Pocket dice playroom

Plan/implement

Insert six cards into the six pockets in the dice.

Students sit in a circle with the pocket dice.

Model rolling the dice and naming the item or activity shown in the picture.

Model asking and answering a preference question, e.g. ‘Do you like the blocks?’, ‘Yes, I like the blocks.’, ‘Do you like cooking?’, ‘No, I don’t like cooking.’

A student rolls the dice and names the item or activity shown in the picture.

The student turns to the next student in the circle and asks a preference question: ‘Do you like <the item or activity in the picture>?’ or ‘Do you want <the item or to do the activity>?

That student chooses a response using a sentence stem: ‘Yes, I like …’, ‘Yes, I love …’, ‘No, I don’t like …’, ‘Yes, I want …’, ‘No, I do not want …’.  Then it is their turn to roll the dice.

Year 1 Australian Curriculum alignment

English: AC9E1LA02
explore language to provide reasons for likes, dislikes and preferences

Lesson activity

‘Tell me why’

Plan/implement

Insert six cards into the six pockets in the dice.

Model rolling the dice, naming the item or activity shown in the picture, and making a preference statement that includes a reason, e.g. ‘I like the blocks because I can build a tower.’

Students take turns rolling the dice and saying whether they like, love, want or do not want (to do) the item or activity.

Ask students to add a reason using ‘because’. Encourage descriptive words (adjectives) such as ‘fun’, ‘quiet’, ‘high’, ‘safe’, ‘tricky’, ‘big’, ‘small’, ‘fast’, ‘colourful’.

Students share their preferences with a partner and compare whether their preferences are the same or different, and which item or activity is their favourite.

Observations / assessment opportunities

Can the student provide a reason for a like, dislike or preference?

Does the student use ‘because’ to connect ideas?

Can the student listen to a partner’s preferences and compare them with their own?

Year 2 Australian Curriculum alignment

English: AC9E2LA09
experiment with and begin to make conscious choices of vocabulary to suit the topic

English: AC9E2LY08
write words legibly and with growing fluency using unjoined upper-case and lower-case letters

Lesson activity

‘Sort, list and describe’

Plan/implement

Create a short Animal Mayhem scene, using photos or drawings of locations in your classroom. Place the animal pictures on the location pictures, showing the animals in unexpected classroom locations.

Model an oral recount of what happened, using a clear beginning, middle and end, for example, ‘First, the mouse went under the shelf, then he went into a book. Next, the lizard sat on my chair. After that, the dog sat under my chair. Finally, I found all the animals and put them in the basket.’

Identify sequencing words in the model recount: ‘first’, 'then', ‘next', ‘after that’ and ‘finally’.

Students work in pairs. Give each pair a set of animal pictures and location pictures. Each student moves the animals around the locations to create their own sequence of events.

Students orally rehearse their own recount with their partner, including where each animal was found.

Students orally tell their story to the class or write their version on a mini-whiteboard.

Observations / assessment opportunities

Can the student organise events in a logical sequence?

Does the student include a beginning, middle and end?

Can the student use past tense verbs consistently?

Does the student’s recount explain where the animals hid or moved to?

Year 3 Australian Curriculum alignment

English: AC9E3LA02
understand how the language of evaluation and emotion, such as modal verbs, can be varied to be more or less forceful

Lesson activity

‘Build a preference story’

Plan/implement

Insert six cards into the six pockets in the dice.

Model how evaluative and emotive language changes the strength of a preference, e.g. ‘I like the treehouse. I really like the treehouse. I love the treehouse because it is high and shady.’

Each student rolls the dice twice and uses the pictures they roll to plan a short preference story about the two items or activities.

Preference stories include a request to have/do their preferred item/activity, and reasons for why they prefer that one to the other one, e.g. ‘I would like the rope ladder. I prefer the rope ladder to the drum because the rope ladder is fun and the drum is too loud.’

Students present their preference story to a partner or small group, and explain which words make their preference stronger or softer.

Observations / assessment opportunities

Can the student vary evaluative or emotive language to make their preference more or less forceful?

Does the student include a request, preference and reason/s?

Does the student organise two dice cards into a coherent short story or conversation?