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PRIMARY SCHOOL PROGRAMMES

LITERACY PROGRAMMES

“Vibrant, inspiring work, it’s given me a lot of ideas for how to liven up literacy hour.”  Grazebrook School

Year Three: 

Greek Myths: Using masks, dance and drama bring these amazing adventures to life.

• Labours of Heracles
• Theseus and the Minotaur
• Perseus and Medusa
• Jason and the Argonauts

“Magical environment, which stimulated a number of children who find it difficult to focus during Literacy Hour.”  Redlands School

Traditional Tales: Study the similarities between certain stories and then have a go at creating your own.
• Hen and Fox stories
• Goat stories
• 3 Brothers story
• Grimm’s Tales
• Anderson Tales

Poetry: Explore and have fun with language.
• Weather types and where they occur, what they do
• Weather Monsters – personification
• Seasons and how they make us feel – a sensory experience
• News reports on disasters – narrative verse

“All leaders were professional, helpful and displayed talent. Ruth was such a poet! It was inspiring.”

Year Four:

Historical Novels, the Tudors: How can we use an historical setting to create a story?
• Henry V111 and wives
• Social history – education, fashion, illness & cures, etc.
• Exploration of the Seas – Raleigh, Drake, etc
• Creating own story set in Tudor times

Fantasy Stories: Escape into magical lands where anything can happen – free the imagination in a guided and safe way.
• Chocolate land
• Bird with the Colourful Feathers
• Outer Space – It’s Earth but not as we Know It
• Undersea – Mermaids & Sunken Ships

Stories from Around the World: Help bring these tales to life in appropriate ways, acknowledging the culture from which they came.
• African – Anansi stories, Dreamtree
• Australian – Tiddalick
• Caribbean – Little Red Fish
• European – Twelve Months, Talking Eggs, or other
• Asian – The Stonecutter or Dragon stories
• North American – Sedna, Turtle stories
• Indian – Tiger Child, Birbal’s Tales

“Very well organised. A range of practical experiences of storytelling as well as allowing them to express their own creativity. Lots of opportunity for teamwork. A good way to consolidate previous work on adverbs and synonyms in a stimulating and fun way.”  Harry Gosling School

Year Five: 

Set Authors – Roald Dahl: Does knowing the author help us understand the book?
• Autobiography
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Witches
• George’s Marvellous Medicine
• James and Giant Peach
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Creating own story in Dahl style, using any of his characters

“I learnt new things about my favourite author Roald Dahl.”                8-year old child

“Excellent – pitched just right, children never got too over excited, were on task and had loads of fun doing it.”

Poetry – the Emotions: Exploring the wonderful world of words and their meaning and sound.

• Similes for how we feel
• Alliteration – Using lead letter of the emotion
• Personification – being the emotion
• What makes us feel different emotions – Narrative verse
• Performing poems – choral speech, physicalisation, etc

Traditional Tales & Myths: The importance of telling stories in emotional and moral development.

• Myths that explain nature e.g. How the …. Got its ….
• Moral stories e.g. Birbal’s tales, Aesop’s tales
• Emotional stories – tales of loss, sad stories, e.g. The Little Red Fish, Dogger, Eric Carle stories, Moon, Sun & Earth
• Creating own stories reflecting a modern issue/dilemma through fantasy characters

“Children were very interested and motivated to complete the activities. Good opportunity to see things they never see. Obviously a great deal of thought has gone into literacy activities.”  St Annes School

Year Six:

Set Authors – Roald Dahl: Discover the man behind the stories, what will your stories reflect of your life?
• Autobiography – how used in his novels
• The Twits
• Mathilda
• Boy

Fiction Genres – Stories from Around the World: What difference does taking a different genre make – do we know what styles we like – have we explored all the genres and found one we identify with or like?
• Comic Stories – Anansi, Clever Fox, etc
• Heroic Stories – George and the Dragon
• Adventure stories –
• Romantic Stories –
• Sci Fi – Phillip Pullman novels
• Moral stories – Talking Eggs,
• Horror Stories – Goosebumps
• Sporting Tales –

Journalism – Myths & Legends: How do we turn events into journalism? Can we report back on events accurately, with photographic evidence and interviews?
• King Arthur’s legends
• Beowolf & Norse myths
• Celtic Myths
• News Reports, Interviews, Editorials, Documentaries

Poetry: Creative Writing explored: Using some sample poems to give ideas for themes to be used in their own writing, these sessions lead to a clearer understanding about the language and performance of poetry.

“The poem was engaging and its presentation enthralled the children. The use of tableau, movement, voice and alliteration motivated and stimulated the children to be creative risk takers and prepared them well for the poetry writing exercise. The creativity shown in the children’s work was evidence of the great success of this session.”  Mr A. Woolley, Dulwich Village School, London.

NUMERACY PROGRAMMES

Year Three:

Dogger – Using Shirley Hughes’ story the children develop money skills by going to the school fete to find Dogger. The class divide into two groups with half becoming the stall holders and half the customers. They work out how much to charge for their stall and how to give a special offer. Customers keep an account of how much they spend and have to check they’re given the right change. At the end both stall holders and customers have to do their accounts and see if their money bags tally.

A fun 10 week programme.

Year Four:

Alice In Wonderland – Using this traditional story to engage the children in a variety of maths exercises. Children meet various characters from the story, each one setting a different problem for them. White Rabbit needs them to redecorate his house so the children make the wallpaper designs to scale. Caterpillar gives directions and distances to Mad Hatter’s house which the children have to chart and physicalise to scale. Mad Hatter needs help with his accounts. The Queen of Hearts needs help in the kitchen with weights and measures. A series of challenges meets the children at each stage of the story but the characters they meet make it a fun learning experience.

Over a period of 10 x 1 hour sessions the children get to know the story and put their maths to practical use.

Year Five:

Deathtrap Dungeon – King Arthur’s Quest

Merlin begins the story by telling the children they need to find the Elixir of Life to save King Arthur’s life for he is mortally wounded. In order to find it they have to venture into the Deathtrap Dungeon’s where various mathematical challenges await them. As they enter different chambers by following their map they have to work out perimeter and area tasks to gain the codes to gain certain items they need to exchange for the potion. Their mental arithmetic is put to the test as they work in teams to compete for the prize jewels on offer!

A series of 10 x 1 hour sessions in which the children’s confidence in maths improves.

Year Six:

Gulliver’s Travels

As the children travel from Lilliput to other far off lands they handle different mathematical information and solve a variety of word problems along the way – from how much rope is need to tie up Gulliver in Lilliput to how far he must have travelled off course if the wind was blowing at a certain strength. Puppets of both Lilliputians and giants help engage the children in this fictional exploration of a variety of mathematical problems.

A series of 10 x 1 hour workshops to prepare students for their SATS exams.

HISTORY PROGRAMMES

Victorians: Using poetry, drama and dance discover the London of Dickens’ day. Use authentic costumes and props with some Victorian style masks to create your own social dramas reflecting life in this period.

Egyptians: Journey back in time and solve the hieroglyphic clues to enter the world of the Dead where you’ll meet Anubis. Will you get out alive? Learn all about scarabs, the Devourer, sarcophagus, parchment and other Egyptian terms and gods in this adventurous project.

Tudors: Join the explorers as they travel the seas and discover new lands. Meet Henry V111 and some of his wives. Using masks and drama we explore this age of discovery.

Medieval: Will you pass the test to graduate from a lowly squire to a gallant knight? A series of challenges awaits in this adventure. Merlin’s world comes to life – who can you trust?

SCIENCE PROGRAMMES

James Bond: Help Q devise some new gadgets to get James out of a tricky predicament. Experiments in floating/sinking; projection; traction; etc.

Bees and Pollination: A fascinating incite into the world of bees. Hear how the storyteller became a bee and what she discovered! Watch a set of slides explain still more and study the anatomy of the bee by observing the giant bee sculpture. Using willow and tissue paper make your own hexagonal cells and accurate bee designs.

GEOGRAPHY PROGRAMMES

Rivers: A carefully crafted adventure which takes the children on a journey where they learn about different river features.

Maps & Map Making: A pirate adventure will need you to navigate the seas accurately and make some new maps to warn others of the dangers lurking under the surface, and maps to show where the treasure is of course!

TOPIC BASED PROGRAMMES

Chocolate: Enter chocolate land and meet the spirit of the Cacao Tree who needs help in stopping the Nut Weevils eating all the cacao beans. Join a team of clever insects to forge a plan of attack and overcome the evil Nut Weavils.