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.

Explore - Identify aspects of different types of literary texts that entertain, and give reasons for personal preferences

Theme - MYTHS & FABLES

Create a superhero comic strip

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 9 ‘Monster Dog’, discuss with the class the following:

• What challenge Little J overcame?
• How he solved the challenge?
• How successful he was in solving the problem
• What the moral of the story may be?

Write the word ‘moral’ and explore the meaning of the word. What other words are similar in meaning? For example, ethical, good, honest, right, etc.

(*use a thesaurus to show students the full range of meanings)

Ask students whether they are aware of moral messages that they have read about, or understood from a media resource, or been told by a parent/carer. Examples of ethical stories can be found at:

• Ethical stories collection, Android app. (Scootle: TLF ID M017179):
• The lie (animation), 'Lift Off', ACTF (Scootle: TLF ID R6837)
• Something tells me (animation), 'I Think …', ACTF, (Scootle: TLF ID R6067)

Align and list moral messages and stories, suggested by students, to illustrate this moral, e.g.

Moral	Aboriginal stories and/or Torres Strait Islander stories	Non-Indigenous stories
Always tell the truth	How the Kangaroo got its pouch	Pinocchio
Appearances often are deceiving	The Echidna and the Dress	Beauty and the Beast
Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing	How the water got to the plains	The Lion King
Little friends may become great friends	Tiddalick The Frog	Lion and the Mouse
Slow and steady wins the race	Foxbat and the Mimi	The Tortoise and the Hare

Introduce the term ‘fable’, and explain that many of the moral stories are fables (myth, legend, parable, allegory, tale). As a class, read a selection of Aesop’s Fables and ask students to interpret what they feel is the moral message in the story. Ask students to read other stories of their choice and determine the moral message/s. Construct this reading as a comprehension activity. Suggested resource: Tales with Morals, Aesop’s fables.

Have students select one of the fables that they can use as the basis of their own story about their hero or heroine character. They should write a simple story that plots what the character does to illustrate the fable. Have students storyboard their story as the character in action across 3–6 frames (Introduction, body and conclusion).

Students can use the following programs to storyboard or cells drawn onto paper:

• Scripting and storyboarding a video interview, (Scootle TLF-IDM01915)
• Scripting and storyboarding a video interview  (ABC Education)
• Script to storyboard (ACMI)

To practice this activity, student could use :

• Flutter-by friends!,  (Scootle : TLF-IDL9497)
• Fireman Sam, Series 9,  'Rocky Rescue'

Access examples of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander comics and discuss the superhero characters (images available) of each. Have students identify a moral message within the storyline:

• The Line, Respect each other 
• Indigenous, The Line, Thunderer, Comic Vine:
• The Rainbow Serpent

• Follow the stories of Tom, Jack, Stanley and the Mean Girls. See how they deal with issues like bullying, texting, and hitting, and learn about respecting each other.
  • Stinky Wind
  • Learning to Fly
  • Jack and the Bird
  • Bully Boys

More examples of superheroes:

• Wundajin, 
• Ubby’s Underdogs: Legend of the Phoenix Dragon
• Australia’s first Indigenous content graphic novel: Ubby’s Underdogs
• NEOMAD

Use the following free software, or other software recommended by your school, to develop and comic strip/mini animation where the character speaks the moral of the selected fable.

Suggested resource: Toontastic

Create and share your own cartoons. Choose from a range of characters or create your own. Select from the many settings and start to create your cartoon. Create and record your own voice to make your own pirate cartoon.