Teach-Reading-and-Writing-Issue-22

22 | www.teachwire.net SHADOW AND LIGHT Revisit pages in the book where loneliness is shown through empty spaces and muted colours. How do these compare to the more comforting pages at the end, which feature warmer tones, light and scenes from nature? Discuss how Teckentrup shows the feeling of loneliness without using words. How does the mood of the illustrations change when light and warmth are added? Using the techniques discussed, the children are going to create their own contrast pictures. Divide an A3 sheet of paper in half. On one side, create an abstract or symbolic image of loneliness, using darker colours, simple shapes and shadowy forms. To contrast, the other half of the page should represent comfort and connection using brighter tones, patterns, natural imagery or friendly figures. If pupils have previously experimented with writing descriptive phrases inspired by the book, they could transcribe these onto their artworks. For example, ‘Loneliness feels like an empty bench’ on the dark side and ‘But light returns when I share a smile’ on the bright side. ANTONYM HUNT Ask pupils to recall what the key emotional focus of the book is – loneliness. What are some possible antonyms for ‘lonely’? Create a list together: together, connected, loved, included, comforted. After the children are secure with the concept of an antonym, give them a card with a different emotion on (happy, anxious, hopeful, angry) and ask them to find the opposite of their word. Pair up with a friend and share their word pairs – match these to physical actions. For example, hug yourself for ‘loved’ or clench your fists for ‘angry’. These antonyms could provide a starting point for an alternative story modelled on When I Feel Lonely . The children could create their own narratives based on transitioning from one emotion to its opposite, for example, from sad to happy, or angry to calm. MINDFULNESS WALK When I Feel Lonely is very much based on the natural world and the hope and comfort it can Take it further Loneliness map This activity is designed to explore the children’s pre-existing understandings and experiences of the feeling of loneliness. It can sometimes feel quite uncomfortable to explore ‘negative’ emotions, but picturebooks provide the perfect vehicle to do so. Invite pupils to look closely at the cover of When I Feel Lonely. What do they notice about the setting, the characters, and the colours used? Why do the children think Teckentrup has used a wintery setting and blue tones? What colours or weathers would the children associate with being lonely? What other words can children think of to describe the feeling of being lonely? As previously mentioned, exploring some emotions can feel challenging for children. To support children to feel able to share their own experiences, ask the adults to share an example first of when they have felt lonely. Encourage the children to share examples too, or to think of a scenario when a person might be feeling lonely. Book topic sheets of paper or hoops to sort examples into might be useful. If you would prefer the children to work independently, they could simply divide up a page in their books or be given a scaffolding framework. After some discussion, challenge the children to find examples of rhetorical questions, powerful verbs, personification, and interesting adjectives. As an extension, pupils could be asked to indicate which words or phrases make loneliness feel stronger or smaller. Pick out a key phrase to focus on and explode it. For example, ‘My loneliness is always by my side.’ Check that the pupils know what is meant by personification. What do they understand about loneliness from the Start creating a large loneliness map of their suggestions. As you read through the book, ask the children to add further observations and thoughts to the loneliness map, along with any interesting vocabulary. This can then be referred to for any later pieces of work and will show how the children’s understandings have developed. Language focus Throughout the story, a lot of powerful language is used to convey the intense feelings of loneliness felt by the main character. The pupils are going to hunt for as many examples as they can, before going on to create a class poem on the theme of loneliness. You might want to collect examples as a whole class, in which case large