Adventure Stories for Reading, Learning and Literacy

Cross-Curricular Resources for the Primary School

Mal Leicester, Roger Twelvetrees

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780415559966
• eBook ISBN: 9781136953088
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Adventure Stories for Reading, Learning and Literacy takes a unique approach to cross-curricular teaching in the primary classroom. Providing eight original adventure stories, the authors build up a suite of resources and activities for teachers to use in the classroom, providing cross curricular links in line with the PNS framework, to literacy, science, PE, design and technology, numeracy, geography and history. Though the stories will interest both girls and boys, they take special care to appeal to boys, who are known to achieve less highly than girls in reading and writing, and include themes such as:

• cars
• football
• ghosts and ghouls
• heroic deeds
• space and aliens.

Each story is linked explicitly to moral and social values, and can be used to reinforce citizenship, PHSE and SEAL initiatives in primary schools. With photocopiable resources for each story, this book offers instant ideas which can be implemented easily in teacher's plans and in the classroom and assembly, and will appeal to all busy teachers, NQTs and teachers in training.

CHAPTER 1
We have a problem

An adventure in space

Topics and themes

The boy-friendly topic for this chapter is space travel and the universal theme is the development of self-confidence. The story is about a boy who is the first child in space. His self-confidence is restored when his brave actions save the mission. The resources provide space-travel related activities, including material about the Apollo moon landing missions.

Literacy development

Introduce the story vocabulary in your usual way.

Read the story yourself but vary subsequent readings – the children reading aloud in turn or reading to themselves.

Talking about the story and the literacy activities provided aim to develop oracy, reading skills and practice in writing a science fiction story.

Subject areas

Science, History, Religious Education

Cross-curricular values

Personal education, the development of self-confidence Spiritual values

Creativity

Particularly combining art and creative writing in illustrating and writing science fiction stories

Interdisciplinary projects

A space-related research project using ICT

Suggested resources

Four photocopiable pages are provided

Books

Fiction

Real Life Pilot Stories – Going Solo, Roald Dahl (Penguin)

Astrazores – The Sun Snatchers, Steve Cole (Red Fox)

Non-fiction

Why is Snot Green?, Glen Murphy (Macmillan Children’s Books)

Learning through Science, various authors (Macdonald Education)

The Best Book of the Moon, Ian Graham (Kingfisher)

Space Travel, M. Leicester and E. Garret (LCP Cross-curricular ebooks)

Web sites

www.guardian.co.uk/science

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13

Other

Obtain a bulk library loan on space travel. If possible arrange a class visit to a science museum or to the space centre at Leicester.

Music

The Planets, Gustav Holst

Vocabulary

Congratulations	Happy praises
Thrilled	Excited and pleased
Dented	Made a hollow by hitting
Experienced	Having done something before
Envious	Jealous
Pipsqueak	Small like an orange pip
Ignore	Take no notice; give no attention
Taunts	Jeers
Strange	Odd
Determination	Resolve; having a steadfast decision
Cells	Part of a battery
Power	Use of energy
Hero	A brave person who is honoured for his bravery

Space travel-related vocabulary

Space	Beyond earth’s atmosphere
Apollo	The name of several moon missions
Crew	The vehicle’s staff members
Astronauts	Members of the crew of a spacecraft
Lunar	To do with the moon
Lunar module	Part of the spacecraft: the part that goes down to the moon
Launched	Take off from earth
Oxygen tanks	Containers for oxygen gas
Houston	Space station in Texas, USA

The story

We have a problem

An adventure in space

The children waited in complete silence for the Head Teacher to make his announcement. Pip, hearing his own full name, felt his heart lurch.

‘Phillip Timms will join the Apollo flight team for the September moon mission. He will make history. The first child ever to go into space. Congratulations Phillip. We all wish you well.’

Pip was thrilled. Sadly, his happiness was soon dented. Billy Bassey, who was standing next to Pip, leaned forward and whispered, ‘It’s only you because of your Mum and Dad.’

Pip’s Mum and Dad were experienced astronauts who would be on the flight too. Was that really why he’d been chosen, he wondered.

Over the next few months, as Pip trained for the flight, he found out how envious and resentful the rest of the Space School children felt. They became less friendly. They never mentioned the September moon mission except once, when Ryan Ford said, ‘No way would they have chosen a small pipsqueak like you. My Mum says you’ve been chosen because of your Mum and Dad. It’s not fair.’

After that the name stuck and everyone called Pip ‘Pipsqueak’.

Pip asked his Dad if what Ryan had said was true.

‘It’s not only because of us, Pip. They wouldn’t have chosen you if you weren’t in tip top shape and very bright.’

Pip decided to ignore the taunts, though they still bothered him. He worked extra hard at his training. I’ll show everyone, he thought.

The night before the flight, Pip was too excited to sleep. He tossed and turned. When he did sleep he had strange mixed-up dreams and a nightmare about failing to secure the basket of a hot air balloon. He and everyone in it hurtled towards the ground.

The next morning Pip and the crew entered the spacecraft. The crew members were pilot John Timms, Commander Marie Timms and lunar module pilot Fred Smith. They all smiled at Pip, whose cheeks felt sore from so much smiling. Somehow he couldn’t stop his big broad grin.

FIGURE 1.1 We have a problem.

The crew did their various preparations whilst Pip watched, his excitement soaring like a rocket inside his chest. At last there was take-off. The mission succe...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 We have a problem
• CHAPTER 2 The Long Swim
• CHAPTER 3 The beautiful game
• CHAPTER 4 Terror in the tunnel
• CHAPTER 5 The evil ghost of Castle Chameleon
• CHAPTER 6 Percy’s big adventure
• CHAPTER 7 Brave Grace Darling
• CHAPTER 8 Boy racer