Pupil Voice Year 5 and 6: Misery Moo by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross

I always begin the academic year with Pupil Voice lesson plans. The aim is to lay the groundwork for the year of equalities education by promoting an ethos where all children are speaking up, joining in and making their voice heard

Text: Misery Moo- Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat / www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources:-

LI: To be aware of how my behaviour affects others Success Criteria:  I can choose to see things in a different way / I know how my behaviour affects others

Starter: Ask the children if they think we are a school that smiles at people, or not. Send a child out to do a circuit of the school and to count how many people smiled at them on the way. While they are gone go round the class and ask children how many smiles they think the child will count. Reveal the answer when the child returns- Who was close?

Discussion: Read “Misery Moo”. Why does lamb keep trying to cheer up cow? How does Cows mood affect Lamb? Why does Lamb run home in tears? Do you think Cow realised how he was affecting Lamb? What did he do to try and change at the end?

Role play: What would school be like if everyone was glum all the time? Do we smile a lot in our school? Ask for a volunteer to be cow and stand them in the middle of the circle. Cow’s job is to remain glum; he approaches people in the circle and mains about something – the carpet is dirty/ it’s rainy again/ I hate Tuesdays/ these chairs are really uncomfortable etc. Each moan given by the cow must be met with a positive turn-around by the child- it’s our job to smile and turn everything Cow says in to a positive. Can we make Cow smile with our answer? Cow remains in the circle as cow for as long as they remain glum. When they smile give another child a turn at being moany cow.

Activity: Either ask children to think of their own moans or give them a list. Children record the moan and a positive retort. The aim is to encourage children to look on the bright side.

Plenary: How does our behaviour affect those around us. If we all came in tomorrow morning and no one smiled, what kind of class would we have? As we move up the school what responsibility do we have for the younger children? Do the younger children take notice of us? If they see us walking around looking glum how will  we affect them? What can we do to make sure our school is a happy place? If you do feel sad, what can you do about it?

Suggested AFL questions: Today I have learned…. / My behaviour affects others because…/ If something is wrong I will...

Pupil Voice year 5 and 6: The paper bag princess by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko

I always begin the academic year with Pupil Voice lesson plans. the aim is to lay the groundwork for the year of equalities education by promoting an ethos where all children in the school are speaking up, joining in and making their voice heard.

Text: The paper bag princess- Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat / www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: -

LI: Challenge assumptions

Success criteria: I can recognise a traditional role / I can choose to be different / I can understand how stories can affect us

Starter: What is an assumption? Children give examples. What fairy tales do we know? What are the key features of a traditional fairy tale? Characters? Events? List on white board.

Main : Read “The paper bag princess” and discuss the story. Ask the following questions: -       How many strong male characters can you think of in fairy tales? -       How many strong female characters can you think of in fairy tales? -       If children always hear stories where boy are heroic and girls are rescued, do you think it has any effect on them growing up?

Activity 1: Refer to the list of fairy tales you made in the starter and consider the roles of male and female characters. For example in Cinderella the male Prince character is upstanding, rich, handsome and rescues Cinderella who in contrast is poor and down-trodden. Her sisters are ugly and cruel. All the women want to marry the prince. Are there common features of male and female roles in other traditional fairy tales? Activity 2: Rewrite a fairy tale where the gender roles are swapped. (Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole is a good start)

Plenary: Are there many stories where gender roles are challenged? Why does everyone know the story of Cinderella? Does everyone know the story of the paper bag princess? Why not? How many books in our library challenge gender stereotypes?  What can we do about that in our school?

AFL questions: What have we learned about today? / One way we can challenge assumptions about gender roles is to…

Pupil Voice Year 5 and 6: Two of everything by Babette Cole

I always begin the academic year with Pupil Voice lessons. The aim is to lay the groundwork for the year of equalities education by promoting and ethos where children in the school are speaking up, joining in and making their voice heard.

Text: Two of everything- Babette Cole Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat / www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: prepare a range of examples of public meeting posters taken form google images.

LI: To share problems

Success criteria: I know what to do if I have a problem / I know who I can talk to

Starter: What are the different roles that are needed to make a group work effectively? What is a marriage?  Who can get married? If people who are married keep arguing what are their options? Once you are married do you have to stay together for ever?

Main : Read text and discuss the themes in the book. What did Mum and dad argue about? Why do you think Paula and Demetrius thought it was their fault? What did they do about their problem? Role play: Show the title, “The trouble with adults”. In each group one person is the chair person whose role it is to run the debate and tell people when they can speak. One person speaks in favour of adults and one person speaks against adults. The fourth person acts as a judge and may ask questions to each speaker once they have delivered their points. The chairperson must encourage the group to reach a conclusion by the end of the role play. Each group should then feed back their main points to the class, summarising positive and negative things about adults.

Activity: Prepare a poster for the meeting on parents. Look at the poster made by Demetrius and Paula in the book; how can it be improved? Does the poster give any information about what the problem is? Do you think more children would have come to the meeting if they knew more information about it? Look at examples of posters on the internet; which are most effective? Why?

Plenary: Do you think Paula and Demetri were right to hold a meeting to talk about their worries? What else could they have done? Who else could they have talked to? Did they ever try talking to their parents? If they hadn’t spoken up would anything have changed? How do you think they felt when the realised they weren’t the only ones feeling sad and confused about life at home?

AFL questions: What have we learned about today? / If I am worried about something I can…

Pupil Voice Year 3 and 4: Something else by Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddel

I always begin the academic year with Pupil Voice lessons. The aim is to lay the groundwork for the year of equalities education by promoting an ethos where all children in the school are speaking up, joining in and making their voice heard.

Text: Something else- Kathryn Cave and Chris Riddle Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat / www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: -

LO: to speak up if someone feels like an outsider

Success criteria: I know what bullying is / I know what to do if I see someone being bullied/ I can speak up if I think something is wrong

Starter: Write “No Outsiders” on the board, children come up with a definition. How do we make sure there are no outsiders at our school?

Main : Read text. How does Something else try to make friends? What is the impact of the words, “You’re not like us, you don’t belong?” Why do you think Something Else turns away the visitor at first? Who does the visitor remind Something else of? What do you think is the message in this story? Role play: Sit the class in a tight circle facing inwards. Ask for a volunteer to play the part of Something Else; they should step outside the circle. The character should approach different children and ask to be let in to the circle, but ask everyone to respond in the way the other animals in the book respond to Something Else when he tries to make friends (recap the language they use). Reinforce to the children that the purpose of this role play is to consider how it feels to  feel like an outsider; the language we are using in this role play is language you would never normally hear at school, we are going to have to be actors to do this. After four or five children have turned the outsider away, say you want the next child who is asked to speak up for the character and let them in to the circle, making room and welcoming them in. After the role play ask the outsider how if felt to be turned away and ask ask children how they felt turning the character away.

Activity: Write an acrostic poem using either the name of your school and sentences that show everyone is welcome, or using the term No Outsiders.

Plenary: Discuss the term bystander. If you hear someone being told to go away or that they don’t belong, what is a good thing to do? What does that person need? How can we make sure there really are no outsiders at our school?

AFL questions: What have we learned about today? / If I hear someone being told, “You don’t belong here” I will say…

Pupil Voice year 3 - Year 4: The best cow in show by Andy Cutbill and Russel Ayto

I always begin the academic year with Pupil Voice lessons. The aim is to lay the groundwork for the year of equalities education by promoting an ethos where all children in the school are speaking up, joining in and making their voice heard.

Text: The best cow in show- Andy Cutbill and Russell Ayo Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat / www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: -

LI: Speak up for others

Success criteria: I know sometimes speaking up is hard to do / I can help someone to feel confident

Starter: What is a family? Do all families look the same? Children give different examples of a family e.g. foster families, adoption, step families, same sex parents

Main : Read text. How does Marjorie feel when the other cows talk about Daisy? Does Daisy have a voice? Who speaks up for Daisy? What would happen to Marjorie if Daisy didn’t speak up for her? Does Marjorie feel ashamed because Daisy is different? Does she ever tell off Daisy for not being more like a cow? When everyone laughs at Daisy for eating a worm, how does Marjorie feel? What does she say? What do you think of the ending? What makes a Marjorie a perfect Mum? Role play: Role play the part of the story where Daisy eats the worm on the woman’s hat. Have Daisy eat the worm and everyone in the circle laugh (stop the laughter at a signal from you) then have a child acting Marjorie being cross and telling off Daisy for not being a proper cow. What things might Marjorie say to Daisy to make her behave like other cows? Then repeat the role play and this time have Marjorie act like she does in the book so that we reinforce a different way of responding to difference. Use the text: “Daisy might not be like your babies but she’s mine and I love her!”

Activity: Write dialogue for the two role plays; show the difference between Marjorie supporting her child and Marjorie trying to get her child to change.

Plenary: Do you think if Marjorie keeps trying, Daisy will change? What should Marjorie be saying to Daisy? If Marjorie continues to speak to Daisy as she did in the story, will Daisy grow up to be proud or ashamed of herself?

AFL questions: What have we learned about today? / If a child is different the parent should….

Pupil Voice Year 3 and 4: Nanny Fox- Georgie Adams and Selina Young

I always begin each academic year with Pupil Voice lesson plans. The aim is to lay the groundwork for the year of equalities education by promoting an ethos where all children are speaking up, joining in and making their voice heard.

Text: Nanny Fox- Georgie Adams and Selina Young Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat / www.equalitiesprimiary.com

Resources: - three cards, all blank except one which has a cross on it.

LI: To see things from another point of view

Success Criteria: I know it’s ok to be different / I can be honest about who I am / I know how to speak up

Key vocab: Conformity/ expectations/ assertive/ brave

Starter: Put up an image of a fox on the board. In pairs write down five things you know about foxes and their behaviour.

Main : Do you think Arnold finds life hard being different? Are his family nasty to him? What do you think he feels inside? Does he try to tell his family he is different? How do you think Ma Fox feels when he leaves home? Do you think either Ma Fox or Arnold should have done something different? We never find out what happens between Arnold and his family; what do you think happens after the story? Should Arnold change who he is for his family or should he continue being himself? Role play: Interview for job of being nanny fox. Ask three children to come to the front. All three are now foxes and have applied for the position of nanny fox but two are lying about being caring and they really want the position to eat the chicks. One fox is being honest. Ask the three interviewees to pick one of three cards; two are blank but one has a cross on it; the child with the cross is the honest fox. Class fire interview questions to the foxes who answer as caring nanny fox would. After five minutes ask the class who is being honest; the foxes show their cards. Three of the children who guessed correctly are up next to be interviewed and repeat the process.

Activity: Give the children a copy of the “wanted- nanny for chicks” poster. Children to write a letter of application to Mrs Buff from the Fox asking for the job. Explain that you are a fox but give reasons why you would be good at the job.

Plenary: Define key vocab words: Conformity/ expectations/ assertive/ brave what expectations does Ma Fox have of Arnold. Is Arnold going to change? What advice would you give Ma Fox?

AFL questions: What have we learned about today? / When Arnold grows up I think he will / will not change because… I think Ma Fox should …

Pupil Voice KS1: Penguin - Polly Dunbar

I always begin the academic year with Pupil Voice lesson plans. The aim is to lay the groundwork for the coming year of equalities education by promoting an ethos where all children are speaking up. joining in and making their voice heard.

Text: Penguin – Polly Dunbar Lesson plan Andrew Moffat / www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: -

LI: To start a conversation

Success criteria: I know why it’s sometimes hard to start a conversation / I know ways to start a conversation

Starter: What is a conversation and how does it begin? In pairs ask children to come up with three ways to get to know someone and start a conversation.

Main : Tell the children this year you want everyone to feel confident joining in class discussions and speaking up. Read “Penguin”. Discuss story – what is Ben trying to get Penguin to do? What strategies does he employ to make penguin speak? Why do you think it does not work? What do you think penguin is saying at the end of the story? Role play: Identify someone to be Penguin; each child has to try and make Penguin speak. Penguin moves around the circle and children follow guidance from the book; “what shall we say?” / “Can’t you talk?”/ “Pulls a funny face” etc. When the lion appears have a child in the circle play the part and have Ben crouch behind the “lion”. Penguin then tweaks the lions nose and Ben jumps back out shouting, “Ow!” At the end of the story, ask children to consider why Penguin never spoke up. Children support Penguin by giving explanations to Ben; “Penguin just wanted a friend / Penguin didn’t know who you were / you never said what your name was” etc. Children identify different ways to begin a conversation to help Ben next time.

Activity: Draw Penguin and around the image write ways to begin a conversation.

Plenary: In the story what are the first words Ben says to the penguin? Is this is a good way to meet someone? What else could he have said? Do you ever feel like you can’t speak in class? When was the last time you didn’t want speak; can you remember why that was? If you keep quiet all the time, what happens? Why is it important to speak up? What happens if only one person in our class speaks up all the time? How can we make sure that in our class everyone has a voice?

AFL questions: What have we learned today/ I should speak up in class because….

Pupil Voice KS1: Freddie and the fairy- Julia Donaldson and Karen George

I always begin the academic year with Pupil Voice lesson plans. The aim is to lay the groundwork for the year of equalities education by promoting an ethos where all children in the school are speaking up, joining in and making their voice heard.

Text: Freddie and the fairy by Julia Donaldson and Karen George Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat/ www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: three rules for display / picture cards for each wrong rhyme in the book

LI: To speak clearly

Success criteria: I know why speaking clearly is important / I want to be heard / I can tell you rules for speaking clearly

Starter: Imagine a classroom where no-one listened to you or heard your ideas; how would that feel? In pairs children come up with three rules for being heard in our class; how can you make sure people hear what you say? Do you have to shout? Tap them on the shoulder first to get their attention? Children feed-back their ideas

Main: Read text and discuss story; why does the fairy get upset? Why does the fairy keep getting it wrong? What advice does the fairy give Freddie about speaking? Role play: Display three rules given to Freddie: You mustn’t mumble/ Don’t turn away / Don’t cover your mouth. Children to demonstrate to the class speaking while not following one of these rules – what is the effect? Put the children in to partners and ask them first to speak while not following the rules and then speak again while following rules. Which is better? Why? Give children picture cards with each of the wrong rhyming objects used in the group. Ask for a child to be Freddie. Freddie asks for a “Pet” while not following Fairy’s rules. Children with a net join him in the middle of the circle; “Oh no! We can’t hear him!” Repeat for other objects/ rhymes.

Activity: Design a poster showing our rules for speaking, but instead of giving rules about what not to do, turn the fairy'r rules in to positive descriptions- what must you do to be heard in our class?

Plenary: Why are the fairy’s rules important? What would happen if we all ignored her rules? What can we do if we don’t understand what someone is saying?

AFL questions: What are the rules for speaking clearly in our class?

Pupil Voice KS1- What the ladybird heard- Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks

I always begin the academic year with Pupil Voice lesson plans. The aim is to lay the groundwork for the year of equalities education by promoting an ethos where all children in the school are speaking up, joining in and making their voice heard.

Text: What the ladybird heard by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks Lesson plan: Andrew Moffat / www.equalitiesprimary.com

Resources: none

LI: to work as a team

Success Criteria: I can speak to everyone in my class / I can work as part of a team

Starter: What different noises do you hear on a farm? What noise does a cow make? Horse? Cat etc. What noise does a ladybird make?

Main : Read text and discuss the character of the ladybird; why does ladybird remain quiet most of the time? Is a whisper a good way to tell other animals what she heard? If ladybird was quiet for the whole story what would be the consequence? How do you think the ladybird felt at the end of the story? (proud) Role play 1 : Unseen by the class draw a shape on a small white board and give it to a volunteer who then describes it to the rest of the class. The class try and draw the shape using the instructions given. Show the shape – has anyone drawn it correctly? How could the volunteer have made the instructions clearer? Role play 2: Scatter name cards face down around the middle of the circle. Say to a child “Can you find (name of a child in the class) and they pick up a name card. If it is the name they are looking for they give the card to the person and everyone cheers. If a different name is picked, give it to the corresponding child and ask them to continue the search by saying, “Can you find…”. This is repeated till the correct name label is found by someone. The class have to work together as a team to find the name.

Activity: Draw a map of the farm and show all the different noises made by the animals by putting speech bubbles in with the corresponding noises. Heading: Everybody speaks up on the farm.

Plenary: Both of our games today needed people to join in and use their voice. The skills we used were communication and team work. If the ladybird in the story had not spoken up what would have happened? If one person in our game had not joined in, what would have been the consequence? We all have a voice! The games worked today because we spoke up and joined in. Well done, everybody!

AFL questions: Why is speaking up important? If I remain quiet all the tiime what happens?

Challenging homophobia: Prince Henry by Olly Pike

www.equalitiesprimary.com                                    lesson plan by Andrew Moffat

Text: Prince Henry – Olly Pike

Year Group: Year 2, 3, 4

Learning Intention: To speak up when I think something is wrong

Success Criteria: I know why we have rules / I know I can speak up if I think something is unfair/ I can discuss rules with my friends

Starter: Put “the law” on the board. In talk partners discuss : 1.     What laws or rules do we have in our school  2.     Why are laws important? 3.    Can laws be changed?

Main: Read “Prince Henry” or watch it on the PopnOlly website: http://popnolly.com/episodes/4559460378 stop after Thomas says no to Prince Henry so the last line is “Who knows, maybe in one year or five or ten I will ask you to marry me”  Discuss: In talk partners children discuss, what was the story about? Who does Prince Henry want to marry? Why doesn’t the king want Prince Henry to marry Thomas? Is that fair? How does Prince Henry change his father’s mind? Why doesn’t Thomas say yes to Prince Henry? What do you think of this ending?

Role play: In the story the king changes his mind about the law in his land, and he then makes things fair by ripping up the old laws and writing new ones. Show the children a pile of papers and say these are some laws for our school but they have got mixed up. Some of the ideas don’t belong in our school, and some of the ideas do belong. Can the children help you to sort the laws out? Keep the laws we agree with in our school and rip up the laws we don’t agree with. Put the laws face down in a pile in the middle of a circle. Children come to the centre of the circle one at a time, pick up the top one and read it out. For each law the class decide, do we agree or should it be ripped up? After discussing each, ask the children, “What shall we do with it?” and have the children shout either, “Keep it” or “Rip it up!” Use the following laws: (simple answers in brackets) In our school there must be only one religion (no, we welcome all religions) In our school everyone must have the same eye colour (no, all eye colours welcome) In our school you can be Black, White or Asian (yes, everyone welcome) In our school all families must be the same (no, different families welcome - mum and dad, two mums, one mum, one dad, two dads, grandparents, foster families etc) In our school girls can only be friends with other girls (no we are friends with everyone) In our school football is only for boys (no, football is for everyone) In our school we must all look the same (no, we are all different) People who are different do not belong in our school (no, we like everyone and we are all different in some way) People who speak a different language are welcome in our school (yes, it’s great to be friends with different people) Prince Henry and Thomas are welcome in our school (yes, everyone is welcome in our school. Ask the children what’s different about Prince Henry and Thomas and ensure children use the word gay. Reinforce that gay people, along with any people are welcome at our school) People born in another country are not welcome in our school (yes they are. Everyone is welcome) In our school there are no outsiders (correct, no one is left out or excluded)

Activity: Choose and record three rules for our school that you think are important, or re-write the rules we ripped up so that they fit in our school.

Plenary: Do you think Prince Henry and Thomas ever did get married? Why didn’t Thomas want to get married? When might he be ready? Read or watch the rest of the story. What does “Their love was always equal” mean? A few years ago people who were gay were not allowed to get married in the UK but now the law has changed. Why did the law change? Why is it important to allow everyone to get married if they want to?

AFL questions: Children complete the following sentences: Sometimes laws need to be changed because…. I am proud of the laws in our school because we say…

For 35 lesson plans based on picture books see, “No Outsiders in ourschool: teaching the equality act in primary schools” by Andrew Moffat.