Lesson 5 Information Retrieval AF2 (p15 – 37)

FOR A DEVELOPING READER
Pupil target: Finding and using textual references
Features to explore when reading:
• Focus on details about Sam’s Dad, looking at the difference between facts, which can be proved with quotations
from the text, and inferences, which can’t.
Activity:
Ask pupils to work in pairs and to reread Mum and Dad (p19 – 20). They then have to decide which of the following
seven statements about Dad are true. They should find a quotation to support their judgements.
• He comes from a large family.
• He does not like any fuss.
• He cannot accept that Sam is ill.
• He helps around the house.
• He is a kind man.
• He has a good relationship with his wife and children.
• He does not have a good relationship with his own mother, brother and sisters.
Using these notes, pupils should write a paragraph about Dad.

FOR A COMPETENT READER
Pupil target: Find the main ideas in a text and support them with evidence
Features to explore when reading:
• Focus on the details about Sam’s mother and father.
Activity:
Ask pupils to reread pages 19 - 20 and 29 - 32. They should then make notes on the differences between Mum and
Dad’s attitudes to:
• Visitors • Sam going back to school • Sam’s long term illness
• Going to church • Sam’s sudden nosebleed • Each other
Using these notes, they should either script or improvise a video-diary entry which Mum and Dad make individually after
Sam has gone to bed. They must be completely truthful!

FOR AN ACTIVE READER
Pupil target: Use short, well-chosen quotations within sentences to show I can refer closely to a text
Features to explore when reading:
• Focus on Sam and his family.
Activity:
Working in a group of four using the information in this section, ask pupils to hot-seat the four members of the family in
turn.
Pupils then need to write a Point – Evidence – Exploration paragraph about each character.
Pupils can be given a model, for example:
Ella sometimes goes to church with her mother, not because she is religious ‘but only because everyone fusses
over her’. This may mean that she likes being the centre of attention because people know that her brother has
a terminal illness. She also stands up for herself. Mum always hates buying things with her because ‘They
always fight’. Perhaps she resents all the attention that is given to Sam and wants some of it for herself.