Teach Primary 18.8

www.teachwire.net | 47 T E ACH RE AD I NG & WR I T I NG Loved this? Try these... v The Last Wild by Piers Torday v The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien v I am Rebel by Ross Montgomery v The Land of Roar by Jenny McLachlan v The Last Firefox by Lee Newbery v Ember Spark and the Thunder of Dragons by Abi Elphinstone is. Perhaps a leader in the local community could visit and be interviewed by the pupils for the school website or a local magazine. WORLD BUILDING As a child who enjoyed fantasy books, I used to spend hours creating my own worlds that I could later use when playing Dungeons & Dragons. Although time is obviously a limiting factor in school, giving pupils an opportunity to think in detail about where a story might be set can produce some truly wonderful writing. Get them to come up with a central idea that they find interesting or exciting, such as an underwater kingdom or a world where only children can do magic, or a planet where apes are in charge…oh, hang on, that sounds familiar! Once an overall idea or concept exists, it can be expanded. What does the landscape look like? What types of creatures live there? Does magic exist? Who is in charge? What traditions or customs do they have? Providing six or seven questions to start pupils thinking and talking will lead to much more. Get them to ask themselves ‘What if?’ as they ponder each idea. What if there were only three colours? What if everyone lived underground? What if the days lasted for eleven hours and it never stopped raining? Creating maps, coming up with names of gods and mythical creatures, designing houses and weapons... the opportunities are almost endless. Not only does it improve writing, world-building with their friends can also have a positive impact on children’s creativity, problem-solving and empathy. Jon Biddle is an experienced primary school teacher and English lead. Winner of the 2018 Reading for Pleasure Experienced Teacher of the Year award, he coordinates the national Patron of Reading initiative. rabbits? Do they have any memory of what their life was like before they were transformed? It also provides a wonderful opportunity for children to explore famous artwork that depicts battles, such as ‘The Battle of San Romano’ by Uccello, and have a go at creating their own. Bringing in drama Oral storytelling plays a central role in the book, which is framed as a story told by a bard. This provides a natural segue into activities around storytelling and drama. Pupils could try retelling parts of the story in their own words or creating short scenes in which they act out key moments from the novel. By performing and dramatising the events, they will not only improve their understanding of the story, but also develop their public speaking and performance skills. Anthropomorphic characters There are many amazing children’s books that feature anthropomorphic characters. Explain to the pupils what the term anthropomorphic means: non-human characters that have human characteristics, such as emotions, behaviours or intentions. Ask them to think about why we enjoy reading about such characters. Maybe the stories seem less threatening, or can share messages in an entertaining way, or the characters are more relatable… Each time I talk about this with a class, the answers are completely different. Give pupils time to work together and create a top ten of books featuring anthropomorphic characters (whenever I do this, I always pull rank and insist that Watership Down is included somewhere). Varjak Paw , Charlotte’s exciting part. Read pages 188 and 189 to the children and stop at the line ‘The Battle of Boneroot had started’. It provides a wonderful opportunity for pupils to make predictions about what will happen during the battle. Once the chapter is complete, the children can then rewrite the battle from the point of view of one of the characters, focusing on their role in the battle as well as their emotions and feelings. Some of them will probably try and insist on writing from the point of view of the Gorm (well, they did in my class) but that gives them an opportunity to develop their empathy skills and think about the situation from an alternative point of view. Do the Gorm really want to destroy all the Web , The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane ... a good chunk of the list almost writes itself. It is also worth pointing out that sometimes animals in books are biological, rather than anthropomorphic – make sure that children understand the difference. Creating characters Although The Legend of Podkin One-Ear is already full of rich characters, the class could work in groups to create new tribes of rabbits (or other animals) who live in The Five Realms. They could think about cultures and customs, what the warren looks like, what its members wear and who their leaders are. Whose side are they on? If they met Podkin and his siblings, how would they treat them? Would they try and capture them, or would they help them on their quest? TP