English 2: Assessment 2

Murrawee

You and Me

Australian Curriculum
Year 3 English
You and Me Murrawee by Kerri Hashmi

Strand, sub-strand and content descriptions

Activities

LANGUAGE
Language variation and change
Understand that languages have different written and visual
communication systems, different oral traditions and different ways
of constructing meaning (ACELA1475)

Explain the meaning of Murrawee which is elder sister in the

language of the Ngarrindjeri people to students prior to the lesson.
Compare the differences between the 2 girls and what they do
throughout the story and list these on the whiteboard as a class.
e.g. shoes and no shoes, slide and paddle, kangaroo and horse, dog
and wallaby spoor, the two different boats - canoe and row boat,
feeding the ducks and taking their eggs, the different foods they eat
for dinner, grandmother talking and listening to the radio, sleeping
on the ground and sleeping in a sleeping bag. Same stars, same
moon, same air but 200 years apart.
Split the class into small groups of 4 with a piece of A3 paper in
each group. Ask the students to brainstorm why they think that each
aspect of the girls lives are different and what is the meaning
behind the lifestyle choices of each of the girls. Once students have
had sufficient time to discuss with each other, ask them to present
their ideas to the class where the teacher will facilitate a whole
class discussion and write down ideas on the whiteboard.

English 2: Assessment 2
Murrawee

You and Me

Language for interaction

Understand that successful cooperation with others depends on shared In pairs, students will participate in an activity using picture cards.
use of social conventions, including turn-taking patterns, and forms of The picture cards will represent 1 aspect of a lifestyle choice in
address that vary according to the degree of formality in social
either Aboriginal culture or European culture based upon the
situations (ACELA1476)
images in the book. The students will match the cards up to their
opposites for example, in the book, the Aboriginal family cooked
their own eggs, fish and roots on the campfire and the European
family cooked sausages and onions on a small portable fry pan. The
students would need to identify that these aspects of the familys
lifestyles match up as that is the way each family cooks their
dinner. Once the students have successfully matched up all of the
cards, the teacher would ask them to choose one pair of cards and
discuss them in a think-pair-share activity, 1 similarity and 1
difference between the lifestyle choices in the two cards. Students
will then link up with another pair and the group of 4 would share
their ideas.
Text and structure organisation
Students will classify this text as a narrative and list it under
Understand how different types of texts vary in use of language
choices, depending on their function and purpose, for example tense, narratives on the class word wall where each text that is read
mood, and types of sentences (ACELA1478)
during class is categorised by its text type.

Know that word contractions are a feature of informal language and

that apostrophes of contraction are used to signal missing letters
(ACELA1480)

To further student understanding, set a creative writing task where

students are asked to create a narrative themselves and their
familys culture and traditions.
Students will participate in an activity where portions of the text
from the book will be printed on to a worksheet but have been
altered by the teacher to show a few punctuation mistakes. The
students must read through the text first and identify any mistakes
or errors. They must make a note of this with a red or coloured pen
before re-writing the whole text correctly. The teacher will have
prepared this activity so that the text choice will include a variety
of contractions that the students will have to identify as being

English 2: Assessment 2
Murrawee

You and Me
written incorrectly before correcting it. Contractions in the text
include youve, hes, and shell. The text also includes the
words someones and its, which would test the students
knowledge of possession apostrophe use.

Expressing and developing ideas

Understand that verbs represent different processes (doing, thinking,
saying, and relating) and that these processes are anchored in time
through tense (ACELA1482)

Identify the effect on audiences of techniques, for example shot size,

vertical camera angle and layout in picture books, advertisements and
film segments (ACELA1483)
Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share
information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations
(ACELY1676)

The teacher will have made word cards of all the different verbs in
the story. On whiteboard, the teacher will draw 3 columns and
explain how different suffixes can dictate what tense the verb is in.
the teacher will label the columns past, present and future. An
example of this may include the verb walk the past tense being
walked, the present tense being walking and the future tense
being will walk. As a whole class, the students will determine
where all of the different verbs in the texts will go. The teacher will
give 1 verb card to each student and ask them to place it under the
column where they think it belongs in this activity, they may ask
their peers for help if they would like to. The teacher will then
separate the students into small groups of 2-3. Each group will be
assigned to one of the verbs. They must determine whether it is
written in past, present or future tense. Each group must come up
with a skit for their verb and also a sentence that includes the word.
For example, students may act out the verb walking while a
spokesperson for the group will say the sentence that the group
prepared. Each group will present their verbs to the class.
The teacher will draw the students attention to the images in the
book. The teacher will go through each image in the book with the
class and ask the students the following questions.
Discussion Questions:
- What do you notice about the 2 girls in this image?
- Are they close together or far apart?
- What else is going on in this scene on this page?
The teacher will then emphasise pages 11 and 12. It seems that on
every other page the girls are far apart to almost be telling 2

English 2: Assessment 2
Murrawee

Learn extended and technical vocabulary and ways of expressing

opinion including modal verbs and adverbs (ACELA1484)

Phonics and Word Knowledge

Understand how to use letter-sound relationships and less
common letter patterns to spell words (ACELA1485)
Understand how to apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships,
syllables, and blending and segmenting to fluently read and write
multisyllabic words with more complex letter patterns
(ACELA1826)

You and Me
different stories which is the understanding that the teacher would
try to get across to the students. However, on these specific pages
the girls are closer than on any other page. The teacher will ask the
students:
- Why do you think that is?
- Why do you think this page is different?
- Are the girls doing the same things throughout the book?
- Does it really seem like they lived 200 years apart when we
look at this picture?
The teacher will aim for students to grasp the concept that both
girls are very similar and although the pictures may seem to tell
different stories, the words and this image on 11 and 12 seems to
put them in the same story.
Students will write a letter to their Murrawee assuming the same
character from the book, asking her questions about her culture and
what it was like to live in Australia 200 years ago.
Students would already have a list of spelling words with the dge
sound as well as words that carry less common letter patterns such
as str. After reading through the story once, the teacher will ask
the students to help identify any words that are either in their
spelling list or perhaps could be added due to their letter
combinations.
The words that the teacher will be looking for students to identify
are stride, squeal, upstream, edge, squidgy, scratch,
splashes.
Once these words have been identified while reading the book, the
teacher will write each one on the board. The class will help the
teacher to determine the different digraphs, blends and syllables in
each word. The teacher will then ask the class to stand up in 5
single file lines and complete their spelling practice activity.

English 2: Assessment 2
Murrawee

Know how to use common prefixes and suffixes, and

generalisations for adding a suffix to a base word (ACELA1827)
Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share
information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations
(ACELY1676)

You and Me
Students will already be familiar with this practice as they do it
with their other spelling words, it involves them writing out each
word with their finger on the back of the person in front of them,
while saying each letter aloud. For example, the students would say
stride, s-t-r-i-d-e stride, as they write out the word on the back
of the student in front of them. This activity aids in remembering
the spelling of the words because the students are using physical
touch as well as verbal memory to spell out the words.
Fruit Salad Activity: the teacher will hand out small image cards
with pictures of different fruits on them apples, watermelon and
grapes. All of the grapes will form one group, all of the
watermelons will form another group and all of the apples will
form the last group. Each group will be assigned a suffix es, s
or ies. The groups will identify words in the book that use or
could use the given suffix if made a plural. For example, the ies
suffix there is families and stories. These words will be written
on their worksheets, which will have 3 fruit bowl images with
separate fruit pieces attached to be cut out and stuck onto the fruit
bowl. Students will note all of the words in the book and then try to
brainstorm a few more of their own words to add to their collection.
Students should end up with a minimum of 5 words in their fruit
bowl. Once this has been completed, students will make fruit
salad by changing into groups of 3 with 1 watermelon, 1 apple and
1 grape card in each group. Now each group will have a member
from the previous es, s and ies groups. Students are asked to
share their information together and come up with any additional
words as an extension.

LITERACY
Texts in context
Identify the point of view in a text and suggest alternative points
of view (ACELY1675)

Students will re-write the story from Murrawees point of view.

English 2: Assessment 2
Murrawee

You and Me

Interacting with others

Plan and deliver short presentations, providing some key details
in logical sequence (ACELY1677)

Students will create a story map using the ReadWriteThink story

map application to map out key events within the story. The teacher
will then use the interactive whiteboard and ask students to present
their story map to the class.
Students will receive a copy of the book and get into partners.
Use interaction skills, including active listening behaviours and
communicate in a clear, coherent manner using a variety of
Students will be able to pick a spot in the classroom for their pair to
everyday and learned vocabulary and appropriate tone, pace, pitch sit down and read the book to one another. The pair who is reading
and volume (ACELY1792)
will be peer-assessing their partners listening skills, while the
partner who is listening will be peer-assessing the readers tone,
pace, pitch, volume and expression. The students will assess each
other using a simple checklist.
Interpreting, analysing and evaluating
Read an increasing range of different types of texts by combining The teacher will get a digital copy of pages 9 and 10 of the book on
contextual, semantic, grammatical and phonic knowledge, using
the interactive whiteboard. The teacher will ask the students about
text processing strategies, for example monitoring, predicting,
the image in comparison to the text shown on the page. The text is
confirming, rereading, reading on and self-correcting
written as though the characters are playing together, however the
(ACELY1679)
position of the characters suggests that they are not. The teacher
Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred
should aim to get this understanding across to students by talking
meaning and begin to evaluate texts by drawing on growing
knowledge of context, text structures and language features
about the positions of the characters and the drawings, as well as
(ACELY1680)
what the text is saying.
Creating Texts
Students will plan, draft and publish an information booklet about a
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive
texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and
local Aboriginal tribe of their choice.
language features and selecting print, and multimodal elements
appropriate to the audience and purpose (ACELY1682)

LITERATURE
Literature and context
Discuss texts in which characters, events and settings are
portrayed in different ways, and speculate on the authors reasons
(ACELT1594)

Students will discuss as a class the similarities and differences

between Murrawee and themselves. Students will choose 2
differences and discuss how and why they are different, as well as 2

English 2: Assessment 2
Murrawee

You and Me
similarities, discussing how and why they are the same. Students
will complete this as an individual activity writing their thoughts
into their reading journals.

Responding to literature
Draw connections between personal experiences and the worlds of
texts, and share responses with others (ACELT1596)

Develop criteria for establishing personal preferences for literature

(ACELT1598)

Students will explore Indigenous culture and identify similarities

and differences between the Aboriginal family in the story and their
own family. Students will then be asked to demonstrate their
understanding of the similarities and differences by creating short
role plays in small groups of 4-5.
After many class discussions about the theme and classification of
the book (narrative), students will have a clear understanding of the
books content they would have constructed comprehensive
meaning from the book.
Students will be asked to write a book review of You and Me
Murrawee. Prior to this, the teacher would explain the structure of
a book review and provide students with examples of book reviews.
The purpose of the lesson (or possibly a few lessons) is for students
to establish a personal opinion about the childrens literature and be
able to clearly state it in the form of a book review.

Examining literature
Discuss how language is used to describe the settings in texts, and
explore how the settings shape the events and influence the mood
of the narrative (ACELT1599)

Students will identify the adjectives in the book with regards to the
setting and the characters. Once identified, the teacher will write
them on the whiteboard or perhaps ask different students to write
them up. Students will then be asked to write a few sentences using
the same adjectives from the story but they must relate to their
school (setting) and themselves and their friends (characters).
Examples of adjectives from the book include: ancient, bare, cold,
clear, squidgy, old, cool

English 2: Assessment 2
Murrawee
Creating literature
Create imaginative texts based on characters, settings and events
from a students own and other cultures using visual features, for
example perspective, distance and angle (ACELT1601)

Create texts that adapt language features and patterns encountered

in literary texts, for example characterisation, rhyme, rhythm,
mood, music, sound effects and dialogue (ACELT1791)

You and Me

Similar to a previous activity, students will write a story about their

own life, culture, family and traditions. The students will use the
events in the book as guide to explain what their familys tradition
is. Students will be encouraged to use descriptive language when
discussing the setting and characters given that they are very
familiar with them. The teacher will collect and print out the stories
and gather them into a book of multiple stories written by the
whole class. Each student will receive a copy to take home,
providing students with rich and relevant reading about the cultures
of their class mates. This could be an extended project for students
to work on where teachers might like to get parents involved.
Create a poem, rhythm or rhyme with actions to accompany it and
present it to the class. It must be based on an event in the book and
tell a story as Aboriginal dances do.

Note: the highlighted activities are related to writing modes rather than reading modes.