Sir Kit and Dragon Island March 7, 2007
Posted by lmhartley in : literacy , trackback 
Sir Kit and Dragon Island, originally uploaded by LindaH.
This is the Year 3 Literacy Intervention which has replaced ALS. The materials are available to download from the DFES site . You’ll also find some clip art here on the Lancs NGFL site.
The Quest group really fires the kids’ imaginations. They love Sir Kit and I found they drink it all in. They like all the trappings too, that’s why I found a magic bottle (ex-bubble bath) to put on the display with their letters. The more you can do of that sort of thing the better the kids like it.
The map was aged with brown paint and pva (dash of paint in a 1part glue to 3 parts water solution) then crumpled when dry.
The volcano roleplay session in block B of Module 1 is really good fun.
This display was made to evolve through the 16 week intervention, with new targets and work being put up every two weeks.
One thing to watch out for though is the sharks module. Last year I found the page references were wrong for the edition of the book we’d bought & some of the info they needed was missing. I managed to find a book in the library & photocopied the information. It’s worth checking in advance.
It’s also worth re-emphasising that the intervention is aimed at 2c children & is too hard for the lower group. They’d enjoy the story but the work will quickly overwhelm them. It ramps up quite quickly too with Module 3 being quite challenging for below average achievers in Year 3.
There are a couple of interesting conversations about it over on the TA Chat forum
Thanks for your display. It is lovely. I’m about to start the programme tomorrow and it’s given me good ideas. It does look like fun. Here is another easy way of ageing a map : use a wet teabag to dab the paper; when it’s dry it will look like parchment paper…
Thanks for your kind words Catherine. The programme is great fun and the children really enjoy it. Unlike some interventions this one really took off. The last group I did it with loved the Dilly the Dinosaur books and it really stimulated their interest in books in general.
Thanks for the good ideas i have just begun the quest with the children and putting up a display like this will really boost the children
What a brilliant idea to put up a display. This is my second year doing the Quest and I think I’ll take on your idea and put a display up this time.
Last year I dressed the children as Knights and took their pictures to hang on the wall, this really got them in the spirit of the program and they asked me questions like “Was Sir Kit real?” and “Where did he live?” etc.
I put details on the things we did on my website so others could see and use themselves, see what you think:
The main project:
http://www.learningshouldbefun.co.uk/projects_sir_kits_quest.htm
The extra’s and accessories:
http://www.learningshouldbefun.co.uk/projects_sir_kits_quest_extras.htm
http://www.learningshouldbefun.co.uk/projects_sir_kits_quest_accessories.htm
I also made special bookmarks and gave them to the children when they had completed a challenge from a chapter - they loved them:
http://www.learningshouldbefun.co.uk/bookmarks_sir_kits_quest.htm
This year I’ve made a volcano out of paper mache and am planning to make it explode using baking soda, this website showed me how:
http://www.volcanolive.com/model.html
I feel this would also make the lesson valuable and exciting.
Another idea I have is to play music during or at the beginning of a lesson. For example, on the shark chapter - play jaws music.
Overall I find the Sir Kits quest program to be excellent for all the children involved and it’s also brilliant for us to be creative and bring fun to the lessons
i love sir kit