Fun, Creative Activities Inspired by the Night Spinner

Abi Elphinstone Learning Resources

Fun, creative activities inspired by The Night Spinner

CFE Level 2 (ages 8 - 12)

Resource created by Scottish Book Trust

About these resources

This resource is full of cross-curricular activity suggestions inspired The Night Spinner, the final book in Abi Elphinstone’s Dreamsnatcher series. Adapt and use as you see fit! Even if you don’t own a set of the book, we hope you’ll still be able to find lots of ideas in here for cross-curricular learning.

Introducing The Night Spinner

The threat of a terrible dark magic is looming over Tanglefern Forest and it is up to Moll and her wildcat Gryff to find the final Amulet of Truth, save her friend Alfie and defeat the evil Shadowmasks before it is too late.

Moll sets out on an adventure across the Northern Wilderness, a landscape inspired by the Scottish Highlands, with Gryff and her friend Siddy at her side. They must brave the Lost Isles, scale the Barbed Peaks and face witches, goblins and giants who lurk at every turn ...while the Shadowmasks draw ever closer.

A fast-paced and gripping adventure, The Night Spinner is a story about the power of friendship and the courage and hope that it brings.

Activities

Investigate Scottish Wildcats LIT 2-01a, LIT 2-28a, TCH 2-03a, TCH 2-04b, SCN 2-01a

Scottish wildcats like Gryff are some of the most endangered mammals in Britain and are sadly on the brink of extinction. In this activity your pupils will record a news broadcast imagining they are a news team investigating reported sightings of a wildcat and informing the public about wildcat conservation.

To begin with ask your pupils to research Scottish wildcats and to gather information about the animals.

Some questions to answer are:

·  What are the distinguishing features of wildcats?

·  How can you tell a wildcat from a domestic cat?

·  What habitats do wildcats live in?

·  What do wildcats eat?

·  What are the threats to wildcat populations in Scotland?

·  What is being done to help wildcats in Scotland?

Some useful sources your pupils can look at for information on wildcats are:

Scottish Natural Heritage: bit.ly/SNHWildcats

Scottish Wildcat Action: www.scottishwildcataction.org

BBC School Radio: bit.ly/BBCSchoolRadio

Highland Wildlife Park: bit.ly/highlandwildlife

Once your pupils have gathered information about wildcats they can start to plan their news broadcast. You could show pupils this report from BBC Scotland about wildcat sightings in the Cairngorms to give them some ideas about what form their report could take: bit.ly/BBCWildcatReport

Split pupils into small groups and ask them to consider what makes up a news report, for example:

·  An anchor’s introduction from the newsroom.

·  An on the scene reporter

·  An eyewitness account

·  An interview with an expert, for example a zoologist or conservation worker

Ask pupils to look back through their research on wildcats to decide what information they want to include in their report and how they would like to structure the broadcast. They can then allocate roles, plan and script their report.

The BBC has some great tips and resources on how to plan and structure a news report:
bit.ly/BBCNewsTips

bit.ly/BBCSchoolReporter

There are also some great tips on filming and editing using a smartphone:
bit.ly/BBCFilmTips

Once the pupils have created and compiled their news reports it is time to get filming!

Story Writing Inspiration ENG 2-31a

Moll’s journey through the Northern Wilderness is inspired by the landscapes and adventures of Abi Elphinstone’s childhood. You can read a blog by Abi about how growing up in Scotland inspired The Night Spinner here: http://bit.ly/NightSpinner

In her blog Abi says; ‘We often take where we live for granted and assume that to find places of interest we have to travel for miles and miles. But I think we are often closer to stories than we realise.’ The inspiration for stories is all around us and you could use this idea as the starting point for story writing with your pupils.

For ideas about how our surroundings can inspire stories take a look at this video by zoologist and children’s author Nicola Davies: bit.ly/NicolaNatureWriting

Abi describes how she begins her writing process by drawing a map of the world that her characters inhabit. Individually or in groups your class could create their own story map, starting with somewhere familiar – the playground, the park, your classroom – and thinking about what magical places, characters and adventures could exist just out of sight. This could be the starting point for a large story map wall display, which your pupils could use as inspiration for creative writing.

Tree Detectives SCN 2-01a, EXA 2-02a

Knowing and identifying different plants and their properties is very important in The Night Spinner. Can your pupils identify different trees which are native to the UK? Give your pupils a copy of the Woodland Trust’s leaf ID sheet and see how many of the different leaves they can gather in a local woodland or park: bit.ly/LeafDetective

Or you could play leaf bingo by bringing examples of leaves from different trees into your classroom, giving each pupil or group a random selection of 10 leaves and then calling out the names of trees bingo style, with pupils using the leaf ID sheet to identify them.

Once your pupils have collected and identified leaves from different trees your class can have a go at making cyanotype prints from the gathered foliage.

Invented in 1842, Cyanotype printing was famously used by the botanist Anna Atkins as a means of documenting plant life from her collection.

To begin with show your pupils some examples of botanical cyanotype prints and ask if anyone can guess how they are made: bit.ly/AtkinsPrints

The paper is treated with two chemicals which react when exposed to sunlight and create a blue dye known as Prussian Blue. When an object is placed on the treated paper they block the sunlight from reaching the paper and so that part of the image remains white.

To create your own cyanotype prints you will need:

·  Photosensitive paper (you can buy pre-treated light sensitive ‘sun paper’ online or from a craft shop)

·  A collection of leaves and plants with interesting shapes and details to print

·  A clear piece of acrylic or plexiglas to hold your leaves in place

·  A sunny day!

To make a print uncover a sheet of light sensitive paper, lay it down on a flat surface away from the sun, and arrange the objects on top. Encourage pupils to experiment to see what different effects they can produce. Cover with a piece of clean glass or plexiglass to hold everything in place.

Next expose your print by placing it outside in bright sunlight for 15 minutes. Finally, remove the objects and gently rinse the paper under cold water for several minutes, until the water runs clear. Your print will appear, revealing translucent shapes on a beautiful indigo blue background.

Creative Writing Task: Siddy’s Point of View LIT 2-20a

In chapters 9 and 10 of The Night Spinner Moll and Siddy narrowly escape the witches. However, tempers run high and the friends end up arguing. We read the story from Moll’s point of view, but what is Siddy thinking and feeling at this point?

Once your pupils have re-read chapters 9 and 10 ask them to imagine that they are in Siddy’s shoes:

·  How would Siddy feel when Moll called him useless?

·  Was Siddy brave to climb into the gorge and collect plants to help Moll?

·  Do they think they would be like Siddy and do something kind for a friend even if they had argued?

·  On p.85 what does Moll say about friendship? Do you agree with her?

·  Can you think of a time when you have had an argument with a friend? How did you resolve it?

Ask pupils to re-write this part of the story from Siddy’s perspective describing how he felt and what was going through his mind as he decided to help his friend even when she was unkind.

This could lead to a discussion about friendship – what qualities do we value in our friends? You could ask pupils to think of one kind thing they could do for another person in the class or to write a letter to another pupil saying why they value them as a good friend.

Create a Book Trailer Tch 2-04a,Eng 2-19a, Eng 2-24a, Eng 2-31a

Book trailers are a fantastic way of encouraging pupils to engage with a book and combine a number of different skills from the curriculum.

A book trailer is just like a film trailer, giving a taster of a book for its potential audience. To introduce your pupils to the idea of book trailers you could show them this trailer for Dreamsnatcher on Abi Elphinstone’s website: www.abielphinstone.com/

Scottish Book Trust has created a resource pack on creating book trailers which can be found at: bit.ly/booktrailerresources

Once your pupils have made their trailers you can hold a film screening - watching all of the trailers together. Encourage your pupils to discuss the trailers after they have seen them:

·  How well has each trailer captured character, setting, atmosphere of the book?

·  Does the trailer make you want to read the book?

Further Resources

You can find brilliant resources for The Dreamsnatcher on Abi Elphinstone’s website: www.abielphinstone.com/schools

Reading Recommendations Lit 2-11a

If you and your class loved The Night Spinner, you might like to take a look at these book lists for some ideas for further reading:

·  20 empowering books with inspiring heroines: bit.ly/20empoweringkidsbks

·  10 fantastic adventure books: bit.ly/10fantasytales

For other fantastic cross-curricular resources visit scottishbooktrust.com/resources