Katie In London

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Imagine a friendly lion showing you the sights of London! When Katie and her cousin Jack visit London with Grandma, they don’t think there’s much to see and do. At Trafalgar Square, they meet a talking stone lion, and he takes them on a wonderful tour of the city taking in such sights as The Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye!

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• Make a poster to encourage people to visit London?(see Resources below).
• Write a diary entry from Katie’s point of view about her trip to London. Could you write a diary entry from the Lion’s point of view?
• Look at the use of speech marks in the story. Can you turn this direct speech into indirect speech?
• Think of words that can be used to describe the Crown Jewels.
• Find out about the role of the Yeoman Warder. Could you write a job description for them?
• Katie, Jack and the Lion see the Globe Theatre. Can you learn about Shakespeare and read some children’s versions of his works?
• Imagine that you are the Queen, looking out of the windows of Buckingham Palace and you see Katie, Jack and a lion walking past. Explain how you might feel about this!

Maths

• Find the prices of different tourist attractions in London. If you were to go with an adult, how much would they cost? If you were to go with two adults and a friend, what would the new price be?
• Identify shapes in the illustrations. How many squares, rectangles, triangles or circles can you see?
• Imagine that you went shopping at Harrods or Hamley’s. What would you buy? Look at the Hamleys website and make a birthday present list for a friend. How much do the different items cost? What is the total?

Science

• Find out about lions. What is their normal habitat? How are they adapted to living there?

Computing

• Find photos of London and make a photo guide about London with your own narration. You could use a program like Windows Movie Maker or iMovie to do this.
• Record a radio advert to promote London as a tourist attraction.

Design Technology

• Could you use craft materials to make a model of a London landmark?

Art

• Find photos of different places in London and use these as inspiration for your own art work (see Resources below).
• Compare photos of parts of London with the illustrations in the story. How are they similar / different?
• Lots of symbols and logos include images of a lion. Can you find any? Could you design your own?

Geography

• Look at maps of London. What famous places can you find? Could you challenge a friend to find different places in London? Can you find the places mentioned in the story?
• Could you draw your own map of London and add the places that Katie visits in the story?
• Use Google Maps or Google Earth to go on a virtual walk around the streets of London.
• Find out how people travel to, from and around London. Are there any examples of transport shown in the book?
• Use the Transport for London site to plan journeys between places in London.
• Katie, Jack and the lion encounter lots of traffic on their journey. What is the environmental impact of all this traffic? How can people reduce this?
• The Union Flag appears in the story. Can you find the flags of other countries?

History

• Can you research the history of the different sights that Katie and Jack see on their trip to London? Use the information in the back of the book as a starting point.
• Can you find out any famous historical events that have taken place in London? Use the London Topic site to help you.

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