Before Reading
Introducing the Book
Hand out the books and have children read the title, the table of contents, and scan the illustrations/photos to make an informed hypothesis about what they may learn from reading Cathy Freeman.
Ask: What do you expect to find out about Cathy Freeman from reading this book? What information did you get from the table of contents? What information did you get from the illustrations/photos?
Building Background
Discuss Australia.
Ask: What do you already know about Australia? What are the similarities between Australia and the United States? (They are approximately the same size, they were both settled by European settlers, they both have states, they both have English as the official language, they both have ethnic minorities, they both have indigenous people.)
Say and ask: When we talk about Europeans, what does that mean?
Discuss the Olympic games.
Say and ask: Let’s talk about the Olympic games. Share with the rest of the group what you know about the Olympics. Ensure that children understand that the athletes in the Olympics compete not only for themselves, but for their countries. Discuss the prestige and honor attached to winning a medal.
Ask: Who knows what celebrity means? Who can name a celebrity?
Book Walk
Ask children to turn to page 4.
Say: Cathy Freeman is an Aborigine. The Aboriginal people are the indigenous people of Australia. Now read the first sentence to find out which event Cathy Freeman won at the 2000 Olympics.
Ask children to turn to page 5.
Say: Pages 5–10 tell you a little about the history of Australia. You will read that the Aboriginal people lived in Australia before the Europeans came. You will also find out that there was fighting between the Aborigines and the European settlers and what happened to the Aboriginal people as a result of this fighting.
Have children scan page 5 to find the word "outback."
Say and ask: Read the sentence that has the word outback in it to find out what outback means. What does the word interior mean? Can you tell what it means from the sentence or do you need to look in a dictionary?
Have children turn to page 11 and ask the students to read the chapter head.
Ask: What sorts of things would you expect to read about the early life of someone who went on to win a gold medal? Do you think that Cathy will become involved in running when she is very young? Do you think you will learn something about Cathy’s family as you read this part of the book?
Have children turn to pages 17 and 18.
Say: This chapter returns to issues that the Aboriginal people have had to continue to deal from the 1960s.
Have children turn to page 19.
Say: The rest of the book relates to Cathy’s success culminating ton winning the gold medal in 2000.
Have children return to page 4.
Go to During Reading
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