A Friend for the Moon

Learning intention:

We are learning to create and sequence imagery in our storytelling.

Success criteria:

Students make predictions based on the illustrations

Students identify main points in the story

Students recreate the story using images in a storyboard format

Retell the plot of the story through the imagery of a storyboard.

Before reading the story, ask students to make predictions based on the images and the title of the story. Ask them to explain how the pictures tell us about:

The setting of the story

The mood of the story

Who the characters are

What changes may occur in the story

After reading the story, review the accuracy of their predictions. Discuss how images enhance stories by conveying emotion and meaning, and emphasising important plot points.

Ask students what else they would include pictures of to further tell the story using imagery. Tell them to imagine they are describing the story to a friend - what are the important points they would share? What sequence would they need to go in for the story to make sense?

These may include:

Mouse’s friends kept treading on him as they danced at the Festival of the Moon

Mouse took a break and found Moon crying because she was lonely

Mouse asked his friends for ideas to help cheer Moon up

Elephant brought back a boulder, but Moon said it should glow

Owl came back with fireflies, but Moon said they should shine

Giraffe stripped leaves off a tree so Moon reflected off the water

The animals cheered, except for Mouse, as Moon was still crying

The animals hung their head but Mouse laughed

Mouse explained that they all care about Moon and are her friends

Moon smiled and filled the sky with moonlight

Write the sequence on the board as the students give the suggestions. Using these points, students should create a storyboard to retell the story visually. Discuss the purpose and process of storyboarding - drawing pictures in a sequence that tells the story in order. Compare the idea to a comic book or graphic novel, explaining that this process is used in planning movies. The comic serial, Sallymander, in this magazine could be shown as an example.

For further instruction on creating a storyboard, watch the video What is a Storyboard?