The Man of the Island

8-10 yrs old

11-13 yrs old

Reading and Writing

Use context to learn new vocabulary, practice making comparisons across texts, and write a passage of instructional text.

Submitted By: Litcraft

September 26, 2019

Lesson Plan
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Skills

Communication
Creativity

External References

Treasure Island World File

Treasure Island world in Minecraft to support lessons.

Litcraft Website

LITCRAFT uses the popular Minecraft gaming platform to build accurate scale models of authorial maps from classic works of literature.

Java World

Treasure Island Minecraft world file for Java editions of Minecraft.

Supporting Files

The Man of the Island

Full lesson plan and activities.

Treasure Island Excerpts

Excerpts and map.

Learning Objectives

To use the language of the text to create an image of a character.
To compare characters within a text.
To compare characters across texts.

Guiding Ideas

This series of lessons is designed to help teach English Language Arts concepts through the study of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Reading aloud/shared reading of extended extract ‘My Shore Adventure’

Excerpts can be found in the external resources section.

Students read the shorter extract with their partner taking turns to read a paragraph and help each other with any difficult vocabulary.

Using only Jim’s description of Ben Gunn, the children draw a picture to show what Benn Gunn looks like. They annotate their picture with quotations from the text, which support their drawn interpretation of the character. Children compare their representations of Ben Gunn with their peers and discuss the following:
- Do the drawings share similarities?
- Are there key differences?
- Why do the children think the drawings look different?
- What does this tell us about what happens in our imaginations when we read a book?
Drawing on the work that they have already done on Jim’s character and the initial work on Ben Gunn, the children create a table with two headings: ‘What is the same?’; ‘What is different?’. They complete the table to help them compare the characters of Jim and Ben Gunn, where possible, using evidence from the extract to support the points that they are making. It will be more challenging for them to find similarities but they are there e.g. both characters are in a precarious position on the island, they have both hidden to protect themselves from danger, they both arrived by ship etc.
Once the children have compared the two characters ask them to feedback their responses. Does Jim’s encounter with Ben Gunn tell us anything more about him as a character that can be added to the role on the wall? Why does the author include contrasting characters in his novel?

Additional supporting activities can be found in the attached PDF file.

Student Activities

Start by loading the Treasure Island Minecraft world file found in the resources section.

Immersive Activity: Finding The Treasure

Open Chest 2: Ben Gunn Survival Challenge to start.

Book in Chest 2 : Instructions:

Island Survival

Your aim is to find Ben Gunn (the marooned sailor) on the East coast of the island.

Hint: look near the oak trees.

Find his cave and follow the instructions on signs in the entrance-way.

Question:

Can you work out what sort of food Ben has missed most during his time marooned here? If you were shipwrecked away from home, what food or drink would you miss most? Why?

Ben Gunn [at immediate entrance to his cave]

Written on signs when first enter:

“Halt! Seek my look-out on Spye-Glass hill. Read my advice in the chest ye find there.”

Book in Chest at look-out cave:

Survival Guide

I Ben Gunn, being of sound mind and body do hereby write my advice for the help and benefit of any future

sailors who find themselves marooned on this forsaken isle. Follow these pointers, shipmates, I beseech ye.

Find fresh water or a means of potage - a man can only live 3 days without it. Always make a shelter near such a source.
Make weapons and keep them upon your person all times. An axe or a sword are your best companions now.
Find a suitable to build a shelter from both elements and beasts. Take advantage of natural features to stay hidden and see far.
Gather any food available and a means of cooking it. Warmth is vital, and fire keeps wild beasts at bay.
Keep a weather eye open for ships. If ye can, build a beacon at a visible point nearby. Fire is the best sign, but other things may be useful too….
Heed this warning well: don’t be stealing my shelters ya good-fer-nothings! Find yer own spots. “

Follow-up writing activity:

Children write an instruction text entitled ‘Ben Gunn’s Guide to Island Survival’ based on their experience in the game and of the Treasure Island text.

*This writing activity should develop over a sequence of lessons and include engagement with the instruction texts, sentence level development work and modelling of good practice.

Follow-up cross-curricular activity:

Art link – Drawing on the island paintings of Paul Gaugin, the children could create their own ‘Treasure Island’ in the style of Gaugin.

Key skills: critically analyse the style of an artist and use this to inform their own work; use knowledge of drawing and painting to imaginatively create their own style; draw and paint using knowledge of foreground, background and middle ground; understand how to use complementary colours to create effects.

Additional supporting activities can be found in the attached PDF file.

Performance Expectations

Students a active participants in all activities.
Students are able to explain the meaning of new vocabulary in the context of the text.
Students are able to make comparisons within and across texts.
Students are able to write instructional text.