SOS Titanic Spr 1 2024
SOS Titanic
Spring 1 2024
History, English and Art
Science and Geography
Creativity and Thinking
RATIONALE:
The children will be transported back in time to the world of the Titanic. Through investigation and handling artefacts they will find out about the great cruise liner and its fateful journey. In addition they will be introduced to the idea of cause and consequence and the changes to life at sea that occurred as a result of the sinking. The children will put themselves into the role of passengers and crew by writing diary entries, explanations and letters. They will look closely at different artists interpretations of the Titanic and create their own images using drawing pencils and pastels. Using this new found knowledge and information the children will create their own radio broadcast/film about the Titanic where listeners/viewers will get a taste of life on board, an insight into the events and feelings of the survivors.
Hook:
A set of “clues” are left in the classroom for them to discover what our new topic is about. There’s a ticket, an old newspaper, quotes, photographs, books, a model and an old suitcase, full of interesting artefacts. Allow the children in their groups to read and explore the resources. What is this all about? After gathering suggestions, watch a short clip describing the events of the Titanic. Allow each group to build their model, take turns dressing up in the clothes and come up with 5 questions they want to ask about the ship and the people who travelled on her.
Working as a team to build a Titanic model!
We used our historical skills to sequence the events of the Titanic disaster into chronological order.
Sketching Titanic using different sketching pencils and learning to blend and shade.
Exploring the Titanic - did you know it had 16 floors? It was nearly the same length as the Eiffel Tower and weighed the same as 330 blue whales!
Putting ourselves into the shoes of passengers and crew. We wrote in the first person.
We became artist and learnt how to use chalky pastels. We were inspired by the story of Daisy in "I was there......Titanic" and thought about her view through the porthole in the 3rd class areas of the ship.
Daisy's view through the porthole looking back to Southampton Docks.
Being history detectives to finding out about passengers in first, second and third class!
We used our geographical mapping skills to plot the route of the Titanic across the Atlantic Ocean.
Describing the different areas of the ship, including using commas in a list and conjunctions.
After reading Polar the Titanic Bear, we wrote diary entries using the language features we have been learning.
Morse Code - after reading the book "Rescuing Titanic" we explored morse code and how Harold Bride and Jack Philips sent messages from the Marconi Room. Miss Jackson kindly helped us make our own morse code tapper!
Morse Code
Writing telegrams to and from the Titanic and Carpathia including question marks and exclamation marks. We even had a go at writing in morse code!
Learning to use oil pastels to create a night scene of the Titanic and the iceberg. We learnt the skills of blending and smudging.
Using our scientific skills to explore floating and sinking.
The Carpathia!
Titanic sinks! We went into the hall and worked out which passengers and crew were able to get into a lifeboat and which sadly weren't. It helped us to understand the scale of the disaster.
Carpathia enters New York carrying the Titanic survivors. We chose which media we preferrred from pencil, chalky pastels and oil pastel to create the image of the Carpathia with the Statue of Liberty in the background.
Cause and consequence - what changed after the Titanic sunk?
Home Learning - everyone took home a ticket for a different room on board the Titanic. Look at our amazing ship!
