As part of our new writing scheme, we plan in Immersive days. These may be practical, sometimes drama-based or may involve watching and discussing some high-quality videos related to their writing. They really bring the topic to life for the children, help them to imagine being somewhere else or someone else and enable them to use the strong language we would like them to use in their writing. When children are sparked and enthusiastic, it is so much more fun to write!
In our recent block based on a book called Whale (by Ethan and Vita Murrow), one of our immersive days involved discovering our main character Lucy’s rucksack. What might be inside? Children took it in turns to take out and look at the contents, which included a map, compass, screwdriver and a mysterious letter. What might Lucy be doing? Where? And why? Everybody was very excited!
Another immersive lesson involved watching some awesome Blue Planet footage on whales at sea. The children loved hearing the expert voices of Sir David Attenborough and Steve Backshall. Quite a few of them came in the following morning with even more whale facts! By now, everyone in the class understood why our character Lucy was so passionate to go out to sea and spot a real-life whale.
Our next immersive day involved a team effort to create a boat from scratch using recycled materials. The challenge? It needed to hold a 200 g weight and stay afloat for 20 seconds. The children werable to empathise with Lucy after her boat was damaged in a terrible storm.
The children are now really excited about writing their own whale-spotting stories. Watch this space!
