Night Owl, Morning Magpie: YEAR 1 - Maths - Explain

One night, Little J hears the nocturnal Barking Owl and becomes fascinated by how the owl stays awake at night. In the morning, he is woken by the carolling of magpies and on the way to school, he is swooped by Maggie, the magpie. Miss Chen teaches the class about nocturnal animals.

Explain - Recognise, model, read, write and order numbers to at least 100. Locate these numbers on a number line

Theme - NUMBER & PATTERN

Revisit Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 13 ‘Night Owl and Morning Maggie’, and draw students’ attention to the time the Barking Owl was heard, and Little J’s attempt to stay awake like a nocturnal owl. Have students predict the time the owl woke Little J, and how long, in hours and minutes, Little J stayed awake.

Provide a selection of reading books that have a connection to number and time, such as:

  • Baker, J.  (1989). Where the forest meets the sea.  London:  Walker Books. (animation or video)
  • Baker, J.  (1991). Window.  London :  Julia MacRae
  • Brooks, R., & Wagner, J. (1977). John Brown, rose and the midnight cat. England: Puffin Books.
  • Fox, M., & Horacek, J. (2004). Where is the green sheep?. Orlando: Harcourt.
  • Glass, B. R. & Lubner, S. & Whatley, Be.  (2006). Noises at night.  Malvern, SA :  Omnibus Books
  • Gleeson, Libby. & James, A.  (2003). Shutting the chooks in.  Gosford, NSW :  Scholastic
  • Honey, E. (1996). Not a nibble!. St. Leonards, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
  • Legge, D. (1994). Bamboozled. Lindfield, NSW: A Scholastic Press Book from Scholastic Australia.
  • Lester, A. (2005). Are we there yet?. La Jolla, Calif: Kane/Miller Book Publishers.
  • Lester, Alison. & Gunbalanya Community School (Arnhem Land).  (2006). Ernie dances to the didgeridoo.  Sydney :  Hachette Livre Australia
  • Matthews, P. E. P. E., & McLean, A. (2002). A year on our farm. Norwood, SW: Omnibus Books.
  • Morgan, S. & Kwaymullina, A.  (2016). Joey counts to ten.  Richmond, Victoria :  Little Hare
  • Mullins, P.  (1997). One horse waiting for me.  Lindfield, NSW :  Margaret Hamilton Books
  • Oliver, N.  (1997). The hunt.  Port Melbourne :  Lothian Book
  • Prior, N. J. & Denton, T.  (1994). The paw.  St. Leonards, NSW :  Allen & Unwin
  • Rubinstein, G. & James, A.  (1997). Dog in, cat out.  Norwood, SA :  Omnibus Books
  • Whatley, B.  (1992). Looking for crabs.  Pymble, NSW :  Angus & Robertson
  • Wild, M., & James, A. (1996). The midnight gang. Norwood, SA: Omnibus Books.
  • Wild, M., & Vivas, J. (1990). The very best of friends. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Have the students select three books to read. At the end of the book they are to answer the following four questions:

  • How is time connected to this story? (What parts of the story show the difference between past time, and a present time?)
  • How long was the change of time in the story? (Estimate the time being shown as hours, days, weeks, years, centuries, etc.)
  • How is number connected to this story? (Are there multiples of objects or people that could be counted?)
  • Are there patterns of numbers represented in the story?
  • Ask students to find at least two other students who have read the same book and discuss what they think the answers to the questions are. Collaborate with the other students to provide a response for the class.

Have students re-watch Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 13 ‘Night Owl and Morning Maggie’ and as a class respond to the same four questions about the episode.

Invite students to access the following websites to play the number games to enhance their knowledge, understanding and skills applied in various formats:

Once again, have students form smaller groups and ask each group to develop three questions and answers about number, time, pattern and sequence, emulating the learning from the stories and the games.

Load the questions and answers into Kahoot. or Quizlet, and have all students take the quiz. The group that answers the most questions correctly is recognised as the first group, and so on.