Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam learning resource   Creative and enterprise-based activities inspired by the book  

CfE Levels Early and First (Ages 3-7)

Resource created by Joy Cameron, classroom teacher at Lochnell Primary School

Contents of this resource

1 About this resource

2 About the author and illustrator

2 Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam in the 2016 Primary 2 Read Write Count bag

2 Activities

About this resource

This resource is full of creative, cross-curricular activities inspired by the book Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam by Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton. The activities are designed to be adaptable rather than prescriptive, so please use as you see fit! Also, the activities aren’t designed as a unit of work: you can pick and choose the ones that you think will work for your pupils.

The resource has been designed to support our digital Authors Live event with Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton on 27 October 2016, but you can use it at any time to explore this fun and beautifully illustrated book. You don’t even need to own a copy of the book to make use of many of these activities!

Don’t worry if you miss the live event – you can watch it later in our Watch on Demand section, where you’ll find lots of other exciting events: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/teachers-librarians/authors-live/watch-on-demand

About the author and illustrator

Tracey Corderoy is the award-winning author of a host of picture books and children’s fiction. After working in primary schools designing literacy programmes and helping long-term absentee children return to education, Tracey developed a passion for children’s writing, and has since become a prolific author. http://www.traceycorderoy.com/

Steven Lenton has worked extensively in children’s animation before adding book illustration to his CV. As well as illustrating the hugely successful Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam books, Steven has also illustrated books by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Greg Gormley, and has also written several picture and board books, including Let’s Find Fred! http://www.2dscrumptious.com/

Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam in the 2016 Primary 2 Read Write Count bag

As part of the Scottish Government’s Read Write Count campaign, Shift McGifty and Slippery Sam will be included in the Read Write Count Primary 2 bag, a free bag of books, writing materials and counting games which is given to every Primary 2 child in Scotland. For more information visit http://scottishbooktrust.com/learning/teachers-librarians/read-write-count/professionals.

ActivitiesPre-reading: Talking and Listening Eng 0-17a, Eng 1-17a

Before you watch the Authors Live event or read the book, introduce the characters through the cover illustration and ask pupils questions: 

What do you think these characters are up to?  Would you like to meet them? What would you ask them?  Do you think they are naughty or nice? What makes you think that? 

Pre-reading: Talking and Listening, Writing LIT 0-01c, LIT 1-07a, Eng 1-31a

Build up storylines about robber dogs:

What would robber dogs steal…biscuits? Why do these dogs need to be robbers? 

Don't their owners provide them with everything they need?  It looks as if they live in a dog town with no owners. How did that happen? 

Produce a swag bag (any sack type bag will do) and have the children fill it with SWAG from around the learning area.  

What's precious in this space? What would we try to save if there was a disaster?  Would Shifty and Sam be interested in these things? 

Or bring a bag already filled and try to guess the contents by describing them to others who can’t see them. 

I found this swag bag on my way to school....it has a tin in it with a label that shows a picture of a dog...Mmmm a long piece of leather with a handle at one end and a chain at the other...what could it be? 

You might like to have a dog swag bag (biscuits, dog toy, tinned food, lead) and a people swag bag (costume jewellery, sports trophies, a favourite soft toy, a book).  

RME RME 0-09a, RME 1-09b

Why do robbers wear stripy tops and masks? Talk about stereotypes/uniforms/ costumes. Show examples of these from illustrations in other books, eg ballet dancers, truck drivers, doctors and nurses, boxers.  

How they can work against us making people think we are who we are just by how we dress or look, and how can they work for us by showing we are part of a school /team/group who like a particular style?

Early Level: ask pupils to draw a picture of a robber animal and surround it with things it might steal. How have pupils chosen to depict it: does it look like a robber animal? If so, how can we tell? 

First level: ask pupils to draw and write about an underwater or flying animal, what it might want and need and where it would get it. What equipment or special machinery or powers might it need to move in a different environment? Could a bat steal things at night because of its remarkable ability to echo-locate? What might be available during the night that wasn't around during the day? 

What about an orca? It already has the "robber" colours of black and white, maybe it would need to disguise itself to look less suspicious. What could it steal? Pearls from mussels? 

What about their names? Slidey McGlidey would suggest it moves smoothly but would hide the fact that it is a robber! 

Language: Talking and Listening, Writing LIT 0-09b/ LIT 0-31a, LIT 1-09a, LIT 1-20a

Isn’t it funny that McGifty sounds like a name that would give things to people instead of take them away? Are there other names that could give “the wrong impression”?  What about Mr Kindly? What would he do to people? Or Miss Take (sorry double pun)! Children can invent characters and talk or write about their deeds and misdeeds. 

Ask children to draw their character first to see what he/she might look like. Can they give Mr Kindly some features that show he might not be as nice as his smile suggests? Scratchy fingernails, a catapult hanging out of his pocket? 

Does Mrs Temper really want to be that way? If so, why is her back pack full of soft toys and what is she doing with that cute kitten tucked under her arm? 

Language: Talking and Listening LIT 0-09a, LIT 1-09a

When the children are familiar with the Shifty McGifty story play hotseating. Each child takes a turn at being one of the characters in the story: Shifty, Sam, a neighbour, someone they tried to steal from, a visitor to the cake shop etc. They are questioned by the other children and must try to answer as the character. Eg Shifty, what made you think that robbery was a good job for you? Neighbour, what did you think about attending a tea party, would you normally go to a strange dog’s house for tea? Some children will be happy to answer a single question as the character, some will never want to leave the seat! 

Expressive Arts: Drama EXA 0-13a / 1-13a

Look at the places Shifty and Sam tried to rob…the bank and the butchers, the paper shop, the book shop, the bike shop …even the zoo.  

Dramatise one of the attempted robberies with characters imagined from each venue. How did the robbery start? What did they try to steal? How were they foiled? 

Small groups of children create their own dramatisation of an attempted Shifty and Sam robbery for others to watch, interpret and enjoy. 

If you’re looking for some great little games and warm up activities for drama, try this short resource: http://bit.ly/PerformingPictureBks

 ICT and Language: Talking and Listening, Writing LIT 0-10a, LIT 1-10a, TCH 0-03a

What would a Shifty and Sam invitation to tea look like? 

Using a word processing programme children can experiment with fonts, clip art and colour and size to create an invitation to send to the dogs’ neighbours. If done on an activeboard all children can be involved in creating the main invitation and then, using individual computers, they can create an invitation to a party they would like to have or reply to Shifty and Sam's invitation. 

Listening and Talking 

During the party a neighbour hears the whispered conversation between Shifty and Sam. Play the Whispering Game by passing a message round the class one by one to see if the message remains the same at the end. 

Writing/Expressive Art LIT 0-13a/ 0-21a, LIT 1-26a, EXA 0-02a

The buns at the party are described as dreamy and creamy, great adjectives. Can children think of other WOW words to describe delicious baking? Slurpy, squidgy, yumbilicious – wow, great adjectives, these need to be captured and stored on the wall to be used in other pieces of writing. 

Make a template of a cupcake, where the paper cup is plain white but the cake part is coloured to make it attractive. On the plain cup section write an adjective children have discovered through this book or other writing and could use to improve their descriptions in other stories they write. At first the words will be solely to describe wonderfully tasty cakes but this resource can be extended to act as a space to store all new and interesting adjectives across the curriculum and throughout the year. The cake selection on the wall can be added to as the term progresses. Adjectives fill up a wall space as a great resource to tap into for writing as well as being an attractive display which children will wish to add to. 

Cake shaped stencils can be made and used as a basis for the place to store and collect new WOW words for further work in the classroom long after Shifty and Sam have left the building! 

Health and Wellbeing HWB 0-02a / HWB 1-02a

When Shifty and Sam are caught in the act they say, “We just didn’t think.” Use this as a starting point for talking about how our actions might affect others if we “just don’t think”. How can we make sure our fun isn’t someone else’s trouble? Can we think of times at

school or home where we didn’t do something because we thought ahead and realised it wasn’t a good idea.  

Use the hot-seat game here to allow children to take on the role of someone who did something wrong...can they explain what happened in role?

 Eg, Billy the Basher, can you tell us why you hit Cool Kevin in the line? Is there anything you'd like to say to Kevin? What would you like Kevin to do next: give you another chance or never play with you again? 

This is a great way to pre-empt situations and give especially younger children a chance to talk about what they are tempted to do and realise it is a common thing to be tempted and there is nothing wrong with the thoughts of doing something silly as long as we decide it is not the correct thing to do. 

Health and Wellbeing, Technology, Science HWB 0-30a, HWB 1-35a

Bake cakes if space and accommodation allows, otherwise make delicious looking cakes out of modelling dough or clay which can then be painted.  

Early level: talk about how cakes are made, weighing out ingredients, mixing, baking and the routines associated with cake baking. 

1st Level: research a cake recipe and list the ingredients and method. Why do all recipes look like each other? Are there rules for writing recipes? 

This leads onto the Enterprise section of this resource.The experiences and outcomes for the enterprise parts of this topic will differ dependent on how you decide to proceed and what you produce but will address Es and Os in People, Society, Economy and Business.

Enterprise suggestion 1: Organise a bake sale/coffee morning

Children will have been to cake sales and coffee mornings. Have they ever organised one? This could be a small scale enterprise where children choose a simple cup cake recipe and decide to make cakes to sell to another class/ staff/ parents at a given date and time. 

What are we going to bake? Where will we get the ingredients? 

If possible children should be involved in shopping for the ingredients and make lists beforehand.  

First Level children will be able to budget and keep within an agreed amount to be spent. This is always more difficult where decorations are involved so they may need to be lead towards grating a bar of chocolate rather than buying the more expensive chocolate decorations.  

They will also need to work out how much to sell the cakes for in order to cover their costs or make money if this is their intent.  

What will any profits be used for? Do the children have a cause they support? Does the school or library have a collection fund running which this event to support or do children want to use it to buy more Shifty McGifty books for themselves? 

Making posters and invitations, giving concise and clear information about the cake sale in an attractive way. 

Schools which operate a healthier eating policy and don’t encourage children to bring sweet snacks or bake cakes can use this as an ideal opportunity to support school policy by using a recipe involving healthier options. Have a sports bar sale, a veg and dip sale or encourage global enterprise by making it a Fair Trade sale. 

Cost, advertise, bake, sell...enjoy. 

Children may be encouraged to reflect on how well this enterprise worked or how they would do it differently next time but the main aim here is to enjoy taking part in an enterprise project. 

Enterprise suggestion 2: Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam Recipe Book 

This enterprise can be completed wholly in the classroom with children identifying, gathering and recording recipes from books and cookery sites or can go beyond the classroom and involve parents and carers in supplying thier favourite and well tested recipes. 

The principle for the recipe book enterprise is similar to the baking exercise but there are a few added challenges and benefits.  

Co-ordinating and recording recipes can be time consuming and needs more commitment than baking cakes but make use of the adults involved.

Can all recipes coming from home be typed in the same font and size?  

This allows your recipe book to be put together in a clear and concise format, neatly printed, copied and bound/stapled.  

Or doesn’t it matter in your recipe book?  

Could the recipe book contain “stolen” recipes and therefore it can look a bit higgledy piggledy? 

 eg, Shifty McGifty and Primary 2 Have Stolen Some Recipes Just For You 

This recipe book would contain a mixture of hand written recipes, pages torn from magazines and neatly typed up ones. Pages are photocopied but recipes may be at funny angles or have hand written side notes …" stolen from the school kitchen" ...."pinched from Mrs Lafferty’s Classroom”. 

A simple recipe book created in school using scissors, glue and a photocopier, with the cover designed by children would make a quirky and fun enterprise.

If you have a local company or firm who might provide some sponsorship think about having the recipe booklet professionally printed. 

 It will look and feel great and now the children are true authors as their book has been “published” - just like Tracey Corderoy and Steven Lenton. 

If you and your class loved Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam

Try these other books featuring dogs in a starring role: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/10-books-about-dogs

Or try this list of fantastic books to read aloud: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading/book-lists/8-fantastic-books-to-read-aloud-with-your-children-3-7