Freddy and the Pig. Synopsis and Themes Quiz Extension Activities Fun Activity About the Author Increasing Vocabulary Exercises

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1 Barrington Stoke Classroom resources Freddy and the Pig Acorn Readers Part 1 Part 2 part 3 Part 4 Part 5 part 6 Synopsis and Themes Quiz Extension Activities Fun Activity About the Author Increasing Vocabulary Exercises Page 1 of 18

2 Introduction This guide is intended to provide a teacher or learning assistant with materials to support less able readers in accessing the Acorn Readers from Barrington Stoke. A synopsis and overview of themes is provided, followed by: Notes with suggestions for discussion points designed to develop reading comprehension strategies, including prediction and inference skills these are written for teacher use and not distribution to students, and assume the teacher will model and scaffold as the group works. Photocopiable quiz to check basic comprehension. Extension activities to further understanding of the text and/or provide opportunities for speaking, listening and writing work. Fun stuff provides art, craft or other enjoyable activity idea. A brief author biography. Word search and another photocopiable activity designed to develop vocabulary or consolidate sight words in the text should you wish to use these you may wish to do so before beginning work on the text. All photocopiable activities may be reproduced for use by students within your own school. Answers are provided for all photocopiable activities. We hope you enjoy using these materials with your students. Page 2 of 18

3 Introduction About the Acorn Readers Barrington Stoke s Acorn Readers are high interest, low reading-age books from eight well known children s authors, including former Children s Laureates Michael Morpurgo and Michael Rosen, bestsellers Sophie McKenzie and Georgia Byng, and TV comedian-turned-horror-novelist Charlie Higson. The Acorns offer seriously struggling readers in the upper primary the opportunity to access age-appropriate stories within a very low word count of words per book. Texts have been edited to a reading age of 6 (with the occasional challenging item of vocabulary in recognition of the chronological age of readers). Challenged read ers The issues for children who struggle to read are complex and stem from difficulties across a wide range of language and thinking functions. It is common for these children to struggle with decoding, with literal comprehension at word, sentence and paragraph level and with higher levels of meaning. The Acorns and D ecoding Children who struggle with the mechanics of reading may have a learning deficit regarding letter/sound correspondences, or a deeper problem such as poor visual discrimination or poor working memory. In the case of children with dyslexia, compromised development of and access to the visual lexicon (store of known whole words) can also mean that children rely more on decoding than their peers. The Acorn Readers use the Barrington Stoke typeface and layout, which have been designed to support visual discrimination. High/low editing reduces the incidence of irregular words to reduce obstacles to decoding. The Acorns and literal comprehension at word, sentence, paragraph and text level Many readers read and understand single words but struggle with comprehension when words are put into sentences and paragraphs. These readers may struggle to use context to work out the meaning of words, to understand flexible use of multi-meaning words, to process complex sentences, understand passive constructions and grasp figurative language. Page 3 of 18

4 The Acorns are edited and designed to support these readers: Illustration adds to available context, multi-meaning words are minimised, sentences structures are simplified and passive constructions are avoided. Strategic processing and metacognition Strategic processing is a learner s ability to control and manage his or her own cognitive activities. Children with learning difficulties often process information with great difficulty and struggle to develop strategies others use as a matter of course. In reading it is not atypical for these children to be unaware of basic strategies such as re-reading passages they don t understand. Identification of key information, sequencing, prediction, inference and other processes required for comprehension are also likely to be compromised. Our guided reading notes are designed to help develop strategic processing. Metacognition is knowledge and understanding of cognitive process and abilities most simply defined as thinking about thinking. Work on metacognitive skills can help children with additional support needs to develop their cognitive processes and strategies. Despite their short length, the Acorn Readers are strong pieces of writing with sufficient style and depth to provide opportunities for reading beyond the text and understanding higher levels of meaning. Page 4 of 18

5 part 1 Synopsis and Themes Synopsis and themes Freddy is not a fan of school and so sends a pig in his place. Although the pig suffers from a few lapses of good manners in the first few days a puddle on the floor here, a chewed up ball there he is soon making good progress. In fact, the pig is a rather better pupil than Freddy. At home, Freddy is busy playing Total Death War on his Xbox and turning ever more pig-like in his appearance. In the end his mother sends the pig off to university and an eventual career in business and then in parliament. Freddy is gifted to a family of vegetarians who let him live in the garden. Freddy and the Pig is a surreal and very funny take on some of the less charming habits of children and is a moral lesson in not always wishing for what is good for us. Guided Reading Ideas Read P2 & P3, and look at the pictures What do the readers think of Freddy s question for the teacher? What is the use of going to school if all a person wants to do is stay at home and play Xbox? Look at the teacher s face. What does her expression tell the readers about Freddy as a pupil? Read P4 & P5 Often the funniest comedy is surreal very strange or bizarre. Do the readers think that the plan Freddy comes up with is surreal or not? Charlie Higson says it is a clever plan is it? Read P6 & P7 Look at these sentences: It sat in class and it grunted. That was more than Freddy had ever done. The teacher was very pleased. What does Charlie Higson mean when he says that Freddy hadn t even grunted? Have the readers ever heard pupils grunt in class? Have they ever felt like grunting in school? On the basis of the things the pig does on these pages, would the readers like to have a pig in their classroom? Page 5 of 18

6 Read P8 & P9 Do the readers think that the way Freddy is behaving here is a good idea in the long run? Why/why not? Read up to P13 The word surreal means bizarre and strange, and often funny. What is surreal on these pages? Read up to P19 Sometimes, when a person behaves in a dirty or lazy fashion, we say that they are acting like a pig. On these pages, who acts like a pig? On these pages, does the pig act like a pig? Look back over the story What happens to Freddy in the end? Back at the beginning of the story, Freddy made out that school was stupid and a waste of time. Do you think that Charlie Higson agrees with him? What do you think Charlie Higson s message is in the story? Page 6 of 18

7 Part 2 Quiz How well can you recall? 1. What did Freddy want to do instead of going to school? 2. Who did Freddy send to school in his place? 3. What did Freddy put on the pig? 4. What did the pig do on the classroom floor after he ate his worksheet? 5. What was the name of Freddy s favourite game on Xbox? Page 7 of 18

8 6. What sports team did the pig join? 7. What did he do with the ball at half-time? 8. What did Freddy s mum do with Freddy? 9. What did the pig do after he had left school? 10. Where did Freddy end up living? Page 8 of 18

9 PArt 3 Extension Activities 1. The pig s report card Pretend you are the teacher and fill in the pig s report card. Use the information from the story and your own imagination! Good at: English Good at: Maths Good at: Sports Answering questions in class Writing essays Could do better at: Could do better at: Could do better at: Not weeing on the floor Working with other people Page 9 of 18

10 2. Book Review Create a book review for Freddy and the Pig. You can write your review down or you can record it as a video or audio file. Try to answer at least four of these questions in your review: What happens in the story? What feeling do you think the author wants the reader to get from the story? Does the reader get this feeling? Do you think there is any message in the book for the reader? What do you think would happen next if the story carried on past the ending of the book? Did you like the book overall? Which was your favourite part of the book? Could the story be improved or changed for the better? How? Would you like to read another book by this author? Page 10 of 18

11 Part 4 Fun Activity Dress up Freddy s pig for school! Follow the instructions below to dress up Freddy s pig for the school day. Use the templates on the next pages. What you ll need: Scissors Glue Felt tips or coloured pencils Step 1. Cut out the pig Template. Step 2. Locate the clothing templates. Cut them out making sure you don t cut off the tabs. Colour in your outfit. Use the tabs to attach the clothes to the pig template. Step 3. Make your own clothing templates for the pig if you don t like the ones provided! Step 4. Show your neighbour how you dressed Freddy s pig! Page 11 of 18

12 Cut me out and dress me up!

13 Use these templates or make your own! Shirt glasses Trousers

Part 5 About the Author About Charlie Higson Charlie Higson has had a lot of interesting jobs he has been an actor, a comedian, a TV writer and even the singer in a band.

14 Part 5 About the Author About Charlie Higson Charlie Higson has had a lot of interesting jobs he has been an actor, a comedian, a TV writer and even the singer in a band. Today he splits his time between writing and other work such as appearances on TV panel shows like QI. Charlie went to school in Kent and then to the University of East Anglia. At University he met the comedian Paul Whitehouse. After a spell as a singer and working as a house painter, Charlie began to write with Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield. They went on to write and perform The Fast Show on BBC2. Charlie also worked on lots of other BBC series. In 2004 Charlie began to write the Young Bond novels. He wrote five novels in total about the young James Bond and then began a series of zombie novels. There are now plans for seven in the series and all the books to date have been bestsellers. Page 14 of 18

15 Freddy and the Pig Word Search Find the hidden words. Colour each word as you find it. f r v e g e t a r i a n s h g a j h g f d s q w n b v u f p v n u b i g h d g t r e c y a o h n d u s c h o o l b c e i u g i v c x z d a z e u e i r r w f q n c f g l x a i s f k i j o c w x y p s e r b s r j t i r w a m a g a i n j f i l e s m e s i u o g f t y u d n v f s y t z x c v v b n l g k u n i v e r s i t y t r u e s j h g d t b u s i n e s s s d r g r u n t e d x c v b n g i a s w e r g f d s h j k l y u m a t c h r p l e a s e d e r school waste learn uniform pair grunted vegetarians pleased fridge favourite again successful university match goals business Teacher s Notes Freddy and the Pig Increasing Vocabulary Exercises

16 Freddy and the Pig Word Search answers f r v e g e t a r i a n s h g a j h g f d s q w n b v u f p v n u b i g h d g t r e c y a o h n d u s c h o o l b c e i u g i v c x z d a z e u e i r r w f q n c f g l x a i s f k i j o c w x y p s e r b s r j t i r w a m a g a i n j f i l e s m e s i u o g f t y u d n v f s y t z x c v v b n l g k u n i v e r s i t y t r u e s j h g d t b u s i n e s s s d r g r u n t e d x c v b n g i a s w e r g f d s h j k l y u m a t c h r p l e a s e d e r school waste learn uniform pair grunted vegetarians pleased fridge favourite again successful university match goals business Teacher s Notes Freddy and the Pig Increasing Vocabulary Exercises

The feet of a pig, goat, lamb or cow. t t t r s 6. A good place Christians believe in. H v 7. A verb that means to grow smaller. s k 8.

17 Freddy and the Pig Word Detective Can you fill in the blanks to give the answers to these questions? 1. What pupils wear to school. u i f m 2. A short sound made by an animal or a person. g t 3. A piece of paper you write answers on in school. w k s h t 4. A verb that means find pleasure. j o y 5. The feet of a pig, goat, lamb or cow. t t t r s 6. A good place Christians believe in. H v 7. A verb that means to grow smaller. s k 8. A place people go to study for a degree. u v s 9. Another word for a company. b s i n 10. A person who does not eat meat. v g e t r i Teacher s Notes Freddy and the Pig Increasing Vocabulary Exercises

18 Freddy and the Pig Word Detective ANSWERS 1. What pupils wear to school. u n i f o r m 2. A short sound made by an animal or a person. g r u n t 3. A piece of paper you write answers on in school. w o r k s h e e t 4. A verb that means find pleasure. e n j o y 5. The feet of a pig, goat, lamb or cow. t r o t t e r s 6. A good place Christians believe in. H e a v e n 7. A verb that means to grow smaller. s h r i n k 8. A place people go to study for a degree. u n i v e r s i t y 9. Another word for a company. b u s i n e s s 10. A person who does not eat meat. v e g e t a r i a n Teacher s Notes Freddy and the Pig Increasing Vocabulary Exercises

Barrington Stoke. Acorn Readers. Harry ANd Kate at the Book Museum. Classroom resources

Barrington Stoke. Acorn Readers. Harry ANd Kate at the Book Museum. Classroom resources Barrington Stoke Classroom resources Harry ANd Kate at the Book Museum Acorn Readers Part 1 Part 2 part 3 Part 4 Part 5 part 6 Synopsis and Themes Quiz Extension Activities Fun Activity About the Author