1. ©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Beegu by Alexis Deacon
Beegu is not supposed to be on Earth. She is lost. This is a simple, bittersweet story telling a familiar tale of a child separated from her parents who struggles to cope in an unfamiliar world. It deals with themes of hope, kindness, loneliness and being an outsider. Alexis Deacon's simple text and illustrations, with stark empty backgrounds allow the luminous Beegu to stand out. There is a childlike perspective to this touching tale.
Overall aims of this teaching sequence To explore, interpret and respond to a picture book To explore narrative setting, plot and characters To broaden understanding and use of appropriate vocabulary To write short recounts from fictional personal experiences To sequence events to write narratives
This teaching sequence is designed for a Year 1 or Year 2 class.
Overview of this teaching sequence.
This teaching sequence is approximately 3 weeks long if spread out over 15 sessions.
The book supports teachers to teach about character development and setting in narrative fiction. The characters are well drawn and themes provoke an emotional response. This text offers young readers a good stimulus for a range of fictional writing opportunities and a model for their own story writing.
National Curriculum 2014 Links
Reading: (Word reading / Comprehension) Increase familiarity with a range of books; Explain and discuss understanding of books; Discuss the sequence of events in books; Answer and ask questions; Predict what might happen on the basis of what has been read; Draw inferences on the basis of what is being said and done.
Writing: (Transcription / Composition) Draft and write by composing and rehearsing sentences orally; Sequence sentences to form short narratives; In narrative create settings, characters and plot; Write for different purposes including about fictional personal experiences and fictional narratives; Re-read writing to check it makes sense and make simple revisions; Discuss and evaluate what they have written with the teacher or other pupils; Read aloud what they have written with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear.
Speaking and Listening: Participate in discussion about what is read, taking turns and listening to what others say; Ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and build vocabulary and knowledge; Listen and respond appropriately to adults and peers; Articulate and justify answers and opinions; Use spoken language to develop understanding; Speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English; Use spoken language to develop understanding through imagining and exploring ideas in discussion, role-play and drama.
Cross Curricular Links
This text might be linked to the wider theme of Earth and space. Develop the classroom environment (reading and writing areas) linked to a space theme. Make available a range of related story, information books and appropriate websites. Recreate the role-play area as Beegu's spaceship. Decide with the children what they would need to put into it and make time for the children to make these.
Within the writing area, provide additional prompts and writing materials to encourage independent and imaginative responses for example: drawing materials to make sketches of what Beegu can see on her planet; paper and envelopes to

2. ©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
write letters to Beegu after her return home; coloured card to create signs and simple instructions for Beegu to help her understand Earth; star maps; a captain's logbook; a martian newspaper or letters from home. This area could include digital sound recorders for children to record observations and respond to parts of the story etc..
Create small world play opportunities in the classroom: strange landscapes with toy aliens, space ships and astronauts to encourage oral story making and retelling.
Science
KS1 programmes of study links: Year 1: Everyday materials and Light and Year 2: Uses of everyday materials.
Computing
Children can be encouraged to produce written outcomes using ICT (see teaching sessions for more detail).
KS1 subject content: use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content.
Art and design
KS1 subject content: generate, develop, model and communicate ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology; select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics.
Teaching Approaches
Reading aloud and rereading
Drawing and annotating
‘Tell me’
Book making
Drama and role-play
Writing in role
Shared writing
Writing Outcomes
Labelled drawings
Captions
Speech bubbles/ direct speech
Short recount (post card) in role as fictional characters
Narrative based on known text
Space narrative
Links to other texts and resources
Baboon on the Moon - British Film Institute
Beegu – Alexis Deacon
Toys in Space - Mini Grey
The Way Back Home – Oliver Jeffers
Wonderful Life – Helen Ward
Dr Xargle's Book of Earthlings - Jeanne Willis
Links to other resources on the Power of Reading Website
Cover Images
ET images
Setting the scene:
Prior to starting the text, you may wish to stage a ‘UFO landing’ in your playground or outdoor area. Parts of the ‘spacecraft’ can be scattered around an area cordoned off with warning tape. Children can be detectives on the scene with magnifying glasses, cameras and clipboards and try and work out what they think has happened before beginning Session 1.

3. ©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Teaching Sessions
Session 1: Reading, book talk, special questions
Learning Objectives:
Children listen with sustained concentration.
Children are able to make predictions.
Children are able to compose sentences.
Children reread writing to check it makes sense. Show the children the end papers then the front cover of the book on the interactive whiteboard (IWB). Ask the children to describe what they think they see. Read the title of the book and ask children to talk to the person next to them about it for a few minutes. Alternatively you might give the end papers or cover (on large sheets of paper) to groups of children and ask them to annotate the images with their first thoughts. As a class, share these first impressions and any questions, listing them on a flipchart and discussing the children’s responses and questions together. Explore the meaning of the title: children should be aware that Beegu is the character’s name if they have not already decided this for themselves. EITHER Start reading the story out loud together OR explore the book together, covering the words and storytelling the story from the pictures before reading through the book together. The pictures in this book are very communicative and you will want to set aside time for children to explore the meanings and feelings that they evoke. Ask children to expand on their thoughts by asking: tell me what did you think... Invite the children to draw and describe their favourite part of the story. Model how to do this, orally rehearsing before writing, considering spelling and punctuation. Encourage children to revisit writing to check that it makes sense, the meaning is clear and it is grammatically correct.
Session 2: Reading, book talk, shared writing, drawing and annotating
Learning Objectives:
Children express simple views of a story, giving reasons for their answers.
Children make simple inferences based on knowledge of the text. Ask the children to tell their partner something they know about Beegu. Share some responses. Reread the story. When you finish reading the story, ask children to work in groups and pairs to respond to it using the ‘Tell me’ approach. In particular, encourage them to identify which parts they liked/ disliked and the connections they noticed. You may wish to use a set of question cards hidden in a bag. Talk partners take a card and read the question. They then explore the answer. If possible, have copies of the book available to support pairs and encourage them to reread and use the text to help them consider their answers. Use sentence prompts to support the children in orally forming their answers into sentences for example, I liked it when... because... To support children in asking questions use a set of Where? What? When? Why? How? Who? question cards hidden in a bag. Pairs of children read the word and use it to formulate a question. Model this first.
Session 3: Drawing and annotating
Learning Objectives:
Children are able to retrieve information from the text to support understanding.
Children are able to draw simple inferences about characters’ feelings. Provide the children with an outline of Beegu and in pairs invite them to write everything they know about her around the outside. Reread the story and stop at key points asking the children to consider how Beegu feels. You may wish to provide the children with a range of adjectives to describe feelings for example: frustrated, kind, confused, tired, determined, bad tempered etc. The children select the most appropriate words which describe Beegu at that point in the story. Expect the children to explain their choices and model this. I think Beegu feels... because... Support groups and individuals as required. Create a simple story map on the IWB and annotate it with Beegu's feelings across the story. Expect the children them to write inside their outline of Beegu how they think she is feeling during the time she is on Earth. You could track these as a graph of emotion to record the children’s ideas at the end of the session.

4. ©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Session 4: Visualising, drawing and annotating, shared writing
Learning Objectives:
Children use descriptive vocabulary to describe a scene.
Children are able to compose sentences.
Children reread writing to check it makes sense. Project the end papers and ask the children to shut their eyes and imagine the world where Beegu comes from. Ask children to describe the scene to their partner. Give children time to think and respond. You may wish to provide the children with prompts: what would the sky look like? What will the landscape be? What might you see? What might you hear? What colours would there be? Encourage use of descriptive vocabulary. Select individuals to provide ideas and encourage oral expansion for example, "You might see some mountains," child. "Would they be huge mountains or enormous sharp mountains?" teacher. Invite the children to draw and describe this scene. Model how to do this, orally rehearsing before writing, considering spelling and punctuation. Demonstrate how to use some of the descriptive vocabulary the children have selected in their oral descriptions.
Session 5: Reading, drama and role-play
Learning Objective:
Children make simple inferences of characters' feelings and behaviour. Retell the story with you as narrator. Allocate children parts so that the retelling is practical. Now put the children into groups to replay the playground scene with children in role as teacher, Sneak, Beegu and the other school children. Ask each group to freeze frame the moment when the teacher seizes Beegu and consider what their character is thinking at this point. Tap individuals on the shoulder and encourage them to share their thought. Make a note of interesting ideas in thought bubbles and display. You may wish to take digital images of children in role to place in the writing area. Children could create a caption to title their freeze frame and these could be displayed or made into a list poem.
Session 6: Drama and role-play, writing in role
Learning Objectives:
Children make inferences about characters.
Children are able to plan and rehearse a sentence orally before writing.
Children compose sentences using inverted commas to mark direct speech. Discuss with the children whether the little girl was right to fetch the teacher and what they think the teacher should have done. Tell the children that they are going to create a TV talk show to find out more about the characters and their actions during this event. Support children in composing questions to find out more about the characters' actions and motives by modelling your thoughts and orally rehearsing your questions before writing them for the class to see. Invite children to compose a question for the character. Encourage them in orally rehearsing their question with a partner before writing on mini-whiteboards. Initially, work in role as one of the characters. Invite children to ask questions and answer. As children's confidence grows, develop the activity with children working in role. The children ask questions as the audience while you facilitate as the talk show host. Make a note of interesting and thoughtful responses for use later in writing. Put the children into threes to act out the end when Beegu is reunited with her mum and dad. Share the role- play. Make notes of children's oral ideas. Explain to the children that they are going to write a short conversation between Beegu and her parents. Model transferring drama ideas into speech bubbles to demonstrate what the characters might say. Model verbalising sentences before writing. Expect the children to orally rehearse their sentences before writing and support as appropriate. Give children time to write their own speech bubbles and pin these onto the image of Beegu and her parents. If appropriate you may wish to extend this activity so that the children write sentences using direct speech. Discuss how the speech might be said and ask children to role-play examples. Jot down suitable speech verbs and through modelled and shared writing create sentences which include direct speech marked with inverted commas. Engage children in punctuating the speech using large versions of inverted commas. Encourage children to write their sentences using speech marks.

5. ©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Sessions 7-8: Shared writing, writing in role
Learning Objectives:
Children will be able to plan and rehearse a sentence orally before writing.
Children can write a recount based on a fictional first person experience.
Children will reread writing to check it makes sense. Reread the end of the narrative. Ask the children what they think of the ending. Show examples of picture postcards or blogs from holiday destinations and explain to the class that they are going to send a picture postcard from Beegu back to ‘the small ones’ after she returns home. What illustration might Beegu's postcard show? Give each child a blank postcard to illustrate and label. Through modelled and shared writing, write a short recount as Beegu. Discuss what information the class might include on a postcard; what might Beegu want to tell 'the small ones'? Collect the children's ideas. Demonstrate how to use some of the children's descriptive vocabulary when drawing and labelling the setting. Through paired and independent writing, each child composes a short recount in the form of a postcard. At regular intervals encourage children to reread sections of their text to check it makes sense and make simple revisions. Expect children to apply phonics skills and knowledge and punctuate sentences. Support them in doing this and ask children to work in pairs to read their finished draft to a partner. They can then revise and edit these. Don’t forget the planet stamps!
Sessions 9-11: Drama and role-play, story mapping, shared writing
Learning Objectives:
Children are able to write a narrative following a chronological structure.
Children draft and write by composing and rehearsing sentences orally.
Children reread writing to check it makes sense and make simple revisions.
Children read writing aloud with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear. Explain that the children will be retelling the story through freeze frames. Emphasise the need for the children to use facial expression and body posture to show the reader or viewer what they are thinking - without
words. Take digital images of the children in the freeze frame poses and ask children to accompany the frame with captions to retell the events of the story. Play the children a slide show of the photographs taken in the correct order to retell the story. Introduce the writing task: the children will write the story in role as Beegu. Model story mapping the sequence of the story. Encourage the children in offering ideas and suggestions and annotate the story map. Add examples of work from earlier in the teaching sequence for example, speech bubbles, descriptive language, Beegu's feelings. Orally draft your narrative, demonstrating how to use sequential vocabulary: one dark, cold morning, later that day, then, as soon as, afterwards, eventually etc.. As a class, retell the story together using the story language and story map. Invite the children to draw their own story maps, eventually retelling the story to their talk partners or to the teacher to check that they are sequential and make sense. Support children as necessary. Supported through modelled, shared and guided writing the children write their narrative using their story maps. Model how to transfer orally rehearsed sentences into writing making key teaching points such as application of phonic skills and knowledge; rereading of the sentence after each word is added to make sure the sentence makes sense explicit to the writers. At regular intervals encourage children to reread sections of their text to check it makes sense and make simple revisions. Support them in doing this and ask children to work in pairs to read their finished draft to a partner. They can then revise and edit these drafts. After deciding how to illustrate it as a class, individuals go onto draw or paint them.
Sessions 12-15: Book talk, re-enactment through play, story mapping, shared writing
Learning Objectives:
Children explore familiar themes through improvisation and role-play.
Children are able to orally compose short narratives, describing incidents in sequence.
Children write down key words and use story language to help plan writing.
Children are able to compose narratives with settings, characters and plot.

6. ©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Children speak audibly and fluently to retell composed stories in sequence. Consider with children, do they know any other stories like this? The children might suggest a variety of ‘alien’ stories that they know from TV and film as well as books. You may have chosen to watch or read some of these over the course of the teaching sequence and made time for children to share them and talk about them with each other. Watch ET, or perhaps some of it such as the beginning when ET is first discovered, and near the end when he leaves. Talk about similarities and differences between ET's situation and Beegu's. Make group space storyboxes. Fill the boxes with a collection of appropriate models and props: spaceships, non- terrestrial inhabitants. You might use mod-roc to make the surface of the planet and incorporate photographs or other images into the design. Introduce the children's writing task: they are going to use their storyboxes to compose space stories. Model how you might engage with the storybox (creating your own scenario for a human who lands on another planet) developing an adventure with a simple plot and characterisation. Explicitly model sequential language, change in tone of voice to indicate what the character is thinking and the addition of repeated refrains adapted from the original text. Give the children time to engage with the storyboxes in small groups. Demonstrate how to create a simple story map with an appropriate number of parts. Retell your narrative and add appropriate story language to your plan. Ask children to make a story map of a finished story as a plan for writing a book of their story. Following this, set up stills of the story in the box to photograph and use to illustrate the children's narratives. Make electronic versions of the finished storybox stories combining children's digital images and recorded oral stories using suitable IT programs for example, PowerPoint, stop-frame animation, iMovie, iPad Book Creator. These can be stored in a folder on the school network and made into CDs for children to take home.
Use and Application of Phonics and Spelling:
The following words could be used to exemplify learning at phonic phases:
Phase 2: did, not, big, and, but, if
Phase 3: wait, far, too, again
Phase 4: lost, still, from, bring, find
Phase 5: /ai/ alternatives: stay, away, say, place
/ur/ alternatives: Earth, heard
/ow/ alternative: found
Split digraphs: like, alone, place
High Frequency Words: she, be, was, to, her, here, some, no, one, thought, friends, could
Spelling: ‘ed’ endings: seemed, supposed, wanted, needed, hoped
‘ing’ endings: calling