This week I planned to write stories about a walk in a rainforest. There is a book called, "Where the Forest meets the Sea" by Jeannie Baker which I was going to use as a stimulus for writing. We have also looked at photos from I visit I made to the Amazon rainforest and we have looked at other books to get an idea of the setting.
I am very keen to interest the class in our own local woods as rainforests are far away, but our own forests are on our doorstep so we started our writing lesson by heading outside into the beech wood and I let the children pretend they were explorers and they could head up to the end of the forest we can access but they had to leave the path and head through the trees and undergrowth. They had a lot of fun even though it is a narrow strip of trees and they were never very far from me.
At the top end of the woods we stopped and they sat in a circle while I read the book to them and we discussed the pictures.
Next we ventured into an area of scrub and younger trees (mixed woodland species) where there was no path and they had to follow me as I made my way through the easiest route. They stuck close together and found the whole walk quite an adventure!
Back in class they started to write enthusiastically and produced some wonderful writing. They included getting scatched by branches, the smell of the damp mosses and several things from our real woodland walk. They added in toucans, vines and jaguars.
I wonder how many story writing sessions could start outside?
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