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Summary for Lesson 1
In today’s lesson we began work on The Firework Maker’s Daughter, thinking today about the setting and genre. We began with a fantastic discussion on what the class did and did not enjoy in the novel before thinking about where it is set (Indonesia). We learned about Indonesia and its history and then moved on to thinking about how Philip Pullman had described this story as a fairytale, debating whether we agreed. Finally we watched a video by Michael Rosen outlining what a fairytale entails and the class came up with their own amazing modern fairy-tales which were brilliant! Well done everyone for all your creative and wonderful work, see you next week 🙂
Fairytale video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9UpmYwvLOY
Homework
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Why did Lila want to become a firework maker?
I think Lila wanted to be a firework maker so badly because she loved to invent fireworks like the Tumbling Demons and the Shimmering Coins for the happy new year festival display. When she was small she toddled and laughed as the fire flared and the sparks danced. Also, one of Lila’s biggest dream was be a proper firework maker and being famous. She was inspired by her father because he knew a lot about the ingredients and the power of firework powder and oil.
Wk1 homework from Emma Chan
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Hi Beth, Please see my homework below:
Lila wanted to be a firework-maker because her father was one. When she was little, she enjoyed listening to the sparks, and the fizzing of the fuses. She wanted to be a firework maker more than ever because she was told a secret about firework making:every good firework maker needed royal sulphur to succeed in making fireworks. Lila’s father got put in jail, because he helped the white elephant to escape from the master. To save her father from execution, she needed royal sulphur to win the firework competition.
Ethan
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Dear Beth，
Here is my homework for this week:
I think that Lila wants to be a firework maker so badly because her dad might be proud of her creations like the Tumbling Demons and Shimmering Coins. Additionally, she might also have wanted to continue the family tradition after her father had passed on. The level of her experience in firework-making is already exceptional, considering her young age, and it would only be natural if she had wanted to continue this work for life. This is evident as she keeps asking her father if she is a proper firework maker or not. I think that she will not stop asking until she gets the answer to her questions.
Have a good day and see you next week!
Kind Regards,
Chenxi
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Summary for Lesson 2
In today’s class we continued our work on The Firework Maker’s Daughter, thinking today about the characters, themes and big ideas in the book. We began by discussing whether we always thought Lila would succeed and moments in which we worried for her character, before writing a survival guide for her to bring on her journey. We then analysed the passage where she meets Razvani, digging into his character and coming up with interview questions for him. The class completed an excellent hot-seating task before finally playing around with the narrative perspective of the novel, imagining how Razvani would perceive Lila given all their work on understanding him. Amazing work today everyone, well done for your passionate ideas and fantastic imaginations, especially in the hot seating exercise with the interview of Razvani’s character! See you next week 🙂
Homework
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Dear Beth,
Here is my homework. I hope that you like it.
I think that Lila is is brave because she has to have a lot of courage to go on that long journey; determined because she didn’t give up on her dreams to become a proper firework-maker just because the journey to Razvani’s lair was extremely difficult to complete, or even when she got hurt many times; but can also rush into doing things, sometimes without thinking about it. I think that she has not changed a lot during this story, and will not ever change her personality in the future, after this story has ended.
Have a nice day and see you next week!
Thank you very much,
Chenxi
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Summary for Lesson 3
In today’s lesson we finished our work on The Firework Maker’s Daughter thinking about the hero’s journey and how we can map this onto the structure of the book. We learned about this literary structure before thinking about how it applies to Lila’s adventure. The class then created wonderful heroic characters of their own, imagining conversations between their characters and Lila from the book. Finally we transformed this into playscripts which the class did beautifully, thinking about how a play script differs from a book and digging deep into the relationship between the characters they had created and Lila. Lovely work today everyone, particularly when thinking about heroic journeys! Really excellent contributions- you all worked super hard today. See you next time 🙂
Hero’s Journey video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siulX5JkIwI
Script writing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixppshnt_x0
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 4
In today’s class we began with a historical take on our second book The Wild Way Home. The class began by evaluating their immediate thoughts and feelings on the book, which they did beautifully using some great examples to help argue their points. We then dug into the history of the Stone Age, thinking about using the class’s prior knowledge, ideas from the book, and notions from a BBC video to help us. The class did a great job on this- delivering some amazing descriptions of what it may have been like to have been alive at the time. Finally we analysed some different ideas about Stone Age living, before finally discussing where we would go if we could travel in time. Lovely work today everyone, particularly on your fab diary entries. Keep up the great work, remember to finish the book if you haven’t already, and see you next week 🙂
Stone Age video we watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWHCyyWCCLc
List of different genres: https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/kid-friendly-guide-to-new-reading-genres.html
More genres to research: https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/harperkids/childrens-book-genres
Homework
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Dear Beth,
Here is my homework for Lesson 4:
I think that The Wild Way Home is historical fiction. I think this because it is from the Stone Age, which is a very very very long time ago. It tells us about things that happened a long long time ago, and most of the story is set in the Stone Age. It is also very very real and the things in the story all seem real except for the part when Charlie travels back into time, so it is still not realistic fiction. The book also has some information of what happened in the Stone Age, which makes the book a little bit about history.
I hope you liked my homework, Beth. Have a nice day!
Thank you for the good lesson,
Chenxi
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Summary for Lesson 5
In today’s lesson we continued our work on The Wild Way Home, thinking about some of the key ideas and themes within the book and how the author expresses these through the inclusion of the W. B. Yeats poem The Song of Wandering Aengus that she opens her novel with. We studied the Yeats poem, comparing its message and themes to those of the book, before reading an interview with the author where she discusses her reasoning behind her decision to use it to introduce her story. The class then wrote their own brilliant versions of a poem to open the story, thinking about the kinds of ideas they would want to communicate to the reader in order to set the scene. Everyone worked enthusiastically today and the class was incredibly focused and creative. Great work from everyone- especially with your fantastic poems! Keep up the brilliant job 🙂
Poetry video we watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w8PLcYP0sU&t=47s
P.S. The Mandel Museum worksheet is attached below
Homework
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Dear Beth
This is Chenxi’s Week 5 homework. Thank you for your wonderful lesson. Have a nice day.
Regards
Chenxi
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Dear Beth,
Here is my homework for lesson 5. I took some words from Latin and made them into new ones. Have a nice day.
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Summary for Lesson 6
In today’s class we completed our work on The Wild Way Home, focusing on character study and ideas around interpreting the novel creatively using various writing tasks. We began by discussing characters, thinking about the similarities and differences between key characters and what made certain characters the students’ favourites. We then moved on to the class creating their own characters who could fit into the world of the book, which they all did beautifully. Finally we did some close textual analysis on a passage from the book, discussing the semantic field of the extract and then creatively interpreting it from the perspective of the hunter characters. As a final activity, the class summed the book up in one sentence, wonderfully interpreting the themes and thinking deeply about the message. Everyone worked fantastically today- there was loads of energy and exciting ideas in class and I loved hearing everyone’s thoughts and contributions. You all shared some amazing ideas- keep up the wonderful work. Remember to read Anne of Green Gables for next week 🙂
Map worksheet: https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/TWWH_-_Map.pdf
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 7
In today’s lesson we began our work on Anne of Green Gables, thinking about what we liked and disliked about the book and trying to imagine the setting of the novel as it would have been in 1908. We spoke about the life of the author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and how the influences of her childhood can be seen in the story itself, before discussing Canada at this time and how it was different to our world today. We learned how the context of the early 1900s, and from this, the class wrote some gorgeous descriptive passages putting themselves in Montgomery’s shoes and envisaging the world of early 20th-century Canada. Finally, we spoke about Montgomery’s writing process, thinking about how she drew inspiration from the people and events around her and thought about how we could apply that to our own lives and writing. Lovely ideas today everyone, well done for your amazing writing in particular which was super creative. Keep up the wonderful work and I’ll see you all next week 🙂
Canada in history video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBUBzIcj4g8
Homework
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Dear Beth,
Here is my homework for this lesson. I hope that you have a nice day! Bye, and see you next week!
Kind Regards,
Chenxi
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Summary for Lesson 8
In today’s class we continued our work on Anne of Green Gables, digging deeper into the events of the novel and thinking particularly about characterisation. We began by considering how the author creates immediate sympathy from the reader for Anne through her initial rejection by the Cuthberts, discussing why the author chooses to put Anne in such a difficult position and concluding that it makes the reader care about her character and condemn the sexism of the 1900s. We then spoke about character analysis, drilling into the key traits, motivations and role played by several characters in the novel and examining how we can analyse these ideas in order to make more sense of the novel and the author’s intentions. Finally, we completed a creative task using this as inspiration which the class did really well on, picking apart the key things about each character that make them unique. Wonderful work today everyone, very well done for all your fab ideas and concentration throughout. See you next week 🙂
Character analysis video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRhteCMgYoU
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 9
In today’s class we completed our study of Anne of Green Gables. We looked at ideas such as genre today, and the students wrote their own versions of the novel in a genre of their choice, ranging from myth to autobiography to drama to non-fiction. We then spoke about what they would want to ask particular characters if they could, thinking about details they still want to learn from the book, before finishing with a reflection on the themes, messages and lessons to be learned from the story. Really lovely ideas today everyone, particularly when you re-wrote the story in a genre of your choice, such creative work! See you next week for the Little Prince 🙂
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 10
In today’s lesson we began our work on The Little Prince, thinking about the key ideas and themes explored in the book and evaluating the class’s response to the story. The students began by highlighting wonderfully the things they did and did not enjoy in the book before moving on to creating a semantic field that encapsulated the central motifs and ideas in the story. They then learned a little about the author and historical context surrounding the novel before completing a hot-seating exercise, using their inference skills to help answer questions from the perspective of the author. Finally, we analysed a passage from the beginning of the book, thinking about the message behind the first chapter and the notion of looking at the world through a child’s lens. Fab work today everyone- I particularly loved your hot-seating work, so imaginative! Keep up the amazing job, see you next week 🙂
Homework
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Hi Beth,
Here is my homework from lesson 10! hope you enjoy the rest of your Easter Holidays!
Kind regards,
Jerry.
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Summary for Lesson 11
In today’s lesson we continued our work on The Little Prince, thinking about the genre of the story and the subtle messages the author includes throughout. We began with some work on theme, analysing a passage from the story to get to the bottom of how the author uses themes of love, community and responsibility within the book through the symbol of the rose- the class analysed this beautifully, thinking carefully about the meaning behind the passage and their own personal feelings towards it. We then completed work on genre, identifying the genre of the story and playing around with switching it up, with the class writing some fantastic re-workings of the story with a new genre in mind. Brilliant and passionate work today everyone- really sophisticated ideas throughout. Keep up the great work and see you next time 🙂
Video on theme that we watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY9AdFx0L4s
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 12
In today’s class we finished our work on The Little Prince, thinking about characterisation in the novel and what we can learn from the different constructions of character throughout the story. We began with a mini class on character analysis and what elements of a character need to be considered, discussing elements such as their personality and challenges- which the students then applied to their own thinking. We then looked at learning moral lessons from characters, before the class completed a writing exercise thinking about putting themselves in the Little Prince’s shoes. Finally, we discussed tragedy, questioning the end of the book and its effect. Amazing work today and over the past twelve weeks everyone- it has been so much fun working together and I will see you in the next course 🙂
Homework
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Dear Beth,
This is my homework. Hope you have a supercalifragilisticiousexpialidocious day and see you soon!
Thank you,
Chenxi
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