Year 4 identify messages in the story of ‘The Rainbow Snake’

In English, Year 4 have enjoyed reading different stories from South America. This week, we discussed and wrote our own version of ‘The Rainbow Snake’, which is based in the rainforest of Venezuela. At the beginning of this story, the birds of Venezuela were all grey. This soon changed though, when they found a brightly coloured snake who they were able to take colours from. However, this led to lots of fighting from the birds about who would get which colours. The only bird not to join in the squabbling was the wise cormorant, who waited patiently. He was happy to take only the small amount of white that was left over. His comment that, “It is not the colours that make the bird, but his thoughts and actions,” provoked lots of interesting discussion about the meaning behind the story. When asked to summarise the story in just ten words, the children had to think carefully about the main message. Here are some of the children’s thoughtful ideas:

It doesn't matter about looks, what matters is our actions- Remy

Show offs competing, wise advice- it's the inside that counts- Sam

Try not to fight and it's not all about appearance- Alex

It’s not about the outside, its whats on the inside- Ava

You should not judge a book by its cover (outside)- Coral

You should share, not try to take everything for yourself- Luca