The Tin Forest

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Extension: If your child would like an extra challenge try the word problems in the Resources Folder.

This session is mainly focused on meaningful discussion, however if you would like an extra activity it would be lovely to help your children create a family tree. If you can, get a member of your household to interview you as the old man. They could ask: How are you feeling? Do you like where you live? How would you like to change where you live? Record at least five of the old man’s thoughts and wishes in thought bubbles. If you want to really challenge yourself try to echo the text in his thoughts i.e. “I wish I didn’t live in this wide, windswept place, near nowhere and close to forgotten”.The Tin Forest will provide a starting point for a wealth of writing. Children can devise stories set in wild places (see plan link below); contrast settings of the wasteland and the forest; empathise with the character and write in role; and write persuasively about caring for the environment or explain how plant lifecycles work.

I will be using a windowsill for plant A, an airing cupboard for plant B and the fridge for plant C, it would be great if you could place yours in a similar place to mine so we can make it a fair test. Make sure you label your pots A,B, C. Keep each pot in its chosen place and make sure you water each pot daily- make sure the soil is always moist. If you are unable to plant seeds you can use my photographs I will upload each week to make observations of. This is a three-week Writing Root that uses The Tin Forestby Helen Ward.The sequence of learning begins with children arriving to class to find that rubbish has been emptied out all over the floor!They look at ways that the rubbish could be sifted and sorted, and even recycled into something new.Children will explore the main character and the journey he goes through in clearing up the rubbish around his little house and transforming it into a beautiful forest of tin.Through the Writing Root, children write in role as the old man, producing diary entries and wishes and also write a postcard to him to pass on some advice.The sequence of learning finishes with children writing a persuasive piece to encourage others to protect an area in the local environment.This book would work well alongside learning on conservation, climate change and the plant life cycle. Synopsis of Text: This year we have been working closely with The English hub at St Peter’s Primary in Portishead. They have produced some fantastic lessons to help Year 2 children refresh their understanding of some key grammar concepts. This week the lesson is about questions. You can access it here. Children could draw their own picture of a forest, ‘… near nowhere and close to forgotten filled with all the things no one wanted’ Make a model or collage tin forest Using our book, The Tin Forest as inspiration, draw a picture of your idea of a forest created with recycling which contains a live animal or bird of your choice. Using any medium you have at home (paint, coloured pencils, crayons or collage materials etc) colour the picture using brighter colours to show the difference between the living and the recycling.The old man made animals beginning with‘t’ for his forest. Can you think of any more (eg tortoise, tapir). Suppose the old man was making a forest with animals beg with b? How many can you think of? You could try other letters too. Make a soundscape Possible Support: Those experiencing difficulty with this problem may find it easier if they use the support sheet along with counters to represent the fruit. Teaching Approach B: Questions in this section are the same as in Teaching Approach A, but are organised into several smaller groups. Each group of questions is focused on a smaller part of the text to allow the text to be covered in sections over time. Hello everyone! We hope you are all keeping well and still enjoying the lovely weather! This week we are going to delve a bit further into our topic ‘Into the Wild’.

Role play together: children could imagine they are a reporter (a cardboard tube microphone would help them get in role) and you could pretend to be the old man answering questions, for example about why he made a tin forest. Older children may like to write a newspaper report about the interview with a caption, headline and picture. Make a poster Persuasive posters, information leaflets, postcards, diary entries, wishes, setting descriptions Main Outcome:Although we are focusing on English, it would be remiss not to mention the artistic potential of The Tin Forest. The book could be used as a trigger for some fantastic artwork, exploring contrasts in tone and texture, exploring mixed media or responding emotionally to the story. Maybe your class will be inspired to create a forest of their own!

Listen to the story up to the part where it says ‘but it was a forest just the same’. Pause at the image of the tin forest. Create the same scene as a frozen tableau. Some of your toys could take on the role of the animals that the old man has created and you could take on the role of the old man. If you can get someone to take a photo of your tableau to share with us, we would love to see it!Helen Ward trained as an illustrator at Brighton School of Art, under the direction of well-known children's illustrators such as Raymond Briggs, Justin Todd, Chris McEwan and John Vernon Lord. In 1985, her final year at Brighton, Helen was awarded the first Walker Prize for Children's Illustration. Daily Fluency: Tasks 1 and 2 include a fluency element. Three additional fluency tasks are available in the shared drive. This week, these will focus on the 2, 5 and 10 times tables and related division facts (e.g. if 3 x 5 = 15 the 15 ÷ 3 = 5).