In this post, Guess What! author Susannah Reed shares an exciting classroom activity to take your primary students on a fantasy adventure, encouraging them to use their imaginations and practise speaking skills.
Bringing the outside world into the classroom is an important part of Guess What! with its stunning use of photography and real-world video. This theme is also explored in reverse in the stories in Guess What! Levels 1 and 2. Pupils follow the story characters through a magic portal in a treehouse where they have exciting adventures with a funny robot friend called iPal.
Try this visualisation and story activity to take your pupils on a virtual adventure outside their classroom:
1) Before the activity, set the scenario to get pupils’ imaginations working. Ask pupils to close their eyes and silently imagine they are walking in a garden or park when they find a secret treehouse. They go into the treehouse and find a magic portal inside. When they go through this portal, they can travel to any place of their choosing. They step through the portal … Where do they go? What is the weather like when they get there? Who do they see? What do they do?
2) Ask pupils to open their eyes and tell them you’re going to go on a virtual adventure together. If possible, ask pupils to gather around you in a circle. (Alternatively, use an order round the class as you would for any speaking chain activity. Or if you have large classes, use one group to demonstrate the activity and then ask other pupils to work in groups as you monitor.)
3) Pupils can pretend they are entering the magic portal by reciting the rhyme from Guess What! Levels 1 and 2:
All: 1, 2, 3, magic tree,
Clap your hands and come with me.
4) Start the ‘virtual adventure’ yourself and pause so the pupil to your left can add a detail:
T: We’re flying through the magic portal. We’re going to the …
P1: Beach!
5) Take this location and continue the story for the next pupil in the chain to add in a detail about the weather:
T: It’s nice at the beach. The weather is …
P2: Windy.
6) Take this weather type and elicit something you can see:
T: The weather is warm but windy, and we can see lots of …
P3: Kites!
7) Continue this way to elicit:
– An activity: We want to … (fly a kite).
– A problem: But (Oh no!) … (our kite is broken).
– A solution: So … (we make friends with some other children on the beach).
– The ending: The day is ending so we … (say goodbye).
– A feeling: We all feel (happy).
8) Pupils can then return back through the portal to the classroom using the rhyme from Guess What! Levels 1 and 2:
All: 3, 2, 1, that was fun,
Stamp your feet – the magic’s done!
9) Throughout this activity, allow pupils in the circle to ‘bump’ the contribution along if they are not ready to speak:
T: We’re flying through the magic portal. We’re going to the …
P1: Bump!
P2: Beach!
This will make pupils feel more relaxed and confident as they do the activity, as they will know they only have to speak if they want to and are ready.
10) If you have very capable classes, you can allow them to continue the story in a chain rather than prompting each stage of it yourself.
Why not try it with your class and let us know where you end up in your virtual adventure?
If this post has inspired you, make sure to explore Guess What! further!