete
the written work.

Students return and read their connections to the class.

Strategies
Predicting
Making
Connections

Resources
Storm Boy
Exercise books

Begin reading Chapter 1 and STOP at page 11

Discuss being stuck in a large storm. How would you feel? How would you
deal with the situation? Can you make any connections to this scene?

Students will participate in a storm soundscape. As a class they will try to

recreate certain sounds to imitate the sound of a storm. Each group will be
allocated a sound to create.

Play the storm boy trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=k7bkqGvpb4A

What did you notice about the setting in the story? Describe it to a
partner.

Read from page 11-17.

Discuss the setting of the story. What is a humpy? What would it

look like inside?

Students will research the Coorong this is where the story is set.

Co-Construct an email to another year 3 informing him/her about

Coorong. What you can do there etcexplicitly teach how to make

Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW - Program Builder - pb.bos.nsw.edu.au
Program Builder contains NSW syllabus content prepared by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW for and on behalf of the State of New South Wales which is
protected by Crown copyright. 3

Lesson

Modelled, Guided and Independent Learning Sequences

Strategies

Resources

connections when writing and conventions of an email.

PAGE 1 OF BOOKLET TO BE COMPLETED.

http://www.literacyshed.com/the-maia-walczak-shed.html
look into possible poetic language etc
3

Watch the Youtube video. Describe the setting with a partner.

Read pages 12-17 and summarise what has happened so far in the story
with a partner.

Summarising

Youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=k7bkqGvpb4A

Use monitoring to find the meaning of words, such as humpy and

tussock to use in summaries.

Read from pages 18-25

Students brainstorm qualities that the three main characters (Storm Boy,
Hideaway Tom and Fingerbone Bill) have.

Students will verbally provide similarities/difference they have to any of the

characters.

Students will choose a character and role play how they may act (both
verbally and non-verbally)

Students will write a brief summary of each character, either in books or on

Page 2 of booklet.

Storm Boy

Making
connections

Optional: Use page 1 of worbook to

research the Coorong and illustrate
the setting (potential Literacy group
activity)
Storm Boy
Page 2 from booklet

Summarising

Group work can include

independent comprehension
questions: see storm boy activity.
Could also attempt band 2 storm

Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW - Program Builder - pb.bos.nsw.edu.au
Program Builder contains NSW syllabus content prepared by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW for and on behalf of the State of New South Wales which is
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Lesson

Modelled, Guided and Independent Learning Sequences

Strategies

Resources
boy comprehension test.

Ask students to verbally provide facts they already know about pelicans.
Scribe on the board if you wish.

Making
connections

Pelican Facts

Read/watch facts about pelicans and add to the list. Students might be
able to take notes (summarise) while watching the Youtube video.

Summarising

Youtube video about pelicans

Read pages 26-34

How could we characterise Mr Percival?

In books or on page 3 of booklet, write dot points about facts learnt about
pelicans.

Dot points could be transferred to factual sentences, published and

displayed in classroom.

http://www.aussiepelicans.com/fact
s.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9wxgEuvWKD8
Page 3 from booklet

Discuss the meaning of WORD PLAY

Say that Colin Thiele is very clever at creating settings using precise and
word plays to make an image clearer to a readers head.
View and read webpage, then Watch the second video on:
http://mrswarnerarlington.weebly.com/figurative-language.html
List the key words words remembered from the video (alliteration,
Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW - Program Builder - pb.bos.nsw.edu.au
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Lesson

Modelled, Guided and Independent Learning Sequences

Strategies

Resources

personification, assonance etc)

Together with the students highlight any examples from the text storm boy
pages 5,6,7. Discuss and write what the plain English version would be and
discuss what its effects are. Write each type of figurative language on a
card. Sort them onto a word wall of figurative language. (THis will be used
later to construct a poem.) From now on as you read the rest of storm boy,
add to the figurative language wall.

View the book The Rabbits By Sean Tan. (This links to traditional custodians HSIE
lesson 4 so would be a good time to do this lesson around then). Write the word
ALLEGORY on the board and talk about its meaning.

making
connections,
summarising

Allegory is a rhetorical device in which characters or events in a literary, visual,

or musical art form represent or symbolise ideas and concepts.
Stop at several points in the book and ask students to think, pair share the type of
figurative language used and what it might mean. Some examples include
metaphors
(Rabbits as white people), symbolism (rabbits as they spread quickly and take
over), personification (they ate our grass..) hyperbole (millions and millions of
rabbits) add to the figurative language word wall. Talk about how the the author is
making a statement more powerful by using figurative language rather than just
saying that the British colonies took all the land and children away from the

Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW - Program Builder - pb.bos.nsw.edu.au
Program Builder contains NSW syllabus content prepared by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW for and on behalf of the State of New South Wales which is
protected by Crown copyright. 6

Lesson

Modelled, Guided and Independent Learning Sequences

Strategies

Resources

Aboriginal people.

Review last lesson.

Quickly read pages 18-19 of storm boy. Watch minutes 13/14 of full storm boy
movie
Talk about the poachers. Tell students that we are now going to write a figurative
piece of writing about the poachers, similarly to The Rabbits. Ask students for
some ideas for an allegory: they could be crocodiles as they are merciless killers.
write all these on the board. Come up with some hyperboles (they shot millions of
bullets), similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia (bang!, snap) personifications (the
birds warned each other of their predator), alliteration (bang went the bandits with
bullets in their blunderbusses) with reference to the word wall. Students then
need to select which ones they would like to use, or make their own, to construct
a freeform poem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ikl8CSnILP4
They can publish their freeform
poem on a computer.

Assessment of figurative language

will appear in poetry unit of work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=ikl8CSnILP4

9
View Full Storm Boy movie: They take note about what they liked about the movie
as they watch it.

Write an email to the teacher comparing the parts of the movie (or book) that personally
appealed to themn. They write their texts independently over two sessions. Handwritten
draft then typed. Used as an assessment task and compared to the Assessment task
provided by ACARA.

Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW - Program Builder - pb.bos.nsw.edu.au
Program Builder contains NSW syllabus content prepared by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW for and on behalf of the State of New South Wales which is
protected by Crown copyright. 7

The Storm Boy

Evaluation

Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW - Program Builder - pb.bos.nsw.edu.au
Program Builder contains NSW syllabus content prepared by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW for and on behalf of the State of New South Wales which is
protected by Crown copyright. 8