This week we are exploring a new story - The Nativity by May Eliot and Richard Johnson. We recommend working through this page over the week rather than in a longer session.

Before finding out what the story is about, you need to put on your detective hat and investigate some illustrations. What can you see? What do you think might be happening? How do you think the characters are feeling? Why do you think that? Make sure that you have a good reason by finding clues in the pictures.

Now that you've used your detective skills to make inferences and predictions about the story, enjoy listening to the story by watching The Nativity - by May Eliot. Pause the video to think about what the characters are thinking.  Remember that we can infer what characters are feeling by looking for clues in what they say or do. How do you think Joseph felt when Mary told him the good news? What were they feeling when there was nowhere to stay in Bethlehem? 

Later in the week, we will learn to retell the story using a story map.  Think about each key moment from the story.  Think about the order in which these moments happen.  Now look at the story map sheet below.  Can you draw a simple picture in each circle to show these moments in the correct sequence? 

Your pictures should be clear so that you recognise what part of the story they show and can retell the story by looking at the pictures. 

The illustrations for this page were taken from the website of illustrator Richard Johnson - you can look at more of them if you click on this link.