Connecting to prior knowledge
Show students the front cover of the book and invite predictions, recording them as you go. Then read aloud Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat by Stephen Michael King.
Discuss students’ predictions and the themes emerging from the text: creativity, imagination and friendship.
- What makes Milli, Jack and the cat such good friends?
- What do they enjoy doing together?
- How do they help each other?
Ask students to draw a friend using the same art technique as King: black fine liners and water colours. Prior to this, examine the illustrations and discuss the details, colours and technique used.
Have a class discussion to share the drawings and invite students to name some of the things that they enjoy doing with their friend. Afterwards, have them write a list of these and any other things they can think of.
Create a friendship wall and add the drawings and list to it.
Exploring the text in context of our community, school and ‘me’
Build on the friendship wall by inviting students to share ‘special and unique’ qualities that they notice in their classmates and other people at school. Document the children’s comments and add them to the wall. These may include noticing the actions various people take; for example, how the school gardener keeps the grounds looking beautiful.
Continue to build on the wall each day, emphasising different qualities such as kindness, persistence, courage and generosity.
Rich assessment task
Ask each student to draw a picture of themselves being a good friend. They should write a few sentences to explain what they are doing and why this makes them a good friend to others.
This task will help students to build on their understanding of the friendship between the characters in the book, and connect this to their personal experiences of friendship.
Responding to the text
Re-read Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat, this time with a focus on creativity.
Look at the first page, which describes how Milli could make something out of nothing. Invite the students to share objects they have made or experiences of being creative. Discuss how old objects can be used and reused in different ways.
Working in small groups, students will look for and take photos of objects in the school environment that have been reused. For example, on old car tyre that has been used to create a garden. Invite students to share what they have found with the rest of the class.
Print the photos of the reused objects and ask the children to write about their findings. Use these to create a recycling wall.
Watch this ABC Kids clip about recycling. Afterwards, discuss what it means to recycle and what knowledge students already have about recycling. Then have students complete the recycling worksheet (PDF, 159KB). Depending on their prior knowledge, you may need to explain the difference between recycling, composting, and general waste (this visual guide may be useful).
Rich assessment task
Students will create posters about objects that can be recycled. Provide magazines so that students can cut out pictures (e.g. vegetables for compost, car tyres to become swings).
Students will present their posters to the class using opening statements, clear articulation, volume and pace. Remind them to stay on topic and share the information and knowledge they have gathered on this subject.
Assess the presentations using the speaking and listening rubric (PDF, 52KB).
Examining text structure and organisation
Introduce the stage adaptation of Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat by Monkey Baa Theatre Company. Discuss the similarities and differences between the two versions of the story.
- How did the music add to the story?
- In what ways are the stories similar?
- In what ways are they different?
Create a class Venn diagram to illustrate the similarities and differences.
Now focus on the pages where Milli feels brave and free. Highlight King’s use of the double-page spread, Milli’s size on these pages, her expression and the font used for ‘brave’ and ‘free’.
Play a variety of music for the children to react to, such as ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’, Brahms’ ‘Lullaby’ (‘Wiegenlied’) or ‘Under the Sea’ from The Little Mermaid (1989). You could ask them to get up and move to the music. When it stops, the children freeze. Prompt them to describe how the music makes them feel and how their bodies want to move.
Revisit Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat to focus on body language. As a class, practise moving your body to show different emotions such as boredom, sadness or excitement.
Pair children up with one device between two. Call out an emotion – for example, ‘lonely’ – and have students pose to express this. They will take turns photographing their partner’s poses for different emotions.
Print the photos, ensuring that each child has at least one and that a range of poses have been captured. Distribute the photos and ask students to write about a time when they experienced the emotion(s) depicted. Display the photos with the accompanying text from each child.
Examining grammar and vocabulary
Explore nouns and adjectives in the text. Discuss how King uses language to create mental images. For example:
- ‘forgotten things’
- ‘rusty things’
- ‘brown shoes’
- ‘ordinary, practical, familiar things’
- ‘plain, ordinary workboots’
Discuss the words and the images. Add any new words to a word wall or retrieval chart.
Tell students to close their eyes, listen, and imagine. Read out a series of short descriptions such as ‘a small furry animal’, ‘a rusty thing’, ‘a tinkling bell’ and so on. Allow time for students to picture the things you describe, then invite them to share their mental images.
Now have students sit in a circle. Pass around a bag that holds a wide range of objects. Children can take turns removing an object from the bag, stating the noun and adding an adjective to describe it. For example, ‘a blue duck’ or ‘a hard, red stone’.
Rich assessment task
Students will design and draw a fabulous shoe using fine liners and water colours. Use a stimulus from the text such as ‘curly-toed shoes covered in stars’.
Children should give a description of their shoe design and verbally explain why shoes such as these were important in the story.
Report writing
Re-read Milli, Jack and the Dancing Cat. Talk briefly about all the unusual things Milli made and how that made her feel.
Students are to plan, create and write a report about an object made out of odds and bobs. This activity builds on concepts of creativity and recycling. The aim is to eventually create an object. The children will need a journal to record the different models they make, and a device to take photos.
Share the learning intention with students. Prior to the lesson, provide small paper bags and ask the children to bring in small, unused odds and bobs from home. Also revise the format of report writing.
Allow time for children to sort their objects according to different attributes, e.g. colour, material, texture, use. Discuss the categories used and, as a class, agree on how to sort the objects. Invite children to create labels for each of the containers.
Provide several opportunities for the children to create a ‘something’ from these materials without using glue or tape. The aim is for the children to have the opportunity to discuss and share their creative ideas and to build their expertise in report writing. Have the children take photos of their creations before dismantling the parts and returning them to the correct containers. Underlying this activity is the sharing of objects, ideas and respect for the environment.
Print the photos of the different creations and distribute them to the correct owners. For each creation, students will add the photo to their journals and write about what they have created and the materials used.
Identify written pieces that reflect desirable text structure and grammar. Examine these with the class – discuss the features and ask for constructive feedback about what else the author could add to make the written piece more descriptive.
Rich assessment task
After much exploration, the children will be ready to create their final piece. To begin, students must draw a plan and use this to complete their construction. This should be permanently fixed with glue or tape. Upon completion, they will take a photo. Print these out and distribute them to the students.
Students will then write a simple report with a labelled photo that explains the materials used and use of the object. Provide individual feedback on the structure of the report.
The reports should then be collated into a class book.
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