Little J is initially scared to approach the ‘monster’ in the back yard. Encouraged to face his fears, he vows to catch the frilly-necked monster and sets about building a monster trap with the help of Levi.

Elaborate - Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge

Theme - SCARY STORIES

Check the prior experiences of students who have read Alice in Wonderland and/or seen a movie about the story. As a class, read Chapter 7 of the book or via the online version:

• Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 7

As a class, access a copy of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ask students to:

• Read the titles of each chapter in the Table of Contents.
• Predict what the story of each chapter may be about, as suggested by the chapter headings.
• Suggest what purpose is served by a story having chapters.

Draw the students’ attention to Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 7: The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. In response to the chapter story, the class is to organise a tea party, and every student is to come as a character from their favourite scary/monster story. In order to attend, the students can choose to design either:

• an invitation card to the tea party inviting other characters from their selected scary/monster story
• a cup cake for the tea party decorated to resemble a character in their scary/monster story.
• a party hat or mask that represents their chosen/imaginary character.
  The masks and hats can be decorated with patterns and symbols of the type of character their mask/hat is portraying. Students should be encouraged to glue onto the surface of the hat/mask textures or objects to increase the tactile nature of the character

Examples of Torres Strait islander headdress and masks students can use for inspiration:

• Dhari (headdress)
• ‘Sugu Mawa’ (Octopus mask) artwork

Discuss with students the function and purpose of a Tea Party and what would happen at it. Ask the students to identify how the characters at the original Mad Hatter’s Tea Party behaved. Discuss how a group of monster characters may behave. Ask students to enact how their character will behave so that they are in-character. Have the class discuss and agree to the rules of the tea party. List these rules so that everyone will be reminded of them.

At the tea party, each character will be invited to tell their story about who they are, where they come from, what they like or dislike, and why they are considered to be a monster. Encourage each student to think about how they want to represent their character. If two or more students are the same character, they could combine to present as a group. The stories can be representative of the different cultures that each student belongs to.