A little red boat is launched. We do not know by whom or from where, but it sets off on a journey.
Teaching ideas
In this animation, the boat is the main character. Children can write the narrative for this story from the point of view of the boat.
It is an excellent way of introducing temporal connectives. Children will need to think of words to use instead of 'then' and 'next'. As the boat travels on its linear journey, it sees some fantastic sights. The boat is tossed and turned by the weather, it is caught up in a war, and it becomes a floating wreck.
Children could experiment with using language to create a mood. There are also opportunities to introduce inference and deduction. For example, how does the boat become repaired near the end?
There are several writing opportunities:
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Write the narrative for the animation in first or third person.
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Write the dialogue between the two monkeys on the boat or between the soldiers.
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Create a postcard album: use stills from the animation as postcards and write home, imagining they are the boat, describing what has happened, what it saw, and how it is feeling.