Year 4 use new Lego sets to aid story writing

In 4KRJ we have been using the new Lego sets as a stimulus for writing. Our aim is to write a story with some accurate historical content about a Viking raid on Lindisfarne. The children worked collaboratively to construct models to represent their ideas. There were only two rules to follow; they had to discuss everything that they were doing with the team (choices of materials, colour, design, what to take with them on the voyage) and they had to use vocabulary that reflected the period, (long ship, prow, stern, chain mail, raid, salted, knarr). The children absolutely loved the activity. They commented on how much easier it would be to write their stories because they could visualise the information they wanted to include and they had already practised using the correct language. They are, of course, very keen to repeat the process!