Teachers Resources: Set One
This is the first of two teachers’ resource packs created especially for ‘Our Read’ 2011.
These resources are ideal for inspiring preparatory work to be undertaken with pupils before
reading The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce. The first two resources (A Different
Perspective and Map Your Imagined World) are linked and work best in the given order.
Take photos of your local area and create alternative realities through narratives
(i.e. a close up of a puddle becomes a giant lake in another land). Some images
should play with scale as well as context. Props can also be used to create these
effects.
Aims
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To encourage pupils to creatively engage with their surroundings and their local
environment.
For pupils to become confident using different photographic techniques.
To encourage the use of imagination as a starting point for a creative process as
well drawing on first hand observation and experience.
For pupils to understand the importance of collecting visual information to help
them develop their ideas.
To encourage pupils to express their ideas both visually and in writing.
To encourage pupils to explore the relationship between context, meaning and
scale in photography and other media.
Resources and Research
We have created a presentation (Powerpoint or PDF) which features Polaroid style
photographs which can be used as examples or as a starting point for creative writing.
Download from http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/content/primary-schools or
http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/content/secondary-schools
Learning Activities
1. Pupils explore their school and local environment, taking photographs from unusual
perspectives and playing with ideas of scale. The key aim is to create imaginative
images, which the pupils can present in their writing as part of an alternative reality or
imagined space. For example:
• Flowers in the school grounds could become part of overgrown parkland, a
rainforest or a mystical garden.
• Doorways or stairs could become entrances and passageways in grand houses,
palaces or even enchanted worlds.
2. Pupils can describe their photographs and create stories to go with them, exploring
the imagined places and scenes for which they have created a visual record.
3. Alternatively you could use the photographs provided with this resource as a starting
point for creative writing. The Polaroid style photographs which we have provided with
this resource are numbered and could therefore be divided up between pupils. For
example, one group could create a narrative around images 1, 2 and 3 and another
group could concentrate on images 4, 5 and 6. The Power Point presentation of the
photographs includes a larger version of each photograph. This presentation can be
viewed via your class white board on a loop or printed off.
Pupils can consider an appropriate and appealing way to display their photographs and
writing together, to present their imagined world to a viewer.
Identified curriculum links at KS2 and KS3
KS2:
Art and Design: 1.a, 1.b, 1.c, 2.b, 3.a, 3.b, 5.a, 5.b, 5.c.
English (Writing): 1.a, 1.b, 1.e, 2.a, 5.b, 6.a, 9.a, 9.b, 9.c, 9.d, 11, 12.
KS3:
Art and DesignKey Concepts: 1.1 a, 1.1 b, 1.1 c, 1.2 a, 1.2 b, 1.4 b.
Key Processes: 2.1 a, 2.2 f.
Range and Content: b.
Curriculum Opportunities: a, b, c.
EnglishKey Concepts: 1.1 a, 1.1 d, 1.2 a, 1.2 b, 1.2 c.
Key Processes: 2.3 a, 2.3 b, 2.3 c, 2.3 d, 2.3 f, 2.3 p.
Range and Content: 3.3 a, 3.3 d.
Curriculum Opportunities: 4.3 a, 4.3 b, 4.3 c, 4.3 d.
Learning objectives
Pupils should...
• Work together to compare ideas and approaches.
• Be encouraged to think creatively utilising both experience and imagination.
• Develop their ideas, take risks and to learn from mistakes.
• Identify appropriate ways in which to express their ideas by exploring different
materials and processes.
• Make positive links between their own artwork and the possibility for extension
through creative writing.
• Be encouraged to utilise a wide and inventive vocabulary to describe the
alternative realities they have created in their photographs.
• Imagine and explore feelings and ideas through creative language to convince
the reader of their alternative reality.
• Consider the most effective and appropriate way to display and present their
finished work.
Make a map of your local area that shows the locations in the photos but
references them by their new invented names.
Aims
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To encourage pupils to creatively engage with their surroundings and their local
environment.
To encourage pupils to engage with the geography (and history) of their local area.
To learn about accurate map making in a creative way.
To encourage the use of imagination as a starting point for a creative process as
well drawing on first hand observation and experience.
Resources and Research
Pupils should complete the activities set out in “A Different Perspective” first. They can
then extend their ideas by setting out their images and narrative in the format of a map.
Learning Activities
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Pupils can research the geography of their local area and school grounds by
employing secondary sources of information and by going out and exploring it as a
class.
By investigating its physical and human characteristics, pupils can build up a
familiarity and knowledge which they can then employ through map making. The
idea is that they create accurate maps to scale of the local area or school grounds.
But these maps
should feature the locations which they have previously photographed in their new
imagined contexts. So, for example, the school flower bed becomes the magical
rainforest. A puddle in a local park becomes a mystical sea.
Pupils can label their map in the appropriate way but referencing the imagined world
which feature in their photographs.
Identified curriculum links at KS2 and KS3
KS2:
Geography: 2.a, 2.c, 2.d, 2.e, 3.a, 3.b, 3.f, 6.b.
English (Writing):1.a, 1.b, 1.e, 2.a, 5.b, 6.a, 9.a, 9.b, 9.c, 9.d, 11, 12.
KS3:
GeographyKey Concepts: 1.1 a, 1.1 b, 1.2 b.
Key Processes: 2.1 a, 2.1 b, 2.1 e, 2.3 a, 2.4 a.
Range and Content: b, c, e, f.
Curriculum Opportunities: b, d , h , i.
EnglishKey Concepts: 1.1 a, 1.1 d, 1.2 a, 1.2 b, 1.2 c.
Key Processes: 2.3 a, 2.3 b, 2.3 c, 2.3 d, 2.3 f, 2.3 p.
Range and Content: 3.3 a, 3.3 d.
Curriculum Opportunities: a, b, c, d.
Learning objectives
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For pupils to become confident in their knowledge of their local environment and
understand it’s physical and human characteristics.
To encourage the use of appropriate geographical vocabulary and ask geographical
questions.
To employ secondary sources of information for example aerial photographs and the
internet.
For pupils to become confident in drawing maps to scale.
To encourage the planning and development of ideas.
For pupils to be confident in employing their geographical skills in a creative way.
For pupils to be confident in employing a wide ranging vocabulary to express their
ideas.
To write about the same ideas for different purposes i.e. map labelling as opposed
to creative writing.
To encourage creative connections between ideas and experiences.
Learn about the history of Mongolia (Ghengis Khan), its physical geography (the
Steppe) and its culture (nomadic lifestyle, horses, religion & beliefs, food).
Aims
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For pupils to gain a detailed knowledge and understanding of Mongolia; its history,
geography and culture.
For pupils to be able identify the social, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity that
exists across the world by comparing and contrasting Mongolia with the UK.
Resources and Research
These websites can be used as starting points:
History of Mongolia
Information from the BBC
• Mongolia’s history:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1235560.stm
• A timeline for key events:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1235612.stm
• A Mongolian fact file:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1235560.stm#facts
Geography of Mongolia
• Google Earth is a fantastic resource for exploring Mongolia’s landscape and
scenery.
http://earth.google.co.uk/
• Images of Mongolian landscape with Mongolian music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOSiuZqWum0
• The Lonely Planet travel guide has information on Mongolia, as well as some great
pictures.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mongolia
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mongolia/images
Mongolian culture
• Information on the Mongolian Darhad tribe:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/tribes/darhad/index.shtml
You can watch the episode here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2699736995338639729#
• You Tube has various videos which offer information about Mongolian culture.
Images of Mongolia with a Mongolian children’s song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZyZ8ohaqnc&feature=related
• The Save the Children website information on life for children in Mongolia.
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/mongolia.htm
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/blogs/2010/09/mongolia-i-drew-the-job-lotterybonus-ball/
• This ‘Kids Around the World’ site includes an interview with a Mongolian child.
http://www.katw.org/pages/sitepage.cfm?id=30
• This off-shoot of the UN’s website includes information on life for children in
Mongolia.
http://www.un.org/works/goingon/mongolia/bagii_story.html
Learning Activities
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Pupils can research Mongolia as a class and independently for example, using the
internet and books.
They can create a written fact file accompanied with appropriate images to cover
Mongolia’s history, geography and culture. This could include an investigation into
how life differs in Mongolia for someone their age, compared to their life in the UK.
Identified curriculum links at KS2 and KS3
The history of Mongolia:
KS2:
History: 1.a, 1.b, 2.a, 2.b, 2.c, 4.a, 4.b, 5.a, 5.b, 5.c, 6.
KS3:
History:
Key Concepts: 1.1 a, 1.1 b, 1.2 a, 1.3 a, 1.4 a, 1.5 a.
Key Processes: 2.1 a, 2.2 a, 2.2 b.
Curriculum Opportunities: b, d, e.
The physical geography of Mongolia:
KS2:
Geography: 2.a, 2.c, 2.d, 2.e, 3.a, 3.b, 3.f, 6.b.
KS3:
Geography:
Key Concepts: 1.1 a, 1.1 b, 1.2 b, 1.7 a, 1.7 b.
Key Processes: 2.1 a, 2.1 b, 2.1 e, 2.3 a, 2.4 a.
Range and Content: b, c, e, f.
Curriculum Opportunities: b, d, h, i.
The culture of Mongolia:
KS2:
As above (History and Geography)
R.E.: 1.a, 1.b, 1.d, 3.d, 3.j, 3.m, 3.s
KS3:
As above (History and Geography)
R. E.:
Key Concepts: 1.1.b, 1.2.a, 1.3, 1.4 a.
Key Processes: 2.2 a.
Curriculum Opportunities: a, c, e, g.
Learning objectives
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For pupils to be able to identify and describe key events in Mongolian history, its
physical and human geography and the culture of present day Mongolia.
For pupils to be able to recognise that the past can be presented and interpreted in
different ways.
For pupils to be able to recognise how a country’s past can influence its present and
future.
For pupils to become confident in employing a chronological understanding in their
writing.
For pupils to become confident in using various tools to aid their historical enquires.
For example, the internet, books and if appropriate, museum visits.
To encourage pupils to ask geographical questions and collect and record
geographical evidence.
For pupils to become confident in utilising atlases and globes as well as secondary
sources of information.
For pupils to consider people living in other places and times, with different values
and customs.