Reading Strategies – The Oracle

For this assessment you will need to complete a range of reading strategy tasks in relation to the book, The Oracle by
Jackie French. The strategies that we will be working on include

 Activating prior knowledge

 Self-monitoring
 Predicting
 Questioning
 Making connections
 Visualising
 Inferring
 Summarising
 Synthesising

There will be a range of tasks to complete around these

strategies at different stages. It is therefore highly important
that you make notes about the storyline and important
information as this will help you in these tasks.

Your final piece will be presented in a book/ folder format

and will be assessed against the attached rubric. Your final
piece will need to include:

 a front cover
 a contents page
 all of the following tasks
 neat and tidy presentation
Activating prior knowledge

 What do you already know about Ancient Greece and acrobatics? Create two separate mind maps of these two
topics.

Self-monitoring

 Find at least 10 words or phrases in the text that you do not understand or are unsure of. Use a dictionary or
internet research to define these words and increase your understanding of the book (a good idea would be to
write these down as we are reading, so that you don’t have to go back and re-read).

Predicting

1. Using the title and the front cover, write 100 -200 words about what you think the book is about.
2. After reading the blurb and chapter 1 reassess your initial predictions and create a revised prediction (100-200
words)
3. After chapter 25, having read half of the book, how do you think it will end? (100-200 words)

Questioning

1. Create a list of five questions you have about the text before we begin to read.
2. Create a list of open questions that you would have for the author (Jackie French) after having completed the
book.
3. Were any of your original questions answered? If so, in what way.

Making connections

1. Choose a theme from the book and connect it to something you have experienced in your life.
2. Make connections to another book or film you have experienced, what are the similarities.

Visualising

1. Using the description in the book from chapters 9-13, visualise and draw what you think the city of Mycenae
looks like from a bird’s eye view. Needs to be A4 size and include labels of buildings, streets, etc.
2. Having read the book, visualise and create a new front cover that you believe will make people want to read this
book.

Inferring

1. Provide 5 examples of where the story has not specifically said something but you were able to work out that it
has happened.
2. Choose a character from the book and create a set of items which will give us clues to who the character is.
Explain why you have included each item.

Summarising

1. After completing the book, create a blurb that accurately portrays the main storyline of The Oracle (300 words).
Looking at your notes and picking out the key aspects of the story will help in this task.

Synthesising

 Draw upon your prior knowledge of makeup/ clothes, hierarchy and your understanding of freedom. After
reading the book, highlight how you have developed your knowledge and understanding in these three areas.