It's a Saturday morning and I am home alone. It is very quiet and I am trying to plan my next mantling session but I am having trouble thinking it through; so I thought I'd think it through out loud, as it were.
Up to this point:
My R/1 class are currently Fairy Tale Fixers. I used Tim Taylor's planning as a starting point and went from there. Our first commission was to find a small boy called Jack; his mother had seen him climbing a beanstalk but was concerned that he hadn't yet come down. Added to this, the beanstalk had fallen down. The children made beanstalks, ladders, jet packs and planes and travelled up into the clouds. We spotted the castle, went in, found Jack and rescued him.
In the interests of sharing: one of the most effective and pleasing parts of this commission was just before we entered the castle. I drew a large wooden castle-esque door onto my interactive screen while the children watched. They began to identify what it was and where it was. I then drew a letter box onto the castle door. I said something like: 'so if this is the door to the giant's castle, could this be his letter box?' The children agreed.
Then I said, 'of course, it's a long way up for us. But if you stood on each other's shoulders and peered through it, I wonder what you'd see?'. As the children started sharing ideas I got a large letter-box-shaped piece of paper and laid it along the carpet. I invited children to peer through the letter box and draw what they could see on it. Myself and the other adults got involved to help to scaffold some of their ideas. At one point (luckily, not too soon) one child said she could see Jack, locked in a box. This was good because I hadn't actually decided how to get from 'looking through the letter box' to 'finding Jack.'
I asked the children if they could pause for a minute and told them this news. We stepped through the letter box, into the castle and found Jack. Along the way - after preparing the children for this - we also found the giant who was quite sad at having lost his golden egg. Etc.
Now
Our current client is a goat who needs to cross the river. The troll, who had once been seen floating down the same river, was back and was very anti-goat. The children, of course, built bridges and planned to make boats and it was all good. Then we had a session of making a floating boat, especially for my Year 1 children, before writing instructions for the goat on how to cross the river.
This brings me to the present day.
What I want to do is a) show children their writing has a purpose b) get the goat to cross the river c) introduce tension in the form of the troll making an appearance and d) stop the children from trying to shoot (or otherwise kill/maim) the troll.
I don't have a particular outcome in mine: it's more to move the story on. I also don't have a lot of time to do this - we have school trips and mother's day things and other interruptions on the horizon.
Thoughts and possibilities, in no particular order
* A 'film' convention (two?) of the goat reading the instructions, building a bridge and/or a boat, crossing the river but stopping and staring in horror at something (the troll, implied). After discussion of the video, the children step in to the story. Perhaps the troll could be represented by an adult.
* Seeing the troll: again, possibly convention two; possibly looking through binoculars, spotting the goat crossing the river, mumbling and moaning. This could be followed by the children meeting the troll and talking to him about his concerns about goats crossing the river.
* Convention nine (a drawing seen in the making): I'd begin drawing the troll and say something like 'There was once a lonely troll who lived under a bridge.' I could invite children to contribute to this drawing. From here, children could represent the troll and could see the goat (ie. our client) crossing the water. The children could then decide what should happen next and could play out their stories this way.
* Adult in role as the goat/client - the role present - coming back to the Fairy Tale Fixers' office to describe a terrible thing that happened (for example, he made the boat but as he was crossing the river, along came the troll and capsized it..).
I don't know which of these I'll use, but its been useful to think it through and, if it isn't a complete disaster, I might let you know in the next blog.
My R/1 class are currently Fairy Tale Fixers. I used Tim Taylor's planning as a starting point and went from there. Our first commission was to find a small boy called Jack; his mother had seen him climbing a beanstalk but was concerned that he hadn't yet come down. Added to this, the beanstalk had fallen down. The children made beanstalks, ladders, jet packs and planes and travelled up into the clouds. We spotted the castle, went in, found Jack and rescued him.
In the interests of sharing: one of the most effective and pleasing parts of this commission was just before we entered the castle. I drew a large wooden castle-esque door onto my interactive screen while the children watched. They began to identify what it was and where it was. I then drew a letter box onto the castle door. I said something like: 'so if this is the door to the giant's castle, could this be his letter box?' The children agreed.
Then I said, 'of course, it's a long way up for us. But if you stood on each other's shoulders and peered through it, I wonder what you'd see?'. As the children started sharing ideas I got a large letter-box-shaped piece of paper and laid it along the carpet. I invited children to peer through the letter box and draw what they could see on it. Myself and the other adults got involved to help to scaffold some of their ideas. At one point (luckily, not too soon) one child said she could see Jack, locked in a box. This was good because I hadn't actually decided how to get from 'looking through the letter box' to 'finding Jack.'
I asked the children if they could pause for a minute and told them this news. We stepped through the letter box, into the castle and found Jack. Along the way - after preparing the children for this - we also found the giant who was quite sad at having lost his golden egg. Etc.
Now
Our current client is a goat who needs to cross the river. The troll, who had once been seen floating down the same river, was back and was very anti-goat. The children, of course, built bridges and planned to make boats and it was all good. Then we had a session of making a floating boat, especially for my Year 1 children, before writing instructions for the goat on how to cross the river.
This brings me to the present day.
What I want to do is a) show children their writing has a purpose b) get the goat to cross the river c) introduce tension in the form of the troll making an appearance and d) stop the children from trying to shoot (or otherwise kill/maim) the troll.
I don't have a particular outcome in mine: it's more to move the story on. I also don't have a lot of time to do this - we have school trips and mother's day things and other interruptions on the horizon.
Thoughts and possibilities, in no particular order
* A 'film' convention (two?) of the goat reading the instructions, building a bridge and/or a boat, crossing the river but stopping and staring in horror at something (the troll, implied). After discussion of the video, the children step in to the story. Perhaps the troll could be represented by an adult.
* Seeing the troll: again, possibly convention two; possibly looking through binoculars, spotting the goat crossing the river, mumbling and moaning. This could be followed by the children meeting the troll and talking to him about his concerns about goats crossing the river.
* Convention nine (a drawing seen in the making): I'd begin drawing the troll and say something like 'There was once a lonely troll who lived under a bridge.' I could invite children to contribute to this drawing. From here, children could represent the troll and could see the goat (ie. our client) crossing the water. The children could then decide what should happen next and could play out their stories this way.
* Adult in role as the goat/client - the role present - coming back to the Fairy Tale Fixers' office to describe a terrible thing that happened (for example, he made the boat but as he was crossing the river, along came the troll and capsized it..).
I don't know which of these I'll use, but its been useful to think it through and, if it isn't a complete disaster, I might let you know in the next blog.
Comments
Post a Comment