Dear Greenpeace

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Worried that the whale living in her pond is unhappy, Emily writes to Greenpeace, who, though offering the best of advice, insist that it is impossible for a whale to live in a pond. Undeterred, Emily continues to seek the best course of action for her beloved whale, finally setting him free.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Use this book as an introduction to letter writing. What features do letters have?
• If you could write a letter to anybody, who would you write to? Could you write and send your letter to them?
• Find out more about Greenpeace and write your own letter to them.
• Write a report about whales that will teach Emily about them.
• Think of some speech / thought bubbles to accompany the illustrations in the book. What is Emily thinking? What might the whale be thinking?
• Write a diary entry from Lucy’s point of view.
• Imagine that Lucy sees her whale again at a later date. Could you write a story about an adventure that they might have together?

Maths

• Find out about the sizes of different animals (including humans and whales) and use this to create some graphs and charts.

Science

• Find out more about whales and use your information to write a report.
• Choose an animal and make a list of similarities and differences between your chosen animal and a whale.

Computing

• Create a multimedia presentation or a video about whales.
• Use graphics software to create some images of whales.
• Use publishing software to design a poster about whales for Emily’s bedroom walls.

Design Technology

• Can you make a model of a whale using different materials?

Art

• Look at photos of whales and use these as the starting point for your own illustrations, pictures and paintings.
• Watch the video above and use the author’s planning techniques to plan your own picture book.

Music

• Listen to whale sounds and compose a melody to accompany them:

Geography

• Find out about the migration of whales and plot their movements on a map of the world. How far do they travel?

PSHE

• Find out more about Greenpeace. What do they do? Can you think of other charities?
• Discuss why people like to support different charities. Can you plan a fundraising activity to support Greenpeace (or another charity that is important to you)?