Inspired by: Toys in Space - Week 1

As dusk settles and the sun dips below the horizon, Year 6 students are invited to explore the concept of time through expressive language. The lesson, inspired by the book "Toys in Space" by Mini Grey, begins with an activity focusing on WonderDoll's reaction to the encroaching darkness. Students are encouraged to observe and discuss her facial expressions, using this as a prompt to delve into their own experiences of the transition from day to night. They are asked to describe the changes they've observed, particularly in relation to shadows, using temporal conjunctions and adverbs such as 'when', 'before', 'after a while', 'then', 'next', and 'soon'. The vocabulary of twilight and dusk is also introduced, creating a link to their maths learning and enhancing their understanding of the day-to-night cycle.

In a further activity, children consider the varied reactions of different toy characters left outside as night falls. They are prompted to infer feelings and thoughts based on the toys' colours, materials, roles, and expressions. Characters such as Wind-Up Robot, Blue Rabbit, and Pink Horse serve as focal points for discussion, with children imagining and rationalising their potential thoughts and feelings. The learning then progresses to introducing inverted commas for punctuating speech. Through role-play and sentence composition, students experiment with how different characters might express fear or excitement about the night. They compare speech bubbles to sentences with inverted commas, seeking to establish rules for using punctuation in direct speech, thereby deepening their understanding of written dialogue and characterisation.