Written by Mary-Anne Creasy Photography by Michael Curtain

Being a code breakerExplore the following language features:• Hearing words: the children could beasked to listen for words that containother words; for example, myself,airport, grandma, check-in.• Punctuation: explore the use ofexclamation marks and questionsmarks.Being a text userRefer to the text when discussing thesequestions:Is this book fiction or non-fiction?Why do some of the photographs have whiteborders around them?What does this make them look like?Being a text criticHave you ever been on a plane?Do all children get to go on planes?Do all children get to fly by themselves?Responding to textThe children could work incooperative groups to take on therole of one of the people featured in thebook. Each character could retell thestory from her or his point of view.The children could be asked towrite about a time they flew on aplane or about what it might be like to flyon a plane.The children could explore thesound /pl/, as in ‘plane’. Theycould look for words that start with thissound in familiar texts and create anillustrated list.WritingDiscuss how we identify that the story istold in the first person. Then explain whatthe third person is and model retelling apage of the story in the third person.Ask the children to work in pairs torewrite a page of the book in the thirdperson. If each pair does a different page,the children’s work could be collated tomake a group book.AssessmentCan the children:• identify the words that tell the reader that the girl is telling the story?• use contextual information to explain the meaning of vocabulary, such as checkincounter, X-ray machine and flight deck?whole text activity sentence activity word activity