Chapter-based FUN Mini Writing Activities | The Adventures of Exit Erik

SUMMARY

Using each chapter’s main topic and events, engage students in small, fun writing activities.

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PREREQUISITES

Reading at least one chapter of the book is required, though this is also a good idea for any book.

SUBJECTS

English (info collation / presentation)
IT (researching, word processing, audio/video recording)
Art (storyboarding)

AGE

5-8 focus mostly on ideas generation and audio/video recording, mind mapping, bullet pointing
9-14 cohesive writing according to differentiated, teacher-established expectations

STUDENTS ARE SUCCESSFUL IF THEY

pay attention whilst reading the chapter
generate creative and engaging ideas for given writing activity
capture and/or present ideas as per options available

RESOURCES NEEDED

London book
writing activity guidance notes (see POSSIBLE WRITING ACTIVITY below)
assessment information (as per your own criteria)
computer access (if word processing)
Audacity (free audio recording software if audio recording ideas)
notebooks (best to have rough notebooks they don’t mind getting messy)

LOGISTICS

This particular learning activity is about building ideas and writing skills over the course of a whole book. Therefore, although this resource is about writing, the underlying idea is about encouraging students to first generate creative and engaging thought. If they can’t get excited enough to come up with unique and creative ideas, they will never write well. Therefore, the early chapter activities focus less on writing accuracy and more on idea generation and enthusiasm, which will then lead to the desire to write well with the later chapters.

NOTE: You should be teaching one key point of writing accuracy that must be done properly, regardless of what they choose as an activity. They can make all sorts of other mistakes, but this one skill they must master. It’s up to you to decide which skill to focus on with each chapter or activity.

Using the topics of each chapter, present one or more possible writing activities at the end of a chapter or series of chapters. It’s best to have about three options of writing activity so that students have the sense of choice and can select which topic/activity resonates most enthusiastically with them.

Based on what they choose, get them into pairs or groups to hash out their ideas for a few minutes until they have something they’re happy with. Depending on ability level and needs, some will want to hunker down and create independently. Others will want to work in pairs or groups to create something between the two of them – or work together but create independently. The idea is simply to give students creative freedom inside a defined structure. Writing is a creative art and inspiration needs to flow for good expression to follow.

Collate their efforts in a notebook that is their ‘messy’ notebook – one they know is meant to be for drafting purposes. At the end of the book they’ll be able to go back and look at the mini writing activities they did and will be able to select a few to develop and improve, this time working hard to focus on writing accuracy, to put in a portfolio they will be proud to show off.

Obviously, don’t try to do all of these. They’re just suggestions. I would recommend reading perhaps two or three chapters in a sitting and then ask students to choose just one activity from all of those chapters. That should give them enough selection to find something they’ll enjoy. The goal is fun and creativity.

DIFFERENTIATION

Allow students to work to their strengths and encourage them to request help to develop the skills they find difficult. It is important to never let the requirement of writing stop good ideas from being generated and captured. Therefore…

Let students know that there are various ‘writing’ options available to them. Let them choose what best suits them today (tomorrow they might want a different approach):

mind mapping
bullet pointing
writing a screenplay
audio or video recording of their ideas
comic strip storyboarding of their ideas
standard writing approach according to the activity
speaking the words that someone else will type or write
etc.

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POSSIBLE FUN MINI WRITING ACTIVITIES

CHAPTER 1

1. Write an email to Exit Erik on www.ExitErik.com, trying to make him feel better. Explain to him why the explosion was NOT his fault…maybe tell him a little bit about what you’ve researched and learned about nuclear power plants.

2. Write an email to Exit Erik on www.ExitErik.com, telling him how your life at school is similar or different to his life above the door guiding others to safety.

CHAPTER 2

1. Find some green paper and cut out your own Exit Erik. Give him a confused facial expression. On one side of him, write all the reasons you’re so grateful to be alive. On the other, write the reasons that Exit Erik should also be grateful to be alive. Using string, hang these from the ceiling of your classroom.

2. Write a little letter to your parents, thanking them for giving you life, and telling them all the things you love about being alive.

CHAPTER 3

1. Imagine that Exit Erik had a pen and paper and could write. What diary entry would he want to write to his friends back home while he’s sitting alone in that train?

2. Exit Rob knows that Exit Erik is scared about being alive and going out into the world alone. Write the letter that Exit Rob would have wanted to give to Exit Erik as he was being carried away on that box by the forklift. What would he have said in that letter to Exit Erik? What advice would he have shared? What encouragement would he have given to Exit Erik in that letter?

CHAPTER 4

1. Imagine that Bobbaroo keeps a mental diary entry of each day he’s alive, filed away deep in his memory, so that he can dig back and enjoy the interesting moments during dull days stuck on the wall. Write down what he would mentally record about his experience meeting Exit Erik. What would he say about his meeting? How do you think he felt about meeting Exit Erik? What things would he want to remember about that experience?

2. Bobbarro promised to spread the word around London to let the other safety sign service workers know that Exit Erik is here and he’s alive – and he’s going to need their help. Write down (or audio record/act out/storyboard) the conversation Bobbaroo would have had with that first safety sign service who would start the ball of gossip rolling around London. How would the conversation go? How would the two of them speak to each other? What would they say, how would they say it, and what emotions would be present in their voice and faces?

CHAPTER 5

1. Exit Erik has learned about the problems of gum. Imagine that he stays in London and makes it his mission to create and stick up posters all over London to stop people from throwing gum on the ground. What would he say in those posters? What would they look like?

2. Imagine someone who stepped on Exit Erik while he was stuck in that gum actually noticed him there. They go home that night and write a diary entry of what they saw, though of course they can hardly believe their eyes. What do they put in their diary entry?

CHAPTER 6

1. The man and woman who thought Exit Erik was a hat stand go home and put the kettle on, as the man suggested. While drinking tea, a friend calls and the woman tells her all about the cool hat stand she almost bought – but then it disappears. What does she say to her friend? What did she love about Exit Erik? Why did she want to buy him? How does her friend react?

2. When Exit Erik is hiding in the rubbish bin, a lot of worries are going through his head. What do you think they are? What are the thoughts dashing through is head right then? If he were talking to himself inside that rubbish bin, what would he be saying to himself? What would he be complaining about? What would he be worried about? What encouraging words would he be telling himself to try and get out of this mess?

CHAPTER 7

1. Imagine that a child sees Exit Erik while he’s skittling his way across the floor toward the elevator (the lift). The child tugs on his/her mother’s arm and tries to point to Exit Erik but the mother is not interested. How does their conversation go?

2. Exit Erik fell down the gap between the elevator’s floor and the normal floor. Design a poster to warn very thin people to be careful of this gap. Consider what sort of danger is below the gap if they fall.

CHAPTER 8

1. Later that night, the artist goes home and tells his girlfriend about the crazy thing that happened today. What does he tell her? How does she respond? Act out their conversation, write it down in a story with lots of dialogue, or do a comic strip with thought and voice bubbles.

2. If the two girls who said Exit Erik would be cooler in Picasso style were to see him all painted up, how would they react? Act out or write down their conversation in a story with lots of dialogue, or do a comic strip with thought and voice bubbles.

CHAPTER 9

1. Imagine that someone in the crowd watching Exit Erik got on their mobile phone and called their friend to tell them about the crazy little flat green guy who’s folding himself into all sorts of shapes. How does that conversation go?

2. Write the side-story for this chapter of the police officer who sees, from afar, the crowd forming. Follow him from where he is when he first spots the crowd until he reaches Exit Erik, who looks up to see his upset face. Create a full or partial chapter that lets us see what’s going on inside the officer’s mind, how he moves, what he walks past, what he’s thinking and how his emotions are fluctuating. Does he get on his radio to call it in? Is he baffled? Is he confused? What happens in those few minutes before he reached Exit Erik’s side and stares down at him?

CHAPTER 10

Write a different chapter ending. Instead of Exit Erik allowing the officer to try and put handcuffs on him and then stuff him into the police car, he gets scared and bolts. He runs away as fast as he can and the police officer chases him. Write the chase in a story format or audio record you speaking out the story, or draw a storyboard of what happens and what they both think, say and do.

CHAPTER 11

Write an alternate chapter. While Exit Erik is hiding in the sludge, he gets sucked down into it and swept away in the storm drains under London. Write, storyboard or act out that chapter. Your chapter starts with: Seeing a grate in the road, he crawls to the edge and drops between the metal bars. Plop! He lands in a stagnant pool of thick, stinky sludge. Disgusting! …now it’s your turn. Show us what you’ve got.

CHAPTER 12

Write an alternate chapter. Exit Erik actually makes it onto the London Eye. But something bad happens while he’s up there. How does he get to the London Eye? How does he get on it? (You might have to do a bit of research about this.) What’s the bad thing that happens? And what craziness happens because of this bad thing? Write that chapter. Your chapter begins with: But then he spies something that perks him right up. The unbelievable sight offers him the vital injection of hope that he so desperately needs right now… ‘It’s the London Eye!’ he gasps, disbelieving. What happens next?

CHAPTER 13

1. Imagine that you are a fish and you see Exit Erik tumbling about in the currents of the Thames river beside you. Write and act out a mini scene where you and your fish friends try to come to Exit Erik’s rescue.

2. Imagine that you are a barnacle stuck to the wooden post of the dock. Write the monologue that you are uttering with annoyance under your breath when a soggy Exit Erik comes flying into you, knocking you dizzy and smothering you with his flat, trembling body.

CHAPTER 14

1. The day after Exit Erik crawls up onto that pier, Slippery Simon gets moved to a new duty station somewhere else in London where he’s working alongside someone else. Write the conversation that happens when Slippery Simon tells the other slipping safely sign service worker about meeting Exit Erik.

2. Write an alternate chapter ending. When Exit Erik rolls onto the man’s foot to get onto the bus, the man notices him there. What happens next? Your chapter starts with: Crumpling himself into a ball, he pushes with his hands until he’s rolling down the road toward the bus and the queue of tourists waiting to board. Rolling carefully under a trouser leg, he sits on the person’s foot and wraps his hands gently around their ankle.

CHAPTER 15