Literacy Unit - Rowan of Rin #5

We are working through the book Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda. Last week we read chapters 9 and 10 and focused on our perceptions of fear. For an overview of activities in earlier chapters please use these links:
Chapters 1 and 2
Chapters 3 and 4
Chapters 5 and 6
Chapters 7 and 8

Summary - Chapters 9 and 10
Rowan begins to realise that the people in the traveling party do actually care about him and can be trusted. Together they relax around the fire while they eat - chatting and joking. Rowan thinks of home and the members of their group who should be arriving home at this time. He thinks of his mother, his sister and the bukshah. Another rhyme appears on the map to give them some advice for the journey ahead. The party begins to despair when they see a steep cliff ahead of them - blocking their way. Marlie encourages everyone to go on and they are pleased, on arrival, to find a cave in the wall of rock. They are greeted by the terrifying shrieks of bats flying at their heads. Boldly they continue after the attacks have subsided. As they continue onwards and upwards they see the rhyme coming into play before their eyes. Unfortunately, they come to a body of water that they must swim through in order to go on. Allun, having not grown up in Rin, was not taught to swim and must stay behind at this point. The other three brave the cold water and continue their journey. The party now consists of Rowan, Marlie and Strong Jonn.


Activities

Code Breaker:

• Students find and practise reading descriptive passages fluently.

Text Participant:

• Students determine interview questions and answers about the events of chapters 9 and 10, then create videos of character responses to these questions.

Text User:

• Students consider the role of adjectives in creating a description and write a descriptive piece about a season or a photograph.

Text Analyst:

• Students reflect on the fears of characters in the book.
• Students have 5 minutes to brainstorm a list of fears/phobias.
• Students write a paragraph about one of their fears including the reason for it and the way they deal with it.
• Use students' lists to create a class word cloud of fears with Wordle.
• Discuss when fear is good/bad and how it can be used to your advantage.
  

Here is the word cloud that we created with Wordle. You can also see it by clicking here.

Here is the complete Rowan of Rin unit.