Lazy Jack text

Preparation

Aside from readying copies of the student summary, no other preparation is necessary for this lesson.

Curriculum links

• Australian Curriculum: ACELA1478, ACELA1676
• NSW Syllabus:
• Vic. Curriculum:
• WA Curriculum:

Elaborations

• Can retell a fairytale
• Offers opinions about a character’s behaviour, feelings, thoughts and motives
• Justifies opinions with evidence from text

Suggested teaching strategies

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Introduction

Discuss fairytales the students have heard/read before. Centre the discussion on common features (set in the past, beginning with the phrase ‘Once upon a time’ and ending with ‘lived happily ever after’, involving magical/mythical/far-fetched events). Scribe this list on the board during the discussion.

Development

Read and discuss the text, as a class or in groups. Assist students to decode new words if necessary. Discuss the meaning of any new or unfamiliar words and phrases; e.g. yarn, spinning yarn, hearth, tomcat. Question individual students to gauge their understanding of what they have listened to or read.

Students should be encouraged to ask questions about parts of the text they are unsure of. Discuss the themes in the story such as the importance of working for a living, lack of common sense and how luck can come your way in an unexpected way.

Differentiation

• Ask students to suggest some other silly things Jack could have done. They should write these in the style of the story (e.g. On Monday, Jack worked for a ______. He/She paid Jack with ______. On the way home, ______).
• Have some students create a diary entry giving Jack’s point of view. Others could create a diary entry for the same day(s) from his mother’s point of view.

Conclusion

Invite some students to read their work and invite comments from the other students. Have students think about the events in the story.

Using a round robin approach, have one student begin the retelling, and have each subsequent student add the next event.