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...