The Sleepover by Sarah Penwarden is a reflective fiction text that weaves everyday experiences with emotional insight to explore anxiety, friendship, and understanding differences. Through the perspective of Taylor, the story follows a child who worries deeply about smells, food, and unfamiliar situations as she prepares for her first sleepover at a friend’s house. The narrative gently shows how Taylor’s sensitive senses and racing thoughts make social events challenging, while also revealing her strength in noticing how others feel. When a friend becomes upset about a cancelled plan, Taylor’s empathy and kindness help restore connection and comfort. Warm, realistic, and affirming, the text supports students to understand that worry and sensitivity can exist alongside courage and friendship.

The text is ideal for integrated learning across literacy and health, supporting inquiry into emotions, relationships, wellbeing, and acceptance of differences in everyday school and family life.

This pack contains wide range of response activities including:

• A guided reading plan exploring key literacy elements including inference and deduction, language use, making connection and text organisation, along with key questioning to promote emotional intelligence, metacognition and compassionate inquiry. 
• An independent learning contract complete with explainer videos for activity clarity
  
• A wide range of response activities to support developing and embedding key literacy skills including sentence and word work, spelling, and cloze activities. 

Curriculum Phase: Phase 2
Year Level: Year 4

English (NZC Levels 2–3): reading for meaning and enjoyment, identifying character thoughts and feelings, understanding narrative structure, making connections to personal experience, exploring dialogue and theme

Health and Physical Education: wellbeing, emotional awareness, relationships, empathy, confidence, managing worry, inclusion

Social Sciences – Aotearoa New Zealand Histories: identity and belonging, family and community life, continuity and change, understanding differences

Text type: Fiction, personal recount, reflective narrative

Key words include: anxiety, sleepover, friends, friendship, sensitivity, emotions, worries, food preferences, smells, identity, belonging, relationships, empathy, kindness, inclusion, diversity, family, whānau, confidence, social situations, communication, resilience, self-awareness, wellbeing