Stuck

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Floyd gets his kite stuck up a tree. He throws up his shoe to shift it, but that gets stuck too. So he throws up his other shoe and that gets stuck, along with… a ladder, a pot of paint, the kitchen sink, an orang-utan and a whale, amongst other things!

Will Floyd ever get his kite back?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

English

• The author uses lots of ellipses in the story. Why is this? Can you write a sentence / paragraph / story that include ellipses?
• Capital letters are also used at different points in the story. Can you explain why this is?
• Floyd throws up an orang-utan ‘who surely had somewhere else to be?’. Write the story that explains where he was and how Floyd caught him.
• Add a speech bubble to each image to Floyd in which he explains what he is thinking / doing and how he is feeling.
• The story is written in the third person. Can you rewrite it in the first person, from Floyd’s point of view?
• Write the story that explains how the different people / animals / objects got themselves out of the tree.
• Could you write your own story with the title ‘STUCK’? Who / what might get stuck? How might they be rescued?
• Watch this video of the author reading the book. Could you record your own retelling of the story?

• What else could Floyd have thrown into the tree? Write a new part of the story where he throws other objects up into the tree. Watch this video in which the author talks about things that he wasn’t able to include in the story:

Maths

• Think about the different sizes of the items that Floyd throws in the tree. How long / tall / heavy is each one? How could you measure them? What units of measurement would we need to use? Could you make a list showing the measurements of each item and use these to make a graph? (see Resources below)
• Estimate the price of each item that Floyd throws into the tree. What is the total value of all of the items in the tree by the end of the story?

Science

• Find out why kites fly. What forces are involved?
• Find out about different types of trees. How do they grow? How do they reproduce?
• The people and objects in the illustrations have shadows. Can you explain how shadows are formed?

Computing

• Make a stop-motion animation to retell the story.

Design Technology

• Can you design your own kite? Could you have a class competition? Which kite is best at flying? Which do you think of decorated in the nicest way?
• Make a model of a tree and put some unusual items in it to recreate one of the illustrations in the book.
• Design a machine that will help Floyd to get his kite out of the tree.

Art

• Look at the different illustrations of the tree in the story. Although it is the same tree, it is coloured in different ways. Can you draw the same thing lots of times and decorate each one with different colours? How does this alter how the picture looks? Which one do you prefer?
• Look at the use of shadows in the illustrations. Can you draw some objects and their shadows? Could you draw the same scene at different times of the day? How would the shadows change?
• Learn how to draw Floyd from the book by watching these videos featuring the author / illustrator:

Geography

• Look around your school grounds / local area. Is there a tree big enough to hold all of the items that Floyd threw up?

Physical education

• Floyd isn’t very good at throwing things into the tree. Can you design a game which might help improve your throwing skills? Could you have a competition with your friends in which you have to hit a target?

Languages

• Could you translate the names of the things that Floyd threw into a different language?
• Could you find out the word for ‘tree’ in lots of different languages?

PSHE

• Look at Floyd’s facial expressions and body language at different points in the story. How is he feeling? Could you try to recreate his posture and explain what emotion is being portrayed?

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