The Flying Carpet: Group or Guided Reading

Oxford Level 8 Stories
The Flying Carpet

Teaching Notes Author: Thelma Page
Comprehension strategies Tricky words
• Comprehension strategies are taught after, again, already, beautiful, because, before, believe, coming,
throughout the Teaching Notes to enable doesn’t, instead, kind, learning, people, school, someone, son,
pupils to understand what they are reading thought, through, want, wonder, worth, where, your
in books that they can read independently.
In these Teaching Notes the following = Language comprehension
strategies are taught:
Prediction, Questioning, Clarifying, = Word recognition
Summarising, Imagining
Group or guided reading

Introducing the book
• Read the title and talk about the picture on the cover. Look briefly through the pictures to see
what happens.
(Clarifying) Ask: Where do you think the story takes place? How can you tell? Do you know any other
stories about flying carpets? Do you know how a flying carpet works?
(Prediction) Read the blurb on the back cover. Ask: Do you think the boy in the picture is in this
country or another country? What makes you think that? What do you think will happen in this story?
Strategy check
Check that the children use a variety of strategies to make sense of the text.
Independent reading
• Ask the children to read the story. Remind them to use phonics and the sense of the sentence to
work out new words. Praise children for reading silently with concentration, and for reading aloud
with expression.
(Summarising) Ask children to tell you quickly what the story was about and what they liked about it.
Check that children:
• read independently and with increasing fluency longer and less familiar texts
• know how to tackle words that are not completely decodable (see chart above)
• read high and medium frequency words independently and automatically
• use syntax and context to build their store of vocabulary when reading for meaning.
Returning to the text
(Summarising) Ask the children to explain who was rescued and why. Ask: Why was the uncle wicked?
(Questioning) Look at pages 16–19. Ask: Why are these pictures in thought clouds? Who is telling
this part of the story? When did these events happen? Introduce the term ‘flashback’ to name the
technique for recounting past events in a story.
(Imagining) Ask: Where does this story take place? Can you find any words that describe the landscape?
(‘deserts’ and ‘mountains’ on page 10). Ask the children to close their eyes and imagine this setting.
Ask: What can you see? What can you hear?
1 © Oxford University Press 2014

Group and independent reading activities
Draw together ideas and information from across a whole text, using simple signposts in the text.
(Clarifying/Prediction) Ask the children to decide who they think is the ‘bad’ character in this story.
Find descriptions of the boy’s uncle on pages 15–18. Make a list of the words that describe his
character. Ask: What happens to this character at the end of the story? How can you tell that the boy
was a nicer character? Find evidence on page 16 and pages 24–26.
Can the children find evidence in the text to support their ideas of the characters?
Read independently and with increasing fluency longer and less familiar texts.
Ask the children to read a section of the story to you. Ask questions about this part of the story.
Ask them to explain how they worked out any unfamiliar words. Turn to page 27. Ask them to explain
the purpose of the ellipsis in the last sentence: ‘I wonder if…?’.
Did the children read independently with confidence and fluency? Could they explain the ellipsis?
Use syntax and context to build their store of vocabulary when reading for meaning.
(Clarifying) Read page 19 again. Ask the children to read the last sentence aloud. Ask: What is a
hostage? Use the context on this page to work out why it helps the uncle to keep the boy in prison.
On page 21, find the word ‘zoomed’. Ask: Is this a better word to use than ‘flew’ or ‘went’? Can you
explain why? On page 26, find the word ‘punished’. Ask: What does this word mean? Ask the children
to think of other words to use instead, e.g. ‘imprisoned’, ‘taught a lesson’, ‘locked up’.
Can the children work out the meaning of the word ‘hostage’? Could they suggest synonyms and say
why one word sounds better than another?
Spell with increasing accuracy and confidence, drawing on word recognition and knowledge of word
structure, and spelling patterns.
Ask the children to look at page 15 and find a word that ends with ‘-ly’. Ask: Can you think of another
word that ends with ‘-ly’ that means the same thing? (e.g. ‘unhappily’, ‘miserably’). Make a list of
‘-ly’ words. Notice whether the base word changes when ‘-ly’ is added: for example, words that do
not change include ‘sadly’, ‘quickly’, ‘kindly’, ‘suddenly’; words in which ‘y’ becomes ‘i’ are ‘happily’,
‘speedily’, ‘steadily’; words in which the final ‘e’ is dropped include ‘miserably’, ‘sensibly’, ‘horribly’.
Can children identify the ‘-ly’ suffix in words and think of other words with the same suffix?
Speaking, listening and drama activities

Present part of stories for members of their own class.
You will need card, felt pens, sellotape, lollypop sticks and pieces of fabric.
(Imagining) Discuss putting on a puppet show to tell the boy’s story from pages 16–19. Ask the
children to think of a title, e.g. ‘The Wicked Uncle Kidnaps the King’. Make a list of characters you
will need and make stick puppets for them. Ask children to choose characters, paint faces and attach
them to sticks, then drape fabric over the sticks for costumes.
• Ask the children to discuss what the characters will say and the types of voices they will use.
• Encourage them to act out the play with enthusiasm.
Have children interpreted their characters’ words using the correct tone of voice?
Writing activities
Explain their reactions to texts, commenting on important aspects.
• Ask the children, in pairs, to say what they liked about this story. Ask them to write a letter to their
partner telling them why this is a good story to read. They could cover the main points by completing
these sentences:

The story is about…
It is exciting when…
It is funny when…
The character I liked best was…because…
• Discuss ways of mentioning the ending without giving it all away. Write the suggestions on the
board, e.g. ‘The children finally outwit the wicked uncle.’ ‘After an exciting adventure the boy
becomes king again.‘
Can the children structure a letter, presenting their ideas about the story clearly and logically?
For teachers
Helping you with free eBooks, inspirational
resources, advice and support
For parents
Helping your child’s learning
with free eBooks, essential
tips and fun activities
www.oxfordowl.co.uk

The Flying Carpet: Group or Guided Reading

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Flying Carpet: Group or Guided Reading

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Flying Carpet: Group or Guided Reading

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Oxford Level 8 Stories

The Flying Carpet

Group or guided reading

1 © Oxford University Press 2014

Speaking, listening and drama activities

2 © Oxford University Press 2014

You might also like