Sorry to wake you from your slumber, teachers, but before you close that heavy-lidded eye, roll over and drift back into holiday dreams, take a sneaky look at this week's bulletin with wonderful ideas for teaching creative fiction. This week's resources are for the fantastic picture book Wolves by Emily Gravett. Consider your inspiration for your first literacy unit of the year well and truly ticked off. Well done you. Now back to sleep...
This magical book is a great example of how fiction and non-fiction can be combined in a text. We follow the journey of rabbit's imagination as he immerses himself in a new book about a bunny's most feared predator, the wolf. As we consider where his reading and his imaginings meet, this book is the ideal launch pad for a discussion about the very nature of imagination. This might sound a bit on the complex side for KS1, but the clever writing and structure (not to mention the vast array of rabbit puns) provide a clear model for children to experiment with.
In brief: Have you tried?
Ideas for talking and thinking: Guide the children through a discussion on the nature of imagination: What is it? Who has it? What makes it work?
Ideas for writing: Use this book's cross-overs between fiction and non-fiction as a guide for developing your own prey and predator encounters!
Ideas for art: Using charcoal to experiment with mark making techniques, use the book's illustrations to inspire some animal drawings to accompany your writing. See examples on my Pinterest board here.
Enjoy!
Stefan