Robert Louis Stevenson (1850—1894), novelist and poet, was born and bred in Edinburgh. He wrote some of
the most famous books in the world and is one of the most well-loved and interesting authors of all time. He
wrote poems, stories and novels for children and adults, travelled all over the world, and was gifted with a vivid
and lively imagination. His best-known books are Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,
and Kidnapped. He is known as RLS for short, and RLS Day is celebrated across his home city of Edinburgh
every year on his birthday,13th November.
The next Robert Louis Stevenson Day will take place on Friday 13th November, though we will be celebrating all week,
from 9th—15th November, so that as many schools as possible can take part. This year the theme will be ‘Stevenson on
Stage and Screen’ and we want Edinburgh pupils of all ages
to get involved. Study a Stevenson poem, explore Stevenson
in your local area, host an ‘unbirthday’ tea party, or get your
class to stage a ‘tache mob flash mob (pictured) – have a
look below to find out how your school could be involved. If
you’ve got something planned, make sure you let us know by
emailing [email protected].
Although many resources are cross-curricular, each
resource listed below is colour-coded according to its
main curriculum area.
For more information please visit the following websites:
Curriculum Areas
Health and Wellbeing
RLS day: cityofliterature.com/schools
Expressive Arts
Languages
National Library of Scotland have some great images and information
Religious and moral education
on Stevenson: digital.nls.uk/rlstevenson/
Napier university also have RLS resources including lesson plans:
robert-louis-stevenson.org/schools
Mathematics
Sciences
Social Studies
Technologies
You can see this map of RLS across the world
cityofliterature.com/schools
#RLSDay
[email protected]
Competition
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The transformation scene in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde is one of the most famous cinematic scenes of all time. Can
your students rival it? Watch the Rouben Mamoulian original, challenge your class to better it, and then send us a short video of their
version - lasting no longer than 30 seconds. Each clip should feature
no more than 4 students/ A panel of judges will pick their favourite,
and the winner will have their version shown to the world on RLS
Day 2015. This competition is only for Edinburgh schools.
To enter, please send your clip to [email protected],
with the following information in the body of the email.
(1) School and class (2) Teacher’s name/contact details (3) Permission to use the video in RLS Day publicity —
individual children will not be identified by name (4) Entry name: please pick a group name for each entry so that
it can be identified, e.g. ‘Jekyll’s Revenge’ Please save your clip using the entry name included in the email
body.
Prize: five free tickets to see a Robert Louis Stevenson show at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
Deadline: 5pm, Friday 30th October. The winner will be notified by Friday 6th November.
Free books for your class!
Do your students love vampire fiction? Are you
keen to get them to read more classic literature?
FREE
BOO
KS!
We have copies of Robert Louis Stevenson’s vampire novella Olalla to give away, thanks to Edinburgh Napier University’s Merchiston Publishing degree students – if you’d like some for your class, please
get in touch and let us know how many you would like by emailing
[email protected]. There are only a limited number of copies so
it’s first come, first served!
Languages
cityofliterature.com/schools
#RLSDay
Expressive Arts
[email protected]
ES
SC
LS
HOO
NC
RMA
PE
RFO
Ages 11—18
The Laird of Samoa (schools performance)
Treat your students to a dramatic pilgrimage through RLS’s life at 2pm on Thursday
12th November at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
The Laird of Samoa tells the life story of Robert Louis Stevenson, from his childhood
in Edinburgh to maturity in America and the South Sea islands. Intelligent, patriotic,
freedom-loving: John Shedden brings Stevenson to life in this warm, funny and fastpaced performance. Directed by Mark Taylor with script by John Cargill Thompson
as part of #RLSDay 2015. £6 per pupil, 15% discount for school groups, teachers
go free. Perfect for fourth level/senior phase students studying Stevenson’s work.
Call 0131 556 9579 to book tickets for your class!
Expressive Arts
Languages
Kidnapped: When Kilts Were Banned
Perfect for any third level class studying Kidnapped, this gutsy adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s timeless tale follows young
Davie Balfour, who after the death of his parents leaves home for
the first time only to be double crossed by his devious uncle and
find himself kidnapped. With the help of Scottish Rebel Alan Breck
Stewart, can these two escape the hands of the British Soldiers
and finally confront his sly uncle?
This matinee performance is on Saturday 14 November, 2pm at
the Scottish Storytelling Centre. £6 for children (£8 for adults).
Tickets from 0131 556 9579 or scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk
FREE WALKS FOR SCHOOLS
Colinton Community Conservation Trust (CCCT)
The lovely folk at Colinton Community Conservation Trust
are offering free guided walks in Colinton, exploring the
newly unveiled Stevenson Poetry Trail during 9th—13th
November. The maximum number on each walk is 12,
and students must be accompanied by a teacher. The
walk takes around 1 hour and refreshments are available
at the Swing Cafe in the Dell Room in Colinton Parish Church at the end of the
Social Studies
walk. They have also produced a guide so the walk can easily be teacher-led. To
find out more please email Chris Seiler on [email protected].
cityofliterature.com/schools
#RLSDay
Expressive Arts
[email protected]
All ages
An ‘unbirthday’ party for Robert Louis Stevenson
Most people love celebrating their birthday, but RLS gave his away! In June 1891 Stevenson drew up a mock legal
document which transferred his birthday of 13th November to Annie Ide, the daughter of the American land commissioner in Samoa. She was born on Christmas Day and therefore did not have a ‘proper’ celebration of her own—so
RLS gave her his 13th November ‘unbirthday’ instead. You can read more about this at: lettersofnote.com/2012/06/
i-have-now-no-further-use-for-birthday.html
Every year, the Robert Louis Stevenson Club of Monterey in
California hold their own ‘unbirthday’ celebrations.
We want everyone here in Stevenson’s birthplace of Edinburgh
to celebrate his birthday too!
Invite your class to create their own ‘unbirthday’ party in honour
of Robert Louis Stevenson, on any day during the week of 9—
15 November. Encourage students to do their own research to
learn about Stevenson, and plan a party in his honour—either
for another class, their parents or a community group. Design a
Hawaiian feast given by H M King Kalakaua to Robert Louis
Stevenson and party at Waikiki, Sandwich Islands (CEC)
menu, plan the entertainment —the possibilities are limitless!
To help you out: Arts and Creative Learning at Edinburgh City Council have produced some great tea party resources as part of their Silver of the Stars project. You can use them for free here: Silver of the Stars
We’d love to hear what you have planned—keep us posted by emailing [email protected]
Social Studies
Expressive Arts
Technologies
Health and Wellbeing
Toy Theatres
RLS loved toy theatres and continued to act out stories and
plays with his cardboard theatre even as a teenager. Coming
up with strong characters and intricate plots for these tiny
stages was perfect practice for being a writer – for Stevenson
and for your students!
ACTIVITY: create a toy theatre with your class using this free
printable toy theatres kit from the Victoria & Albert Museum:
vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/make-your-own-toy-theatre/
There is also a video with instructions for how to make your
own from the BBC: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0053nkf
Challenge your class to adapt one of Stevenson’s stories to perform in the theatre. Inspired them by watching one
of the great RLS adaptations of Treasure Island: Muppet Treasure Island, Treasure Planet or Treasure Island.
Expressive Arts
cityofliterature.com/schools
#RLSDay
Languages
[email protected]
All ages: poetry
Stevenson’s Poetry
The Scottish Poetry Library has an excellent introduction to Stevenson and his
poems here: scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/robert-louis-stevenson
The SPL also provide the following free resources for studying ‘My Shadow’ as
part of their National Poetry Day 2015 programme: scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/
connect/national-poetry-day. National Poetry Day is Thursday 8th October, and
the theme this year is ‘light’: this could be a great day to start looking at RLS in
class.
Languages
Expressive Arts
Stevenson and Lighthouses
If you’re interested in developing the theme of LIGHT further, why not
plan a visit to Historic Scotland’s Trinity House in Leith? Robert Louis
Stevenson came from a family of lighthouse engineers, including Robert
Stevenson (1772 – 1850), architect of the Bell Rock lighthouse in the
Firth of Forth. Trinity House in Leith tells the story of those ‘Lighthouse
Stevensons’, and offers learning opportunities for schools – to find out
more get in touch here: trinityhouseleith.org.uk/
Sciences
Social Studies
Lighthouse Poems
As well as Stevenson’s own poems on the theme of light, the following poems by
contemporary authors also take their inspiration from lighthouses: Ken Cockburn’s
Isla of Jura, Gerrie Fellows’ Notation of a Dream Recounted by Connie Renton to
her Grand-daughters, Robin Robertson’s Dumb Show with Candles, Colin Will’s
Night Lights, and Elizabeth Burns’ Solway.
If you’d like to explore and write lighthouse-inspired poetry with your class then
you can use these fantastic free resources from The Poetry Society:
poetrysociety.org.uk/education/poetryclass/
Expressive Arts
cityofliterature.com/schools
Languages
Page 5
#RLSDay
[email protected]
Other resources
Inspired by Stevenson: contemporary literature for teens
One for Sorrow by Philip Caveney: this newly published story for teenagers follows the exploits
of Tom Afflick as he travels back to 1881 to meet Robert Louis Stevenson at the time he is writing Treasure Island. A great way to encourage teen readers to creatively engage with the
works and ideas of Stevenson, Philip is a Live Literature author and runs workshops for
schools: www.scottishbooktrust.com/profile-author/114100 .
There are also classroom resources for One for Sorrow provided by the Scottish Book Trust:
click here to download free teaching resources
Resources for the classroom:
Check Edinburgh school libraries for copies given free to
schools as part of ‘One Book One Edinburgh’ reading
campaigns
For Kidnapped:
Kidnapped, ages 11—14 teaching pack
Kidnapped, ages 11—14 activity sheets
Kidnapped teaching notes for ages 16—18
Kidnapped SBT teaching pack (ages 14+)
For Jekyll and Hyde:
Jekyll and Hyde teaching packs (ages 15+)
For Stevenson’s short stories
For ages 16+ teaching notes
For Treasure Island
Resources from Education Scotland (ages 11+): Stevenson as part of Great Scots
Expressive Arts
cityofliterature.com/schools
Languages
Health and Wellbeing
#RLSDay
Technologies
[email protected]