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.
September 26, 2019
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.
The Man of the Island
Full lesson plan and activities.
Treasure Island Excerpts
Excerpts and map.
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.
Additional supporting activities can be found in the attached PDF file.
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.
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.
Sign up for the Minecraft: Education Edition newsletter. We promise to respect your inbox.