TP-14.4

www.teachwire.net | 63 TEACH READ I NG & WR I T I NG Exploring silhouettes Roll black ink onto thick card shapes and use to print onto a plain white background. What effects can you produce?What happens if you use thick black paint instead of ink, or add white?What happens if you change the background? Sponge black or grey paint onto white card, then cut silhouettes and arrange to create a collage. Do pupils prefer printing or collage?Why? Use printing or collage to create action scenes inspired by this book.Write about what you’ve done and display alongside your artwork. Could you retell the story using shadowpuppets cut fromprinted card? Picturebook detectives A picturebook like The Hero’s Quest is very carefully crafted. Text and images work well independently but together they have more to say and greater impact, and it’s worth exploring how this is achieved. Observing, questioning, sharing insights and debating interpretations will develop children’s oracy and critical thinking skills, as well as preparing the ground for follow-up activities. What do you notice about the text? Choose your favourite words and images. What kind of rhyme scheme does this poemhave? Read the text aloud, marking Loved this?Try these... v NorseMyths: Tales of Odin, Thor and Loki by Kevin Crossley-Holland and Jeffrey Alan Love v The Atlas of Heroes by Sandra Lawrence and Stuart Hill v Beyond the Deepwoods by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell v Quest by Aaron Becker as storybuilding. Alternatively, children could design, test and produce quest-themed board games based on Snakes and Ladders or make a set of storytelling cubes inspired by The Hero’s Quest. QUEST TRAIL Create a trail with tasks to be accomplished along the route. Plan thoroughly, then provide a map and enough supervision to keep children safe while allowing them to make their own decisions. Theme your trail around a particular story and explore your school, grounds, or local park. Draw your own map of an invented story-quest world, then write a story set there. Share a collection of story-maps from quest-themed books (Lord of the Rings, How To Train Your Dragon, Beyond the Deepwoods). What do they have in common? How do they differ? Which of these storyworlds would you most like to explore? Why? Ruling as you please Look at the ‘kings and queens’ spread. What do you notice?What could these kings and queens be thinking? Generate ideas, then add thought-bubbles to the picture using sticky notes. If kings and queens can rule ‘just as they please’, will their decisions be right? How do rulers and leaders make good decisions? If you were a powerful ruler and could do anything, what would you do? Why?Write stories about leaders whomake selfish or disastrous decisions. Other heroes Share stories about Achilles, Heracles, the Norse sagas, King Arthur, Mulan and other heroes from far away and long ago. What do these stories tell us about their worlds? What can you discover about the cultures that produced them? the rhythm. What happens if you change pace?What do the pictures show that isn’t mentioned in the text?What do the words tell us that isn’t communicated in the artwork? Choose a picture, describe what you can see and share how it makes you feel. Have a go at expressing the effect this creates, or its impact on the book. Is the hero bigger or smaller than other characters and objects?Why? If these images were photographs, where would the photographer be standing to get each shot?What shapes do you notice? Howwould you describe them? Can you spot any straight or curved lines? Do they point at something or frame an object, character or scene? Are the backgrounds white or coloured?Where are the empty spaces? How big are they? Ask children to write about one or more of the spreads, including some of the ideas you’ve discussed. TP Carey Fluker Hunt is a freelance writer, creative learning consultant and founder of Cast of Thousands, a teachers’ resource featuring a selection of the best children’s books and related cross-curricular activities. castofthousands.co.uk