Mortal Engines (Upper KS2, Fiction) - planning ideas for a creative literacy unit

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This resource contains ideas for planning a creative literacy unit based on ‘Mortal Engines’, a rip-roaring, steampunk adventure by Philip Reeve.

Suitable for Year 5 and 6.

Plan a challenging creative writing project for upper Key Stage 2 that uses discussion, design technology and music to explore the incredible world of motorised cities, pirates, aviatrixes and impending war. Perfect for a post SATs project!

Story synopsis
London is a city on the move. Many centuries after the Sixty Minute War devastated human civilisations, the great metropolises of the past are now rebuilt… as gigantic cities on wheels! These industrial monsters rove around the barren Hunting Ground gobbling up natural resources and smaller towns and conurbations. It is the time of Municipal Darwinism. But as resources dwindle, London’s mayor hatches a sinister plan to secure London’s future. After Tom Natsworthy, a young city historian, has a chance encounter with Hester, a savage outlander, he finds himself drawn into the plot, battling pirates, mechanical warriors and the struggle for London’s future that will change him forever. Mortal Engines is the first instalment in a rip-roaring steampunk epic, told with irreverent verve and energy that will captivate readers young and old.

How to use this resource
This resource is structured into five parts.

1. Inspiration - sharing the book with your class.
2. Incubation - exploring the ideas in the book through reading, drama and discussion.
3. Connection - making cross-curricular links with this book.
4. Illumination - bringing the work to life through art and design.
5. Application - getting the children writing creatively.

Each part is designed to help you deliver a structured literacy unit that offers children room for creativity, develops opportunities for meaningful learning and is plugged in to different areas of the curriculum.

This ‘Have you Tried?’ resource can form the basis for an outstanding, cross-curricular unit of literacy work. For more ideas like this, visit articulateeducation.co.uk