Connecting to prior knowledge
Before reading
Before you begin this unit, you might like to prepare by reading about cultural understanding. Show students the cover of The Patchwork Bike, written by Maxine Beneba Clarke and illustrated by Van T. Rudd, and explain that this book represents another culture. Turn the pages of the book, showing only the illustrations, and ask:
- What culture is it?
- How do you see that?
- What might this mean for understanding the story?
Record the responses to return to later.
Again, show students the front cover of The Patchwork Bike, bringing attention to the word ‘patchwork’ in the title. Ask questions such as:
- What do we know about the word ‘patchwork’?
- Where have you seen it before?
- What might it mean?
To support contextual understanding, take some time to explore different types of patchwork, including quilts and stained glass windows. If possible, read Elmer by David McKee as a visual reference to support learners. If you do not have access to the physical book, you can watch a reading by the author. At this stage it would be beneficial to search images of patchwork online and have a discussion around the two parts of the word (‘patch’ + ‘work’).
Ask:
How could a bike be ‘patchwork’?
Record any answers so you can refer back to them when the bike is explored further.
Using your imagination/innovation
Ask the students:
- Have you ever got a present in a big box and had fun making something out of the box? Perhaps a rocket ship or police car?
- Have you ever made a cubby house or fort out of things you found around the house or backyard?
In groups of three, have children use a mini whiteboard or piece of paper to draw a representation of what their creation looked like. Prompt them to use labels. Encourage them to explain their illustrations as they go, each taking a turn to share. If there are students who do not have an experience to share, being in a group of three should give them an opportunity to ask questions.
During reading
Read The Patchwork Bike aloud to the class. Afterwards, invite students to discuss the brothers in the story. Jot down the ideas, words and phrases the students use so you can refer to them later. It is likely someone will comment on how happy the boys are on their bike. This was one of the many things the brothers did together to entertain themselves and make their own fun.
Review the comments and ideas from the earlier discussion on how a bike might be ‘patchwork’. Then create an ideas wall of things that students like to do with their siblings or family when they have to make their own fun on holidays or days off.
Reread the book to conclude (a reading is also available to StoryBox Hub subscribers). Return to the initial comments about culture and invite students to change or add to their comments.
Exploring the text in context of our community, school and ‘me’
What’s in a home?
People live in all types of homes all over the world. The brothers lived in a ‘mud-for-walls home’ (p. 2). Begin with a series of viewing experiences:
- Who’s in Jeongwoon’s family?
- Introducing Emily’s family
- Living in Coober Pedy
- Living in the city
- Living by the water
- Living on a farm
Invite students to compare and contrast the similarities/differences between these and the brothers’ homes using the provided worksheet (PDF, 94KB). Some students may also want to talk about their own home to add to the discussion.
Finish by asking students to suggest where the boys in The Patchwork Bike might live.
Rich assessment task
Refer back to the ideas wall of things the children enjoy doing for fun. Use a recording device to help each student record a statement about what brings them happiness when they make their own fun (e.g. on holidays, weekends, adventures, play dates).
Videos can be shared in small groups. The other children can then provide feedback to the video’s creator and offer a word to summarise their impressions (e.g. cheeky, fun, silly, cuddly).
Responding to the text
Invite students to reread the book in groups and identify the things the bike is made from.
List all of these items and ask the students to suggest where the boys got them.
| Item | Where it might have come from |
| bucket seat | |
| handlebar branches | |
| tin can handles | |
| wood-cut wheels | |
| flag | from a flour sack |
| a bell | Mum’s milk pot |
| bark numberplate |
Exploring feelings
After another reading of The Patchwork Bike, refer students to the page with the illustration of the mum looking out the window with her hands on her hips (p. 6). The illustration is very simple and the words say that she is ‘fed-up’. Ask students to turn and talk to their partner to discuss these points:
- What is the mum thinking in this illustration?
- Why do you think she is fed up?
- Why do you say that?
Have students use sticky notes to record words or phrases from the discussion. Encourage them to identify or come up with things that a fed-up mum might be thinking, and choose the ones they think fit best. Distribute copies of the book to pairs or groups of students and ask them to place their notes around the mum to show her thinking. This can also be done using an app such as Balloon Stickies.
Now draw attention to the page with the milk pot. Ask students to look carefully. Ask:
- Do you think the mum gave the children the milk pot? Why or why not?
- Now think again about why she might be fed up.
To conclude this sequence of lessons, students could develop a 30-second skit to act out the role of mum and voice their inner thoughts, demonstrating what is making her feel so fed up.
Exploring setting and theme
Introduce the book Ride, Ricardo, Ride!, written by Phil Cummings and illustrated by Shane Devries, by sharing the blurb:
Ricardo loved to ride his bike through the village.
He rode under endless skies, quiet and clear. He rode every day… But then the shadows came.
Now compare this with the blurb for The Patchwork Bike:
What’s the best fun in the whole village? Riding the patchwork bike we made!
As a class, discuss what some of the common themes might be between the two texts based on the blurbs.
Reread The Patchwork Bike. Afterwards, use the template provided (PDF, 92KB) to track the emotions of the story from start to finish. Draw a line and move it up or down according to how the emotions change. Encourage children to reflect on the events linked to the emotions in preparation for the next learning task. What do we notice from start to finish?
Using a structure such as ‘think and share’ (PDF, 93KB), split the class in half and break each half into smaller groups of two to three. One half of the class will use Ride, Ricardo, Ride! and the other The Patchwork Bike. Encourage the small groups to record the key events in their assigned book (i.e. what is happening), and discuss how these impact the mood/emotion of the character and their actions. This task provides opportunities for differentiation as the two books vary in complexity.
NOTE: If you cannot find a copy of Ride, Ricardo, Ride!, consider substituting another picture book about bikes. The Wobbly Bike by Darren McCallum and Craig Smith may be suitable.
Rich assessment task
Following the series of lessons identifying feelings, emotional responses and how authors use emotion to create characters, ask the students:
- Which characters did you feel connected to? Why?
- Have you ever had similar feelings to the characters in these stories? What happened?
Conversing with the students in small groups or one-on-one may elicit further evidence of the depth of their connection to the themes and characters in the text.
Using a Venn diagram (PDF, 138KB) or similar, ask students to use their connections with the characters to compare how their thoughts, feelings and actions were similar or different in the texts. The character comparisons can be shared in pairs or small groups, encouraging questions and discussions.
Examining text structure and organisation
Colour and medium
As a class, discuss what students have noticed about Van T. Rudd’s use of colour and materials/mediums. Note some key features to guide the conversation, including:
- Browns
- Reds
- Long black shadows
In small groups, ask students to consider the following questions:
- What has Rudd painted on? Why do you think he did this?
- How has he used paint to give the reader a sense of time and an idea of what the children are getting up to that day?
Visual literacy
Provide pairs or groups of students with copies of the book. Ask them to examine each illustration and consider the following questions:
- What is happening in this illustration? Where is it in the sequence of the story?
- What does the picture make you think about?
- What might be missing from this picture? Why?
- Could Rudd have chosen to make this picture another way? What difference would that make?
The pairs/groups can discuss their ideas and record them on paper or a mini whiteboard to collate for a whole group discussion in the future.
Examining grammar and vocabulary
Words that paint a picture
Maxine Beneba Clarke draws on a range of vocabulary to provide more detail to the simple text. As a class, discuss the use of wording such as:
- ‘bumpetty bump’
- ‘winketty wonk’
- ‘shicketty shake’
Ask the students what the words ‘bump’, ‘wonk’ and ‘shake’ mean. Investigate their function in each sentence. What does it mean to bump, wonk and shake? Invite students to act it out. How do the words add meaning to the way the bike is moving?
Clarke has added an extra word to each action to add more detail (‘bumpetty’, ‘winketty’ and ‘shicketty’). Encourage students to share how the vocabulary choices impact the images they see in their heads as they listen to the story. Ask why Clarke has used this extra detail to describe the way the bike moves. Can students think of other words she might be able to use to show how the bike is moving? For example, ‘jumpetty jump’, ‘wobbly wobble’, ‘tumbly tumble’, and so on.
Follow up with a turn and talk or think-pair-share before bringing some ideas back to the whole class.
In small groups, have students use strips of paper or card showing words from the text with AND without the added descriptive details. An example has been provided (PDF, 111KB). Students will provide an illustration to represent the base word (e.g. ‘desert’), followed by another illustration demonstrating what happens to the image when we build the vocabulary and add more detail (e.g. ‘no-go desert’). Each group could complete two to three examples before sharing back with the larger group, explaining why they feel the meaning changes when we use particular language.
Rich assessment task
Map a story
Demonstrate how to create a story map, outlining the key information and how to sequence events. Provide a selection of images or sentences from the text to differentiate the task for diverse groups. The map should show key events and settings within the story, as well as significant characters.
Now ask students to make a map of The Patchwork Bike, utilising the images or sentences if required. Encourage them to discuss and retell their story map. This can be done in small groups, in conference with you, or by using technology to record their response.
Story play
Gather a range of types, sizes and sources of cardboard with varying markings, similar to those used by Rudd in the book. Using this collection, have students consider how they would create characters and features from the story using Rudd’s style as inspiration.
In groups, students can create story sets to represent key elements of The Patchwork Bike. These can be used to act out and retell the story in their own words, using the illustrations in their own way. Video the performances to play back later.
Create the next scene
Following on from the previous activity, students can use their cardboard illustrations to depict what might happen next in the story. Encourage them to turn and talk about how the story ends and what they think will happen after that. Prompt with:
What will the children do next?
Students can use methods inspired by Rudd to create the next scene, providing an explanation for why they have made that prediction.
In groups, share and discuss each student’s scene. Encourage the group to ask questions of each other’s work such as:
- How likely do you think this is to happen?
- What words would you use to support this illustration?
- How would you describe the actions?
- How will things end?
Text innovation
Use the language of the text to connect to student’s own experience, providing an opportunity to explore story and vocabulary elements. Model Clarke’s use of language choices and features by breaking down a sentence from the text. For example:
| The best thing of all to play with | under the stretching-out sky | at the edge of the no-go desert… | is | me and my brother’s bike. |
Follow with a series of lessons modelling how to innovate on the language, creating sentences as a group and recording the sentences for reference. For example:
| The best thing of all to play with | submerged in the warm soapy tub | in the steamy bathroom | is | my yellow rubber duck. |
Create a class book where each student has a page to showcase their innovated sentence. Publish the book and share.
Rich assessment task
Character interview
Now that they are finishing this unit, ask the students to identify a favourite part or character in the book to discuss in a hot seat. Encourage them to provide an explanation about why they like that scene or character.
Prompt students to create a list of questions they could ask their favourite character from the text. In pairs or small groups, have them take turns being the character and the interviewer. Encourage the interviewees to consider how they might respond to the questions based on what they know from the text.
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