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Have a go at writing a war letter.
On the battlefield, there were a lot of letters flying around. Can you write a letter?
This can be either from a solider to a loved one at home, or from a loved one at home to a soldier.
Your setting description may help for this, as you can use it to imagine what it must have been like to have been there. Think also about the setting description you wrote for the young boy, as this may also help you think about emotions that must have been felt at the time.

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Re-watch all of the film.
Can you have a go at predicting what will happen next?
You can choose whether this will be immediately after the door is closed, or you could continue writing from 10 years on when one of the boys is older and finds the boxes in the loft.

Questions to consider - why were the boys on the battlefield? Who was the soldier who saved them? Who are the older couple looking after them? Why are there so many letters left behind?

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Watch up to 1 minute of the film again.
Can you add a character description for the older boy?
Think about using show not tell.
How do you think he is feeling? How do you know?

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Watch up to 1 minute of the film.
Can you write a setting description?
Think about everything you would be able to see, hear, touch, smell, taste.

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Watch the below video on Literacy shed and then follow the instructions for each day.

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The opening sequence of this film swoops across an old am and students studying World War II may recognise the names of the Normandy landing beaches.

It is to here that we are taken, first we see the eye of a scared soldier and then a group of soldiers huddled together on transport vessels ready for battle. Once discharged they race up the beach - it is at this point that we realise that something isn't quite right.

Two young boys are caught up in the battle surrounded by pale, paper-faced soldiers.

There are clues for the viewer to hint that the war is not actually being played out for real as there are artefacts which jar with the setting.

The paper soldiers,

Grammarphone,

Child's trike,

Toy truck,

Television

Playing cards,

Garden furniture

Suitcase.

However, the battle does seem very real to our two characters. They look around in desperation and one face stands out in the crowd of faceless soldiers and it seems that the boys know who this is.
They race towards him and take cover before witnessing the horrors of war at close hand.

Papers flutter to the ground around the fallen men, are these the letters to their loved ones? More death and destruction is witnessed before a figure swoops across the boys and the scene fades to black.

We soon realise that the boys are safe and in the attic with their grandfather. They had been alone reading letters.

There are some possibilities here about the significance of the letters:

They are the grandfather's letters showing what he witnessed during the war;

His chest says that he was the quartermaster. Perhaps these letters were left with him whilst their owners went off and were killed. All that is left of them is the letters. Is this why they are portrayed as paper men in the animation?

Teaching Ideas

Discuss how the men on the boat would have been feeling as they huddled on the boat on their way to their impending doom.

Think about how to develop a piece of writing that reveals that all is not what it seems; introducing the boys and giving clues about the soldiers.

Create setting descriptions of the battleground and also of a contrasting place and compare the use of specific vocabulary such as colour and mood.

Write a first person narrative through the eyes of one of the children, one of the unknown soldiers or 'young' Grandad.

Create a third person narrative retelling the story as we see it on the film.

Discuss the meaning of the paper men.

Write letters home from the front to their loved ones. (Doesn't need to be a sweetheart)

The film allows for discussion about the impact of war over time.

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The opening sequence of this film swoops across an old am and students studying World War II may recognise the names of the Normandy landing beaches. It is to here that we are taken, first we see the eye of a scared soldier and then a group of soldiers huddled together on transport vessels ready for battle.

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SCAN ME TO ACCESS ON YOUR DEVICE

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Modal Verbs and Adverbs of Possibility Wednesday