Lesson: The Day the Crayons Quit

Grade Level: 5
Prior Knowledge/Learning
Students have looked at the Four Roles of a reader and are able to apply the skills
they have learnt to create meaning from a text.
Students have written letters, looked at emotive language as well as
personification.

Rationale:
This lesson is designed to have students apply their Reading Comprehension
skills to re-create a text similar to the one they read.
Students will be writing letters from a series of inanimate objects, similar to
those in the book.

Learning Outcomes (ACARA)
English
Text structure and organisation
Understand how texts vary in purpose, structure and topic as well as the degree of formality.
(ACELA1504)

Examining Literature
Recognise that ideas in literary texts can be conveyed from different viewpoints, which can lead
to different kinds of interpretations and responses. (ACELT1610)

Understand, interpret and experiment with sound devices and imagery, including simile,
metaphor and personification, in narratives, shape poetry, songs, anthems and odes.
(ACELT1611)

Creating Literature
Create literary texts using realistic and fantasy settings and characters that draw on the worlds
represented in texts students have experienced. (ACELT1612)

Create literary texts that experiment with structures, ideas and stylistic features of selected
authors. (ACELT1798)

Texts in context
Show how ideas and points of view in texts are conveyed through the use of vocabulary,
including idiomatic expressions, objective and subjective language, and that these can change
according to context. (ACELY1698)

Interpreting, analysing, evaluating
Identify and explain characteristic text structures and language features used in imaginative,
informative and persuasive texts to meet the purpose of the text. (ACELY1701)

Creating texts
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive print and multimodal texts,
choosing text structures, language features, images and sound appropriate to purpose
and audience. (ACELY1704)
Plan
Content/Methodology Time
Allocation
Read the text with the students ensuring that many discussions are
had about the content of the text, the style it is written in and
techniques the writer has used. Consider the use of humor and the
emotive language.

Revise with students the structure of a letter using the examples in the
book. Consider; who it is addressed to, the introduction, point of view
put forward, the summarising statement and the signing off at the end.
Remind students that they will be writing from the point of view of
objects that they own to themselves as the owners.

Brainstorm some ideas of the things that students might like to write
letters from the perspective of. Things you might use could be the
contents of a pencil case or a packet of pencils. The items need to be
found in the classroom as that will really allow students to consider
how those items might feel as they are in their world.

Have students write their letters from the object to themselves. They
can then create illustrations for their writing perhaps using the style of
the illustrations in the book.
Based on the students in the class they can share their work with the
whole class or students could share amongst their table group and
then have a volunteer from each table share one.
This activity has no boundaries as to how far you take it. Students can
then turn these into posters for display, mini books or they can give
the physical objects human like characteristics and take photos. The
options are endless.
15 mins




10 mins





5 mins





30 mins
Resources
- Text The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
- Pencil cases, whiteboard, literacy books


Differentiated Learning:
This activity can be differentiated in a number of ways. Students who need the
activity further broken down for them can have a sheet that has the format of a
letter and sentence starters for each section.
Those students who need extension tasks may wish to write a reply for one of
the letters from the point of view of the owner of that object.
This activity can be done in a number of formats; students could record their
voices, make a movie or take photos of the object and make captions for the
pictures.