| Literacy / Literature Resource Pilot
An initial pilot project conducted by Tracy Barbe and Anthony Brown was a great success complementing, though not strictly delivering, literacy hour objectives. Drawing upon these sessions and in order to gain continuity with the literacy hour we see the potential for this project to be further developed by Language and Literacy professionals. (See pilot sessions Mrs Armitage on wheels)
Background
Two resources already available.
Literacy through walk to school
Produced by Essex county council Dorset county council and the pedestrian association supporting the aims of Travel wise.
Developed for use during the Walk to School campaigns in these two boroughs. Intended to support the literacy hour. Designed to meet the National Literacy Strategy links are made to the national literacy framework document.
ON THE MOVE ( A project pack on integrated transport for the Literacy hour)
Published in connection with the pedestrian associations walk to school campaign supported by Yorkshire electric
Designed for use with upper Key stage 2 pupils. Giving children an opportunity to consider transport in a wider context and encourages them to suggest and investigate possible solutions to some of our current problems. The pack is designed to run over 5 consecutive literacy hour sessions specifically meeting the objectives for Year five, consolidation required for work with year six.
The pack consists of teachers notes Photocopy master sheets, supporting posters and newspaper articles.
Design and artwork for both packs was produced by Indent Graphics Service Wymondham Norfolk.
A resource will also be published in the near future by Sustrans
Our thoughts
Following the reading of these resources we were struck by the lack of reference to fictional works. These fire imagination and enable the children to interpret, understand and experience situations that they have not yet encountered. Forming the basis for discussion, further literacy work and the development of strategies for challenges they might encounter on their route to school and choices that they can make on transport mode.
The Literacy strategy states, among its objectives, that literate pupils should be interested in books, read with enjoyment and evaluate / justify preferences and that through reading and writing should develop their powers of imagination, invention and critical awareness.
With this in mind we accumulated a series of picture books and audio tapes which celebrated walking and cycling and also related to transport, stranger danger and road safety. These formed the basis of literacy sessions for Key stage 1, although they also enhanced the Art & Design, Technology, Maths, PE and PSHE curriculum. The resources were piloted at William Patten school.
Reception
Hallo! How are you? Shigeo Watanabe
Repetition and familiar name recognition. Big class book created by pupils working in pairs writing "hallo … how are you? said … " Hello in different languages on alternate pages. drawing of the people they meet on the street.
We're going on a bear hunt Helen Oxenbury
For joyful repetition, what noises would you make on a journey, fun with written and oral sounds.
Rosie's Walk Pat Hutchins
Literacy work on prepositions. P.E and movement exercises as pupils act out Rosie's walk along an obstacle course for under, over, around, past, through. Some pupils were the obstacles and in groups they had a Rosie go through the course (some sensibly followed by a fox!). A class book was made about the journey to school of an imaginary character. He went under over a bridge, through a tunnel, across a zebra crossing etc, beautifully illustrated with speech bubbles.
Year 1
Whistle for Willie Ezra Jack Keats
Fun in the street. Pupils made a background street scene with collage (eg brick print wallpaper rubbings of street furniture, coloured discs for traffic lights cut outs plants or leaves, foil, material, printing to look like graffiti, real bits of litter etc. in the style of the book's illustrations.
Brainstormed what Willie did. What do pupils like to do? Added pupils own drawings of themselves doing what they like to do in the street. For example, rollerskate, skip, chat, and daydream! Would safety make a difference to what you can do in the street?
Lilly Takes a Walk Satoshi Kitamura
On the way home Jill Murphy
What frightens you on the way to school? What frightens you on the street brainstorm then added to with imaginary things. Wrote a class story with small groups doing a page each- illustrations, text. Created a big book.
Walking Wiggerly Woo tape
Music with my feet. Dancing with actions movement, pace, jogging running on spot. what noises can you make while walking along.
Year 2
Little Red Riding Hood (tape) Jonathon Langleys version
Stranger danger, Wrote a rhyme with or without action of younger children to learn which relates to personal safety. (Rhyming / spelling patterns) Made some posters to go around the school.
e.g. Its alright to say "Hello"
but never go
with someone you don't know.
Try to walk to school
with an adult or a friend
and you will get there safely in the end.
Class book about what a sensible Red Riding Hood would have done!
Road Micheal Rosen
Traffic. This poem was used to look at issues around pollution (noise and fumes), being alone on the road, speed and hazards.
Handa's Surprise Eileen Browne
Journey to a friends. Pupils invited to take an imaginary walking trip to see their friend buying presents en route. Focuses on different types of shops in the community and what you buy from them. Pupils then made an imaginary map of their route with labelled shops. Maths was also integrated into this session as presents are purchased.
Mrs Armitage on Wheels Quentin Blake.
Encouraging cycling to school. The objective being for pupils to imagine and describe ways in which items needed can be carried by bike.The first and last page of the book were shown to the class and each group were asked to discuss and then write a story. These stories were then shared with the rest of the class and then book was read to them. The book was read to the class then photocopies of a bike were given to each pupil, they were then asked to draw pictures of items that they would like to carry on their bikes. Towards the end of the lesson each item was cut out and stuck to a big picture of a bike. Pupils were asked to describe what they had drawn and why as the pictures were stuck onto the bicycle.
See Mrs Armitage on wheels pilot lessons plans:
Cycling Literacy Resources
for Cycle to School Week
Key Stage 1 (year2)
Ideas for teaching "Mrs Armitage on Wheels"
Written & illustrated by Quentin Blake.
Pre-reading :
1. Photocopy the last page ("Whooppeee!") and get pupils to speculate the rest of the story.
Or. as above, using the front cover.
While Reading :
2. With every addition to the bicycle, stop and ask pupils to reiterate what has been added so far (like 12 days of Xmas). Memory game..
After reading :
3. Character work on Mrs Armitage. Many responses to her would be to say she 's MAD, or at least eccentric. BUT she instinctively (though not practically, always) has ideas to solve problems. Give children a list of problems/design briefs. In pairs, children approach each problems, on one hand Mrs Armitage, on the other as a more conventional inventor/designer.
As extension, You could do "vocab. gathering" on board: Mrs. Armitage is ….(eccentric, mad, original, unconventional, unusual, thoughtful - is she clever? How do you define clever?)
More extension, Group in 4 or 5. Ask them to imagine they were a design team. They should first decide for themselves what different roles are needed ( e.g. graphics, "ideas" person, technical expert, co-ordinator …), each take one of these roles and then take on a design challenge.
4. Be like Mrs. Armitage. What would you put on your bike? Individual work. Describe and draw.
Or. as above, split class into 2 groups. One group start off with a pre drawn bike and send it from one pupil to another to add to the inventions so that at the end you have an enormous poster. Other group describes in text the progression. They then swap and do it again.
5. Do some work on Quentin Blake. Get pupils to select appropriate words to describe his style of illustration from a more or less miscellaneous list (scribbly, realistic, detailed, simple, humorous, bold )
How and why are his illustrations funny? Why is he so popular as a children's illustrator/writer?
Compare his illustrations with, say Shirley Hughes or Nick Sharrat.
See Mrs Armitage on wheels pilot lessons plans
School Teacher
Mrs Armitage on Wheels
Quentin Blake
Aims
· To have fun
· Promote the bike as a means of transport
Objectives
· imagination
· description
Resources Required
Photocopy of First and last page, paper and writing materials
Plan
1. Introductions
Tell pupils that will read them a story at the end of the lesson
Guess what the story is from the First and Last page.
2. Imagination
Give photocopies to each table
Explain that they must write a story
3. Share some of stories
4. Read actual story
Ensure show Pupils pictures as read
Collect feedback and books from previous sessions and give feedback forms | 
