The Wreck of the Zanzibar - Session 4 - Worksheet

Session 4 of "The Wreck of the Zanzibar" study focuses on deepening students' comprehension and engagement with the text through a variety of discussion questions and reading activities. Students are encouraged to explore the motivations behind the characters' actions, particularly why Laura is so determined to save a turtle and why Granny May assists her, keeping their rescue operation a secret. Reading activities include continuing a timeline of events, analysing Granny May's character, comparing Laura's emotions over different months, and expanding their nautical vocabulary with terms such as 'crabber' and 'jib sail'. Additionally, comprehension exercises delve further into the narrative.

The session also provides a range of writing opportunities to further immerse students in the story's themes and settings. These include composing diary entries from Granny May's perspective, crafting a newspaper report about the turtle's rescue, debating whether Laura should have informed her father about the turtle, and creating poetry inspired by the sea. Students are also prompted to write instructions on how to save a turtle and to depict Laura's rescue attempts in a comic strip format. Cross-curricular links are made with science, computing, history, geography, art, design and technology, physical education, and personal, social, health and economic education, with activities such as creating animations, studying the Scilly Isles, and discussing themes like resilience and compassion.