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.

Engage - Understand that spoken, visual and written forms of language are different modes of communication with different features and their use varies according to the audience, purpose, context and cultural background

Theme - HEROS & HEROINES

Ask students about their prior understanding and experiences of a person or character who they consider as ‘brave’. The characters that they offer can be those from real life and from fiction. As a class, discuss the meaning of the word BRAVE. Encourage each student to respond to why they have chosen this person or character as this supports identification of individual understanding. Allow students to enact actions that interpret their understanding of being ‘brave’. Ask students to suggest other words that are associated with who they see as a brave person, character or action. Make a list that could include: honest, thoughtful, well-meaning, courageous, valiant, fearless, etc. (*use a thesaurus to show students the full range of meanings).

Introduce the words ‘hero’ and ‘heroine’ and ask students what characteristics, behaviours, and values an individual or character would have to identify as a hero or heroine. Again, all students should be encouraged to nominate a personal choice and explain why. Ask students to suggest other words that are associated with who they see as a brave person, character or action. Make a list that could include: champion, conqueror, star, leader, etc.

Introduce a blank Venn diagram and ask students to list the characteristics of being BRAVE in one circle, the characteristics of being a ‘hero and/or heroine’ in another. Discuss what the commonalities of the two words mean in the overlapping area. Draw the students’ attention to the similarities and differences. As the class, nominate real people and/or fictional characters that the students now feel qualify as either a ‘hero’ or a ‘heroine’.

Write a class definition of these terms on the top of a chart and draw two columns below with the separate headings:

• Real people
• Fictitious characters

As a class, list the names of real people and fictional characters who would be considered for each column. The whole class must agree to each inclusion and whomever nominates the fictional character should explain why they are nominating them. Ask students to find images of the nominated ‘heroes’ and/or ‘heroines’ to add to the chart and build a ‘’Hero and Heroine Wall’.