Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Activity 1 – Book introduction
First …
Give the children a piece of A4 paper overleaf.
Ask the children to draw pictures of all the professions listed below.
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Soldier
Ballet dancer
Police officer
Nursery teacher
Pilot
Secretary
Nurse
Doctor
Stress that they don’t have to be good drawings, just a picture of a
person doing a particular job.
Next ...
Each child cuts up their eight squares.
One group collects all the soldiers, one the ballet dancers and so on.
Allow each group time to look at their drawings and report back to the
class on the different genders represented in their group.
Consider the following questions:
 Why do you think your group shows this?
 Is this the way genders are represented in the wider world?
 How do books and television programmes reinforce these stereotypes?
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Page 1 of 11
Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Draw your…
Soldier
Ballet dancer
Police officer
Pilot
Nursery teacher
Doctor
Secretary
Nurse
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Page 2 of 11
Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Activity 2
Look at the words below and decide whether you think they relate to
girls, boys or both. Get ready to justify why you have chosen to put them
in different places!
Girls
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Boys
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Both
Page 3 of 11
Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Activity 3 – Diary writing
Bill has a very adventurous day when he goes to school
wearing a pretty pink dress with fiddly shell buttons.
You are going to write his diary all about his exciting day. You won’t be
able to write about all the things that happen to him during the day, so
think of maybe three events to write about in the diary.
In a diary it is important to record how someone feels. Bill feels different
things during the day: bewildered, angry, upset, frustrated, happy. To
help you think about feelings, complete these thought bubbles before you
write the diary.
When he sees
‘Mean Malcolm’
When the children
are painting him
When he has to
win the race
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Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Dear Diary
It has been such a strange day. It all began when…
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Page 5 of 11
Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Activity 4 – Read Chapter One
In pairs, discuss these points and make some notes.
What are the ways Bill
notices girls are treated
differently to boys?
Do you think people in
real life treat boys and
girls differently?
Why are the teachers in
the book ‘kinder’ to the
girls?
Why did Bill’s mum
put him in a dress?
Do other traditional
tales (like Rapunzel)
reinforce this way of
behaving for girls and
boys?
What do you think
will happen to Bill
as the day goes on?
Has anything
happened so far that
you think is unfair?
How would you react
if a boy came to
school in a dress?
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Page 6 of 11
Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Activity 5 – Gill’s New Trousers
 What would happen if a girl became a boy for the day?
 How would they be treated differently?
 What would they find unusual?
 You are going to write a story where this happens.
You need to think about your ideas in the story.
Think about what happens in a normal school day. Will you include
playtime? What games will Gill have to play that she doesn’t normally?
Will the head teacher and teacher treat her in a different way? Will she
get into trouble more?
First of all think about how your story will begin and how it will
end. Use ideas from ‘Bill’s New Frock’ to help.
Gill woke up one morning to find she was wearing a pair of boy’s blue
trousers!
Continue…
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Page 7 of 11
Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Activity 6 – Write a play script
You are going to write part of the story in the style of a play
script. It will be the scene where the children are in the classroom
for wet lunchtime and Bill gets into an argument over the comics.
This is the sequence of events that happened:
1. Mrs Collins handed around comics
2. Bill wanted a Thunder or a Hornet but was given a Bunty
3. He tried to swap with Melissa who had a Beano
4. He tried to swap with Rohan who had a Valiant
5. He tried to swap with Martin who had a Victor
6. He started reading the Bunty but Flora swapped for the Dandy
7. Rohan wanted the Dandy and they got into a fight
Continue the playscript:
Scene – The classroom – Wet lunchtime
Mrs Collins is handing out comics.
Mrs Collins:
(sighing) No talking now, I want quiet reading
Bill:
But Mrs Coll…
Mrs Collins:
(shouting) I SAID QUIET
Bill:
I didn’t want this Bunty…
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Page 8 of 11
Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Continue the play script:
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Page 9 of 11
Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Activity 7 – Inside and outside character description
 Pupils can work in groups.
 They will need a large sheet of paper and felt tip pens.
How does Bill look on the outside and how does he
feel on the inside during his strange day at school?
Firstly they have to draw an outline of Bill and add labels to describe his
appearance. They need to make these as detailed as possible.
Some examples are shown below:
 Grubby finger marks around the hem from fiddling in assembly
 A large muddy stain from football
 Rich rosy freckles
Next pupils need to draw on different thought bubbles around the outside.
They need to consider what Bill thought at different points in the day and
write these thoughts using first person. Some ideas could be:
Why are all the staff giving me things to
carry? Can’t they see I don’t have any
pockets? It is so confusing how everyone is
behaving today…
That was strange, the headmaster was so kind to
me then. That’s never happened before when I’ve
been late.
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Page 10 of 11
Reading response activity pack: Bill’s New Frock by Anne Fine
Activity 8 – Reflection activity
Are boys and girls really that different?
Make notes in the table below on what you think boys and girls enjoy
doing.
Girls
Boys
Sport
Playtime
TV
Toys
Hobbies
 Talk to others in the class to see whether they agree or disagree with
your ideas.
 If there are any differences between boys and girls, why do you think
this is?
 Do you think it has always been this way?
 Is there any way in which you feel boys or girls are treated unfairly?
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