Spring Dragon

‘Good morning, Grandfather.’

‘Ah… Tan Yali. You are awake. Do you know what
tomorrow is?’
‘Yes, Grandfather. Spring Dragon Day.’
Grandfather sat heavily on his chair and helped
himself to a ladle of rice porridge. Wisps of steam
curled upwards from his bowl.
‘Tomorrow,’ began Grandfather, ‘is the day dragons
raise their heads. When they wake from hibernation,
they begin to growl and shake their tails, causing
thunderclaps.’
Tan Yali’s mother cleared her throat.
‘What do dragons look like?’ asked Tan Yali.
Every year he asked this question, and every year
Grandfather answered it as though it was the first
time.
‘The dragon has the body of a snake, antlers of a
deer, talons of an eagle and the face of a horse.’
‘Father,’ interrupted Tan Yali’s mother, ‘you know
dragons are a myth from the old days. You should not
fill the boy’s head with such nonsense. It would be
better to help him with his lessons.’
Grandfather bowed his head and slurped his porridge.
Tan Yali tried not to grin. He knew his mother hated
it when Grandfather slurped. And he suspected
Grandfather did it for that very reason.

Page 1
 Spring Dragon
SPRING DRAGON on the opposite page is from a novel.
Use SPRING DRAGON to answer the questions below.

R05170
1 Grandfather says that when dragons shake their tails
❏❏ spring begins.
❏❏ it is time for them to sleep.
❏❏ you hear thunder.
❏❏ the dragons start fighting.

R051704
2 Why does Tan Yali think Grandfather slurps his porridge?

R051707
3 Why does Tan Yali’s mother ‘clear her throat’?
❏❏ She is trying not to laugh at the story.
❏❏ She does not approve of Grandfather telling the story.
❏❏ She has noticed a mistake in the story.
❏❏ She is worried that Tan Yali will be frightened by the story.

Page 2
 Extreme Phenomena

Record Description Place Time

0.1 centimetres
Atacama Desert,
Driest Place (0.04 inch) of rain –
Chile
per year
12 metres
Wettest Place (472 inches) of Mawsynram, India –
rain per year

Lowest -89.2 °C
Vostok, Antarctica 1983
Temperature (-128.6 °F)

Highest 57.7 °C
Al’Aziziyah, Libya 1922
Temperature (135.9 °F)

Longest Period of 768 consecutive

Florida, USA 1967–1969
Sunshine days

736 hours of
Cloudiest Place Ben Nevis, Scotland –
sunshine per year

Page 3
 Extreme Phenomena
The table on the opposite page, EXTREME PHENOMENA, is from a book
about the weather.
Use EXTREME PHENOMENA to answer the questions below.

R050901
4 In which year was the coldest temperature recorded?
❏❏ 1922
❏❏ 1967
❏❏ 1969
❏❏ 1983

R050903
5 What is this table about?
❏❏ recent weather around the world
❏❏ changing weather patterns
❏❏ unusual weather conditions
❏❏ early weather records

R050907
6 What does the table tell us about Florida?
❏❏ It is a very hot place.
❏❏ It is a very sunny place.
❏❏ It is a very dry place.
❏❏ It is a very high place.

Page 4
 Letter to the Editor

Peter Hildegard (in his letter of 15 May) has got it wrong.

I did not spend the years I attended a mainstream school
sitting on the sidelines ‘feeling deprived and lonely’ because
I use a wheelchair while my fellow students ‘engaged in
boisterous playground activities’.

Instead I participated in all the activities available to me,

both academically and socially. I learned about the world
and how to engage in it, formed friendships and was aware
that I had a right to expect the same opportunities as those
that were available to my fellow non-disabled students.
Through daily contact with a disabled student my peers also
learned important lessons about diversity
and acceptance.

We belong in the world. It is our world too. We share, with

non-disabled people, the right to live in the community,
attend regular schools, use the public transport system
and so forth. Unfortunately for us, there remain access and
attitudinal problems that prevent or restrict our participation,
and this needs to change. This is everyone’s responsibility.

Melissa Burgon

Page 5
 Letter to the Editor
Use LETTER TO THE EDITOR on the opposite page to answer the questions
below.

L7LML3
7 ‘feeling deprived and lonely’
‘engaged in boisterous playground activities’.
Why does Melissa place quotation marks ( ‘ ’ ) around these words
in her letter?

L7LML5
8 Melissa calls others ‘non-disabled’ rather than ‘abled’.
What point is she trying to make?

L7LML7
9 The last paragraph begins with, ‘We belong in this world’.
Who are ‘we’?

Page 6
 Conservation of Mass
Young children usually refer to the mass of an object as the amount or weight of
the objects. Conservation of mass is the understanding that changing the shape
of an object does not change the mass of an object. Jean Piaget was a Swiss
psychologist, was the first person to research and document the development of
children’s ability to conserve mass. He found that children typically develop the
ability to conserve mass around the age of seven.
Research Activity
An investigation of young people’s thinking
Equipment Required:
1 block of soft modelling clay that is approximately the size of two fists
Pen and paper for recording the results
Procedure:
1. Place two chairs at a table. Put the equipment on the table within easy reach.
2. Sit next to the child at the table. Make sure the child is relaxed and comfortable.
If you do not know the child well then take some time to chat and ensure that the
child feels at ease.
3. When you feel that the child is ready to begin, take the modelling clay and ask the
child to divide it into two equal parts. When the child has done this, confirm with
her that she is happy that the amount of clay in each half is the same*. If the child
says that the two parts are not the ‘same’ then ask her to redistribute the clay until
she is sure that the two parts have the same amount of clay.
4. Take the two parts of clay and roll each of them into a ball. Confirm that the child
still believes that the two parts contain equal amounts of clay.
5. Roll one of the balls of clay into a sausage shape. Place the two pieces of clay
next to each other and ask the child whether there is the same amount of clay
in each part. If she answers ‘yes’ then ask her to explain why she thinks that
there is the same amount in each. If she says ‘no’ then ask her to say which one
has ‘more’ clay and then ask her to explain why she thinks that one has ‘more’.
Carefully make notes of the exact words of her explanation. Make sure that you
praise the child and allow her to feel as though she has done well regardless of
her response and explanation.
6. Roll the sausage shaped piece of clay back into a ball. Ask the child whether she
thinks that there is the same amount of clay in each ball and allow her to adjust
the amounts as in step 3. When she is sure that there is an equal amount of clay
in each ball you can proceed.
7. Flatten one of the balls of clay into a pancake shape. Repeat the question and
answer process from step 5 about the amount of clay in each shape.
8. Thank the child for her participation and congratulate her on her success.

Page 7
 Conservation of Mass
Use CONSERVATION OF MASS on the opposite page to answer the
questions below.

S0CM01
10 What would you find out from the research activity?

S0CM03
11 Do you think the instructions are easy to understand?
❏❏ YES ❏❏ NO
Fill in one box and give a reason for your choice, referring to the text.

SC0M09
12 Jean Piaget also described a research activity for the conservation of volume
using water and jars.
The test for conservation of volume would need to use
❏❏ equal quantities of water in jars of equal dimensions.
❏❏ equal quantities of water in jars of different dimensions.
❏❏ different quantities of water in jars of equal dimensions.
❏❏ different quantities of water in jars of different dimensions.

Page 8