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More Than a Dance - Worksheet
F 1 Standard Membership Worksheets English Interacting with Others Analysing, Interpreting & Evaluating Language for Interacting With Others 6 Pages

More Than a Dance - Worksheet

This differentiated worksheet set explores symbolism in Giraffes Can't Dance. Students investigate how Gerald's dancing and the cricket's music represent confidence, self-belief and personal growth. Foundation students match symbols to meanings, Year 1 students explain how symbols show character growth, and Year 2 students analyse how symbolism helps communicate the story's themes and messages. Activities develop comprehension, critical thinking, interpretation and personal connections to literature.

Learning goals

  • We are learning to use comprehension strategies, such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising and questioning to make meaning.
  • We are learning to use comprehension strategies to find literal and inferred meaning in texts.
  • We are learning to use comprehension strategies to find literal and inferred meaning in texts and begin to analyse texts by drawing on our knowledge.
  • We are learning to use appropriate interaction skills to respond to others in a familiar environment.
  • We are learning to recognise the impact that facial expressions and gestures have when asking for and providing information, making offers, exclaiming, requesting and giving commands.
  • We are learning to recognise formal and informal language and understand the appropriate use of each.
  • We are learning to retell or adapt familiar stories through performance, reciting rhymes, writing, drawing pictures or using technology.
  • We are learning to innovate on familiar texts by experimenting with character, setting or plot and by adding prepositional phrases to improve descriptions.
  • We are learning to use comprehension strategies, such as retelling, making inferences and finding key words to make meaning from multimodal texts.
  • We are learning to recognise the impact that facial expressions and gestures have when interacting with others.
  • We are learning to explore different ways of expressing emotions.
  • We are learning to understand the difference between commands, statements and questions (both open and closed).
  • We are learning to retell familiar texts through role play, reciting rhymes, drawing pictures or using technology.
  • We are learning to imitate the speech, characteristics or attitudes of familiar characters.
  • We are learning to use comprehension strategies to find literal and inferred meaning in texts.
  • We are learning to tell known stories from different points of view, construct sequels and imaginative reconstructions of stories and poetry.
  • We are learning to innovate on familiar texts by experimenting with character, setting or plot.

Curriculum alignment

AC9E1LY05 9 Use comprehension strategies such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising and questioning when listening, viewing and reading to build literal and inferred meaning by drawing on vocabulary and growing knowledge of context and text structures AC9EFLY05 9 Use comprehension strategies such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising and questioning to understand and discuss texts listened to, viewed or read independently AC9E2LE05 9 Create and edit literary texts by adapting structures and language features of familiar literary texts through drawing, writing, performance and digital tools AC9E2LY05 9 Use comprehension strategies such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising, monitoring and questioning to build literal and inferred meaning AC9EFLA01 9 Explore how language is used differently at home and school depending on the relationships between people AC9E1LA01 9 Understand how language, facial expressions and gestures are used to interact with others when asking for and providing information, making offers, exclaiming, requesting and giving commands AC9E1LE05 9 Orally retell or adapt a familiar story using plot and characters, language features including vocabulary, and structure of a familiar text, through role-play, writing, drawing or digital tools AC9E2LA01 9 Investigate how interpersonal language choices vary depending on the context, including the different roles taken on in interactions ACELA1461 8.4 Understand that language varies when people take on different roles in social and classroom interactions and how the use of key interpersonal language resources varies depending on context ACELY1650 8.4 Use comprehension strategies to understand and discuss texts listened to, viewed or read independently ACELY1660 8.4 Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning about key events, ideas and information in texts that they listen to, view and read by drawing on growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features ACELT1832 8.4 Innovate on familiar texts by using similar characters, repetitive patterns or vocabulary ACELT1593 8.4

Create events and characters using different media that develop key events and characters from literary texts

 ACELT1586 8.4 Recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing, performance and digital forms of communication ACELA1446 8.4 Understand that there are different ways of asking for information, making offers and giving commands ACELT1833 8.4 Innovate on familiar texts by experimenting with character, setting or plot ACELA1787 8.4 Explore different ways of expressing emotions, including verbal, visual, body language and facial expressions ACELA1444 8.4 Understand that language is used in combination with other means of communication, for example facial expressions and gestures to interact with others ACELA1428 8.4 Explore how language is used differently at home and school depending on the relationships between people ACELY1670 8.4 Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to analyse texts by drawing on growing knowledge of context, language and visual features and print and multimodal text structures
EN1-4A old Draws on an increasing range of skills and strategies to fluently read, view and comprehend a range of texts on less familiar topics in different media and technologies EN1-2A old Plans, composes and reviews a small range of simple texts for a variety of purposes on familiar topics for known readers and viewers EN1-10C old Thinks imaginatively and creatively about familiar topics, ideas and texts when responding to and composing texts EN1-1A old Communicates with a range of people in informal and guided activities demonstrating interaction skills and considers how own communication is adjusted in different situations ENe-6B old Recognises that there are different kinds of spoken texts with specific language features and shows an emerging awareness of some purposes for spoken language ENe-4A old Demonstrates developing skills and strategies to read, view and comprehend short, predictable texts on familiar topics in different media and technologies EN1-RECOM-01 new Comprehends independently read texts that require sustained reading by activating background and word knowledge, connecting and understanding sentences and whole text, and monitoring for meaning EN1-UARL-01 new Understands and responds to literature by creating texts using similar structures, intentional language choices and features appropriate to audience and purpose EN1-CWT-01 new Plans, creates and revises texts written for different purposes, including paragraphs, using knowledge of vocabulary, text features and sentence structure ENE-OLC-01 new Communicates effectively by using interpersonal conventions and language with familiar peers and adults ENE-VOCAB-01 new Understands and effectively uses Tier 1 words and Tier 2 words in familiar contexts EN1-VOCAB-01 new Understands and effectively uses Tier 1, taught Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary to extend and elaborate ideas EN1-OLC-01 new Communicates effectively by using interpersonal conventions and language to extend and elaborate ideas for social and learning interactions ENE-RECOM-01 new Comprehends independently read texts using background knowledge, word knowledge and understanding of how sentences connect
VCELT228 Create events and characters using different media that develop key events and characters from literary texts VCELT229 Build on familiar texts by experimenting with character, setting or plot VCELY222 Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to analyse texts by drawing on growing knowledge of context, language and visual features and print and multimodal text structures VCELA235 Understand that language varies when people take on different roles in social and classroom interactions and how the use of key interpersonal language resources varies depending on context VCELY186 Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning about key events, ideas and information in texts that they listen to, view and read by drawing on growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features VCELT193 Build on familiar texts by using similar characters, repetitive patterns or vocabulary VCELT192 Recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing, performance and digital forms of communication VCELA200 Understand that there are different ways of asking for information, making offers and giving commands VCELA201 Explore different ways of expressing emotions, including verbal, visual, body language and facial expressions VCELA199 Understand that language is used in combination with other means of communication VCELY153 Use comprehension strategies to understand and discuss texts listened to, viewed or read independently VCELA165 Explore how language is used differently at home and school depending on the relationships between people

Australian Curriculum covers QLD / SA / WA / NT / TAS / ACT.

Differentiation

Modifications

Teacher scribing, oral responses, sentence starters, visual prompts, shared reading support, partner discussion, reduced writing expectations, drawing responses in place of written explanations, small-group support.

Extensions

Create a new symbol that represents confidence, explain another symbol from the story, compare Gerald's journey with another character, create a poster about self-belief, write a reflection about overcoming challenges, identify symbols in other picture books.

Teach it your way

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