Oxford Primary Skills Unit Teaching Notes Oxford University Press 1 Lesson objectives

• 
out the sentences.
Key
1 
krill
 2 
breathe
 3 
fin
 4 
tentacles
 5 
Whale
 
6 
backbone
Writing (page 27)
Ask the children to look at the picture next to the text, and 
• 
ask 
What’s this?
Read the text while the children follow it in their books. 
• 
Then ask some questions to check understanding, e.g. 
Do 
octopuses have backbones? Can they open bottles? Why do 
they do that? How do we know that octopuses can remember 
things?
Ask the children if they can find an example of the 
• 
infinitive of purpose in the text 
(They can open jars and 
bottles to get food
).
8 Match the topic sentences to the paragraphs. 
Read the text in the blue box. Ask the children to identify 
• 
the topic sentences in the model text, and show how 
each one introduces the topic of the paragraph.
Look at Exercise 8. Explain that this is another text about 
• 
octopuses, but this time the topic sentences have been 
removed (they are numbered 1–3). The remainder of each 
paragraph is numbered a, b or c.
Give the children a few minutes to read the text and 
• 
decide which paragraph goes with each topic sentence. 
Then ask them to check their answers in pairs, making 
sure they agree.
Check the answers as a class.
• 
Key
1 
b
 2 
a
 3 
c
9 Write about blue whales. Use the topic sentences 
(a to c) and the notes. 
Ask the children to write a paragraph about blue whales, 
• 
using the topic sentences and notes in the green box. 
They should use the topic sentences in the order given in 
the box, and use the appropriate notes to complete each 
paragraph, turning the notes into complete sentences.
Key
Example text:
Blue whales are the biggest animals in the world. They are 
more than 30 metres long. They are bigger than dinosaurs.
They live in small groups. There are usually two or three whales 
in a group. They use sounds to talk. 
They are not dangerous to humans. They only eat small sea 
creatures. Blue whales are intelligent and gentle.