Little J feels lucky when he wears a new pair of yellow undies. After Old Dog destroys them, he loses his confidence. Big Cuz saves the day with the remnants of the undies made into a sweat band, and Little J finds confidence to play the basketball game and win the day.

Explore - Use comprehension strategies to understand and discuss texts listened to, viewed or read independently

Theme - MYTHS & FABLES

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, episode 1, ‘Lucky Undies’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding of Little J’s sense of luck and superstition.

Select a few well known Nursery Rhymes, such as Humpty Dumpty, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the Three Little Pigs, etc. Divide the class into smaller groups, and give each group a copy of the written nursery rhyme. Develop a set of questions that all groups need to apply to their nursery rhyme in order to indicate where ‘good luck’ and ‘bad luck’ dwells in the story, e.g.

• Who is the luckiest character in the story?
• Who is the unluckiest character in the story?
• What lucky incident happened to the character/s?
• What unlucky incident happened to the character/s?
• In what part of the story was the character deemed ‘lucky’?

Use the story of either Rumpelstiltskin or Cinderella as an example of how a character experiences misfortune, and then something happens to change their fortune/future and they live ‘happily ever after’. Introduce the concept of the story arc:

1. beginning,
2. middle
3. end

Have students highlight on the printed story where the character had misfortune, where the event that changed their luck happened, and where, in the end, the character is considered fortunate.

View the video clip/s:

• Fixed Fairy Tales Compilation | Three Little Pigs | Humpty Dumpty | and Lots More 

These clips twist the fate of the character from good luck to bad luck and back again. Explore students’ emotional connection to the stories and ask students how they feel about these stories. Do the students have sympathy for those characters with bad luck, and/or relief when there is good luck?

In the beginning of Episode 1 ‘Lucky Undies’, Little J and Big Cuz are swooped by a magpie. Quiz students if they believe that this is a bad luck event. Introduce students to the concept of the ‘omen’ and define it with them. Ask students to nominate any omens that may occur in their nursery rhymes.

As a class, nominate the characters from Episode 1 ‘Lucky Undies’, and examine the story for examples of bad luck and good luck that happened to the characters on the day of the basketball match, e.g.

• Dee had bad luck by getting a cold and not being able to play. What was some good luck that she might have experienced?
• Levi forgot the formula for his Super Snot. What good luck happened to him that day?
• Ms Chen was down one player for the basketball match. What good luck happened for her that day?

In groups, ask students to devise a story arc for one of the characters other than Little J. Invite each group to share their story with the class.