Ready-to-teach lesson
Working It Out Backwards
When Pigs Fly - Grade 2 - Short lesson
TIME
OBJECTIVE
15 minutes Put the steps of Ralph's plan in the order he has to do them, starting from what he wants.
Essential question: Why does wanting a bicycle mean learning to fly?
Materials
Text to mark
PRODUCT
Rows for each step of the plan, numbered in the order he must do them
- The book Ralph's explanation copied
- Passage 6 - a suitcase and legs on grey tarmac
- Prepared passages: Passage 6, Passage 7, Passage 8
Lesson sequence
1 The whole chain - 4 min
- Passage 7 - a cow's face and a man's, close together against green
- Passage 8 - a helicopter between rooftops with a man and a cow in it
- Focus:
- A chain of reasoning stated in one breath
- Teacher model:
- Read Ralph's explanation and ask the class to say it back starting from the bike.
- Prepared text:
- Passage 7 2 Number the steps - 7 min
- Teacher direction:
- Number the steps of the plan in the order Ralph must do them.
- Expected answer:
- Learn to fly, take pigs up, pigs have flown, bike.
- Prepared text:
- Passage 7 3 Doing it - 4 min
- Teacher direction:
- Say what Ralph actually does on these pages.
- Expected answer:
- Goes to the airport to find a teacher, then spends a week learning.
- Prepared text:
- Passage 6, Passage 8
Support & extension
Above: Say which step of the plan Ralph could not have done first, and why.
Below: Say what Ralph has to learn and what he wants in the end.
Assessment
- Starts from the bike and works back
- Puts the steps in a workable order
- Matches the plan to what he actually does
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