Week+11+and+12

A Magical Memory == =Read the short story by Sally Morgan.=

It is about a favourite memory from her childhood.
With a sudden decision, I leapt from my bed and shivered my body into an old red jumper. Then, barefoot I followed Nan out onto the back verandah.

‘Sit still on the steps’, she told me. ‘And be very quiet.’ I was used to such warnings. I knew you never heard anything special unless you were very quiet. I rubbed my feet together for warmth and tried to shrug the rest of me into my misshapen red jumper. I pulled my hands up inside my sleeves, wrapped my arms around my legs, and waited.

The early morning was Nan’s favourite time of day, when she always made some new discovery in the garden. A fat bobtail goanna, snake tracks, crickets with unusual feelers, myriads of creatures who had, for their own unique reasons, chosen our particular yard to reside in.

I wanted spring to last for ever, but it never did. Summer would come soon and the grass would yellow and harden, even the carefully nurtured school grass wouldn’t look as green. And the giant nasturtiums that crowded along our side fence and under our lemon tree would disappear. I wouldn’t hunt for fairies any more, and Nan wouldn’t wake me so early or so often.

I’d heard the bullfrog yesterday, it was Nan’s favourite creatures. She dug up a smaller, motley brown frog as well. And after I inspected it, she buried it back safe in the earth. I shivered as an early morning breeze suddenly gusted up between my bare legs I expected the bullfrog to be out again this morning. I gazed at the patch of dark earth where I’d last seen him. He’ll come out any minute, I thought.

I felt excited, but it wasn’t the thought of the bullfrog that excited me. This morning, I was waiting for the bird call. Nan called it her special bird, nobody had heard it but her. This morning, I was going to hear it, too.

‘Broak, Broak.’ The noise startled me. I smiled. That was the old bullfrog telling us he was broke again. I looked up at the sky, it was a cool, hazy blue with the promise of coming warmth.

Still no bird and I squirmed impatiently. Nan poked her stick in the dirt and said, ‘It’ll be here soon.” She spoke with certainty.

Suddenly, the yard filled with a high trilling sound. My eyes searched the trees. I couldn’t see that bird, but his call was there. The music stopped as abruptly as it had begun.

Nan smiled at me, ‘Did you hear him? Did you hear the bird call?’

‘I heard him, Nan.’ I whispered in awe.

What a magical moment it had been.

=Speaking =

How long did Sally spend in the garden?

Why was this a magical moment?
=Brainstorm= == = =

Draw a mind map. Find these words in the text:

 * Place
 * Sound
 * Feelings
 * clothes
 * Nature
 * Animals
 * Colours
 * Textures
 * People
 * Taste
 * Emotions

=Vocabulary=

Start a vocabulary list in your folders. Write in 10 new words and a definition. Now check with your partner. Did you both have the same new words? Now check with another pair of students. What new words did you all have in commom?

Report to the class.

We will have a spelling test next week of the most common 10 new words in the class..

**Writing: brainstorm vocabulary and draft**

Now write a draft

 * Word length 100-150 words
 * Use at least 8-10 adjectives
 * Use sound or speech
 * paint a picture using your brainstorm, new words and the text above.