Paradise Sands - Levi Pinfold - English Unit - Stages 2-4 - CBCA Shortlist 2023

This is a 34-page integrated reading/writing unit based on the brilliant book “Paradise Sands” by Levi Pinfold. This book has been shortlisted for “Picture Book of the Year” in 2023, by the Children’s Book Council of Australia.

This hauntingly beautiful book tells the story of a family who are on a road trip to visit their mother when they are waylaid at the Paradise Sands hotel. The main character of the story is a young girl, who tries to persuade her brothers of the dangers of the hotel, but they do not listen. The family may find themselves trapped in the hotel forever. The rich illustrations lend themselves perfectly to a focus on visual literacy and the book is so open to interpretation and creative writing.

The unit of work contains separate resources aimed at both Stages 2 and 3. Because of the open-ended nature of the tasks, the Stage 3 content would also be suitable for a Stage 4 classroom. Likewise, the Stages 2 and 3 work is also suitable for extension groups and/or support work.

The bundle contains:

• differentiated reading comprehension booklets for Stages 2/3 with targeted comprehension questions. Areas of focus include: literal comprehension, inferential comprehension, visual literacy, analysing setting, cause and effect, making connections, comparing and contrasting and more.

• a suggested answer guide for both of the comprehension booklets.

• integrated writing tasks based on the book. There is a separate task for Stages 2 and 3. The Stage 3 task is also suited to Stage 4. Writing comes in the form of an open-ended writing stimulus presented in a booklet. I use stand-alone activities like this in my classroom as assessment tools, either at the beginning or the end of a unit of work. Both writing tasks are imaginative.

• a set of ten no-prep printable Literature Circle task cards. Tasks contain a high degree of student choice and are designed to be high-interest and engaging to allow for independent class work. All associated resources are included.

• a poetry analysis task for stages 3/4 based on the poem in Paradise Sands.

• all associated printables, which include researching, writing and Visual Arts tasks.

• work samples which may support teaching in your classroom.

All of my resources are intentionally created to support the teaching of specific texts - none of my tasks are lower order “filler sheets” or generic reader responses. Students are required to think deeply about each individual book and its unique features.

I have many other literature-based resources in my store (most of them based on Australia texts) so feel free to check them out.

Happy reading!