Mei Li and her friend have attended boarding school in the valley for four years. They no longer worry about the dangerous half-mile-high “sky ladder” they must climb to reach their village on the mountaintop. But Chen is only five and he is terrified.

Year Level: 4

Reading Level: Q

Text Type:  Narrative

Curriculum link: Technologies: Engineering principles and systems

Content vocabulary: Verbs (saying): asked called cried laughed replied screamed whispered Nouns specific to setting: chili pepper chicken cliff-face dumplings farmer market mountain rungs sky ladder tree dragon village Adjectives: dangerous difficult exhausted precious rickety sheer steep strict

Key concepts: Characters can change, and this change can be seen through their actions and dialogue.How a character reacts to a challenge tells us about their personality traits.

Reading strategies: Identifying how a character changes from the beginning of a story to the end

Paired text: Get Me to School!

Paired title ISBN: 9781761073076

Supporting material:  Lesson Plan - Get Me to School! / The Sky Ladder (9781761073427)

Series: Flying Start to Literacy

Alternative purchasing options: This title is available in one of several value packs. Speak to your Oxford Education consultant today to learn more www.oup.com.au/contact

Digital sample pages: can be viewed at www.flyingstarttoliteracy.com.au/online-sample

Series information: 

Flying Start to Literacy is an award-winning comprehensive literacy program. It reflects best practice in literacy instruction and supports the systematic development of students’ reading strategies and skills.

Each Student Book is part of connected pair, a narrative book and an informative book, both presenting the same key concepts and vocabulary. These titles have been trialled with a range of readers, including English language learners.

Each pair of Student Books is supported by a Lesson Plan. These visually appealing resources are durable and easy-to-use. They integrate oral language, vocabulary development, fluency and comprehension, writing and phonics.

Reading strategies, phonics and phonemic awareness and repetition of high-frequency words are all developed through this series, enhancing the reader’s fluency and comprehension. With an array of engaging titles to choose from, readers will laugh, explore and share in the adventure whilst learning and expanding their vocabulary.

Flying Start to Literacy resources are suitable for use as part of an early intervention program and provide effective support for English language learners.

This series is supported by a wealth of teacher resources, which can be obtained by visiting www.flyingstarttoliteracy.com.au.

Flying Start to Literacy is supported by an array of free teacher resources, including:

• scope and sequence documents
• phonics and phonemic overviews for each reading stage
• reading and writing across the curriculum overviews of text types, text features, curriculum links, key concepts, and content vocabulary for the books at each of the reading stages
• records of reading behaviour are provided for books at each stage
• ongoing assessment checklist forms
• getting started tips and guidance
• title-level correlations to the Australian Curriculum
• information about the research that underpins the series
• percentage of decodable words tables for Levels 1—10.

Visit www.flyingstarttoliteracy.com.au to access these free resources.