Shamus

Shamus is a humorous fiction story about a sheep farmer, Tilly, thinking her sheep are boring because they always do the same thing and copy one another. When it was time for sheep shearing, one sheep, Shamus, hid in a rock cave. Shamus hid there and only came out to eat until one day when his wool grew so long that he tripped and couldn’t get up. Tilly got the clippers, but decided to give Shamus dreadlocks! The story is narrated with dialogue, thought bubbles, speech bubbles, and onomatopoeia.

Shamus is a simple narrative story. Critical thinking questions are provided to guide the reader. Illustrations match the text. A visual information guide is provided for teachers to draw students’ attention to the speech bubbles and thought bubbles as well as the information, layout, and design of magazine headlines. There is an infographic at the end of the story illustrating how headlines can look different. There is a newspaper headline and magazine headline. An activity on designing a newspaper heading is provided for teachers to extend students’ learning.

Readers develop vocabulary such as singular/plural (thing/things) and homonyms (road/rode). Opportunities arise to discuss apostrophes to show possession (Mum’s) and apostrophes within contractions (can’t). Focus on long and short vowel e and discuss suffixes and base words (tripped).

This title is from the Sails Literacy series. Hook readers and ignite their curiosity - over 850 levelled texts with bright, colourful, sophisticated designs.