The Dragon Dance

Oxford Level 4 More Stories B
The Dragon Dance

Teaching Notes Author: Gill Howell
Comprehension strategies Decodable words
• Comprehension strategies are taught an, be, big, body, came, children, dance, did, do, dragon, good, got,
throughout the Teaching Notes to enable had, help(ed), her, inside, liked, long, made, them, town, upset,
pupils to understand what they are reading want(ed), were
in books that they can read independently.
In these Teaching Notes the following Tricky words
strategies are taught: don’t, everyone, fair, head, half, idea, painted, paper, people, school,
Prediction, Questioning, Clarifying tore, what, wonderful, wrong
= Language comprehension
= Word recognition
Group or guided reading

Introducing the book
(Questioning, Clarifying) Look at the cover illustration. Ask the children: What do you think the
children are doing?
Read the title. Encourage the children to segment the word ‘dragon’ into phonemes (‘d–r–a–g–o–n’).
(Clarifying) Talk about what the children already know about Chinese New Year traditions.
(Prediction) Ask them to say what they think might happen in the story.
• Look briefly through the story to confirm the children’s ideas.
• Use some of the high frequency words as you discuss the story.
Strategy check
Remind the children to sound the letters to help them work out new words.
Independent reading
• Ask children to read the story aloud. Praise and encourage them while they read, and prompt
as necessary.
(Questioning, Clarifying, Prediction) On page 5, ask: How do you think they will do the dragon dance?
On page 7, identify the long ‘ay’ vowel sound in ‘paper’.
(Questioning, Clarifying) On some of the pages, ask the children to say what is happening and why in
their own words.
Check that children:
• track text matching letters to sounds
• use phonic knowledge to sound out and blend the phonemes in words, particularly the decodable words.
Returning to the text
(Questioning, Clarifying) Check the children’s understanding and clarify any misunderstanding by
asking a variety of questions that require recall, inference and deduction such as: Why did Mrs May
tell the children to be careful? (page 7) Why did the dragon tear in half? (page 13) Why did Mrs May
say ‘It was only made of paper.’? How did the mums and dads help?
1 © Oxford University Press 2014

On page 20, ask the children to find ‘wonderful’ in the text and break it up into syllables. On page 21,
ask them to find ‘pleased’ in the text and sound out the phonemes (‘p–l–ea–s–ed’).
Turn to pages 12–13 and ask the children to find the two words with silent letters (‘wrong’ and ‘half’).
(Summarising) Ask children to retell the story in two or three sentences.
Group and independent reading activities

Read and spell phonically decodable two-syllable and three-syllable words.
Find ‘dragon’ in the text and count the syllables together.
• Ask the children to draw two columns on paper, and to look through the text and write down other
two-syllable words in one column, and words with more than two syllables in the other column.
Do they find these three-syllable words, ‘Anneena’, ‘everyone’, ‘wonderful’?
Use knowledge of common inflections in spelling, such as plurals.
Ask the children to find the plural words on page 10 (‘mums’ and ‘dads’).
• Talk about how an ‘s’ has been added to show there is more than one mum and more than one dad.
• Write a list of words from the story on the board: ‘dragon’, ‘head’, ‘body’ and ‘dance’.
• Discuss how to change the words into plural words.
• Talk about how ‘child’ and ‘person’ become plural. Ask the children to find the words in the story
(‘children’ page 1, ‘people’ page 24).
Do the children know that ‘Anneena’s’ does not mean lots of Anneenas?
Identify the main events and characters in stories.
You will need to place strips of paper or large Post-it notes over the text in one of the children’s books.
(Summarising) As a small group, pass the book around the children asking them in turn, page by
page, to tell you what happens in the story by referring to the illustrations.
• On each page tell the children to take off the paper strips and compare what was different about
their retelling and the written words.
Do the children describe the characters and events? Can they identify any differences in their retelling?
Speaking, listening and drama activities

Ask and answer questions, make relevant contributions, offer suggestions and take turns.
You will need some books on the Chinese New Year.
• In a circle, discuss and talk about what happens and why at Chinese New Year. Refer to books and
photographs.
• Ask: Why did the children want to do the dragon dance?
• Ask each child to contribute something they know about different celebrations.
Writing activities
Create short simple texts on paper that combine words with images.
• Discuss with the children how the words ‘dragon dance’ begin with the same sound.
• Brainstorm a list of other nouns beginning with ‘d’, especially animal
names, e.g. ‘dolphin’, ‘duck’, ‘dinosaur’, ‘donkey’, etc.
• Ask the children to plan and write a description of a dance on an
animal theme using alliteration for the title. Ask them to describe
For teachers
when and why their dance happens. Helping you with free eBooks, inspirational
resources, advice and support
• Encourage them to draw a picture of their costume to accompany For parents
their description. Helping your child’s learning
with free eBooks, essential
Do the children plan their writing? tips and fun activities
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2 © Oxford University Press 2014

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Oxford Level 4 More Stories B

The Dragon Dance

Group or guided reading

1 © Oxford University Press 2014

Group and independent reading activities

Speaking, listening and drama activities

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