Peter Bently learning resources
CFE Levels Early and First
Resources created by Scottish Book Trust
General Activities
Promote Enjoyment and Choice (Lit 1-11a)
Cats Ahoy! won the Roald Dahl funny prize in 2011: and even if you don’t have a class set of the book, you can encourage your pupils to find out about all the different books which have won this prize since 2008. Get your pupils to see if they can find some of the books at the school or local library, then they can each come back and talk about their book to other pupils and swap over. You could have a class vote on which was the funniest book, and make posters for the library recommending it.
You can find details of all the shortlisted books for each year at this page:
Cats Ahoy!
Write your own sea shanty (Eng 1-31a, Exa 1-16a)
The cats will need some songs to sing on their voyage! You can get your pupils to write their own sea shanties for the cats to sing by taking the tune of a song and getting them to write their own words. Here are some good places to start:
Make pirate flags (Exa 1-02a)
You can get your pupils to see if they can make a better pirate flag for the cats to fly! For each pupil, you’ll need a piece of drawing paper, a piece of construction paper, some pieces of black, white and red felt, some glue, and a stick to hoist the flag on.
First, pupils will need to think about what to put on the flags. The cats in Cats Ahoy! have fishbones and a cat skull: ask them to think about what other images could go in the flag.
First pupils draw their design on the drawing paper, then cut their designs out of the felt and glue onto the construction paper. Once the flag is dry, they can tape it to the mast! You could display a different flag in the classroom every day of the week.
Shared reading (Exa 2-12a,Exa 2-14a, Exa 1-15a, Eng 2-03a, Eng 2-31a)
Get some older classes involved by getting them to turn Cats Ahoy! into a play for the younger pupils to watch. You can find out more about shared reading and adapting picture books into drama in the CPD Toolkits section of our site:
Farmer Clegg’s Night Out
What else do the animals get up to? (Eng 1-31a)
Farmer Clegg is blissfully unaware of the talent contest taking place. But what else might the animals get up to? Ask your pupils to imagine what the animals do at night, and they can create their own story. For instance, you can ask them to imagine what it would be like if the animals held a sports evening: they can discuss which characters might be good at different sports, and then draw pictures of the animals competing. Farmer Clegg could even make a guest appearance...
Another great farmyard-based book is What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson, and you can see Julia reading from the book and talking to an audience of pupils in an Authors Live event on the Scottish Book Trust website. Julia’s video is available in our Watch on Demand section, along with many other recorded author events:
Make posters for the Tractor Factor (Lit 1-28/1-29a, Exa 1-02a)
Ask your pupils to design posters to advertise the Tractor Factor. They’ll need to make sure they include a time, location, and a catchy line to get everyone along, as well as an image.