The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch

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Stunning lighthouse pictures: http://abduzeedo.com/amazing-pictures-lighthouses Activity 3: Grace under pressure Hopefully you can now do the story and innovate as one unit and then another unit on factfiles/Non-chronological reports. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch, by Ronda and David Armitage, is a brilliant book for inspiring classroom activities around the topic of the sea, its history and the brave people who keep us safe at the seaside and away from dry land. The wonderful vocabulary within the story is in itself a great reason for choosing this book to start your topic. Words such as ‘industrious’, ‘concocts’ and ‘brazen’ help this tale trip off your tongue. Get your children thinking about what these new words mean, using the sound and the context to help them work it out. Saw this being used during SBT1. A fantastic book to use with year 1 and/or 2. A good story which lends itself nicely to actions which make the book more memorable e.g. lighthouse, cottage etc. The story has some good language in it e.g. industrious and concocting, which can really enhance all of the children's written work. Can buy a basket and put lots of different food/ a ginger cat (Hamish) in to bring the book to life- the children really loved this when I was on placement. Something else that worked really well was the children were all given a piece of cake and had to write a postcard as though they were one of the seagulls from the story describing what the cake was like.

A much loved picture book which has been in print for over 40 years. Children love the greedy seagulls and the detailed contents of the lunch basket. Role-play the different characters in the story (Mr and Mrs Grinling, Hamish the cat, and the seagulls). How were they feeling at different points in the story? Finally, ask each group to present their ideas to the class. Have they found a better solution than Mrs Grinling? Is their lunch more delicious than the one that Mrs Grinling made? Take a whole class vote to decide on the winning group, and then re-write the story, using the alternative lunch, and an ending which features your winning ‘seagull proofing’ idea. Activity 2: Ray of light

Children could look at light alongside this text. Looking at sources of light, the lighthouse is one can you think of any other. For an even better way to find EYFS resources, discover tailored suggestions, and much more - visit the EYFS resource HUB! GO TO EYFS HUB Choose two types of sandwiches and make a Venn diagram to show which children like / don’t like each of them. The children could redesign the basket so that it is ‘seagull proof’, exploring a range of different materials and designs before examining which one would work best. But they might also come up with something else to go in the basket/lunch to put the seagulls off - lateral thinking is the key!

Sue Cowley takes The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch as inspiration for four fun-filled, ocean-themed activities... NARRATIVE PLANNING _ Now includes planning for innovating and changing the story with blanked out story maps for children, conjunctions active inspire screens, Text changed to include er an est suffixes and planning template for the ‘Independent Application’ section. Plan and carry out an investigation to find out the strength of different materials. Which would be best to protect the lighthouse keeper’s lunch? Write a diary from the point of view of Mr Grinling. Use this video to get some ideas for your work: Mr Grinling is an ‘industrious’ lighthouse keeper. What does this mean? Can you think of any words that mean the same thing?For an even better way to find KS2 resources, discover tailored suggestions, and much more - visit the KS2 resource HUB! GO TO KS2 HUB

Write a sequel for the book, showing how the fisherman in the boat stopped the seagulls from eating his lunch. The lighthouse keeper’s lunch is ‘delicious’. Can you think of any synonyms? Can you think of any antonyms? Once their lighthouses are built, show the children how to make a complete circuit with a battery, wire and bulb. They should then work out how to fix this into their lighthouse model, so that the light appears at the top inside the lantern section. More able, or older, pupils could explore various options for getting their light to rotate inside the lighthouse. Children could write a diary entry from another point of view. (The seagulls opinions/ The bakers opinion)On a trip to the beach with their children, the Armitages saw a wire which ran from the cliff to the lighthouse and their son wanted to know what it was for. David suggested it was for the lighthouse keeper’s lunch… There are lots of interesting words in the story (e.g. brazen, ingenious, consolingly). Can you find any words that you don’t know and write a definition of them? For an even better way to find KS1 resources, discover tailored suggestions, and much more - visit the KS1 resource HUB! GO TO KS1 HUB

The lunch was ‘devoured’ by the seagulls. Can you make a list of words which show different ways that people can eat their food? Children can work out the weight, price or size of the different foods in his lunch. They would be faced with children which needs them to focus on measurements and calculations such as addition and subtraction. A sweet book, that is easy to read. I read it to reception, they engaged with the book and found parts very funny. Write a set of instructions that teach someone how to make a delicious sandwich for Mr Grinling’s lunch.My Review: I saw this book in use in a primary classroom this year, in a year 1 - 2 split setting. It was used for the five weeks i was there and it worked very effectively, the children loved it. Talk with the children about the different methods Mrs Grinling tries in her attempts to foil the seagulls. What is her plan in each case, and why does the mustard work best in the end? Now divide the children into pairs or groups, and ask them to come up with some alternative plans for stopping the seagulls eating the lunch. Encourage them to think creatively and to come up with wild and unusual ideas, as well as the more obvious suggestions. Use this lighthouse tour video to describe the inside and outside of a lighthouse, as well as the amazing views from the top. Use the lighthouse in the book as a starting point for a design and technology activity. Get the children to study a variety of lighthouses and talk about the requirements for an effective design. What are the main elements of a lighthouse design and why is it built in this way? What kind of things does a lighthouse need to withstand? What colours are used for lighthouses and why might these colours have been chosen? Use the text as a means of vocabulary building, its got a lot of good vocabulary for children such as; brazen, ingenious, consolingly. Good time to increase children's thesauruses/ dictionary skills.