Children were asked to work with partners to creatively draw a mythical creature of their choice. The outcome of these sketches was inspiring and the children had used their previous knowledge of mythical characters to design their character well. Using art allowed the children to express their own thoughts well and allowed the children to work well together.
Following this the children then used the question dice to generate a set of questions they would like to ask their character. This enabled children to use a variety of question words which they were able to structure well and use the correct punctuation. This allowed the children to think about their character as a whole and they could make personal links to their learning.
The next day we discussed our mythical creatures and evaluated their needs. We then mind mapped a variety of ideas as a whole class of where our creatures could live. The children challenged their learning here as they had to make sure their creature could adapt to their habitat. This lesson then allowed the children to use a variety of art materials to construct a home box for their mythical creature. This provided the opportunity for the children to know their character in detail and that it scaffolded their understanding when using adjectives to describe them. The children were very positive when doing this activity and expressed that they liked involving artwork to help their learning in literacy.
Following the children’s artwork the children then had to write a character description on their mythical creature. This was very successful as the children had engaged with the art activities in the week that had not only inspired their learning but had allowed them to be autonomous learners and create a character in greater detail. The writing outcomes were at a very high standard and all learners were clearly challenged as they were implementing a range of writing devices in their description.
Good for: Descriptive writing, character profiles, empathy