Notice Patterns and Possibilities

Overview

In this second lesson of Stories That Connect Us, students revisit the shared story to notice repeated language, descriptive words and cause-and-effect links. They collaborate to sort story elements, connect the setting with a local living thing, and orally rehearse a possible new event using sound, movement and precise language.

Learning intentions

• WALT notice patterns in a shared story, including repeated language, descriptive words and cause-and-effect links.
• WALT sort and represent story elements, then compare categories using more, fewer and the same.
• WALT explain how a local living thing depends on its environment.
• WALT orally plan a new story event and represent it through voice, rhythm, gesture or tableau.

Success criteria

• I can point to or explain a repeated word, descriptive word or cause-and-effect link.
• I can sort story elements and say which group has more, fewer or the same.
• I can describe one way a local living thing depends on its environment.
• I can tell a possible new event in order, using a because or so link.

Curriculum links

• English — Writing Processes: planning through talk and thinking carefully about each sentence before writing.
• English — identifying and working towards a specific writing goal.
• Mathematics and Statistics — sorting, representing and comparing categories using objects, tallies or simple picture graphs.
• Science and The Arts — observing relationships between living things and their environment; communicating ideas through sound, rhythm, gesture and tableau.
• Te Mātaiaho competencies — participating and contributing, thinking, and managing self through collaborative inquiry and oral rehearsal.

Lesson structure (30 minutes)

1. 0–4 min · Reconnect and hook. Open with the opening question and shared-story image and briefly reread or retell the key part of the shared story. Ask, “What did the author repeat, and what might happen if one thing changed?” Students turn and talk, then share one remembered detail.

2. 4–10 min · Notice story patterns. Display the pattern-spotting examples and model identifying a repeated phrase, a descriptive word and a cause-and-effect link, such as “The rain fell, so the track became slippery.” Revisit the relevant page or sentences in the shared story. Students listen for one example and rehearse it with a partner using “I noticed…” and “This happened because…”.

3. 10–16 min · Sort and compare. Place students in six groups of five. Give each group a small set of objects or prepared picture slips representing characters, settings or actions from the story. Students choose one sorting focus, arrange the items, and record a tally or simple picture graph on the story-patterns recording sheet. Prompt groups to compare: “Which category has more? Which has fewer? Are any the same?” Groups justify one pattern to the class.

4. 16–21 min · Connect setting and living things. Show the local living thing and environment prompt. Invite students to name a familiar local living thing, such as a pūriri moth, tūī, earthworm or harakeke, and identify what it needs from its environment. Explain that whakapapa can describe relationships and connections among people, living things, places and the natural world. Acknowledge that some mātauranga and stories have cultural protocols; students should share respectfully and not claim knowledge or stories that are not theirs. Students complete orally: “The ___ depends on ___ because ___.”

5. 21–27 min · Rehearse and represent a new event. Model changing one story element and orally planning a short event: “The tūī could not find nectar, so it searched the flowering harakeke.” Students use the sentence-builder sentence strip cards if helpful to construct and rehearse two or three connected sentences. In groups, students present the event using a sound, rhythm, gesture or frozen tableau. The audience identifies the repeated language, descriptive word or cause-and-effect link.

6. 27–30 min · Share and assess. Return to the reflection prompts. Invite two groups to share and ask, “What pattern did they use? How did the setting affect the event?” Students complete the final box on the story-patterns recording sheet by drawing or writing one new event and finishing “It happened because…”. Collect sheets for planning the next lesson.

Resources

• the complete shared-story teaching deck
• the story-patterns recording sheet
• the sentence-builder sentence strip cards
• Shared story or enlarged book pages
• Picture slips or small objects representing story elements
• Pencils, crayons and group tally materials
• Whiteboard and markers
• Optional local living-thing photograph or object

Assessment

• Listen during partner talk for accurate identification of repetition, descriptive language and cause-and-effect links; prompt or recast where needed.
• Check group sorts, tallies or picture graphs and ask students to justify more, fewer or the same using evidence.
• Review the final worksheet response for a logical new event, an environment connection and a because or so explanation.

Differentiation

• Support oral rehearsal with the frames “I noticed ,” “ happened because ___” and “Next, ___.” Allow drawing, pointing, gesture or dictation on the worksheet.
• Provide fewer sorting items and pre-sort one example for students who need reduced cognitive or motor load; pair EAL learners with supportive speakers and use the story images repeatedly.
• For students ready for challenge, require three connected sentences, a repeated phrase and two cause-and-effect links, or ask them to explain how changing the setting changes the event.
• Offer quiet rehearsal space, seated or non-verbal tableau options, and adult scribing or enlarged print for students with sensory, communication or fine-motor needs.