SHAUN THE SHEEP CHAPTER 1 Ages Learning activity

9-12
You may have seen Shaun the Sheep in some of the other Learning at
Home activities. Well, I thought I might tell you a little more about him.
This is the beginning of his biography. A biography is the story of
someone’s life. I’m not sure how many sheep have had their biography
written, so this might be a first! I will write it in chapters and include
some other activities for you to have a go at. I hope you enjoy reading
it! I’m already enjoying writing it.

What you will need:

• paper and pen.

What to do:
1. Read Shaun the Sheep – Chapter 1 below.

2. Try some of the tasks below.

Task 1 – Chapter headings

• Lots of books give each chapter a name.
What name would you give to this chapter?

Task 2 -Vocabulary
• Do you know what these words in the second paragraph mean?
illuminated plaintively
• Can you use the information in the sentence to work out their meaning?
• How might you check on the meaning?
• Make a list of any other words in this chapter that you find interesting.
• Try using these words when you are talking and writing:
o biography
o illuminated
o plaintively.

Department of Education
Task 3 - What reading strategies were you using when reading this chapter?
• Predicting – Did you predict what was making the sound that I heard?
• Inferring – Did you infer the time of day that this takes place?
What information in the text informed this inference?
• Visualising – Did you create a picture in your mind of what this scene looked like?
Draw a picture of what you thought.

Chapter 1

“I’ll walk up,” I said to Jack as we pulled up at the gate. I opened the car door, slid down onto the gravel and
walked to the gate. As the chain rattled through the wire gate, I heard a sound further up in the paddock, a soft,
pleading sound. Quickly closing the gate, I hurried up the long driveway.

Then I heard it again, only closer. Jack stopped the car and put his head out the window.
“Look,” he said, pointing over into the paddock. There, illuminated in the car headlights, was a small shivering
figure, bleating plaintively. “We’ve got a lamb”.
Stopping the car, but leaving the headlights on, Jack came over and stood with me by the wire fence. Together
we looked at the poor little creature.
“Where’s the mum?” I asked, looking around at the other sheep who were happily munching on the grass.

“Mmmm…,” he replied, “it’s not looking good. Sometimes the mums don’t want anything to do with their
lambs. Doesn’t look like it’s got much hope.”
“That’s horrible,” I said. I didn’t know much about sheep. I thought it was just natural that they would take care
of their babies. “So… will she just leave the lamb there to starve?”
“Looks like it,” he shrugged. “Poor little thing.”

Silence.

I was angry. I felt powerless. I wanted to do something, anything. I couldn’t just watch this poor little lamb
slowly die from starvation and cold.
“We can’t just leave it there to die! We have to do something.”
“There’s nothing we can do.”
“Can’t we give it a bottle?”
“Do YOU want to get up every 3 to 4 hours and give it a bottle? Because that’s what you will have to do.”
“I’m on holidays so I can do that.”
“What about when you go back to work? What then?”
“I don’t know but…” I trailed off, feeling hopeless.

More silence.

“Come on, let’s see if we can find its mother,” said Jack as he began walking to the gate.
Feeling more optimistic, I hurried after Jack. Well at least it’s something. Maybe she was just having a rest.
Maybe she had not abandoned her lamb after all. Maybe…

What learning is happening:

You are learning that we can create different text types based on your own experiences. Texts can
serve more than one purpose. In this case, a narrative is being used to give biographical information.
You are reading for entertainment and using reading strategies to understand the text.

Links to more information:

• Learning at home 1 on the Department of Education website

1
www.education.tas.gov.au/parents-carers/learning-at-home/