Pirates role play

Have you ever had one of those lessons where the children just aren’t getting anywhere? This was one of those lessons. My lower ability Year 1 class were having an extended writing lesson, where they were re-writing a familiar story based on one book we had read. The children clearly found this completely uninspiring and it was reflected in their restless behaviour. At this point, I took the decision to do something radical – something I had never done before – abandon what I had planned and go with the flow.

The children had been reading Treasure Planet by Walt Disney Productions (Ladybird Books, ISBN 1-904-35115-8) and were enthused by the idea of pirates, maps, treasure and fantastical monsters. I decided to build on this theme and developed an ‘off the cuff’ lesson that captured the children’s imagination and was hugely enjoyable for the whole class, including me!