Story guide

The story guide provides suggestions for using the storybooks for guided, group and independent
activities. The reading activities include ideas on teaching the skills of P prediction,
questioning,
C clarifying, S summarising and I imagining. Comprehension questions are designed to help
children develop their higher order thinking skills.

Strands of comprehension
Skill

Strategy

Prediction
guess the topic and the
likely development of the
topic
make predictions about
stories, characters or
topics of interest

1 Talk about the title and cover picture before reading. Ask What
doyou think the story will be about?
2 Before turning a page, ask What do you think is going to happen
next?
3 At the end of the story, ask children to say whether their
predictions were correct. If their predictions were not correct,
identify and discuss what changed the expected direction of the
story.
4 Ask children to imagine what might happen after the last picture
in the story.

Questioning
locate specific
information in response
to questions
scan a text to locate
specific information by
using different reading
strategies
understand intention,
attitudes and feelings

1 Ask questions requiring children to recall information from

thestory.
2 Ask children to make inferences.
3 Ask children to make deductions.

Clarifying
self-correct by using
strategies such as
checking understanding
against predictions,
re-reading, using
context, reading further
to clarify, asking for help

1 Discuss reasons for events in the story.

2 Discuss how the setting and the characters create the plot in
thestory. Record the sequence of events where one thing leads
toanother.
3 When talking about the story, encourage children to make
connections between:
their own lives and experiences and the characters and events
inthe story.
their ideas about the way the world is and the events and
characters in the story.
books about similar characters or situations, or books by the
same author.

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Story guide

Skill

Strategy

Summarising
skim a text to obtain a
general impression and
the gist or main ideas

1 Discuss the important events in the story. Ask children to decide

on one or two events from the beginning, middle and end. Ask
them to say why some events are more important than others.
2 Discuss how the moods of the main characters change in the
story.
3 Record the setting, the problem and the resolution of the story
with children.

Imagining

Ask children to:

act out part of the story.
say what they would have done if the same thing happened
tothem.

Higher order thinking skills

Higher order thinking skills include (but are not limited to) critical thinking, creative thinking and
problem-solving skills. Children make use of such skills when they encounter unfamiliar problems,
uncertainties, questions or dilemmas.
You may help children develop their higher order thinking skills with these strategies:

Questioning strategies
Ask questions to stimulate
curiosity or demand
problem-solving skills

Instructional communication
Provide clear instructions and
explanations for each activity
and task

Scaffolding
Give support to gradually help
children think independently

Feedback
Give immediate and specific
feedback, with a positive tone

Team activities
Design small group activities
to foster peer learning

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Story guide

Submarine adventure

Level 5
Pink Book

Grammar and language structures

Use prepositions to indicate positions, e.g. There was not
much room inside the submarine.
Use that was close, just in time and not going to make it
to express time and urgency, e.g. The submarine got out just in
time. That was close, said Biff.

Vocabulary
cave (n.)

crew (n.)

dark (adj.)

deep (adj.)

dive (v.)

explore (v.)

leak (v.)

miss (v.)

shake (v.)

submarine (n.)

Group or guided reading

Questions in bold require children to apply higher order thinking skills.

Before reading

Look at the cover and read the title. Explain to children what a submarine is. It is a ship that
can travel underwater.
P I Read the blurb. Ask What do you think going under the sea would be like? What do you think
will happen to the children?
I Look through the book and talk about the pictures. Ask Do you think a submarine would be
able to go into Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong? What do you think would be under the water
there?

During reading
P

Talk about the events on each page as you read. Ask What do you think will happen next?
Pages 13
Whose birthday was it? What did Biff and Chip give William?

What was in the box? What does a submarine do?
Pages 45
What did the submarine look like?
Pages 69
What was the first thing the children saw when they arrived at the sea?

Who came out of the submarine? Why did Professor Tangle get things muddled up?
Pages 1013 What did Professor Tangle ask the children to do? Had Wendy been in a submarine
before? How do you think the children felt?

Was the submarine big? Were the children able to communicate with Professor
Tangle at all? What kinds of problem do you think might happen as a result? What
do you think might happen in the adventure?
Pages 1417 What could the children see from the submarine? How did Chip feel? How do you
know?

What did Professor Tangle ask the children to do? Do you think the children trusted
him? How did Biff feel?

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Pages 1821 Did Wendy like the idea of diving deeper? What did she see? How do you think
shefelt?

How did Professor Tangle feel? For once, Professor Tangle understood what Biff
said. What did Biff say?
Pages 2223 Why didnt the lights come on when Professor Tangle pressed the switch? What did Biff
see? How did she feel?
Pages 2427 Where was the submarine heading? Why did they have to slow down?

Where did Professor Tangle find the battery?
Pages 2829 Why did the cave shine and sparkle? How did Professor Tangle feel when he saw this?
Pages 3031 Why did they have to leave the cave immediately? Did Wendy think they would be
able to escape? How do you know?

Were they able to escape in the end? Was Professor Tangle able to get the jewels?
Page 32
Who did William make fun of? How did he do this?

After reading
C I

Look at page 11. Ask If you were one of the children, would you get in the submarine?
Why/Why not?

C I What do you think was Professor Tangles job?

P I
Look at pages 24 to 25. What do you think might have happened if Professor Tangle had
not pressed the button in time?

Post-reading task
Objective Introduce rhyming words
Procedure Tell children that there are a lot of rhyming words in the story. Explain that
they are words that have the same ending sound.
Give some examples of rhyming words: crew/do/flew, leak/speak.
In pairs, ask children to read through the book and pick out sets of rhyming
words, e.g. sea/see/tea, wrong/song, deep/sleep, shark/dark, rocks/socks/box.
Assessment Ask children to think of other rhyming words.

Extended activities
Activity Play Bingo!
Preparation Paper with a 3 3 grid
Procedure Give each child a copy of the grid.
Write some rhyming words on the board, e.g. crew, do, flew, sea, tea, wrong,
song, rocks, socks, box.
Ask children to select nine words from the board and write them down
randomly in their grid.
Call out a word in random. Ask children to circle the word in their grid. Remind
them to call out Bingo! when they have circled three words in a row.

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Story guide

Activity Pass the message

Preparation Ear plugs
Procedure Put children into groups and ask them to line up. Ask everyone except the first
child to put on ear plugs.
Say a sentence to the first child and ask him/her to pass the message to the next
child in line. Encourage them to exaggerate their facial expressions or mime the
action while saying the sentence.
Compare the last childs sentence with the original one.

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Story guide