Context

The teacher at New Milton Junior School was looking for some 'Big Writing' ideas online and found details of the Everybody Writes Alien Landing project mentioned on a TES forum. 

“I read a few threads on the forum and found that someone had created an alien crash site to inspire their children to write. It was just one day and it eventually resulted in a school newspaper being created. I was thinking of a fun way to start our next topic in Year 3 and this sounded like a good idea,” Class Teacher

As a school, New Milton is developing a values-led curriculum and part of this involves providing the children with opportunities to lead their learning. So, with this in mind, Tom and two other Year 3 teachers planned to create an alien spacecraft crash landing on their school field and see where it took them. They particularly wanted to raise the profile of writing and engage children with a real experience.

Aims & principles

Believability in the alien crash landing site was key for the project to be successful, and the school also felt that working with community partners to help achieve this was important.

The school also wanted to create an experience that would engage all levels of writers and give the opportunity for all pupils to respond creatively to an immediate situation, as well as running a project that could work on a cross-subject level.

In Practice

The teachers put together a spaceship using chicken wire and paper mache and dug a hole in the field. They then hid a CD player underneath the “spaceship” which played space sounds. While one teacher was doing this the Year group were preparing themselves for a staged ‘orienteering’ task in the hall, and so to create a dramatic situation and lead the children to the site of the crash, the lead teacher lit a plumber’s smoke bomb and ran towards the hall to get help.

“The children didn’t know what was going on! As they approached the crash site we could see how shocked and perplexed they were. It was a fantastic first reaction. We really wanted them to believe that an alien spaceship had crash-landed, and I can confidently say that for a few hours that day 100 per cent of the children were believers” -  Class Teacher

The teachers had been in touch with the local police force beforehand and agreed that they would help out with the project. As the pupils gathered around the crash site the local police van pulled into the car park and sped across the playground with the lights flashing. 

“PC Pressie and PCSO Marks were brilliant. They helped the children secure the scene and talked about what to do in an emergency, how they gathered evidence, how to interview witnesses etc., The children then went around looking for clues as to what had happened and filled their evidence bags. The alien footprints were spotted early - ‘Look - it’s a giant duck!’ was my favourite quote.” - Class teacher

Local businesses took part too: The New Forest Arts Centre and a local business called ‘Carry On Costumes’ visited and spoke to the children about their investigations and findings. The children made notes as the businesspeople talked about what they has “seen” and described what the alien looked like in great detail. 

All through the morning the children made notes and were encouraged to be descriptive and use their senses to write as much as possible. There was some planning time and a ‘Big Writing’ time using VCOP for the pupils to write an account of what they thought happened. The children were hooked and all levels of writers produced detailed pieces of writing as to what they thought happened. 

“The speaking and listening was brilliant. It’s through these scenarios that the quiet children or the less confident children really come alive and show a different side to their character,” Class Teacher

By now the older children in the school had voiced their opinion on the events in the playground, so the realness of the event was beginning to fade. Nevertheless, all Year 3 children were enthused and inspired. The day finished with the teachers explaining that the alien crash landing was in fact a staged event, and although the paper mache spaceship was gleaming in the sunshine, it was made by members of staff.

Partnerships

The school drew on existing relationships with a local business, arts centre and police force to help diversify the project and add input to the day for children, in particular making the alien crash landing more “believable” by having the police help the children investigate the craft, and by having the community members come and give a testimony to the children about what they had seen and heard

Outcomes

The challenge was to keep the level of enthusiasm high. It was World Book Day the day after the alien crash landing, so the staff carried out various activities using alien books, such as Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross’ Dr. Xargle books. The Home Learning Activity for that week was to design and make an alien spaceship. Literacy time focused on being descriptive and explanatory texts - as there was lots of explaining for the children to do, based on these strange occurrences. 

After the alien landing day the teachers introduced an “evidence bag” that the police had “discovered” which contained an alien ice egg, a letter from the alien and possible reasons why the alien landed in the field - for instance, that the alien crashed by accident but was looking for somewhere for his family to live as he had been suffering on his planet. 

The geography skills pathway focused on children deciding which part of the world would be best for the alien to live. They used video to record a weather report on places on earth best suited for aliens. The alien would then choose the best place and decide to live there. This meant that persuasive writing was covered as part of the project. 

For the rest of the term, aliens and alien-based subjects have infused the school’s topic based learning, including activities such as: A Men In Black dance, an alien treasure hunt, alien art using paint, looking at the Easter story, creating a piece of music to communicate with the alien, and in Science, looking at solids and liquids and reversible/irreversible changes (with reference to the alien ice egg). 

“It was so much fun seeing the children’s reactions - they absolutely loved it! We had parents’ evening the week after and most of the conversations involved aliens in one way or another; a hit with everyone involved in the school community. We won’t be able to act out a scenario as extremely as this again but there are definitely ideas we will be creating in the future to ensure there is a starting point to inspire the children to write,” Class Teacher

Resources

The teacher used the Dr Xargle books for children. The alien craft and ice eggs were constructed using papier mache and craft materials and the letters from the aliens made in advance and added into “evidence bags”.

Contacts

Tom Chappell, Teacher

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