Annie Lumsden, A Girl from the Sea
Activity Support Sheet
Here you have found the Activity Support Sheet, a page that provides aid to those guiding children through the online performance piece Annie Lumsden, A Girl from the Sea. You'll find here that each activity has been broken down in to more detail to allow for a richer and more in depth understanding of the resources.
Some of these developments may not be applicable to you or your child's circumstances for example - working in groups may not be possible, that's fine! This page is just a small skeleton to help you work through the activities more comfortably and throw in a few more idea's that you may find useful!
*Attached to the bottom of this page is a Printable download of the Activity Support Sheet which contains all the information featured on this page as well as an outline of each exercise.
Part 1 - Annie's Hello
This task is all about self awareness and challenging children to recognise the similarities and differences between themselves and others. Exploring and observing ourselves, is a great catalyst to get children thinking about topics such as race, culture and disability.
If a child appears to be struggling, start off by asking them to notice smaller identifications such as: what colour jumper is Annie wearing? How long is her hair/how long is your hair?
If writing isn't preferred, ask for verbal differences and similarities, and although specified for pairs, this exercise works easily for individuals too.
A task aimed to activate skills for later in the session (P4-Creative Writing).
Asking children to think about the features and structures of stories, we begin to discuss what and how we can create a product that is engaging. Try to ask the child about as many features of stories as possible such as; characters, set, structure, genre. If struggling, ask questions in relation to a specific and identifiable story . For example: Who is the hero in Snow White? How many characters are there in Little Red Riding Hood?
Part 2 - Telling Tales
Part 3 - Doctor John
Role Play is the perfect way to get creative and a great tool to begin asking children to engage with the emotions and experiences of somebody else. We can use role play as the foundation of generating empathy and understanding towards those around us.
Asking children to use what they have in their environment is important so that they begin to think more independently and beyond what has been provided. If having trouble, ask them to start with where they are? Thinking back to where Annie was when she was pretending to be Doctor John.
This task can be expanded extensively, asking the children to interact with each other as their characters or maybe even some Hot Seating for those that are older? Perhaps children can present a specific mannerism of their character and others have to observe and copy. Continue to ask questions throughout to encourage curiosity and play.
Part 5 - Where do I come from?
Similar to our first task, Part 5 stresses a real importance of both accepting and respecting ourselves and others around us.
Circumstances permitting, where possible, this must be completed in small groups to achieve vast and varied discussion. Using the performance as stimuli to help explore family.
Please note that this subject area may be challenging and sensitive to some so please ensure mediation of groups, enabling open, healthy, and confidential conversation.
Part 4 - Falling
Creative writing - like with all the tasks, this will vary highly depending on the groups requirements and writing stages. Allow children to think carefully about which option they choose, making it clear that planning a piece of writing is very important.
If children are having issues with ideas of what to write, always refer to the five senses and how these can help us think deeply about where we are. Check in with previous tasks (P2) to help also with writing elements.
Option to play music in aiding of transportation to new worlds. Task can be completed individually at home, but in extension writing could be shared with the group, incorporating collaboration with each other.
Part 6 - The Picture and The End
And finally, using the medium of art to express one's truest self. The Picture and The End through the voice of Annie, provides a judgement-free opportunity for the children to communicate how they want to be seen by the world. This task should be completely self-led with no constraints of time or pressure applied.
If possible, there should be plenty of space and materials available to cater to creative freedom. There should also be a platform in which children can explain their pictures if they would like to.