WEEK TWO: 22April-26 April - by the end of this week, all children should have know heard the name of the Inklings and be aware that they are mysterious beings now in their school….
PART ONE: ASSEMBLY
Following the discovery of messages in eggs last week in Dan’s class, the children decided this was something that the Head and all the school should hear about too. So in assembly, all children will be shown the nest. Asked if anyone had noticed it somewhere else in the school/has seen it before? Does anyone know where it came from?
Representatives of Dan’s class to read out and tell the school what happened in their classroom with the eggs and the nest. Show what they found inside. Then a performative moment when ask other children to come and open up the other brown eggs left in the nest. To see if anything inside them too? Read out and see what the children might think this means? Ask the teachers if anybody has played a practical joke/put them in there.
Questions from the teachers/children. If anything else strange has been noticed. Tell all to keep eyes and ears open. Suggest a board somewhere in the school could be created as a place to help collect and share any information that comes about what this could mean.
PART TWO: ALL YEAR GROUPS
In the days before and after the assembly…some inkling mischief starts! Start gradually and build up over the next few weeks so seems believable.
Teachers can report to their class in casual conversation that something is missing - have the children seen it? Eg you may lose your glasses/favourite pen/a banana is missing from their lunch etc - make it personal so believable. Some strange little things happen, like maybe some spilt paperclips on their desk that notice when come in / a poster on the wall has been moved/you’ve noticed pencils going missing/ things upside down/messages appearing on the board.
CARRY ON WITH FROM PREVIOUS WEEKS:
INKLINGS BOOK
INKLINGS STAMPS
Hidden inside a biscuit tin in the staff room, you’ll find some very special stamps that you can use to show children when the Inklings have visited and read their writing…Keep them safe and out of sight! For everyone to access whenever time to bring some Inklings magic / respond to children’s writing.
These special stamps have been handcrafted by our designer and propmaker Inigo Hartas. He’s designed these unique Inklings icons and images, to act as symbols and signs from the Inklings world to the children and teachers.
Think about when you might use them, and be sure to not let the children know it was you that placed them there, act just as surprised when they spot them on their paper/exercise books/in their markings/other places.
You could stamp on plain paper and this could be what you create Inklings related tasks/writing on? It’s up to you how and when you use these stamps to show the Inklings have been there and interacted with the children’s stories/poems/work. Or that they are asking for writing to be done for them/filled in.
PART THREE: KEYS - RECEPTION
This is something for the Reception children to focus on as their part of the discovery (as aware they won’t be in assembly). Keys hidden amongst various places for children to dig up from the sandpit, find in water play, hidden in jars etc. Once keys found, imagine and discuss who might have lost them. Where might these lost keys lead to? What might they open?
A box? A door? A wardrobe? A car? A plane? A diary? A kingdom? Imagining who owned it, how they lost it, where the key would lead to…
Children to write and draw ideas on tags and strings provided, then these can be attached to keys and then hung up on twigs/branches/trees. Keys could also be drawn around/crayon rubbings of them taken/prints made into playdough of the keys as extensions. Sand writing and writing with keys into playdough/sand as tools for mark marking also ideas for continuing theme.
