Who s Driving? Teaching Notes l Before Reading Brainstorm: list as many forms of transport as you can (land, sea and air). Examine the picture on the front cover. Who do you think is driving? Why might they all have a key? What kind of car is it? Questions after Reading Fire Engine The animal s uniforms give clues about the jobs they do. What jobs might they have? Why would an elephant make a good fire-fighter? Look at the tools and equipment on the side of the truck. Make a list of their uses in a fire. Limousine Look at how the animals are dressed. What do their clothes tell you about these characters? What is a limousine? What kind of people might use one? What clues are on the car that help identify the driver (colours and shapes). Racing Car Look at what the animals are carrying. Where do you think each animal is going? Which is fastest? Read The Tortoise and the Hare fable. Tractor What place might each animal work in? How do you know? What kind of jobs does a tractor do for people? Why are the back wheels so big? Why does pig make a good farmer? Convertible What sports might each animal play?
What makes a convertible different to other cars? Would a giraffe be good tennis player? Why or why not? Can playing sports be a job? Jeep What parts of the world do these animals live in? Why is Hippo carrying so much water? What is the pattern on the jeep for? Aeroplane Look at the hats. What job does each animal do? What makes the plane fly? Final page: who do you think got there first? Themes 1. Jobs: *Do you think all the animals in the book have jobs? What job would you like to do when you grow up? Why? *Job titles: what title is given to the different jobs in the book (eg. pilot, postie). * Choose one of the many occupations shown in the story. Students create a poster advertising the job. Draw a person in the uniform in the centre. Write facts about the job around the outside including: place of work, duties, special equipment needed, skills needed, and exciting things about the work. 2. Transport: * Most of the vehicles in the book are older models. How do they look different to new cars? Why do you think the author used old instead of new ones? * Find pictures of older vehicles. Create a timeline showing the changes in vehicles over time. For example, the different fire engines in the past hundred years. * Diagrams: draw and label a diagram of an aeroplane (or other vehicle).
3. Uniforms: * What is a uniform? Why do people wear them? Is rhino s outfit a kind of uniform? And cat s clothing? *What symbols are on some of the uniforms? * Think of a reason (use) for these items of uniform from the book: apron, hardhat, leather jacket, stars on jacket, white coat, sun-visor, safari boots, captain s striped suit. *Activity: Design a uniform for your teacher. Include hat, tools, badge. Illustration * Think about the illustrations. What attracts your attention to the characters? What kind of colours are used? There are very few words in the book. How do the pictures extend the text? (Eg. by providing extra details, such as the character s clothes and belongings). * Backgrounds: What effect does the white background have on the characters? The colour backgrounds suit the vehicle, and often the uniform. (Eg. warm colours for fireengine, race car, safari jeep; and cool colours for limousine, plane.) Create your own background for a hot place such as a desert, volcano or a forest fire. Add a foreground character using warm colours (reds, orange, yellow, pink, gold). The bright colours of pastels make a picture glow. * Symbols: The illustrations have many symbols. A symbol is a simple picture or shape that has a clear message which can be understood by people all over the world. Spot the symbols and logos in the story. Examples: hood ornament, flag, red cross, anchor badge, sergeant stripes, wings on stork, target on plane, fragile symbol on cardboard box, globe on travel book. What does each of these symbols mean? Activities: Design a new fire-fighter s logo for the truck. Make up a flag for your own family car.
Writing * Sound effect words: Look at the sounds in the book. When there are sounds in a comic story, the words are written in large letters that change size. Draw these words as comic book sounds: Splash! Zap! Zoom! Crunch! Choose one animal from the book and give it a name. Use your character in a comic strip. Use speech bubbles to tell a joke. * Poem: Write a sound poem about city machines, using some of the vehicle sounds in the book. * Clues: There are clues helping match the animal to the cars. Write some clues for a mystery animal. Write 4 things about the animal and a friend has to guess it. * Story: There is very little explanation of the story in the book. Fill in the gaps about some of the animal characters. Where did they meet? Is this a race, a party, an adventure, or a holiday? Where do they go next? Continue the story. Creating Suggestions for art, drawing and construction: Paint the Elephant fighting a bush-fire. Design a jeep with camouflage colours to suit the jungle (instead of desert). Draw the finish line to show who won the Hare s car race. Sketch a real car using a real life model. Read the Pop-up version of Who s Driving. Create your own fold-out or pop-up picture using heavy card. Make a simple board game of a race track. Make up rules for moving around using a dice. Use toy cars as play pieces. On a map of the world, draw the countries the animals live in.