Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age by Raymond Briggs (Red Fox)
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Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age by Raymond Briggs (Red Fox) In this multi-layered graphic text the concept of a ‘stone age’ is taken to extremes with everything, including trousers made of stone. The story follows the quest of a Stone Age boy, Ug, in his search for softer trousers. With ideas beyond his time his questioning and inventive mind proves exasperating at times for his parents. This book provides many opportunities for discussion and lots of humour at different levels from the illustrations to the footnotes. Overall aims of this teaching sequence: To engage children with a story told through a mixture of speech and visual imagery To explore themes and issues, and develop and sustain ideas through discussion To develop creative responses to the text through drama, storytelling and artwork To compose writing for a wide variety of purposes To write in role in order to explore and develop empathy for characters This teaching sequence is designed for a Year 3 or Year 4 class. Overview of this teaching sequence This teaching sequence is approximately 4 weeks long if spread out over 20 sessions. If each writing opportunity is fully developed from inception to publication, sessions will need to be extended over more hours or more days to allow for this, thereby extending the number of weeks required to complete. The teaching sequence provides opportunity to explore the interrelationship between words and illustrations in a comic book and how the design and layout of panels on each page support narrative progression. It immerses the children in a fictionalized version of a Stone Age community in which the author plays with our expectations of the era to create humour in both the text and the images. There is much valuable opportunity to extend the sessions through cross curricular learning. A wider study of the history of the Stone Age and the history of inventions and inventors will provide children with a rich bank of knowledge and understanding to draw from in understanding the text. National Curriculum objectives covered by this sequence Reading: (Word reading / Comprehension) Writing: (Transcription / Composition) Maintain positive attitudes to reading and Children should plan their writing by: understanding of what they read by: identifying the audience for and purpose of continuing to read and discuss an the writing, selecting the appropriate form increasingly wide range of fiction and using other similar writing as models for identifying and discussing themes and their own conventions in and across a wide range of noting and developing initial ideas, drawing writing on reading and research where necessary making comparisons within and across in writing narratives, considering how books authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to ©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE. Understand what they read by: or seen performed checking that the book makes sense to Draft and write by: them, discussing their understanding and selecting appropriate grammar and exploring the meaning of words in context vocabulary, understanding how such choices asking questions to improve their can change and enhance meaning in understanding narratives, describing settings, characters drawing inferences such as inferring and atmosphere and integrating dialogue to characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives convey character and advance the action from their actions, and justifying inferences using a wide range of devices to build with evidence cohesion within and across paragraphs predicting what might happen from details using further organisational and stated and implied presentational devices to structure text and identifying how language, structure and to guide the reader presentation contribute to meaning discussing and evaluating how authors use Evaluate and edit by: language, including figurative language, assessing the effectiveness of their own and considering the impact on the reader others’ writing participating in discussions about books that proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar are read to them and those they can read and punctuation to enhance effects and for themselves, building on their own and clarify meaning others’ ideas and challenging views ensuring the consistent and correct use of courteously tense throughout a piece of writing providing reasoned justifications for their ensuring correct subject and verb views agreement when using singular and plural, distinguishing between the language of speech and writing and choosing the appropriate register proofreading for spelling and punctuation errors Speaking and Listening: Listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers Participate actively in collaborative conversations Use spoken language to develop understanding through imagining and exploring ideas Select and use appropriate registers for effective communication Ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge Use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary Articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions Give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments Use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and ©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE. exploring ideas Participate in discussions, performances, role play, improvisations and debates Consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others Cross Curricular Links: Computing Children can be encouraged to use ICT to enhance learning: recording storytelling, filming role- play, using digital photographs to make books or present ideas; internet research; combining images, narration and music to create a book trailer. Personal, Social and Emotional Children can explore themes such as determination and perseverance. Through their study of Ug, children might explore issues around how the community judges him and his ground-breaking ideas. Geography Children might develop their knowledge and understanding of physical geography by considering what features a Stone Age community might look for in choosing a place to settle. Can we locate known places where Stone Age artefacts have been recovered using atlases or online maps? Can we identify features of those locations? Children could then use this knowledge to work in role as a village leader persuading their community to settle in a chosen place perhaps within the locality of the school. History This book lends itself ideally to a closely linked study of the Stone Age as well as an understanding of the chronology of human history and invention. References are made to this throughout the sequence, however any additional study, experiences or school visits would support children’s developing understanding of the text, of how Raymond Briggs plays with historical fact and anachronism as well as their growing knowledge and appreciation of world history. Some useful online resources include a series of animated videos produced by BBC for their ‘Story of Britain’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01z2nn3/clips) and classroom and gallery resources produced by the Museum of London: o https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/schools/learning- resources?s=true&foundationAndPrimary=1&secondary=&specialSchoolAndSEN=&int ernationalAndESOL=&supplementary=&ages=&historicPeriod=|Stone_Age_to_Iron_A ge&topic=&type=&textSearch Art and Design Inspired by their cross curricular work in History, children might experiment with creating their own cave paintings, perhaps to represent more modern concerns. As part of their exploration of stones and rocks in Science, children could look at the growing sculptural fascination with the natural world, such as the work of Michael Grab and Manu Topic who are expert stone stackers. There is even a European Stone Stacking Championship. Example video links to support children’s own stone stacking attempts include: ©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE. o http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-39711866 o Manu Topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3zcL3bOiuM o Michael Grab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caiAzVzX7N4; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFZdZ5igtwI Design and Technology Ug’s fascination with inventing could spur many opportunities for the class to design and construct their own inventions. Children will be encouraged to consider the given properties of various materials, starting, of course, with the varied but limited options of using only stone as a material. You will find many resources to support STEM learning, including the history of invention and challenges for children to undertake at: https://www.stem.org.uk/ Children might be inspired to design