Lesson video

Hi everyone, my name is Miss Voyle and I am really excited to be teaching you your reading lesson today where we are going to be exploring character, setting, and plot in the story, the wolf, the duck, and the mouse.

For this lesson, you need a copy of the 2017 Walker Limited edition of the "The Wolf The Duck & The Mouse" written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen.

Pause the video and get your copy of the book now.

Great, now I know you have the book with you.

During this lesson, you'll need to be listening and looking carefully and there will also be tasks where you need somebody to talk to.

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is: I can explore the story through discussing the characters, setting, and plot.

Here are our key words for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them.

My turn, your turn.

Character.

Setting.

Plot.

Prediction.

Great job, well done.

You will be hearing these words lots throughout the lesson and we will be talking about their meaning.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, we will be exploring character and setting within the story.

And in the second part, we will be exploring the plot.

So let's begin with exploring character and setting.

"The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse" is the name of the book we are going to be reading today.

"The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse" is a children's story, which is told through narrative writing and illustrations.

It's a narrative fiction text which is told in a humorous manner, so you may find moments in the story funny.

The author is Mac Barnett and the illustrator is Jon Klassen.

who are the main characters in the story? A character is a person or animal in a story.

The main character is the person who the story is mostly about.

I am sure that by looking at the front cover, you spotted that the wolf, the duck, and the mouse are all main characters in this story.

Their names are all in the title and we can see them all in the illustration.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? There can be more than one main character in a story.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

That is true, well done.

There are three main characters in "The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse." The setting of the story is where the story takes place.

I would now like you to read the beginning of the story up to page six where the mouse enters a new setting.

Pay attention to how the setting of the story changes and how you think the main characters fit into the story.

Pause the video, read this section now, and come back and press play when you are ready.

I hope you really enjoyed reading the beginning of "The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse." Let's check your understanding.

The story begins with an encounter between the wolf and the mouse in the woods.

How does the setting change? A, the animals leave the woods and enter a house together.

B, the wolf swallows the mouse and the setting changes to inside the wolf's stomach.

Or C, they go searching for the duck in a pond.

Pause the video and select your answer.

The answer is B, well done.

The wolf swallows the mouse and the setting changes to inside the wolf's stomach.

What do we know so far about the story of "The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse"? Let's remind ourselves.

The main characters are the wolf, the duck, and the mouse.

The setting of the story begins with an encounter between the wolf and the mouse in the open woods.

When the wolf swallows the mouse, the setting changes to inside the stomach of the wolf.

The mouse hears a voice shouting out to him from inside the stomach of the wolf.

You are going to use the knowledge you have about the story so far to make a prediction.

Making a prediction means deciding what you think will happen next in a story using illustrations and the text as evidence.

Making a prediction helps us to understand the story more and it makes reading more fun.

There is no right or wrong answer when making a prediction and your prediction may be different to someone else's and that's totally okay, but it's important that you can justify your prediction with evidence from the story.

Let's check your understanding.

What is a prediction? A, reading on to find out what happens next.

B, retelling the story in your own words.

Or C, guessing what you think will happen using evidence.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

The answer is C.

A prediction is guessing what you think will happen next using evidence, well done.

It's now time for your first task and it's a talk task.

Based on what you know so far, make predictions about the following questions: One, who do you think the voice that shouted out to the mouse belongs to? And two, what do you think might happen inside the wolf's stomach? Your sentence starters are: "I think the voice belongs to," "because." And, "I think the characters might," "because." Because is the key subordinating conjunction you need to use here to provide a reason for your prediction using evidence from the text.

Pause the video and discuss these questions to make a prediction with your partner now.

Welcome back, it was so lovely to listen to you talking about what you knew so far and using that to make a prediction.

Let's take a look at a couple of examples.

For question one, who do you think the voice that shouted out to the mouse belongs to? Jun said, "I think that the voice belongs to the duck because we know they are the third main character!" This is a really sensible prediction.

We know that there are three main characters in the story and we have already met two of them, the wolf and the mouse, so it is reasonable to predict that the third voice we hear belongs to the third main character, the duck.

For question number two, what do you think might happen inside the wolf's stomach? Sam said, "I think the characters might stay alive because the third voice said they had been sleeping." This is a good prediction too.

We know that when things are eaten, they don't normally stay alive, but the third voice was still talking and saying they were sleeping from inside the wolf's stomach, so it's reasonable to predict that the creatures might stay alive.

Well done for discussing the story and making predictions about it.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson where we will be exploring the plot.

What do we know so far about the story of "The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse"? Let's remind ourselves.

The main characters are the wolf, the duck, and the mouse.

The setting of the story begins with an encounter between the wolf and the mouse in the open woods.

When the wolf swallows the mouse, the setting changes to inside the stomach of the wolf.

The mouse hears a voice shouting out to him from inside the stomach of the wolf.

You have already made predictions about what you think might happen next, and now we are going to read the rest of the story and find out.

Continue reading the story from page seven up to page 16.

The illustration on this page shows the duck and the mouse dancing together.

Pause the video to read this section now and come back and press play when you are ready.

Welcome back, I hope you enjoyed reading the next part of the story.

What happened in this part of the story? I'd like you to pause the video again and talk with your partner to see if you can summarise what has happened.

Let's recap together.

The mouse found the duck inside the stomach of the wolf, so that was the third voice.

The duck lived there and the mouse it wanted to stay there too.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? The duck hated living inside the stomach of the wolf.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

That is false, well done.

The duck was actually quite content living inside the stomach of the wolf.

Why did the duck think living inside the stomach of the wolf was better than living in the open? A, it was safer.

B, it was warmer.

Or C, it was quieter.

Pause the video and select your answer.

The answer is A.

The duck thought that it was safer, well done.

The animals no longer had to worry about being swallowed by other animals because they already had been, but they were still alive.

It's now time for you to read more of the story.

Continue reading from page 17 up to page 28.

The illustration on this page shows the duck and the mouse preparing to fight.

Pause the video, read this section now, and come back and press play when you are ready.

Welcome back, I hope you have enjoyed reading more of the story.

What happened in this part of the story? Pause the video and see if you can summarise what has happened so far with your partner.

Let's recap together.

The wolf became unwell and weak due to the duck and mouse's antics.

A hunter spotted the wolf and shot at him but missed.

The wolf attempted to flee, but he got stuck in the roots of a tree.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? The duck and the mouse tricked the wolf for their own benefit.

Pause the video and select your answer.

That is true, well done.

They got the wolf to swallow things for them to enjoy, which made him more unwell and an easy target for the hunter.

How did the duck and the mouse decide to respond to the threat from the hunter? A, they decided not to help the wolf because he had swallowed them.

B, they decided to help the wolf in order to protect their home.

Or C, they decided to leave the wolf's stomach and run to safety.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

The answer is B, well done.

The duck and the mouse decided to help the wolf in order to protect their home inside his stomach.

It's now time for you to finish reading the story.

Continue reading the story from page 29 up to the end.

The illustration on this page shows the wolf and the moon.

Pause the video, read this section now, and come back and press play when you are ready.

Welcome back, I hope you thoroughly enjoyed reading to the end of the story.

What happened in this final part? Pause the video and see if you can summarise with your partner.

Let's recap together.

The duck and the mouse flew out of the wolf's mouth and charged at the hunter, scaring him away.

The wolf was very grateful that the duck and the mouse had decided to save his life despite the fact that he had swallowed them.

Let's check your understanding.

What favour did the duck and the mouse ask the wolf to grant them? A, they asked the wolf to set them free.

B, they asked the wolf to build them a safe home.

Or C, they asked the wolf to let them live in his stomach.

Pause the video and select your answer now.

The answer is C, well done.

When the wolf offered to grant the duck and the mouse a favour, they asked him to let them live in his stomach and he agreed.

It's now time for your final task.

Reflect on what you have read.

Share your opinions and discuss them.

Likes: What caught your attention and why? Dislikes: Was there anything that you didn't enjoy? And puzzles: Was there anything you found surprising? Pause the video and discuss with your partner now.

I loved hearing all of your different opinions and well done for sharing them with others.

Let's take a look at a couple of examples of what I heard.

For likes: What caught your attention and why? One person said, "I loved reading about how the duck and the mouse became a team and worked together! I also loved the illustrations of them having fun dancing." I agree, I found it really heartwarming to read about how they worked as a team and enjoyed living together.

For dislikes: Was there anything that you didn't enjoy? I was really impressed with this answer because even though the story ended well for the duck and the mouse, this person noticed that the wolf wasn't very happy at the end of the story and they empathised with his character.

And for puzzles: Was there anything you found surprising? Lots of people said, "I was really surprised when the mouse survived after being swallowed by the wolf! I wasn't expecting his stomach to become the setting of the story." Well done for discussing the story and sharing your opinions.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, so let's go over a summary together.

"The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse" is a children's story told through narrative writing and illustrations.

Using what we know to make a prediction can help to build our understanding of a text.

There can be multiple main characters in a story.

For example, the wolf, the duck, and the mouse are all main characters.

The main setting of the story is inside the stomach of the wolf.

And the plot follows the story of how the duck and the mouse decide to make a home inside the wolf's stomach.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this story.

I have really enjoyed sharing it with you.