The Curse of Heatherwell House (Working Title) came from a slightly different place than many of the other stories in this collection. When I decided that I was going to put together a collection of short stories with the theme of Gothic Horror, I quizzed Clemency on what would scare her. She said “zombies”. Not the easiest thing to work with for Gothic Horror – give me a ghost any day. Here are some thoughts about how I went about creating The Curse of Heatherwell House … Once I had spoken to Clem about the things she finds scary – and discovered which of my back catalogue she found the creepiest – I started to get an idea for a story. It involved a vicar (obviously the younger son of a wealthy family, as all these Gothic vicars seem to be) who took over gravedigging responsibilities because the rest of his parish were too sick to do it. I was pleased with the premise – and perhaps it will turn into another story. Watch this space… But there was one major sticking problem: whils...
Happy Weekend, Teachers! Have a lesson plan for a suggested class novel to celebrate.
If you'd like to read a bit about the novel, click here.
If you'd like to read a bit about the novel, click here.
"Children of Green Knowe" by Lucy Boston
The Curriculum Experience and Outcome for this lesson is:
I am developing an interest, confidence and enjoyment in using drawing and colour techniques, manually or electronically, to represent ideas in different learning situations. TCH 1-15a
Having evaluated my work, I can adapt and improve, where appropriate, through trial and error or by using feedback. TCH 1-14b / TCH 2-14b
This novel is all centred around the castle-like house Green Knowe. It is a very old house which has been added to at various times in history. Because the house and the garden are the setting for the entire story, there is a lot of description of the rooms, and the outside of the house itself. Test your class' design skills with this lesson.
Learning Intention
To understand how to use information from a design brief to design the house.
Success Criteria:
- I can think of description in the book that tells us about the house.
- I can look at examples of old houses on the computer or in books.
- I can design Green Knowe with all the correct rooms.
- I can label the rooms.
Introduction
This class might not remember all the clues in the book about the house so recap it together. Tolly thinks it looks like a castle, it is tall and thin. There is an entrance hall, and a room with a big fireplace and doors onto the garden... Write their thoughts and ideas on the board.
Look at examples of old houses and show the class how to draw a floor plan for a house. (This could tie in with a map topic).
Development
Depending on what resources you have in the classroom, the class can look for pictures of old houses on the computers or in books. This is to get inspiration. Make sure they know not to copy!
Work individually to draw their design for Green Knowe. There are things about the house that they will have to make up, but encourage them to use their imagination as well as the "design brief" from the book. Make sure they label what the rooms are (Kitchen or Sitting Room etc.)
Draw the floorplan first, and then draw the front of the house (make sure they remember the windows and doors), then the sides. Use colour to make it look more interesting but take care to stay within the lines and use a brick or stone colour.
After 20 minutes, swap designs with a partner. The partner should then say 1 thing they really like about it, and 1 thing that should be improved. They then have 5 minutes to remedy that 1 thing.
Conclusion
Have some children share their work. Have the whole class self-evaluate their work in whichever way works best for you. Self-evaluate each Success Criteria. What did they find tricky? What did they find easy? What would they do differently next time?
If you want, you can show the class the real Green Knowe where the author lived, and where she based the book: HERE.
A homework link could be to ask them to draw a floorplan of their house or their Granny or Grandad's house. This would help drawing and colouring design techniques.
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