Lorna Karetnyk, Deputy Head Having been out of school for a term doing an Acting Headship I felt that on my return to school after the summer break we needed to do something special at the beginning of term that would encourage team building. The children had been split into different classes and two members of the teaching team were new to the school. It seemed to me that Storyline was the ideal vehicle for doing this. We took the first week of the new term to work on it. The teachers from five classes with children aged from 7 to 11 selected the Capital Tours Storyline as we felt we could adapt it to suit the ages of the children. We planned the outline and introduced the Storyline to the children together. It proved to be a great start to the term as it gave the teachers a chance to get to know each other and the children time to gel as a class. It also served as a very useful baseline assessment of our children. We discovered that their knowledge of European countries and capitals was very limited at the start of the project.

Capital Tours

Lorna Karetnyk Deputy Head, Kirkbymoorside C P School

The children had a great time making their families and were so excited to discover the mystery envelope waiting for them the next morning telling them they had won a holiday. The children researched hotels and travel, made passports and packed their cases. Role-play and hot seating was used to solve problems where the children really identified with the characters. One teacher even hid a passport just before one family set off for the airport! Fortunately it was found in time.
Some of the children presented their work as a family photo album while others presented theirs in a suitcase. The work made a great display for the hall where all could view the finished product. The children also presented their work to the whole school in an assembly.
I’m not sure who enjoyed it most – the staff who kept each other up to date with the latest episode – or the children who came to school enthusiastically each day waiting for the next episode to unfold. It was a great team building activity as well as a valuable learning experience. We are looking forward to doing another one next term.