Oxford Level 5 Stories
Gran
Teaching Notes Author: Mary Mackill
Comprehension strategies Decodable words
• Comprehension strategies are taught about, came, don’t, house, made, old
throughout the Teaching Notes to enable
pupils to understand what they are reading Tricky words
in books that they can read independently. adventure, Biff’s, bounced, castle, Chip’s, football, Gran’s, hole,
In these Teaching Notes the following working, yelled
strategies are taught:
Prediction, Questioning, Clarifying, = Language comprehension
Summarising, Imagining
= Word recognition
Group or guided reading
Introducing the book
(Prediction) Look at the cover illustration and read the title together. Ask the children: What sort of
person do you think Gran is?
• Look through the book to confirm the children’s predictions.
Strategy check
Remind the children to sound out the first letter in a word to help them work out new words,
e.g. ‘bounced’.
Independent reading
• Ask children to read the story aloud. Praise and encourage them while they read, and prompt
as necessary.
(Clarifying) Ask children to explain why Gran was sad at the end.
Check that children:
• look at word endings to help them to read ‘helped’, ‘jumping’, ‘working’
• use comprehension skills to work out what is happening in the story.
Returning to the text
(Questioning, Clarifying) Ask the children: What did Gran do with the children? Where did she take them?
(Summarising) Ask the children to list the incidents when Gran gets into trouble.
(Questioning) Ask: Why was the man cross with Gran? Do you think it was fair that the man shouted
at Gran? What could he have done instead?
(Clarifying) Ask: Do you think a new story is starting at the end of this one?
Group and independent reading activities
Segment sounds into their constituent phonemes (consonant blends).
Ask children to find the word ‘Gran’ in the story and to break down the word into two syllables.
Emphasise the ‘Gr’ consonant blend at the beginning of the word.
• In pairs, children can then find other words starting with consonant blends from the story, e.g. page 6:
‘played’; page 18: ‘cross’; page 21: ‘glowing’.
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Have the children identified the consonant blend in each word?
Recognise high frequency words.
Challenge children in teams to find each of these words as quickly as they can. Use a stopwatch to
time them: ‘old’, ‘out’ (page 8); ‘children’, ‘come’ (page 11); ‘called’, ‘good’ (page 15); ‘down’, ‘made’
(page 16); ‘about’, ‘was’ (page 20).
Can the children read these high frequency words confidently?
Apply phonic knowledge as the prime approach to reading and spelling unfamiliar words.
Ask children to find the words written in capital letters on pages 10, 11 and 12.
• Ask the children to suggest what they can do to read each word if they don’t know it. Explain that
they can try reading it the same way as if the letters were in lower case, i.e. sounding them out and
breaking them down into recognisable parts, e.g. ‘tick/ets’.
• Together, write a sign for a classroom area in capital letters, asking children to suggest the letters that
might be used, e.g. ‘READING CORNER’.
Are children automatically using their phonic knowledge to decipher these words?
Identify the main events in stories, and find specific information in simple texts. Explore the effects
of patterns of language and repeated words and phrases.
(Questioning, Summarising, Imagining) Ask: Can you remember the events? In which order did they
happen? Can you find the pages where Gran gets into trouble? (pages 6, 7, 16)
• Read these pages aloud and ask children to listen carefully for any patterned text (‘Oh no!’)
• Ask them to think of another incident in which Gran might get into trouble. Together, write a
sentence about the incident, then a second sentence with the patterned text ‘Oh no!’
Can the children remember the sequence of events in the story?
Can the children identify the patterned text easily?
Identify the main characters in stories, and find specific information in simple texts. Visualise characters,
making imaginative links to their own experiences.
(Imagining) Encourage the children to discuss the character of Gran. Ask: Why do you think Biff, Chip
and Kipper like Gran?
• Encourage children to talk about their own gran and what they like doing with her.
• If they were the children at the end of the book, and their gran came with them, what magic key
adventure would they like to have next?
Can children describe Gran accurately, based on the story text?
Speaking, listening and drama activities
Explore familiar characters through role-play.
(Questioning) Choose children to take turns to be Gran and sit in the ‘hot seat’. Ask other children to
ask Gran questions about herself and the things she does. Encourage them to begin their questions
with ‘How’ and ‘Why’.
Can children infer what Gran might say from her behaviour in the story?
Writing activities
Use a keyboard to type simple texts.
Children could type up the sentences about the incident in which
For teachers
Gran gets into trouble, written earlier as a class, or make up some Helping you with free eBooks, inspirational
resources, advice and support
of their own. They can then print them off and draw a picture to match.
For parents
Can children produce simple texts appropriate to the purpose? Helping your child’s learning
with free eBooks, essential
Have they attempted to spell words correctly? tips and fun activities
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2 © Oxford University Press 2014
