The boys by Lauren Ace and Jenny Lovlie

 

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Year 4-5-6 lesson plan

Text: The boys by Lauren Ace and Jenny Lovlie Lesson plan by Andrew Moffat www.no-outsiders.com

Enquiry question: Am I an island?

RSE objective: How important friendships are in making us feel happy and secure, and how people choose and make friends. The characteristics of friendships, including mutual respect, truthfulness, trustworthiness, loyalty, kindness, generosity, trust, sharing interests and experiences and support with problems and difficulties. That most friendships have ups and downs, and that these can often be worked through so that the friendship is repaired or even strengthened, and that resorting to violence is never right.

Starter: How would you define friendship? Is friendship easy? How do friendships change over time? Do you think friendships are different for boys and for girls? Why? (why not?) Look at the enquiry question; what do you think it means? What are the characteristics of an island? How can a person be an island?

Main: Read “The boys” start to finish and then discuss: ·       The boys are very different from a young age; how are they different? (personalities / skin colour) ·       “Although they had different interests, the boys were a team. When they worked together it made all of them better.” How does this work? Can you think of any examples (boys or girls) in our class? ·       How do we see the boys building their friendship? ·       “One spring the sands had shifted. The winter tides and storms had revealed hidden rocks and everything was different.” What has happened at this stage of the book? Is this paragraph just about the beach? ·       Why do you think the boys started competing with each other? ·       “It felt good to be different and think about only what made them happy” what do you think about this line? In our school we often talk about being different and we accept ways we are different, but what has happened here? What are the boys failing to do? (show interest in each other, support one another, check in) ·       “Their successes, which had once been shared, now felt empty… the boys knew they had to be able to talk about their feelings… but it wasn’t easy.” Why not? What’s happened? Is success only success if it is recognized by others? ·       “They came to realise that no boy is an island and the bravest way to face problems is to talk and listen” what does this mean? How does a person become an island? ·       What do the boys do to start making their friendships strong again? (learn to be patient and kind with one another) ·       “When one of them was weighed down by sadness, the others would always be there to lift him up.” How? What sort of things might they say to each other?

Activity: The book compares the boys to an island. How do the boys stop being an island? Children draw four circles at the top of their page to represent islands and draw a boy on each. Give the boys names and write hobbies that make each one different (use the page in the book as an example where we see Tam skateboarding, Nattie rock climbing, Rev playing music, Bobby reading). How do the boys on your page stop being an island? Below each island write questions or comments the boys could make about the other hobbies (for example, Tam could ask Nattie to show him some skateboarding tricks, Rev could ask Bobby what book he’s reading. The aim is to teach children here how to show an interest in other people) Next consider what to do if one of your boys feels sad. Draw them on their island feeling sad but give them a speech bubble to ask for help – how do you ask for help if you feel sad? If the other boys notice him feeling sad and he doesn’t say anything, what could they say? (are you ok? You look sad, mate, everything alright?) Draw your other three boys around the sad boy on his island showing support and give them speech bubbles for supportive comments. Finally draw the four boys at the bottom of the page together, no longer an island.

Plenary: The authors of this book wrote another story that was published two years previously called “The girls”. Why do you think the authors chose to do two separate books for boys and girls? What do you think their aim was in writing this second book? Do you think that aim has been achieved? What can we learn from this book?

There is a lesson plan for "The girls" by Lauren Ace and Jenny Lovlie in "No Outsiders: Everyone different, everyone welcome" by Andrew Moffat 

www.no-outsiders.com