The Table Tennis
Tournament
Title
Vocabulary
The Table Tennis Tournament
Infer word meaning from sentence
context.
About the Text
Luke’s dad is recovering from an
accident. To cheer him up, Luke and
his mum organise a table tennis
tournament.
Genre
Comprehension
Judge a text by reflecting on it.
Fluency
Read text in meaningful chunks.
Fiction
Guided Reading
Running Words
Read a fiction text.
Review learning.
741
High-frequency Words
Reading Strategy
hand, high, into, live, where
Read on in the text; come back to
the word and try to read it again.
Content Words
Online Activities
flat, invitation, junk shop, table
tennis, trophy, wheelchair
Spelling Game
Whizzy Quiz
Silly Story Maker
Explanimation: Pronouns
Phonics
Identify suffixes.
Related Materials
­Texts
• The Table Tennis Tournament
Online
• The Table Tennis Tournament
Audio CDs
• The Table Tennis Tournament
© 2011 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Session 1
Guided Reading of The Table Tennis Tournament
read a fiction text
Activate Background
• Introduce the book by discussing the cover illustration
and asking what it might tell about the story. Read the title
together.
– What do you think the story is about?
– What is a tournament?
– What is table tennis? Do you know
another word for table tennis?
– Have you ever been in a tournament? What kind?
• Ask children to predict what the story will be about. Use
prompts to help children make predictions.
– I think that the story will be about ______________.
– I wonder if _____________.
– I think this book will be ______________
(funny, sad, exciting, etc.).
Encourage children to support their predictions with
reasons and examples.
• Share the information on the back cover.
Target Reading Strategies
• Read pages 2–3 aloud to children. Highlight the word
tournament.
– We talked about the word tournament. If
you didn’t know what it meant, what word in the
next paragraph might give you a clue? (trophy)
Model how the reader can skip over an unknown word,
then come back and try the word again.
• Read pages 10–11 aloud to children. Highlight the word
engrave. Ask what clues children find in the paragraph
that tell them what engrave might mean.
Read the Book
After the Reading
• Provide time for children to read the book on their
own to find out what happened at the table tennis
tournament. Remind them if they meet a word they don’t
know, to read on in the text and then come back and try
to read it again. They could note words that they are still
unsure of for later discussion.
• Circulate and observe how children are applying
strategies.
Does the child
– understand how to read on;
– use the sounds to sound out the word;
– use the context of the paragraph to read a new word?
© 2011 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
• Bring children back together and discuss the table
tennis tournament.
– What was the table tennis tournament?
– Who played in the tournament?
– Who won the tournament?
– What did the winner get?
– Did the other players get anything?
• Read the story together or ask volunteers to read
passages that answer the questions.
Guided Learning
Phonics
Understand Suffixes
identify suffixes
TEACH
• Ask
– What does invitation mean?
Elicit the base word invite. Talk about the suffix -(t)ion and how it changes the verb (doing word) invite
to a noun (naming word) invitation – “something that invites”.
• Ask children to scan the story The Table Tennis Tournament to find words with the -ion suffix
(e.g. congratulations page 20, invitation page 16). Discuss the meaning of these words and their base
words.
APPLY
Children could
– choose one word with -ion and its base word to write sentences about;
– share the sentences with a partner;
– find more words with -ion suffix in books in the classroom.
Independent and Small Group Learning
Work on Spelling Game
spell content and high-frequency
words
Children work on the Spelling Game.
Children select five words at a time from 15
highlighted words, then spell them. Focus
words for The Table Tennis Tournament
are first, school, holidays, while, still, whole,
months, would, tomorrow, thought, table,
tennis, tournament, trophy, food.
Practise Spelling Words
identify contractions
Children scan the book for contractions,
writing them and the full versions (won’t/will
not) in their journals.
© 2011 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Session 2
Guided Reading of The Table Tennis Tournament
read a narrative text
• Recall the story. Take turns to retell the story from the illustrations.
– How do the illustrations help understanding of the story?
Discuss specific examples.
• Reread the text. Ask children to give examples of strategies used to read specific words.
– Where did you use sounds to sound out a word?
– Where did you read on to help you read a difficult word?
– Where did you use the context of a sentence or paragraph to help you read a new word?
Vocabulary
Use Clues to Find Word Meaning
infer word meaning from sentence context
TEACH
• Display pages 6–7 of the online version and point to the word junk. Ask children if there is anything
in the text on pages 6 and 7 that helps them understand what the word means. Explain that sometimes
the reader has to keep reading to understand what a word means.
• Read together to the end of page 13. Ask
– What clue is there to help us understand what a junk shop is? (the price was only $2)
APPLY
Children could
– work in pairs to discuss word meaning and how they inferred the meaning of sumptuous and
competitors from sentence context (pages 14–15);
– write sentences that show the meaning of those words.
© 2011 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Guided Learning
Independent and Small Group Learning
Think About the Text
connect to the text
Children work in pairs to write about:
– how the text reminds them of an
experience they have had;
– how the text reminds them of a story in
their community.
Work Out Word Meanings
use a published dictionary
Children use a dictionary to find meanings
for words from the story that they are
unsure about. They include in their list
those words that they need to discuss with
the teacher and class.
Revisit Online Activities
follow optional paths on computer
programs
Children revisit the Spelling Game to
improve spelling ability and explore the
Explanimation on pronouns.
© 2011 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Session 3
Guided Reading of The Table Tennis Tournament
read a narrative text
• Recall the story, then ask volunteers to read parts of the text from the book or online version.
Use the questions below to guide a text discussion.
– Did Luke ever say why he wanted to have a table tennis tournament?
– Why do you think he chose that?
– How did Luke and his dad find the trophy for the tournament?
– Who took part in the tournament?
– Did you know who was going to win?
– What happened after Luke won the tournament?
• Reread the story using the online text, taking particular notice of the animations.
– How do the animations add to your understanding of the story?
Discuss specific examples.
Comprehension
Reflect on the Text
judge a text by reflecting on it
TEACH
•
–
•
–
–
Ask a volunteer to read the passage on pages 2–3 that says what Luke wants to do on his holiday.
What did Luke want to do? Do you agree with his choice?
Choose a volunteer to read the passages on pages 10–11 that say the kind of trophy they each like.
Luke and his dad would get different kinds of trophies. Who do you think is right?
What kind of trophy would you get?
APPLY
Children could
– tell if they would have run the tournament as it was run in the book;
– discuss whether they agree that the lunch was sumptuous.
© 2011 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Guided Learning
Independent and Small Group Learning
Work on Whizzy Quiz
Write an Invitation
answer questions about text
use a word-processing program to
prepare a creative work
Children work through the Whizzy Quiz.
The child’s understanding of the text is
explored through ten questions relating to,
for example, sequencing, word meanings,
synonyms, editing and plot.
Children write a new invitation for the table
tennis tournament or for an event of their
choice. They should include the date, time,
place, what to bring and any other necessary
information. Children can share their
invitations with a partner.
Understand Characters
use graphic organisers to
communicate information
Children describe one of the characters
from The Table Tennis Tournament. They
write about the character’s personality – a
personality profile – and the character’s
strength. They describe their favourite
character and say why.
© 2011 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Session 4
Guided Reading of The Table Tennis Tournament
Review Learning
• Children think about the text and whether they
found it easy or difficult to read.
• Children can write a reflection in their journals on how
easy or hard they found it to work out the meaning of
words in the story, and what strategies they used to help
them.
• Children can share a word meaning from the text.
• Children can share a word with suffix -ion, the base
word and the meaning of both.
Fluency
Read Dialogue
read text in meaningful chunks
TEACH
• Remind children that the words people speak in a story are called dialogue. Have children listen to The Table
Tennis Tournament for the way the reader sounds when reading the words people say. Remind children that it
is important to read dialogue as they think people would sound in real life.
– What did you notice about the way the reader read the dialogue?
– Did it sound different from the rest of the story?
– What can you do to make the dialogue sound like people are talking?
Encourage discussion about reading in a natural voice, reading the words as if
someone was really talking.
APPLY
Children could
– work in small groups to read the story, taking turns reading the dialogue.
© 2011 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd
Guided Learning
Independent and Small Group Learning
Enhance the Invitation
use font attributes to enhance
presentation
Children enhance the invitations they made
on Day 3, adjusting the font attributes to
create more impact. They can present the
invitations to the group.
Work on Silly Story Maker
Make an Announcement
read a piece of own writing
Children work in pairs to write a news
bulletin (TV or news article) to make an
announcement about The Table Tennis
Tournament. They first discuss with their
partner what the main points are that must
be included.
create descriptive texts
Children work through the Silly Story
Maker. They select words and phrases,
which are used to generate a humorous,
printable “silly story”.
© 2011 Wendy Pye Publishing Ltd