Summary
Una is a mouse who lives on her own. She makes her own fun, but longs for a friend. Inspired by a hamster in a boat, she decides to set sail and explore the world.
Number focus
One
Before reading
At this level, no prior number knowledge can be assumed, so we recommend using the number frieze as a visual stimulus to start conversations about the number being explored. For example, ‘Can you see something else that there is only 1 of?’ or ‘Show me 1 on your fingers’. This will allow you, as a teacher, to assess their level of understanding and provoke conversation that is focused around the number being explored. Ask similar questions before reading all of the stories.
Key themes
Alone or lonely, is there a difference? Interestingly, both words include the word ‘one’ so they must have something to do with the ‘loneliest number’. Discuss this with the students. The story explores both concepts. Una lives ‘alone’ and in the beginning enjoys her days building a scarecrow, playing games and watering her garden. She was happy to be alone. As the story progresses however, Una starts to feel ‘lonely’. She wishes that she could dance just once with a real friend and talks to the Moon, who never talks back. She now feels sad to be alone and wants the company of a friend. In both situations Una was ‘alone’, but was only ‘lonely’ in one.
Unique, one of a kind or being an individual: The name Una means one. Una is one of a kind. There is no one else in the world like Una. We are all different from one another, making us all ‘unique’. ‘Uni’ means one. Look out for other opportunities to discuss ‘uni’ such as ‘unicycle’, or ‘unicorn’ or ‘uniform’. One of Una’s interests includes playing games with her friend Sol. She ALWAYS wins. To win means to come first, usually in a competition. Talk about winning and losing, first and last and explore ordinal numbers.
One day, one Sun — One night, one Moon: Sol is Una’s first and only friend. ‘Sol’ is the name of our Sun. Interestingly, we have only 1 Sun and 1 Moon. Una talks to the Moon and spends her days in the Sun. These are opportunities to talk about the Sun, Moon and Earth, maybe even that other planets have more than 1 Moon. The story also references ‘one day’ and ‘one night’ which is an opportunity to talk about day, night, time, the seasons or other cycles.
