Lucky Undies: YEAR 1 - HASS - Explain
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.
Explain - Collect data and information from observations and sources
Theme - SUPERSTITIONS
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.
Ask students to suggest reasons why Little J believed his yellow undies to be lucky. Have the students consider how a new object in your life can coincide with other events of ‘luck’. Ask the students to list the lucky events in the order of what happened to Little J after Nanna gave him his new undies, e.g.
- fending off cranky Maggie
- demonstrating the Super Snot experiment
- finding money on the ground
- being chosen in the ‘big kids’ basketball game
Introduce the concept of ‘Superstition’ and have students pose questions about the word’s meaning, e.g. fallacy, delusion, misconception, fantasy, falsehood, irrational belief. Write alternative terms for ‘superstition’ on the board or IWB for the class to consider. Poll students to see if they believe, from the meaning, if a superstition is a positive or negative belief. Ask students to name their own superstitions.
List several superstitions for students to research and find out when, where and why these superstitions arose. Invite students to share their research with the class, and complete a class table of superstitions, similar to the following table.
|
Superstition |
Proverb |
Origin |
|
Never stepping on a crack in the pavement |
“Step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back.”
|
United Kingdom |
|
Black cats |
“Never let a black cat cross your path.” |
European countries Egypt |
|
Breaking a mirror in the house |
“seven years bad luck” |
Romans |
|
Opening an umbrella in the house |
“five years bad luck” |
United Kingdom Egypt |
|
walking under a ladder |
Bad luck or injury |
European countries Egypt |
|
Saying “white rabbits” as the first thing you say at the start of a new month. |
"White rabbits, no return" Good luck during the month |
Medieval Europe |
|
Saying “A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month” |
Good luck during the month |
Native Americans |
|
Picking up a coin found on the ground |
Good luck |
Argentina |
|
Gold at the end of the rainbow |
Good luck |
Ireland |
Athletes also engage in superstitious rituals. For example:
- Michael Jordan:
US superstar and NBA basketballer wore the same pair of under-shorts (undies) beneath his uniform every game - Serena Williams:
US tennis star, ties her shoelaces the same way before every match and bounces the tennis ball five time before she serves, for every game - North Queensland star Johnathan Thurston reveals his secrets to legendary former halfback Peter Sterling
Set students the task of finding out the superstitions of their favourite Australian athletes. Invite students to write to, e or post to the athlete for confirmation.
Suggested teacher resources: