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  • Story
  • Countdown, Year 3
  • Issue 9, 2021

Clara the Curious Cow

    Learning resource

    Outcomes

    Worksheet   Know your cow!

    Create a short comic strip based on a section of the story. 

    Read the story. Ask students to identify the four major points of the plot. Write their ideas on the board. It should look something like the list below. 

    1. Clara was washed away in a deluge.

    2. Clara was picked up by a skipper and made trouble on an island.

    3. Clara lived in a town and made trouble in a showground.

    4. Clara was put in a paddock with other cows and a bull next door.

    Explain that students will choose their favourite section of the story to turn into a comic strip. Examples of comic strips can be found in this issue of Countdown on pages 2, 35 and 36. Ask students to identify the main elements of a comic strip. Answers may include: visual representation of the plot, different sized pictures, speech bubbles, thought bubbles, sound effects. A useful list of terminology can be found on Read Write Think’s Comic Vocabulary Definitions and Examples. 

    Before starting, students can practise drawing a cow. A good YouTube tutorial is How to Draw a Cow. 

    Websites for comic strip templates include Media Loot’s list of Free, Printable Comic Strip Templates and Printable Paper’s Comic Pages. 

    Students should sketch a quick draft of their comic before starting a good copy. Encourage them to think about perspective, distance and angle when planning their panels. For example, if they’re drawing Clara being washed away, do they want to draw the scene from a far distance to show how small she is in the deluge, or do they want to have a close up of her face to portray her expression? Adding to that, ask students how Clara might be feeling at that point – scared, excited, curious? 

    To assist with drawing expressions, tell students to make a surprised face and turn to their neighbour. What do their eyebrows look like (raised, arching)? What is the shape of their mouth (small circle)? Do the same with scared, angry, interested and any other expression that might be drawn for this activity. Then students may begin. 

    Success criteria: 

    • Accurately retells a portion of the story in comic form 

    • Uses speech bubbles, thought bubbles and/or narration boxes 

    • Is able to explain their choices of angle, distance and perspective 

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