the indian in the cupboard
TRANSCRIPT
The Indian In The Cupboard | Stage 3 | English, Technology
Summary Duration
The activities are based on character, setting, theme and plot. There are comparisons of book and film versions. Students are asked to use their imagination and project beyond the action of the book. Research, grammar and word study are also part of the unit. Students’ will be exploring multimodal texts through digital and virtual technology.
[This unit has been adapted and modified from the ‘Lively Literature’ Upper Primary series – Blake Education]
10 weeks
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Outcomes Unit overview Resources overview
English K-10
› EN3-1A communicates effectively for a variety of audiences and purposes using increasingly challenging topics, ideas, issues and language forms and features
› EN3-3A uses an integrated range of skills, strategies and knowledge to read, view and comprehend a wide range of texts in different media and technologies
› EN3-5B discusses how language is used to achieve a widening range of purposes for a widening range of audiences and contexts
› EN3-6B uses knowledge of sentence structure, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary to respond to and compose clear and cohesive texts in different media and technologies
› EN3-8D identifies and considers how different viewpoints of their world, including aspects of culture, are represented in texts
Omri's magic cupboard turns a plastic toy Indian into a live Native American warrior. The story explores Omri's attempts to keep this secret, and the dilemma he faces about whether to keep this miniature human as his own. Complications arise when a cowboy is brought to life and when Patrick, Omri's friend, threatens to reveal the secret.
Major Themes: Friendship, loyalty, bravery, magic, prejudices, character stereotypes.
Grammar Focus: Adverbs - words that add information to a verb, telling how, where, when or why.
~ Multiple copies of the book for group reading.
~ Copy of the video, The Indian in the Cupboard.
~ Simpson, Judith, Native Americans, Allenand Unwin, 1995.
~ Weebly (website creator)
~ Sim On A Stick (Virtual World on a USB)
~ MInecraft
~iMovie
~ YouTube clips of old cowboy and Indian films.
~ Voki and/or Tellagami
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Content Teaching, learning and assessment Registration
Stage 3 - Speaking and listening
Students:
use metalanguage to describe the effects of ideas, text structures and language features on particular audiences (ACELT1795)
plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content and multimodal elements for defined audiences and purposes, making appropriate choices for modality and emphasis (ACELY1700, ACELY1710)
participate in and contribute to discussions, clarifying and interrogating ideas, developing and supporting arguments, sharing and evaluating information, experiences and opinions (ACELY1709)
Stage 3 - Reading and viewing
Students:
explain and justify the responsible use of digital technologies
navigate and read texts for specific purposes applying
Into the Book:
Plastic Toys
Give each student a plastic toy. Have them examine their toy, silently attributing characteristics, name and possible history.
Students become the toy - walking about the room, meeting and greeting and talking about themselves.
Students form groups and improvise a scene using all their characters to depict one event performing their scene to the class.
Discuss the elements that were brought out in the scenes, especially those relevant to the novel, such as danger in a giant world.
Introduce the story – the story you are about to read is about tiny plastic figures brought to life.
Title and Cover
Discuss what the title might indicate about the story. Examine the cover of the book and discuss what can be deduced.
Questions:
Who does the eye belong to?
What is the significance of the key?
Does the cover make you want to read the story?
Blurb
Read aloud the blurb on the back cover and have students make predictions based on the blurb. Tell students the purpose of the blurb is to entice people to read the book, without giving away too much of the story. Ask students if this blurb does this.
Allow students to use this as a model to write a blurb for a book they have read recently, or one they have written. Discuss with students why publishers include quotes from reviews of the book and what other
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Content Teaching, learning and assessment Registration
appropriate text processing strategies, for example predicting and confirming, monitoring meaning, skimming and scanning (ACELY1702)
use comprehension strategies to interpret and analyse information and ideas, comparing content from a variety of textual sources including media and digital texts (ACELY1703, ACELY1713)
recognise how aspects of personal perspective influence responses to text
Stage 3 - Responding and composing
Students:
Develop and apply contextual knowledge
identify and discuss how own texts have been structured to achieve their purpose and discuss ways of using conventions of language to shape readers' and viewers' understanding of texts
Respond to and compose texts
compose more complex texts using a variety of forms
advertising is included in the book.
Native Americans and Cowboys
Jointly construct a chart of what students know about Native Americans and cowboys. Like Omri, students will probably have stereotypical views, but these will change as the story progresses and as they do their own research. Make a display chart with the following headings, that can be progressively added to as each chapter is read: things we know about Indians and Cowboys / things we found out about Indians and Cowboys.
Narrative
Discuss the structural elements of narrative text - orientation or setting, complication or problem, events and resolution. Make a wall chart and use these elements as headings. Tell students they will need to identify the settings, list major events, identify the complications and the way they inter-connect. Advise students that you will be asking them about the resolution at the end of the book, and they should be aware of the following while the book is being read:
Questions
Did the characters ring true?
Did events in the story seem believable and logical to you?
Did you find it satisfying?
Reading the Book
**During the reading of the book encourage students to use different forms of technology/web2.0 tools to present their work.
Have students create their own website using Weebly. They are to present their answers to each chapter on their website pages. Questions [See appendix 1].
Chapter 1 :
Omri's friend Patrick gives him a plastic Indian for his birthday. Omri also receives a cupboard as one of his birthday gifts. When he locks the Indian
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Content Teaching, learning and assessment Registration
appropriate to purpose and audience
identify and use a variety of strategies to present information and opinions across a range of texts
Stage 3 - Grammar, punctuation and vocabulary
Understand and apply knowledge of language forms and features
understand how ideas can be expanded and sharpened through careful choice of verbs, elaborated tenses and a range of adverb groups/phrases (ACELA1523)
Stage 3 - Expressing themselves
Students:
Develop and apply contextual knowledge
identify aspects of literary texts that convey details or information about particular social, cultural and historical contexts (ACELT1608)
in the cupboard, the Indian comes to life.
Chapter 2 :
Omri and the Indian get to know each other. Omri realises that little bull will require careful and thoughtful treatment.
Have students create character profiles. i.e. Voki/Tellagami [See appendix 2]
Ask students to prepare a menu that would satisfy the Indian and which Omri would be able to provide.
Students work in small groups to imagine that a newspaper reporter has discovered Omri’s secret. Students can use the proforma to make notes [see appendix 3] before presenting their news report i.e. drama/film/iMovie/News Bulletin.
Chapter 3 & 4 :
Omri makes a plastic horse come alive as a gift for little bull. when little bull is injured Omri puts a plastic WW1 medical orderly into the cupboard.
Imagine yourself as Little Bull. Draw the landscape of the garden from Little Bull’s perspective.
Chapter 5 :
Tommy Atkins, the WW1 medical orderly, is convinced that he is dreaming, but still provides first aid for Little Bull. Little Bull prepares to build a longhouse.
Find out about World War 1, including what countries were involved and what conditions were like for soldiers like Tommy Atkins.
Chapter 6 :
Omri buys a plastic Indian Chief so that he can bring it to life and give Little Bull clothing and weapons. At school he makes a teepee for Little Bull. The old Chief dies after being brought to life. Little Bull now decides he is a Chief.
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Content Teaching, learning and assessment Registration
Organise students into groups to make a story map. Have one group map Omri’s bedroom. Ask another group to map the garden. Tell a third group to map school. Advise students’ that the maps will link to form a complete map of the story, so assign a fourth group the task of making the links between the maps. These will include Omri’s bedroom within the house and showing the door to the garden, the route to school, and perhaps under the floorboards where the rat attack takes place. Remind students to add to the maps after each chapter, so that at the end of the story the maps will culminate in a larger wall display. Have students use the same scale when drawing their map.
Chapter 7 :
Omri brings Patrick home to see Little Bull. Omri’s brothers have entered his room but the Indian hides from them. Patrick demands that other toys be brought to life but Omri refuses.
Find out what a longhouse is like, and what a life-size one is made of. Make models of Indian longhouses, teepees and tools. Make model Indians to inhabit these dwellings. Use a seed tray or baking dish filled with soil as the ‘ground’ for the model.
Chapter 8 :
While Omri is out of the room, Patrick puts a plastic cowboy in the cupboard. The cowboy has a gun and shoots Patrick. Little Bull demands a wife. Patrick threatens to tell the secret unless Omri brings the cowboy to school.
Have students make bookmarks featuring a main character. Allow students, to use their character profile notes to write a description of the character on the bookmark. Draw or design on computer. Print and laminate.
Chapter 9 & 10:
Omri is woken early in the morning by the sounds of a battle between the Indian and the cowboy. He introduces them and makes them share breakfast.
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Content Teaching, learning and assessment Registration
Ask students to begin a character profile for Boone i.e. Voki/Tellagami. Have students write a sentence, using characters from the book, for each of the feeling words listed. Tell students each sentence must say WHO had this feeling, and WHEN or WHY they felt this way. Point out to students that an example has been provided [See appendix 4].
Chapters 11 & 12:
The boys, trying to keep the Indian and cowboy a secret at school, get into trouble. Patrick is forced to show them to the headmaster.
Crossword Puzzle [See appendix 5]
Organise students into groups and have them role-play adults being confronted with the miniature cowboy and Indian. An alternative role-play could be interaction between the cowboy and Indian inside the pocket.
Chapter 13:
In the art class, Omri lets Little Bull and Boone out so they can see what is going on. Boone draws a tiny picture of his town, and the art teacher is impressed, thinking Omri has done it. On the way home, Omri buys a wife for Little Bull and is accused of stealing other plastic figures from the shop.
Encourage students to draw a tiny, detailed picture such as Boone or Little Bull might have drawn in the art class.
Remind students that the story is written from Omri’s point of view. Ask students to select an incident in the story so far and write it from Patrick’s viewpoint. Advise students that this will help contrast the different attitudes each boy has to a ‘live’ toy.
Chapter 14 & 15:
Omri’s brother has hidden the cupboard, and when it is found the key is missing. Little Bull and Boone fight again, and the cowboy is wounded by an arrow. Little Bull ventures under the floorboards to look for the missing key and escapes a rat attack. Omri brings Tommy Atkins to life to treat a dangerously ill Boone.
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Content Teaching, learning and assessment Registration
Ask students to describe Little Bull’s search under the floor for the key. Tell students to write an account of it using ‘Indian English’, which is the style the author uses when Little Bull is speaking.
Synonyms – have students write descriptions using synonyms. Explain that synonyms are words with similar meanings. Point out to students that they have been given the character who is speaking, the character they are describing and one describing word. Ask students to complete the sentences by providing three synonyms.
Hold a viewing session of YouTube clips and look at selected parts of an old cowboy and Indian film. Note the stereotypes, and discuss how these scenes would affect Little Bull and Boone.
Chapter 16:
The plastic female Indian is brought to life and she looks after Boone, thus affecting reconciliation between Little Bull and Boone. Omri decides that the Indians and the cowboy should be sent back to their own times, and returns them to the cupboard.
Beyond the Book
Movie Version:
Look at the film version of The Indian in the Cupboard and list the differences. Ask students if they agree with the changes made and discuss why the film makers might have made these changes.
Have students imagine the next adventure of the Indian and/or the cowboy. Explain how moviemakers plan the screeplay using a storyboard depicting the main action in sequence. Tell students to draw /write/act out their main events.
Read other stories or look at films that deal with tiny people or creatures, such as The Borrowers, A Flock Of Blats, James and the Giant Peach, or Bob the Builder and the Elves.
Students are to work in small groups to create a new movie trailer for ‘The Indian In The Cupboard’ using iMovie.
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Content Teaching, learning and assessment Registration
Students’ Versions:
Ask students to write stories about plastic toys they have which they could bring to life. Tell students to publicise their stories using the plastic figures featured in their stories.
Headlines:
Have students devise headlines for various significant events in the novel, for example ‘Rat Attack!’ or ‘Cowboy Lives!’ Display these as newspaper flyers in order to promote the book to other classes. Students may choose to use image chef website to present their headlines.
Glossary:
Have students construct a glossary of the words listed, which were used by Boone and Little Bull [see appendix 6]. Explain what and how to use a glossary.
Board Game:
Have students make a board game related to the novel. Ask students to plot the sequence of main events on the board. Tell students to plan rewards (such as ‘go forward two spaces’ or ‘have another turn’) and punishments (such as ‘miss a turn’). In turns, players throw dice and move around the ‘trail’. Remind students to write a set of instructions for their board games. Allow students to play each other’s’ games and give feedback to the designers of each game.
Favourite Scene:
Have students create their favourite scene using Sim On A Stick. Make sure they have accompanying note cards explaining why this was their favourite scene.
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Evaluation
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Appendix 1 - Chapter Questions:
Chapter 1:
What sort of things might Omri and the Indian do together?
How would you look after somebody the size of the Indian?
What problems would there be in doing this?
Should or would Omri tell anyone else about the Indian? Why?
What has made the magic - the cupboard or the key?
Chapter 2:
What are the demands made by the Indian?
How does Omri meet these demands?
What are Omri’s reactions when he picks up the Indian?
What is meant by ‘the Indian…was no longer his play thing but a person that had to be respected’?
Chapter 3 & 4:
What do we find out about the Indians in this chapter?
Does it challenge any of the statements made on the classroom charts about Indians? (Discuss with a partner)
Why does Omri refuse to give Little Bull a gun?
What problems are there with letting Little Bull outside?
How did Little Bull feel about the outside environment, and Omri as his protector?
Chapter 5:
How does Tommy Atkins react to being transported in time to Omri’s bedroom?
How is his reaction different to Little Bull’s, and why?
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How will Omri continue to meet Little Bull’s demands?
Chapter 6:
Do you think Omri will let Patrick in on his secret? Why?
How did Omri and Little Bull react to the Chief’s death?
Why were the reactions different?
Chapter 7:
What is Patrick’s reaction to the magic?
How does he feel about Little Bull?
How is Patrick’s attitude different to Omri’s?
What does Patrick mean when he says, “Maybe this isn’t such fun…”
What will happen as a result of Patrick’s request to bring another toy to life?
Chapter 8:
What problems will be caused by Patrick’s actions? What are the possible conflicts which could arise between Omri and Patrick, and between Little Bull and the cowboy? What will happen when Omri takes the cowboy to school?
Chapters 9 & 10:
How is the cowboy’s reaction to his arrival different to Little Bull’s in Chapter 1? Why is there conflict between the cowboy and the Indian? What do you think will happen when the Indian and the cowboy are taken to school? If you were a miniature person, would you prefer that Omri or Patrick be the person you were dependent upon? Give reasons.
Chapters 11& 12
How have the predictions made in the last session matched what actually happened? Why do Omri and Patrick need to keep Little Bull and Boone a secret? How might Mr Johnson react when he sees Little Bull and Boone?
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Chapter 13:
How would you describe Mr Johnson’s reaction? What positive aspects of Patrick’s character are revealed in this chapter?
Chapters 14 & 15:
What would have been the implications for Boone and Little Bull if the key had not been found? Why is Little Bull indignant at the depiction of Indians on the television? How might the wounding of Boone change relationships between the various characters in the book? How did Omri resolve the conflict between Little Bull and Boone?
Chapter 16:
Why did the Indians and the cowboy have to be returned to their own times?
What would it be like for Boone and the Indians when they arrived home?
Will they remember their adventures with Omri and Patrick?
How have Omri and Patrick been changed by having had this experience?
Would you have done the same thing as Patrick and Omri?
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Appendix 2 – Character Profiles
Character Profiles
Character What this character is like
(Personality)
What character looks like (Appearance)
Character sketch
Chief old, shocked,
courteous
toothless, grey hair,
wrinkled
Omri
Little Bull
Boone
Patrick
Appendix 3 – News Report
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News Report
News reports include a headline to catch the reader’s eye.
Headline:
When:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Who:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Where:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Appendix 4 – Who, When & Why
Appendix 5 – CrosswordBoard of Studies NSW – Program Builder – pb.bos.nsw.edu.au
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How did they feel?Write a sentence for each of the feeling words. The sentence must say WHO felt this, and WHEN or WHY they felt this way.
excited – Omri was excited when his parents and brothers gave him a skateboard with cryptonic wheels.
happy -_____________________________________________________________________
ashamed -___________________________________________________________________
annoyed -___________________________________________________________________
disappointed -________________________________________________________________
helpless -___________________________________________________________________
petrified -__________________________________________________________________
frightened -_________________________________________________________________
delighted -__________________________________________________________________
amazed -____________________________________________________________________
Appendix 6 – Glossary
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GlossaryBelow are words used by Little Bull and Boone. These are words from their time and place. Construct a glossary of these words.
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
_____________ _________________________________________________________________________
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