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Teacher Edition

Our New Year Dragon

Written by Sara Oldfield

Photography by Ross Tonkinand Dennis Wisken

alphakids

The Alphakids Plus teachereditions support teachers as theyguide children’s reading andthinking during one or more guidedreading sessions. Teachers canobserve children as they read andchoose from the given suggestionsto suit individual needs.

Before readingSetting the context, front coverand title page:The suggestions help teachers to set the scene and prepare childrenfor reading the book. Prompts helpto determine children’s priorknowledge. Where necessary,background information isprovided. Teachers are encouragedto check that children understandthe vocabulary listed and to discussthe meanings and/or the structuresof these words. Previousexperiences with similar text typesmay also be discussed.

During readingPredict, Read, Reflect:Questions encourage children toengage with the text by makingpredictions. They then read asection of the text and reflect onwhat they have read. The focus ison the content, language and textfeatures of the book.

Observe and support:Prompts help teachers to focus onthe strategies children use as theyread. Teachers can then select fromand adapt the suggestions accordingto the needs of the individual child.The suggestions aim to develop achild’s reading abilities.Interruptions to the child’s readingshould be minimal.

After readingA selection of reading and writingactivities:The last pages of the teacher editionprovide follow-up activities andinclude the assessment focus.

HORWITZ GARDNER

LIMITED

168e High StreetEgham, SurreyTW20 9HPUnited Kingdom

Published edition © Eleanor Curtain Publishing 2004Text © Nicole di MarcoPhotographs © Eleanor Curtain Publishing

First published 2004

Apart from any fair dealing forthe purposes of study, research,criticism or review, aspermitted under the CopyrightAct of Australia, no part of thisbook may be reproduced byany process, or transmitted inany form, without permissionof the copyright owner. Where copies of part or the whole ofthis book are made under PartVB of the Copyright Act, thelaw requires that records ofsuch copying be kept and thecopyright owner is entitled toclaim payment.

Developed by Eleanor Curtain PublishingDesigned by Alexander StittProduction by Publishing Solutions

Printed in China

ISBN 0 7253 3268 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 904 05 06

How to use this book

Selected text features Vocabulary• Written from the point of view of a

child and in the first person• Colour photographs support and

extend the text

celebrations, China, decorations, dragon,firecrackers, New Year, parade, relatives,respect, spirits

Our New Year Dragon



alphakids Our New Year Dragon



alphakids

Setting the contextHave you ever been to a parade?What did you see?Who or what was in the parade?Allow time for each child to talk about their experiences.Draw out the differences that can be seen in parades.

Front cover and title pageThis book is called ‘Our New YearDragon’. What does ‘New Year’ mean?What do you notice about the dragon onthe front cover?

2

Our New Year Dragon Pages 2–5

PredictLook at the pictures on pages 2 to 5.What words do you think the author will use to describethe New Year celebrations?How do you think the people in these pictures celebrateNew Year?What part do you think the dragon will play?

Read to the end of page 5.

ReflectHow were the New Year celebrations described?Is this parade like the parades you have been to?Why is the dragon an important part of the parade?

Observe and supportDoes the child use an understanding of letter/soundrelationships to check words?Example: How did you know that word said ‘parade’?What did you look at? What did you think about?

3

Most people in my class celebrate New Yearon the 1st of January, but our New Yearcomes at a different time every year. Our New Year celebrations are bright,colourful and noisy.

My family comes from China.We came here when I was fouryears old. Some of my cousinslive here too.

2 3

We always have a parade to celebrate theNew Year. The most important part of theparade is a dragon.

We have a dragon in the parade because webelieve that the dragon brings us good luckfor the rest of the year.

4 5

4


PredictWhat is happening in these pictures?Can you describe what the dragon looks like?


ReflectWhere did the dragon come from?What is the purpose of the mirrors?How is the dragon woken up for the parade?

Observe and supportCan the child understand the inferences in the text?Why does the dragon need to be protected from badspirits?

5

The dragon was coveredwith tiny mirrors. The mirrors protect thedragon from bad spirits.The spirits see themselvesin the mirrors and arescared away by the sightof their ugly faces.

7

This year we had a new dragon for the parade.The new dragon was made in China and camehere packed in boxes, on a ship.

My cousin Simon and I helped Uncle Lai to put thenew dragon together. First Uncle Lai joined all thedifferent parts of the body, then we tied onhundreds of small bells. It took a long time, butthe dragon looked fantastic when we had finished.

6

We believe that new dragons are asleep and thatwe have to wake them up.

To wake up our dragon before the parade, we painted its eyes with small dots of pigs’ blood.

Then it was ready for the New Year.

98

6


PredictHow do you think the parade will be described?What information do you think the author will includeabout the parade?


ReflectTell me some words you would use to describe theparade.Who or what is in the parade apart from the dragon?Who comes to watch the parade?

Observe and supportAsk one child to read aloud to you while the othersare reading silently. Can the child read the textfluently?Read a passage of the text to the child. Have thechild read it with you.Can you make it sound like I do?Have the child read the text by themselves.

As well as the dragon, there were musicians, people carrying banners, birds, fish and lions in the parade.

The lions dance in front of the dragon. There are two people inside each lion. Sometimesone person stands on the other person’s shoulders.When the lions meet each other, they bow toshow respect.

On the day of the parade,hundreds of people filled thestreets to watch. All the colourfuldecorations looked beautiful inthe bright sun.

People set off firecrackers as theparade passed by. It was verynoisy and exciting.

10 11

7

8


PredictWhat will happen when the dragon appears?What new information might you discover about thedragon?


ReflectHow does the dragon move?How did people feel when the dragon appeared?Show me the part of the story that tells you this.What did people do as the dragon passed by?

Observe and supportCan the child understand the literal meaning of thetext?Why did people want to touch the dragon? Where didyou find that out?

There were 60 people inside the dragon’s bodybut we could only see their legs.

Seven people held up the dragon’s head andthree people held up the end of its tail.

As the dragon passed by, people in the crowdtouched it for good luck.

When the dragon camearound the corner behind thelions, everyone was reallyexcited.

The dragon looked huge!

12 13

9

10


PredictLook at the pictures on pages 14 to 16. How might theauthor end her recount of the parade?How might the girl be feeling? How can you tell?


ReflectWhat happened at the end of the story?How would the author have decided which events orinformation to include?What else could this book have been called? Why?

Observe and supportDoes the child search for a range of information onthe page to support their reading?When you looked at the pictures, what were youlooking for? How did that help you? What else didyou check?

11

The next day, our photo was in thenewspaper! We sent it to all our relatives inChina.

Everyone at the parade was even more excitedthan usual this year because the new dragon wasso special.

A photographer came and took a photo of usbecause we had helped to put the dragontogether.

14 15

Enter theDragonYesterday, Chinese New Year wascelebrated in the city with thetraditional parade. However, thisyear there was a new dragon for the

it tookhappyll newlongertempter butflameme flylookedonly ifwhenif callhad tofinishpot. Itsonner

st westflower

a dovein tinylongerst. Themirrorto andsouth,abs heht fire,thongstrongspringl formspirits.

alltantoocanlonhaptimnes,butthedrahonlownedfanfewicewhiandwe’lhadfanshedroputrollitseltogher.

Thedraiconis flcall

16

See? Here I am!

We had a very happy New Year.

After reading

12

Being a meaning makerEncourage the children to supporttheir answers with evidence fromthe book as they discuss thesequestions:Why is there a dragon in the NewYear parade?How did the people in the bookwake up the new dragon?What happens in the New Yearparade?Why do people put so much effortinto the New Year parade?

Being a code breakerChildren may like to explore thefollowing language feature:• the sound /u/: comes, China,some, us, luck, cousin, hundreds,but, ugly, blood, sunny, sun, front,love, touched

Being a text userYou may like to work with thechildren to analyse the structure ofa recount. Notes could be attachedto the pages of the book with labelssuch as ‘Who’, ‘What’, ‘When’,‘Where’, ‘Why’, ‘Ending’, ‘Event 1’,‘Event 2’, etc. to highlight thestructure of a recount.What happened?Who was involved?Where did it happen?When did it happen?In what order did each thinghappen?How did the girl feel about it?

Being a text criticWhat does the author think aboutthe New Year parade? Do you agreewith her?Are all children involved in parades?Would you like to see a New Yearparade?

Responding to text

Children could work incooperative groups to make a

mural depicting the Chinese NewYear parade as described in thebook. Encourage the use of labelsand captions to explain differentaspects of the mural.

Children could write a noisypoem describing the sounds

that they might hear if they were ata Chinese New Year parade.Encourage the use of onomatopoeiain the poem, e.g. ‘Bang, boom wentthe firecrackers’. Children couldperform their poems in choralreadings.

Children could list a rangeof words with the sound /u/.

These words could be groupedaccording to the letters used torepresent the sound.For example:

Writing linksShared writingChoose an event that the children areinterested in and model the writingof a personal recount. Focus onteaching points, such as the selectionof relevant events, to include ways toorganise your information. Point outways to get rid of ‘and then’. A simplerecount plan could be used.

Independent writingChildren could write their ownrecount of a recent personalexperience. They could illustratethe recount plan above to helpthem organise their information.These could be shared before theystart writing to help them articulatetheir thoughts and further supporttheir writing.

RECOUNT PLANSetting: Who? This column could be What? Where? illustrated or written.When? Why?Events in time order:123Ending

o u ou a oofront mum touch ago flood

Possible assessment focus

Can the child:• explain why this book is a recount?• recall the details of the story in sequence?

whole text activity sentence activity word activity

Our New Year Dragon



alphakids TeacherEdition

Topic: CelebrationsCurriculum link: SOSEText type: RecountReading level: 19Word count: 466Vocabulary: celebrations, China, decorations,dragon, firecrackers, New Year, parade, relatives,respect, spirits

Possible literacy focusUnderstanding the features of a recount.Recalling details of a story in sequence.

SummaryThis book is about the preparation of a new dragonfor a Chinese New Year parade.

alphakids

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