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As well as whole-class use Lifelines is a good resource to use with smaller groups, particularly for lower sets who tend to be more disengaged with reading ...
Claire Bird, The Foulstone School
What an amazing resource! The graphics vividly bring the story to life and the photographs provide real flavour to the everyday life of a child. ...
Janice Knowles, Shawclough Community School
Rising Stars Case Study for Lifelines
Created by Penny Vernon Headteacher at Swainby and Potto CE and Osmotherley Primary Schools
The resource was used at Swainby and Potto CE by the KS2 teacher with a class of 20 Years 3 -6.
This resource is very imaginative and the planning framework is very comprehensive. The subject matter is versatile and can be used in lots of ways including those suggested in the teachers book.
The primary curriculum in my two schools is very cross-curricular and skills based and this resource will be very useful at different times throughout a four yearly rolling programme of themes as it has such a wide ranging usage.
The KS2 class used the story Edward – but not as a resource as part of a Victorian theme but as a stand- alone, to start a fortnights activities based on trade – both ‘Fair Trade’ and ‘Child Labour’ as part of our on-going citizenship work on human rights.
The children had already done some initial work around ‘fair trade’ and what it meant and this story led nicely into the part child labour played in our past and how it is still prevalent today in countries such as India and parts of South America.
The teacher used the story as a stimulus for creative writing by asking the children to write the ending of the story – before sharing the ‘real’ ending with the children. They also did some drama based around their ideas of how the story should end!
The teacher led a ‘philosophy’ circle time session as a follow up from the English work on the story with the question “ Is education a good thing?” and the children finished by creating a photo-story presentation in two’s on ‘What education means to us’
The teacher book as I said previously is very comprehensive and supportive for teachers with lots of brilliant ideas to take the stories in different directions. If a teacher is struggling for ideas then this kind of resource is invaluable as it is not all worksheet based - it gives the children the freedom to express themselves individually whilst providing the support of the teacher in their thinking.
The links to digital media are very impressive and forward thinking and again allow children to take their work in lots of different directions which makes learning very personalised.
I found the resource very comprehensive – I liked the instructions to help with the ICT – especially for the teachers who are less confident with digital media.
If I would like to see anything else – it would be some suggestions about how science and scientific thinking could be linked to these stories as well as History and Geography.
With the potential new curriculum and we have no idea currently what it will look like- I do hope all your hard work with the programmes of study etc do not become outdated too quickly. At least at the moment the primary curriculum has some freedom and can make the most of a resource like this one! Long may it continue!
