Teacher Edition Mice In Space Starring Max and Matilda Mouse Written and illustrated by Alex Stitt
Horwitz Education A Division of Horwitz Publications Pty Ltd 55 Chandos Street St Leonards NSW 2065 Australia Horwitz Gardner Education Unit 53, Cressex Enterprise Park Lincoln Road High Wycombe, Bucks, HP12 3RL, United Kingdom Published edition Eleanor Curtain Publishing 2003 First published 2003 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act of Australia, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process, or transmitted in any form, without permission of the copyright owner. Where copies of part or the whole of this book are made under Part VB of the Copyright Act, the law requires that records of such copying be kept and the copyright owner is entitled to claim payment. Developed by Eleanor Curtain Publishing Text: Elizabeth Golding Consultant: Susan Hill Designed by Alexander Stitt Production by Publishing Solutions Printed in Hong Kong ISBN 0 7253 2822 3 Pack ISBN 0 7253 2750 2 (6 Student Books + 1 Teacher Edition) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 03 04 05? How to use this book Before reading: Talkthrough Talk through the book with the children. Encourage them to predict the text from the cover and pictures, and to think about the information they provide. Direct the children s attention to aspects of the text that may challenge them. Support the children to deal with these challenges by asking the Talkthrough questions on each page. During reading: Observe and support Observe the children as they read. Encourage them to monitor their own reading as they comprehend the text. As needed, support children by assisting them to discover and use reading strategies and cues to solve problems and respond to reading challenges that arise in the text. Interruptions to the child s reading should be minimal and focused on a specified learning need. After reading: Comprehension, returning to the text, responding and writing links To further develop children s understanding of the text, select from activities found on page 12 and the inside back cover. These whole text, sentence and word level activities reinforce the teaching focus of this book. Assessment ideas are provided to assist with planning for further teaching. Text highlights Displays all the features of a comic book Speech balloons indicate direct speech Captions are used to narrate the text Words within the illustrations indicate sound effects: Whoosh! Roar! Illustrations extend the story Vocabulary starring, puff, government, centre, danger, mice-ies, whoosh, alert, engines, roar, function, activated, crew
Setting the context Ensure that the children are familiar with the conventions of comics: speech balloons, order of reading each cell, use of bold or larger text for emphasis, use of captions. Ask: Can a comic book tell us a story? Introducing the book This book is a comic book about two mice that are being chased by a cat. They escape from the cat by hiding in a rocket and travel into space. Mice In Space Starring Max and Matilda Mouse Mice In Space Starring Max and Matilda Mouse Written and illustrated by Alex Stitt Written and illustrated by Alex Stitt Front cover Direct children s attention to the title and the sub-heading. Do you see a sub-heading on every book you read? Ask children to note the author because in this case he is also the illustrator. What do you notice about the illustration on the cover? Title page Read the title page together. Why do you think that Alex Stitt has drawn the mice popping out of the stars? How would you describe each of the mice?
Mice In Space Pages 2 3? Talkthrough A big cat is chasing Max and Matilda. Do you think that the big cat often chases them? What does the sign say on the fence? Do you think that this is a good place for Max and Matilda to hide? Observe and support Can the child identify words with double letters in them? Can you find me a word that has double letters in it? What other words have double letters in them as well? (little, puff, street, hurry, will) 2
One night a big cat was chasing two little mice down the street. Grrrr! Look! Here is a big fence. Puff! Puff! Hurry up Matilda! We are little. We can get under it. The fence will keep that big cat out. 2 3 3
Mice In Space Pages 4 7? Talkthrough Read the text on pages 4 5. Where do we start reading? Where do we read next? What do you think about the hiding place that the mice have found? Turn the page. Do you think that the big cat will catch the mice? Why or why not? What do you think will happen when Max pushes the button? Observe and support Can the child follow the story within the comic book format? Ask the children to direct you around pages 6 7. Where do I read next? How do you know? 4
What s this? There s a door way up there. I don t know. We ll climb up. We can hide inside. So the mice climbed up and went inside. Look! It s a space rocket! 4 5 The big cat was following them. Those mice aren t going to get away from me. Inside the space rocket... What does this button do? Here I come, mice-ies! Please don t push that button, Max. Too late! 6 7 5
Mice In Space Pages 8 11? Talkthrough Look at pages 8 9. Why does the big cat say Oh no!? Why do the mice say Oh no!? Is it for the same reason? Direct children s attention to the word Whoosh!. Why is this word outlined in large letters? Turn to page 11. What do the men feel about the rocket taking off? Why do you think this? Observe and support Can the child interpret information in the text? What has happened? Where are they heading? What do you think that they will do now? Look at the text on page 10. Why are there question marks in Max s speech bubble? 6
There was a loud bang. The space rocket took off. Oh no! Oh no! 8 9 Oh, Max where are we? We re in space! Back at the space rocket base, bells were ringing. Our rocket has taken off! How? How will we get back????? 10 11 7
Mice In Space Pages 12 15? Talkthrough Why do Max and Matilda seem to be happier? What do you think will happen next? Turn to pages 14 15. How did the rocket come back to Earth? Do you think that Max and Matilda enjoyed their trip? Observe and support Does the child stop and correct an error? I like the way that you stopped to check that you were reading the text in the correct order. I also like the way you re-read the sentence to make sure that it made sense. 8
With all those holes, it looks like cheese to me. Cheese? Wow! Look at the Moon, Matilda! I wonder what it s made of? Yum! Maybe I ll go out and get some. Oh, no you won t! 12 13 Just then What happened? We re landing! Quick let s get out of here. The rocket has turned around. We have turned the rocket around. It is coming back. The space rocket crew went to the space rocket. There s nobody in here. How did it take off? 14 15 9
Mice In Space Page 16? Talkthrough The big cat is peeking around the corner! Do you think that the big cat will catch them? Where could Max and Matilda Mouse hide this time? Will the big cat ever catch them or will they always play this chasing game? Observe and support Does the child read the text with expression? Look at the box at the top of the page. What do you think Max and Matilda would be feeling? Look at the next box. How would they be feeling now? When children read the text, remind them to think about how the characters are feeling. What might the big cat s voice sound like? Why do you think he says, Hello, mice-ies.? 10
The mice ran off down the street. That was fun! Hello, mice-ies. Oh no! 16 11
Mice In Space Being a meaning maker Encourage the children to support their answers with evidence from the book as they discuss these questions: Why did the mice run into the rocket? How did the mice end up in space? What kind of character is Max Mouse? Is the Moon really made of cheese? Being a code breaker Explore the following language features: The rime ace : space, face, ace, trace, mace, lace, pace. The rime ice : mice, nice, lice, twice, dice, rice, vice. Being a text user Point out the different features of the comic and ask the children to explain what they mean or how to read them. Focus on: Use of speech balloons. Order of reading each cell. Use of bold or larger text for emphasis. Use of captions. Being a text critic The author has named the two mice Max and Matilda. Why do you think he did this? The author has the boy mouse causing all of the trouble. Is this fair? Are boys more likely to cause trouble? Why do you think that? 12
Responding to text Provide children with a range of appropriate comics. Ask them to compare and contrast the illustrations and stories. What types of comics do you prefer? What do you like about the illustrations? Re-read the text focusing on the punctuation and the use of bold or larger text to emphasise meaning. Turn to page 6. How would you read the text on this page? What would the voice of the big cat sound like when he says Here I come, mice-ies!? Children work in pairs to explore the characters voices and the varied lines of text that they say. Writing links Independent writing Discuss the plot with the children and encourage them to write the next adventure of Max and Matilda Mouse, continuing on from page 16. What could Max and Matilda get up to next? How would the big cat be involved in the adventure? These could be presented using a computer drawing program and turned into a slide show. Alternatively, children could work on paper to make a comic book. Ask children to list all the words in the book that are followed by an exclamation mark. What do they add to the text? Assessment Can the child: Explain the features of comics? Follow a story as contained within speech balloons? Explain some differences between comics and other narratives? whole text activity sentence activity word activity
Mice In Space Starring Max and Matilda Mouse Teacher Edition Other books at this level Looking Like Plants Written and illustrated by Alex Stitt Written by Hannah Reed Photography by Gary Lewis Topic: Humour Curriculum link: English Text type: Narrative Reading level: 12 Word count: 245 Vocabulary: starring, puff, government, centre, danger, mice-ies, whoosh, alert, engines, roar, function, activated, crew Possible literacy focus Understanding the conventions of comics. Reading speech balloons. Exploring how stories in comics differ from other narratives. Summary This comic book tells the story of how two mice escape from a cat by hiding in a rocket and travelling to space. The conventions of a comic book are used to tell the story. My Pet Lamb Written by Jack Hastings Photography by Michael Curtain Written by Emma Rossi Photography by Michael Curtain Let s Make Pancakes Treasure Hunt Written by Jack Hastings Photography by Michael Curtain Don t Worry! Written by Christopher Stitt Illustrated by Steve Axelsen ISBN 0-7253- 2822-3 9 780725 328221