Analyze Characters

Ready-to-teach lesson

OBJECTIVE

Track what Megan says about pigs from the beginning to the end, and work out what she has and has not learnt.

STUDENT PRODUCT

Speech bubbles in order, then the last page

FOCUS

A character's opinion, changed in stages by evidence

Essential question

Megan ends up saying her father's own sentence. Does that mean she agrees with him?

Materials

• The book

• Pages 4, 8, 11 and 12, found before the lesson

• One speech-bubble sheet each

Text to mark before teaching

• Passage 4 — the kitchen full of pigs, seen through the window

• Passage 8 — waiting for the bus with a piglet on a lead

• Passage 10 — a pig at the wheel in sunglasses, pigs at every window

• Passage 11 — back in the kitchen, telling her parents

• Passage 12 — the last page: a class at the zoo, and a hand on the elephant's padlock

Lesson sequence

1 Launch · 5 min

Focus:

A sentence that changes owner

Teacher direction:

Write the father's sentence about pigs on the board before you read the book, and leave it there. Tell the class that somebody else says it again at the end and their job is to notice who.

Prepared text:

Passage 11 2 Teacher model · 7 min

page 2

Teacher model:

I read what Megan says about the pigs at the gate, then what she says after they get into the kitchen, then what she says about the piglet in her desk. The first is that they are the stupidest animals she has ever seen. The second is maybe they are not so dumb after all. The third is asking who ever said pigs were dumb - as though it had never been her.

Prepared text:

Passage 4, Passage 8 3 What Megan says about pigs, in order · 13 min

Focus:

From dumbest to smarter than you think

Teacher direction:

Using Passages 4, 8 and 11, write down what Megan says about pigs at three points in the book, in order.

Expected answer:

At the start she says they are the dumbest looking animals she has ever seen and that they stand about like lumps on a bump. Once they are loose in her kitchen she says maybe pigs are not so dumb after all - which is the first time she gives any ground. When the teacher calls the piglet in her desk dumb she goes further and asks who ever said pigs were dumb, saying they are smart and she is keeping it as a pet. And at the end, telling her parents the pigs came home by themselves, she says pigs are smarter than you think - which is exactly what her father said to her on the first page.

Student product:

Three or four speech bubbles in order

Prepared text:

Passage 4, Passage 8, Passage 11 4 The last page · 10 min

Focus:

Two words that give the game away

Teacher direction:

Using Passages 10 and 12, write what the last page says and what its picture shows, and explain why they do not match. page 3

Expected answer:

The words say Megan never let out any more animals, and then add at least not any more pigs. Those last four words undo the first part, because they only make sense if there is something else. The picture says what: the class is at the zoo, and Megan is standing at the elephant's cage with her hand on the padlock. So she has learnt exactly one thing - that pigs are smarter than you think - and has learnt nothing about gates at all. It is the same mistake she made on the first page, with a bigger animal.

Prepared text:

Passage 10, Passage 12

Teacher guidance

Why this text works: Put the father's line up before you read and leave it up; the pleasure is a child spotting that Megan has just said it herself, and it is a better moment if nobody has been told to expect it. The four stages are clean enough to sort without arguing, so spend the time on the last page instead. Read the words, ask whether Megan has learnt her lesson, take a vote, and then show the picture. The four words at least not any more pigs are doing all the work and a Grade 1 class can be shown how much a short phrase can carry.

Expected answer:

Megan's opinion of pigs changes in stages, and each stage is caused by something the pigs have just done. At the gate they are the dumbest looking animals she has ever seen, standing about like lumps on a bump. Once they are in her kitchen it is maybe pigs are not so dumb after all. When her teacher calls the piglet in her desk dumb, she asks who ever said pigs were dumb and keeps it as a pet. And when the pigs drive the school bus home into their own pen, she tells her parents that pigs are smarter than you think - the sentence her father gave her on the first page, which she ignored.

Model: I notice that the last page has a picture that disagrees with its own words. The words say Megan stopped letting animals out. The picture has her hand on the lock of an elephant's cage. She believes the thing her father told her about pigs, and she has not learnt the thing he was actually warning her about.

Support and extension

Above: Megan says her father's sentence at the end. Explain whether she has really changed her mind or only changed it about pigs.

Below: Fill the speech bubbles in order, then write what the last page shows.

page 4

Assessment

Look for: Says Megan first thought the pigs were stupid. Gives one thing she says about them later.

Says she decided pigs were smart. Says she used her father's own words at the end. Says the last picture shows her at the elephant's cage.

Short version

TIME

20 minutes

OBJECTIVE

Track what Megan says about pigs from the beginning to the end, and work out what she has and has not learnt.

STUDENT PRODUCT

Speech bubbles in order, then the last page

FOCUS

A character's opinion, changed in stages by evidence

Essential question

Megan ends up saying her father's own sentence. Does that mean she agrees with him?

Materials

• The book

• Pages 4, 8, 11 and 12, found before the lesson

• One speech-bubble sheet each

Text to mark before teaching

• Passage 4 — the kitchen full of pigs, seen through the window

• Passage 8 — waiting for the bus with a piglet on a lead

• Passage 10 — a pig at the wheel in sunglasses, pigs at every window

• Passage 11 — back in the kitchen, telling her parents

• Passage 12 — the last page: a class at the zoo, and a hand on the elephant's padlock

Lesson sequence

1 Launch · 4 min

page 5

Focus:

A sentence that changes owner

Teacher direction:

Write the father's sentence about pigs on the board before you read the book, and leave it there. Tell the class that somebody else says it again at the end and their job is to notice who.

Prepared text:

Passage 11 2 Teacher model · 6 min

Teacher model:

I read what Megan says about the pigs at the gate, then what she says after they get into the kitchen, then what she says about the piglet in her desk. The first is that they are the stupidest animals she has ever seen. The second is maybe they are not so dumb after all. The third is asking who ever said pigs were dumb - as though it had never been her.

Prepared text:

Passage 4, Passage 8 3 What Megan says about pigs, in order · 10 min

Focus:

From dumbest to smarter than you think

Teacher direction:

Using Passages 4, 8 and 11, write down what Megan says about pigs at three points in the book, in order.

Expected answer:

At the start she says they are the dumbest looking animals she has ever seen and that they stand about like lumps on a bump. Once they are loose in her kitchen she says maybe pigs are not so dumb after all - which is the first time she gives any ground. When the teacher calls the piglet in her desk dumb she goes further and asks who ever said pigs were dumb, saying they are smart and she is keeping it as a pet. And at the end, telling her parents the pigs came

home by themselves, she says pigs are smarter than you think - which is exactly what her father said to her on the first page.

Student product:

Three or four speech bubbles in order

Prepared text:

Passage 4, Passage 8, Passage 11

page 6

Teacher guidance

Why this text works: Put the father's line up before you read and leave it up; the pleasure is a child spotting that Megan has just said it herself, and it is a better moment if nobody has been told to expect it. The four stages are clean enough to sort without arguing, so spend the time on the last page instead. Read the words, ask whether Megan has learnt her lesson, take a vote, and then show the picture. The four words at least not any more pigs are doing all the work and a Grade 1 class can be shown how much a short phrase can carry.

Expected answer:

Megan's opinion of pigs changes in stages, and each stage is caused by something the pigs have just done. At the gate they are the dumbest looking animals she has ever seen, standing about like lumps on a bump. Once they are in her kitchen it is maybe pigs are not so dumb after all. When her teacher calls the piglet in her desk dumb, she asks who ever said pigs were dumb and keeps it as a pet. And when the pigs drive the school bus home into their own pen, she tells her parents that pigs are smarter than you think - the sentence her father gave her on the first page, which she ignored.

Model: I notice that the last page has a picture that disagrees with its own words. The words say Megan stopped letting animals out. The picture has her hand on the lock of an elephant's cage. She believes the thing her father told her about pigs, and she has not learnt the thing he was actually warning her about.

Support and extension

Above: Megan says her father's sentence at the end. Explain whether she has really changed her mind or only changed it about pigs.

Below: Fill the speech bubbles in order, then write what the last page shows.

Assessment

Look for: Says Megan first thought the pigs were stupid. Gives one thing she says about them later.

Says she decided pigs were smart. Says she used her father's own words at the end. Says the last picture shows her at the elephant's cage.

Pigs · 3 lessons · How to use TumbleTA (PDF)

page 7