KS1
Key Stage 1
Lesson ideas
KS1
Theme 1: There’s No Place Like Home
Lesson Idea
In someone
else’s shoes...
Activities
Links to KS1 curriculum
Read to the class the paragraph where Dorothy discovers she is away from home.
Get the class to think about what it would be like if they were in Dorothy’s shoes. How would
they feel? How does Dorothy feel?
PHSE

Get them to think of as many adjectives as they can to describe how they would feel if they
discovered they were away from home.


English
 reading comprehension - being encouraged to link what
they hear read to their own experiences
 formation of adjectives
Ask the children to draw a giant shoe and ask them to write one adjective in it.
Introduce WellChild and what we do. [WellChild assembly template]
What are feelings?
Describe Good Witch Glinda and the Wicked Witch. What’s different/similar about them?
To have a heart...
Oz in clay
Get your class on their feet – one side of the room is good, and one side is bad. Read out a
description or an action of each character in the book. Ask the children to move according to
whether the character’s actions are good or bad.
Ask students to design a heart template and each make a pledge of how they should treat
other people. Collate the hearts, and make a wall of pledges. You could even design a Tin
Man to go with it!
Make your own clay characters...get imaginative!
Reading only the descriptions of the characters (no pictures!) to give them inspiration, get the
class to think of how their character might look – get them to sketch their character and label
how it is going to look.
Create your characters!! Use lollipop sticks to create patterns or modelling tools if you
have them! Once completed, do a tour of the room, asking students to describe their
characters (appearance, favourite/worst thing, name, feelings, how they usually move and
where the character would live).
PHSE

good and not so good feelings, a vocabulary to describe
their feelings to others and explain the range and
intensity of their feelings to others
change and loss and the associated feelings
communicate their feelings to others
to recognise what is fair and unfair, kind and unkind,
what is right and wrong
to identify and respect the differences and similarities
between people

English
 Listening comprehension
PHSE

Art


to recognise what they like and dislike
to use drawing and sculpture to develop
and share ideas, experiences and
imagination
to develop a wide range of art and
design techniques
Dress up with Dorothy
Transform your school into the Wizard of Oz! Ask children (and more importantly teachers!) to dress up as a character for a suggested £2 donation. Hold a school assembly
to show everyone that by dressing up, they are raising vital funds to help seriously ill children get home with their families! [WellChild assembly template]
KS1
Theme 2: Help Dorothy home
Lesson idea
Actvities
Links to KS1 curriculum
Dorothy is lost in Oz!!
Geography
 Directions
 Locational and directional language
 Describe features and routes on a map
Which way to Oz?
Direct her out! Using your Interactive Whiteboard, get your students to use directions to
help Dorothy and her friends get out of Oz, avoiding her enemies along the way...
[Interactive Map of Oz]
Maths
 Basic directions
Transform your classroom into Oz.
Choose two volunteers to guide each other through your make believe Oz.
Oz comes to us
One needs to cover their eyes. The other needs to direct the ‘blindfolded’ student
around the class, using directions.
Maths
 Basic directions
You might even want to use some mask templates to transform your students
into the characters!
Now it’s time for the students to come up with their own Oz...
My map of Oz
Using a map template, get your class to design their own map. Don’t forget they can
choose their characters and create a key. [Design your own Oz]
Then, when they’ve finished, ask them to create a set of directions to guide their
characters, using simple compass directions.
Geography
 Devise a simple map; and use and
construct basic symbols in a key
 use simple compass directions
Wizard of Oz Fete
Bring your students’ maps to life at your school fete with a treasure hunt!
Break down the directions that your students created into clues.... students will use these clues to find the hidden treasure!
KS1
Theme 3: Play in a Day
Lesson idea
Activities
Links to KS1 curriculum
Story time: The Wizard of Oz
Story time
Read the story out to the children. Turn off the lights and get them to make shadow puppets
of each of the characters with their hands to retell what they heard. You could even get them
to design their own paper shadow puppets!
English
 retelling key stories, listening to
stories
Preparation for the grand opening of the Wizard of Oz play...
Masquerade mayhem
Get your class showcasing their artistic talents! Create masks, scenery and costumes reading
for your Wizard of Oz play. [Mask template]
Art

to use a range of materials
creatively to design and make
products

perform dances using simple
movement patterns.
Remember to chat to other classes to find out what they’re doing for the play and share out
tasks between classes.
Choreograph
your Oz dance
Dance!
PE
Get your class on their feet and create your own dance routine for your part in the school
play.
Creative Writing
Write a short story
Hold a school storytelling competition. Using inspiration from the book, get your class to write
their own Oz style story. Get them to think about characters, scenery, feelings, and moods.
[Story Competition template]
English
 composition
 in narratives, creating settings,
characters and plot
Remember to get a prize for the winners!
Wizard of Oz Play
Invite parents to the performance and enjoy yourselves! Ask for a £2 donation per ticket. Ask parents if they could make cakes for a bake sale. Offer refreshments on
the night – lemonade booth, cake stand, tea and coffee and perhaps do a raffle too. [Letter to parents]
KS1
Theme 4: Rainbows
Lesson idea
Disappearing
rainbow
Activities
Links to KS1 curriculum
Make a colour wheel spinning top
Give each student a paper plate, and get them to draw six equal parts. Then colour in each
part in the following order (purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red).
Help the children to make a hole in the centre and get them to push their pencil into the hole.
Get spinning and see what happens!
Art

to develop a wide range of art and
design techniques in using colour
Get them to think about why the wheel looks white. Perhaps talk about the colours
of the Rainbow and how they can use the colour wheel in their artwork.
Rainbow
Ask students to draw a drop of rain on an A5 piece of paper.
As a class, have a think about what the students might be able to do to help other people.
Discuss what some of the characters in the Wizard of Oz do to help or hinder others.
Rainbow pledge
Talk about what our WellChild families and get the children to think about what they could do
to help.
PHSE

to think about themselves, to
recognise and celebrate their
strengths and set simple but
challenging goals
Ask each student to write 3 words on their droplet to describe themselves and a short pledge
on the rainbow “I will...” on how they are going to help WellChild.
Create your own Rainbow Wall Display, presenting the class’s pledges. [Please take a
photo and upload it on our Pinterest Schools Board]
Rainbow Run
Organise a sponsored Rainbow Run!!! Get your students to dress up in all the colours of the Rainbow!!!
Rainbow Bracelets
Planning a school fete! Get the class designing their own jewellery and make Rainbow bracelets for donations...
KS1
Theme 5: Broomsticks!
Lesson idea
Activities
Links to KS1 curriculum
Get the class to imagine the Wicked Witch of the West.
What does every witch need to travel around? A broomstick.
The broomstick
inventors
Design your own broomstick. [Design your own broomstick]
Things for the class to think about: materials, speed, colour, dimensions, special
features, specification and a sketch.
Most important of all, don’t forget the customer – the witch!
How can we make our broomsticks fly?
Make it fly!
Explore the force of gravity! How can you defy gravity? How we can make
something more aerodynamic.
Get creative! Make your broomsticks!
The broomstick
maker
Using design specifications/sketch, create your broomsticks!
Get your class to collect different objects to use....maybe even explore outside in
the school garden to see if you can find any natural objects.
Design and Technology:
 design purposeful, functional, appealing products
for themselves and other users based on design
criteria
 generate, develop, model and communicate their
ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mockups and, where appropriate, information and
communication technology
Art and Design
 to use drawing, painting and sculpture to develop
and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
Science
 The pupil can describe the effects of simple forces
(magnetic forces and gravity).
Design and Technology
 Build structures, thinking about how things can be
made more stable

Now for the fun part...go outside and test the broomsticks!
Broomstick sale
Broomstick sale
Price up those broomsticks and get selling them to classmates! Get the children
to vote on their favourite broomstick.
Evaluate against design criteria
Maths
 Money
Flight of the Broomsticks
Sponsored Broomstick Race [Sponsorship form]