Developing responses to 'Swallow's Kiss' through rich discussions
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can develop my own response to 'Swallow's Kiss'.
Key learning points
- Swallow's Kiss has themes of empathy, friendship and respect.
- Blessing demonstrates lots of positive emotions and character traits in the story.
- Throughout the story, Blessing makes a wish for others by touching the mark on her lip, made when she was a baby.
- Making connections and recommendations can enhance the reading experience and widen the reader’s understanding of texts.
Keywords
Character traits - Character traits are the special qualities that make a character in a story unique and interesting.
Empathy - Empathy is the ability to experience and understand other people’s feelings and points of view.
Connection - How a text relates to a reader, another text or the wider world can be called a connection.
Recommendation - A recommendation is a suggestion for a text that is well-suited to a reader’s age and their interests.
Common misconception
Pupils may make a wish for themselves personally in Task A.
Ask pupils to consider the impact that they could have on their local community and wider world when discussing their wishes.
Teacher tip
Children could discuss the wishes made in Task A, in other lessons (such as PHSE). They could compare and contrast key themes and discuss how they could action these wishes. A display could be made in an art lesson to mirror the text.
Equipment
You need a copy of the 2021 Pop Up Projects edition of ‘Swallow’s Kiss’, written by Sita Brahmachari with illustrations by Jane Ray, for this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Who is the author of 'Swallow's Kiss'?
Q2.Which bird is the free verse novel about?
Q3.From whose perspective is the story told?
Q4.Match the character's name to their relationship to Blessing.
Blessing's baby brother
Blessing's mother
a friend Blessing meets at a refugee centre
Blessing's father
an adult who walks Blessing to her mother's work
Q5.True or False? Every time Blessing makes a wish she touches the mark left on her lip as a baby.
Q6.From reading the text, which of the following are true?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the following keywords with their definitions.
the ability to understand other people’s feelings and point-of-view
how a text relates to a reader, another text or the wider world
a suggestion for a text that is suited to a reader’s age and interests
Q2.Which of the following character traits does Blessing demonstrate in the text?
Q3.What vehicle does Blessing's father drive?
Q4.Order the following events from the resolution of the story.
Q5.Which form of text is 'Swallow's Kiss'?
Q6.True or False? All of Blessing's wishes come true.
To help you plan your 3 English lesson on: Developing responses to 'Swallow's Kiss' through rich discussions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 3 English lesson on: Developing responses to 'Swallow's Kiss' through rich discussions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 English lessons from the 'Swallow's Kiss': book club unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.