Claude in the City by Alex T Smith

Claude is a small plump dog with a penchant for snazzy berets and a bent for problem solving.
Accompanied by his sidekick Sir Bobblysock, he ventures into the city in the first of two episodes, followed
by a second involving a visit to the hospital. These delightful stories are a fabulous introduction to longer
illustrated stories; children will be able to enjoy a wide range of adventures through the other books in the
series

Overall learning aims of this teaching sequence.

• To discuss themes and issues that arise, making connections with their own lives
• To explore and develop ideas through talk and to listen to each other’s responses
• To develop creative responses to the text through drama, play and artwork
• To write in role in order to explore characters and events
• To compose and perform own poetry

This teaching sequence is designed for a Year 1 or Year 2 class.

Overview of this teaching sequence

This teaching sequence is approximately 4 weeks long if spread out over 20 sessions. The text offers
opportunities to explore humorous, simply patterned stories that children can use as models for their
own stories.

National Curriculum objectives covered by this sequence

Reading: (Word reading / Comprehension) Writing: (Transcription / Composition)

 Listen to, discuss and express views
about books at a level beyond that
which they can read independently;
 discuss the significance of the title and
events;
 link what they hear or read to own
experiences;
 explain understanding of what is read;
 discuss the sequence of events in books
and how items of information are
related;
 discuss favourite words and phrases;
 answer and ask questions;
 predict what might happen on the basis
of what has been read;
 draw inferences on the basis of what is
being said and done;
 participate in discussion about what is
 Draft and write by noting ideas, key
phrases and vocabulary, and composing
and rehearsing sentences orally;
 sequence sentences to form short
narratives;
 write for different purposes including
about fictional personal experiences,
poetry, non-fiction and real events;
 reread and evaluate writing to check it
makes sense and make simple revisions;
 read writing aloud with appropriate
intonation to make the meaning clear;
 use new and familiar punctuation
correctly;
 use sentences in different forms;
 expand noun phrases to describe and
specify;
 use past and present tense correctly and

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You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.
 read, taking turns and listening to consistently;
others;  use simple conjunctions to link
 express views about reading. subordinate and
 co-ordinating clauses.

Speaking and Listening:

 Listen and respond appropriately to adults and peers;
 ask relevant questions to extend knowledge and understanding;
 consider and evaluate viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others;
 participate in discussions, performances, role play, improvisations and debate about what has
been read;
 use spoken language to develop understanding through imagining and exploring ideas.

Cross Curricular Links:

Maths:
 Telling the time
 Measuring head circumference to fit berets
 Counting in two’s using pairs of socks
 Data Handling – shoe sizes for socks, favourite types of exercise
 Measuring – standard and non-standard units of measure for things that are ‘enormous’ and
‘titchy’
Art and Design:
 Investigate a variety of Art and Artists that Claude may have seen at the Museum. You may
wish to focus on:
Sculptors: Classical, such as: Michelangelo, Donatello and Modern, such as: Giacometti,
Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore
Portraiture: The National Portrait Gallery has lots of examples, for example classical portraits
that depict power: http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2014/favourites-art-and-power-
1600-1800.php You can also look at more modern and abstract pieces by Picasso, Van Gogh,
Julian Opie
 Use these to create your own inspired art for a class art gallery. Children can name and write
description cards for their pieces.
Design and Technology:
Design and make:
 A sock friend for Claude
 An alarm using circuits with buzzers to protect a sculpture at the museum
 A trap for the robber
 11 o’clock biscuits
Music:
 Create city Soundscapes using voice sounds, instruments and body percussion to encapsulate
the busy city scene.
Science:
 Investigate the best materials for making socks and berets
 Name and label parts of the body on a doctor’s diagram

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You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.
  Investigate basic needs of humans to stay healthy – healthy food, exercise etc.
 Create a role play doctor surgery
Geography:
 Discuss and name physical features of the city, how does it contrast to the countryside or
seaside? You could explore other texts such as Claude in the Country and Claude on Holiday to
compare and contrast features.
 Make a map of Claude’s city. Use a key to demarcate buildings like the museum and hospital.
P.E.:
 Talk about and explore ways of keeping healthy and exercising to look after our bodies.
 Investigate change in heart rate after exercising; use stethoscopes to listen to heart beats,
take pulses.
Computing:
 Take photos of children’s artwork to create an online Art collection as part of your school
website.
 Take a virtual tour of an art gallery
Personal, Social and Emotional:
 Talk to the children about Claude’s ‘little white lie’ – Was he right to pretend to be the
doctor? Discuss whether it is ever acceptable not to tell the truth.
 Discuss medicines as part of health and safety awareness. Why do they have child-proof
caps?

Teaching Approaches Writing Outcomes

 Role on the Wall  Character descriptions for sock friends
 Drama and Role Play and Claude
 Storymapping  City Poems
 Visualising  Storymapping
 Shared writing  Postcard in role
 Guide Book for the Museum
 Newspaper Reports
 Doctor’s report
 Own Claude story in an alternative
setting

Links to other texts and resources

Other books by Alex T Smith:
Claude at the Circus
Claude in the Country
Claude on Holiday
Claude in the Spotlight
Claude on the Slopes
Hector and the Big Bad Knight
Home
Ella

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You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.
Primrose
Eliot, Midnight Superhero (with Anne Cottringer)
Foxy and Egg
Catch Us if You Can Can
Foxy Tales: The Cunning Plan (with Caryl Hart)
Foxy Tales: The Road to Fame and Fortune (with Caryl Hart)

Links to other resources on the Power of Reading Website

• Claude profile sheet
• City illustration
• Postcard writing frame

Weblinks:
 A city soundscape can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZbEIxhiJRM
 Video of a city such as London: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QANU2VWNTQ
 Alex T Smith’s Blog: http://alextsmith.blogspot.co.uk/
*All weblinks here and throughout the sequence were last accessed September 2014

Teaching Sessions
Prior to teaching this sequence:

 Have a Big Book already made-up to use as a class reading journal. This should be added to as
the story is read together. Use shared writing to write in children’s comments as well as
adding individual responses.
 Prepare a large wall display so that the story can be plotted on a ‘map’ as Claude makes his
journey to and from his home; large sheets of squared paper would be ideal to make this
more of a geographical map to plot Claude’s journey around the City. You could also make a
model city from construction, small world or junk modelling materials

Session 1: Response to Illustration, special questions and Role on the Wall

 On an interactive whiteboard (IWB), show the class an enlarged picture of the city scene at the
beginning of the text. Ask them to look at the picture and talk about what they see, then
encourage them to respond and predict with questions such as:
 What is happening in this scene?
 Who do we think this is? Who is with them?
 Where is this character going? Why do you think they are going there?
 If the character was speaking what might they be saying?
 Use an outline of the character to record initial perceptions about the character and questions
that they want to ask about them on a role on the wall activity.
 Leave the inside of the character blank to build up our knowledge of them as the text is
explored.

©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.
  Read the text, up to Page 9. Come back to the role on the wall. What things that we thought
are confirmed or questioned by what we have read.
 Think about the other characters that are mentioned and how they are portrayed. Why do we
only see Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes’ legs and feet? Do you think they are really called Mr and Mrs
Shinyshoes? Explore the fact that because this is Claude’s story, we are going to view
everything, including the other characters, from his point of view.
 Complete own character profiles of Claude around an illustration of him (see resources).

Session 2: Introducing the book, book talk, reading aloud and response to illustration

 Read up to page 9. Think about Claude’s best friend, Sir Bobblysock. Why might he be a good
friend for Claude?
 In a circle time activity, think about your good friends; what makes a good friend? What sorts
of things are important to being a good friend?
 Look at the illustration showing Claude’s daydream on page 11. What adventures do you think
Claude and Sir Bobblysock will have? Where will they go? What will they do there? Use art
materials to create a scene of Claude and Sir Bobblysock on one of their adventures. Where
are they? What are they doing? Write about the adventure you have drawn, stick these in a
scrapbook which can be displayed as Claude and Sir Bobblysock’s photo album cataloguing
the adventures they have together.

Session 3:

 Show the children the illustration on page 15, without exploring the text. Where are Claude
and Sir Bobblysock going? How do you know? What do you think they will do there? What will
it be like? What can you see, hear? How does it feel to be there? You could add audio whilst
viewing the illustration to enhance thinking. A city soundscape can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZbEIxhiJRM
 Watch a video of a city such as London: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QANU2VWNTQ
 Have children record on strips of paper, something they could see, hear or how the city makes
them feel. Pick some of the strips to arrange into a free verse to encapsulate the sense of the
city, e.g.
People rushing everywhere,
Cars beeping, lights flashing.
Buildings reaching to the sky,
Such a lot to see and do!
 Have the children use this as inspiration to write their own city verses. You may also wish to
refer to the work of Kathy Henderson. Poems such as This is the city and Out in the city will
also provide good models.

©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.
Sessions 4 & 5: Rereading, Storymapping, sequencing events, retelling and writing in role –
postcard

 Read from page 12-29. Use large squared paper to draw a geographical map of the city Claude
and Sir Bobblysock visit. Draw in the roads and then use a colour key to mark the buildings
mentioned. Cut out character pictures of Claude and Sir Bobblysock to position on the map
and track their journey so far. You could use the red dots used in the texts to show Sir
Bobblysock’s movements to track their journey from place to place Discuss the different shops
mentioned. What other shops might they see in the city?
 Write a postcard back to Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes to tell them about your trip to the city so far.
Where have you been? What have you been doing? What did you enjoy most? How will you
describe it so that the person reading knows what it is like? Model the conventions and
features of postcard writing through Shared Writing.
 Talk about the writing process and explain that the children will be having a first go at their
writing – a draft.
 Model how to re-read writing aloud after finishing and see if there is anything that does not
make sense, e.g. missing words or incomplete sentences or anything we can do to make the
writing more informative or descriptive for the reader, e.g. adding adjectives for description or
expanding sentences to give extra information.
 You could either go back to the original piece of Shared Writing for this or, use a child’s work
with their agreement – it is good if you have access to a visualise or a large copy for this so
everyone can see the writing.
 Explain and demonstrate how to revise work – this is not a complete re-write but may be
adding words or changing sentences in a different colour on or around the work.
 Encourage the children to return to their own work to check that it makes sense, the meaning
is clear and it is punctuated. Get them to follow the modelled session and see if there is
anything they would like to revise, such as adding an adjective or making a sentence more
detailed.
 When the children are happy with their work they can present on a postcard writing frame
(see resources) and display

Sessions 6 & 7: Persuasive Writing

 Read to the end of page 39. Discuss what Claude has seen and done in the gallery. Ask the
children about their experiences of visiting a gallery or special place. What can you do there?
What do you need to know?
 Talk about the guide book that was given to Claude by the helpful person at the reception
desk. What might the guidebook tell him?
 Think about headings that could be in the guidebook to sort information for Claude, such as:
o Our Sculptures
o Our Paintings
o Map
o Our Café

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 o Facilities
 Talk about what each of the headings mean. What could you write to share information about
the gallery to visitors. Model how to write persuasively to entice visitors to see the collections
of art and use the facilities, such as: Our café serves a wonderful range of delicious treats for
you to enjoy. Come and sip on a cool glass of homemade lemonade and try our freshly baked
cupcakes for a teatime treat!
 Have children draft and edit their paragraphs, then write up into a folded paper visitors guide,
using different folding techniques:

Session 8: Hot-seating, and composing

 Explore the illustration on pages 40 and 41. What do the children think is happening here?
Who are these new characters? How could we describe the lady in the mask if we wanted to
tell others about her?
 Freeze frame the scene in groups of 4 with children on the role of Claude, the masked lady
and the two guards.
 Use thought tracking to elicit from the children what they think their character is thinking or
saying at this moment.
 Make wanted posters for the masked lady to describe her and tell the public what to do if they
find her or the missing sculptures.
 Present these for display.

Session 9: Hot-seating, composing questions

 Read to the end of the story. Tell the children that they will be taking part in a police press
conference about the attempted robbery at the museum and Claude catching the robber. You
could assign a police commissioner, the two security guards, the museum manager, the
robber, the mayor and Claude.
 Think of questions you would like to ask these people about the event that took place in the
museum. You may need to scaffold these by asking some questions yourself, e.g. (To the
museum manger) ‘How did you feel when you were told the robbery was taking place?’ (To the
robber) ‘Why did you want to steal the sculptures?’
 Have the children write out their best questions on sentence strips to take to the police
conference and ask the people.
 Have children working in role as the identified people, using props or simple costumes to
assign roles and the others asking their questions that they have composed.
 Summarise the information gleaned in simple notes for display

©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.
Sessions 10-12: Shared reading and writing – front page newspaper article

 Prior to these sessions, you will need to prepare a range of resources to support the children
in formatting and presenting their front page newspaper articles. This might include large
paper on which to stick large strips of paper for newspaper names and headlines, rectangles
for illustrations/photographs with captions, a range of writing and drawing materials, digital
cameras, word-processing or publishing software and printers. Ensure the children are able to
access the information from yesterday’s press conference.
 Look at a simple newspaper story, e.g. from First News and look at the basic features;
headline, date, story, photograph, caption.
 Discuss what the news story is about – Claude stopping the robber. Ask the children to work in
pairs to orally compose their own headline that might summarise this on whiteboards.
 Through shared writing, write a headline for your prepared front page report then discuss how
the story will be reported to tell people:
o What happened
o When it happened
o Where it happened
o Who was involved
 Support the children in sequencing the events and recounting them in a newspaper report.
 Through shared or group writing, go on to model the piece, possibly including a quotation
from the Mayor expressing his thanks or the robber expressing remorse.
 Children then draft their own versions of the story.
 Help the children to revisit the writing with response partners to check that it makes sense,
the meaning is clear and it is punctuated. Children can offer peer support in evaluating the
compositions and suggesting simple revisions.
 The children can then present this extended piece of writing on paper, or the whole process
can be facilitated using word-processing or publishing software and digital media.
 Finished newspaper reports can be published neatly and displayed.

Session 13: Reading Aloud, working in role, responding to illustration.

 Explain to the children that there is a second Claude adventure in the book which will take
place somewhere else in the city. Invite children to predict where this might be and what
might happen there.
 Read from the start of Part 2 on page 48 to the illustration on pages 48-49.
 Look carefully at the people in the waiting room; imagine you are the doctor and pick one
character to say what you think is wrong with them and how you think it could be cured, you
could have a stethoscope and doctor’s coat ready for children to come and talk in role about
the patients.
 Encourage children to write a diagnosis and treatment on the medical pad.

©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.
Session 14: Exploring dilemmas – Conscience Alley

 Read up to page 71. Look at the illustration of Claude on this page. What is his expression
telling us?
 Discuss what the children think of Claude’s actions. What should he do now?
 Ask the children whether they think Claude should tell the nurse that he isn’t really a doctor.
What could happen if he does or doesn’t tell the truth?
 Conduct a conscience alley with those children who think he should tell the truth on one side
of the line and those who think he should keep pretending on the other side. Have a child in a
white coat and stethoscope walk down the line, as Claude, listening to the reason why he
should or shouldn’t confess. Claude then reveals his choice, recalling which statements were
the most influential and why.
 Write a note to Claude to say what you think he should do and why. If there is time, have the
children swap notes and answer each other’s in role as Claude.
 This could link to further PSHE sessions on drugs education and moral dilemmas such as telling
a lie so as to escape punishment.

Sessions 15: Reading Aloud and Booktalk - Tell Me

 Read the rest of the story. Do you think Claude did the right thing in the end? Why or why
not?
 Talk about the book as a whole; using the ‘Tell Me’ grid as a framework for discussion:
- What did you like and/or dislike?
- Did anything surprise you? Why?
- Did you find anything particularly interesting? Why?
- Did the story remind you of anything in real life or in other stories?
 Through modelling, describe your favourite part of the story. Provide the children with an oral
scaffold for example: the most memorable part of the story was... because...; my top moment
in the story was... because... and in pairs ask them to identify their favourite part of the
narrative. Encourage children to give reasons for their choices and invite some children to
share these.
 Come back to the role on the wall. What other words and phrases can we add to describe
Claude now that we know more about him?
 Invite the children to draw and describe their favourite part of the story. Model how to do
this, orally rehearsing before writing, considering spelling and punctuation.
 Encourage children to revisit writing with a partner to check that it makes sense, the meaning
is clear and it is punctuated.
 Publish the reviews in a class anthology and display prominently in school, alongside a display
of Alex T Smith’s authored and illustrated books as an author recommendation display. Invite
other children and class teachers to add to the reviews and recommendations.

©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.
Sessions 16 & 17: Storytelling and preparation for writing – a new Claude adventure.

 Talk again about the two Claude adventures that have been explored. What was similar?
Different?
 Use storymapping to recall events in one of the adventures and have the children make their
own storymap to summarise key events in the other adventure. Is there a pattern to these
stories? (Claude and Sir Bobblysock sneak off somewhere while Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes are
out, something bad happens, Claude saves the day and gets home in time for Mr and Mrs
Shinyshoes coming back).
 With the class, discuss where else Claude could go. Refer back to the daydream illustration on
page 11 and to the ideas they had for Claude’s photo album. Take a shared setting such as ‘in
Space’ or ‘at the seaside’ and share ideas for what disaster could happen in the setting and
how Claude could save the day.
 Children go on to work independently or in pairs to storymap ideas for their own Claude story
in this setting, adding words and phrases to their maps to record ideas such as character
names, setting descriptions, key events and speech bubbles.

Session 18: Drafting writing

 Through shared writing, model writing a sequel adventure using the storymap from the
previous session. Think about good ways to begin the story, and develop the action by
introducing the dilemma. Think carefully about how to end the story by Claude saving the day
and getting home to Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes.
 Talk about the writing process and explain that the children will be having a first go at their
writing – a draft. Explain that this will not be the finished piece and they will be able to come
back to it to change and improve parts.
 Children draft their own Claude adventure.

©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.
Sessions 19 & 20: Re-Drafting and Publishing Writing

 Model how to re-read writing aloud after finishing and see if there is anything that does not
make sense, e.g. missing words or incomplete sentences or anything we can do to make the
writing more informative or descriptive for the reader, e.g. adding adjectives for description or
expanding sentences to give extra information. You could either go back to the original piece
of Shared Writing for this or, use a child’s work with their agreement – it is good if you have
access to a visualise or a large copy for this so everyone can see the writing. Explain and
demonstrate how to revise work – this is not a complete re-write but may be adding words or
changing sentences in a different colour on or around the work.
 Encourage the children to return to their own work to check that it makes sense, the meaning
is clear and it is punctuated. Get them to follow the modelled session and see if there is
anything they would like to revise, such as adding an adjective or making a sentence more
detailed.
 Use bookmaking or an ICT publisher to create a final published piece. Ideas for different book
making techniques can be found in Get Writing! (Ages 4-7) by Paul Johnson (A&C Black). Give
time for children to present their writing and accompanying illustrations, in the style of Alex T
Smith.
 Display the books in the class reading area or another prominent community space so that
they can be read by others.

©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than
educational purposes without the express permission of CLPE.