Treehouse items
Learning outcomes:
- Students role-play as a carer or child and ask for or provide the items needed to settle for bedtime.
- Students build their vocabulary and discuss needs and wants, using Standard Australian English or their home language/s.
Purpose of learning experience
- Students can imitate the play in the Treehouse app activity, giving students an opportunity to use their language skills to resolve why the children in the treehouse cannot get to sleep.
- Students can take on different perspectives as they role-play as the carer or the child.
- Students practise using questions (e.g. ‘What’s wrong?’, ‘What is the matter?’) statements (e.g. ‘I’m thirsty.’, ‘We’re thirsty.’, ‘I feel cold.’, ‘We’re cold.’) and responses (e.g. ‘I needed that.’, ’Thank you.’, ‘No thanks.’, ‘Oh no!’).
Printable: Treehouse
Making connections
Children sometimes find it difficult to settle at bedtime, and often a small adjustment can make a significant difference. When children can recognise and communicate what helps them feel calm and comfortable, bedtime routines can become smoother and sleep patterns may improve for the whole household.
Early Years Learning framework
Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing.
Children are aware of and develop strategies to support their own mental and physical health and personal safety
Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators.
Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes
Lesson activity
‘Bedtime helpers’
Plan/implement
Model play using the characters.
Place the characters in a pretend bedtime setting and explain that the characters cannot sleep because something is wrong. Explain that a different thing is wrong for each character.
Choose a character and model a conversation about what the character needs before they can sleep.
Below is a model example.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘I'm thirsty.’
‘You need water.’ (Place the water bottle item next to the character.)
‘I needed that, thank you.’
Encourage children to role-play as carers and children, in pairs. Children take turns choosing a child character and explaining to their partner why they cannot sleep. The partner then selects an item that may help the child feel comfortable and ready for sleep.
The partner role-playing the child character may reject the first offered item if it is not what they need (e.g. if they say they are thirsty and their partner gives them a blanket).
Observations / assessment opportunities
Can the child suggest a relevant reason for why their character cannot sleep?
Can the child identify an item that would comfort their partner’s character and help them sleep?
Resources needed
Character puppets or printable Playroom characters (cut out and laminate or glue onto small blocks)
Printable Treehouse items (cut out and laminate or glue onto small blocks)
Language focus
Prepositions: on, under, behind, in front of
Phrases of location, e.g. at the tree, on the bridge
Pronouns: he, she, they
Greetings and thanks
Community Languages
Encourage children to talk about the map and the locations using their preferred language.
Encourage children to talk about where they like to go in their community.
Foundation Curriculum alignment
English: AC9EFLA05
recognise that sentences are key units for expressing ideas
Lesson activity
‘What’s the matter?’
Plan/implement
Students sit in a circle with the characters and Treehouse items in the middle.
Model a conversation with one of the characters about a problem they have, e.g. ‘What’s the matter?’, ‘I feel cold.’
Explain that ‘I feel cold.’ is a complete sentence that expresses an idea.
Students take turns choosing a character and deciding on a problem the character has. The student describes the problem using a full sentence, e.g. ‘I feel scared.’ or ‘I’m cold.’
Then the student chooses a comfort item from among the
Treehouse items and explains the solution to the problem, e.g.
‘I need a teddy bear.’ or ‘I need a blanket.’ The student gives the comfort item to the character and expresses the character’s appreciation as a full sentence, e.g. ‘Thank you, I needed that.’
Encourage students to extend their sentences with extra detail, e.g. ‘I feel cold because it is night-time.’
Observations / assessment opportunities
Does the student listen to and respond to others during group discussion?
Can the student share a sentence about what they or the character need?
Can the student express an idea orally using a complete sentence?
Can the student build on or repeat a sentence following educator modelling?
Resources needed
Character puppets or printable Playroom characters (cut out and laminate or glue onto small blocks)
Printable Treehouse items (cut out and laminate or glue onto small blocks)
Language focus
hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, silly, tired
apple, blanket, book, teddy, fan, water, dog
What’s the matter?
What’s wrong?
I’m …
I need …
I feel …
I want …
I don’t want …
Thanks, I needed that.
Community Languages
Students might share home language names of items they take to bed or words they use at bedtime. Develop a language bank of English and home language names of items and bedtime vocabulary.
Year 1 Curriculum alignment
English: AC9E1LA02
explore language to provide reasons for likes, dislikes and preferences
Lesson activity
‘What helps me sleep?’
Plan/implement
Show students the Treehouse comfort items.
Choose a comfort item yourself and model a sentence about why you like it, e.g. ‘I like the teddy because it helps me feel safe.’
Students take turns selecting a comfort item and explaining whether they like, dislike or prefer it, including a reason.
Next, students role-play in pairs. One student plays the role of a child and explains their problem. Their partner offers a suitable comfort item and asks whether it helps.
As a class, students discuss their responses.
Observations / assessment opportunities
Can the student say if they like, don’t like or prefer a particular comfort item?
Does the student give a simple reason for their preference?
Can the student use ‘because’ to explain their thinking?
Can the student express their idea in a short oral sentence?
Resources needed
Printable Treehouse items (cut out and laminate or glue onto small blocks)
Language focus
hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, silly, tired
apple, blanket, book, teddy, fan, water, dog
What’s the matter?
What’s wrong?
I’m …
I need …
I feel …
I want …
I don’t want …
Thanks, I needed that.
Community languages
Students might share home language names of items they take to bed or the words they use at bedtime. Develop a language bank of English and home language names of items and bedtime vocabulary.
Year 2 Curriculum alignment
English: AC9E2LA08
understand that images add to or multiply the meanings of a text
Lesson activity
‘Pictures tell the story’
Plan/implement
Display a child character and a bedroom image.
Ask students to look closely at the picture and identify clues about what the character might need before they can sleep.
Model: ‘I can see a thin blanket on the bed. The picture shows the child may be cold.’
Discuss with students how images help them understand the situation and the child's likely feelings.
Working in pairs, students match comfort items to bedroom images and characters, and explain to their partner what clues in the image make them think the child character might want the item.
Then each student writes a sentence to accompany one of the bedroom images and characters, e.g. ‘Kirra wants a fan because it is too hot.’
As a class, discuss how the pictures add extra meaning to the students’ texts.
Some suggestions for bedroom pictures and clues are:
- a bedroom with an open window – the child may be hot
- a bedroom with a picture of a dog on the wall – the child may want their dog
- a bedroom with an empty water glass on the bedside table – the child may be thirsty
- a bedroom that looks dark – the child may be scared and want a teddy.
Observations / assessment opportunities
Can the student describe what the image shows?
Can the student identify and explain how the image shows clues about the child’s feeling or need?
Can the student explain how pictures add meaning to a text?
Resources needed
Character puppets or printable Playroom characters (cut out and laminate or glue onto small blocks)
Printable Treehouse items (cut out and laminate or glue onto small blocks) (one set for each pair)
Various printed images showing a child’s bedroom (educator-sourced)
Mini whiteboards and markers or paper and pencils
Language focus
hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, silly, tired
apple, blanket, book, teddy, fan, water, dog
What’s the matter?
What’s wrong?
I’m …
I need …
I feel …
I want …
I don’t want …
Thanks, I needed that.
Community Languages
Students might share home language names of items they take to bed or words they use at bedtime. Develop a language bank of English and home language names of items and bedtime vocabulary.
Year 3 Curriculum alignment
English: AC9E3LA09
identify how images extend the meaning of a text
Lesson activity
‘“Why can’t they sleep?” (play)’
Plan/implement
Show students the character puppets. Discuss what the images tell us about each character.
Model the beginning of a story titled ‘Why can’t they sleep?’
Students each choose a puppet and use an emoji counter or
Emotions memory card to show how that character is feeling.
Next, students work in small groups to create a short puppet show. Each group receives a character, and decides together why that character cannot sleep. Each group also receives a set of comfort items.
Students create dialogue that matches the character's feelings and actions as they identify that they can’t sleep, name the problem they have, and try solutions until they find the comfort item that will help them sleep.
Groups work together to put the dialogue and actions in a logical order.
Students use puppet movements and positioning, students’ own facial expressions, the comfort items and the emoji counters or Emotions memory cards to help tell the story. One student can control the puppet while the other students move the comfort items and emojis, and show the emotions matching the story with their facial expressions.
Groups practise and perform their puppet show for the class.
Observations / assessment opportunities
Can the student identify and communicate a character's emotion by selecting an appropriate emoji counter or Emotion memory card?
Can the student use puppet actions, positioning and facial expressions to help convey meaning and support the story?
Can the student contribute dialogue and ideas to explain why the character cannot sleep and what they need?
Can the student participate in the group performance by taking turns, staying engaged and helping to sequence events in a logical order?
Resources needed
Character puppets
Printable Treehouse items (cut out and laminate or glue onto small blocks) (one set for each group)
Emoji counters or Emotions memory cards (from the Match Me activity)
Language focus
hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, silly, tired
apple, blanket, book, teddy, fan, water, dog
Community Languages
Students might share home language names of items they take to bed or the words they use at bedtime. Develop a language bank of English and home language names of items and bedtime vocabulary.