8-10 yrs old
Reading and Writing
Imagine a world where pirates roamed the seven seas! Where will your imagination take you as you write a narrative about a mysterious shipwreck?
August 17, 2018
Shipwreck World File
Download and open with Minecraft: Education Edition.
Choose a variety of narrative examples from a book students have read in class or from a popular work of fiction. Share passages with the class (or have students volunteer to read) that showcase detailed descriptions of places, people, or objects. Look at illustrations from the stories and compare the descriptions to what is represented visually.
Load the supplied Minecraft world, which features a shipwreck, or find your own in the game by using the slash command /locate in the chat window. Students should observe the details of the shipwreck and take notes on what they see.
Outside of the game, have each student write a narrative about how the ship ended up in this condition. Consider offering prompts, such as: Who might have been on the ship? What cargo was it carrying? Where might the ship have been going?
Have students return to the game and build onto the shipwreck within Minecraft to add details and evidence to support their narrative. Once complete, take a screenshot, or use the in-game camera and portfolio to create digital illustrations for the student’s stories.
Students completed an informative/explanatory piece of writing that describes the shipwrick and what took place to make it sink.
Students use facts and details to support their narrative.
Students created digital illustrations within Minecraft that demonstrate important details from their narrative.