The Rapunzel’s Tower instructions and activities are now available on the Fairytalekingdom website and if you fancy a laugh, you can see the ChildEd PLUS team having a go at the model too! We would love for you to follow suit and, when each model is finished, you share it online using our show and tell feature.
Enjoy the project and join in with your ideas, top tips and planning advice.
Thanks Kat – should be working now :-)
Rapunzel’s Tower was created today – well two of them!
I split my class into two groups so i had groups of mixed ages and abilities. We discussed the task and discussed how it was going to be successful. The children decided that for it to be successful they had to - work together as a team - put in effort - follow the instructions carefully and our class motto - HAVE FUN!
I started off by using the resource from scholastic called ‘voice what you view’ to get the children guessing at what Fariy Tale we were starting with. They enjoyed revealing the boxes!
They then split into their two groups and each group had a teacher to support it. The children read the instuctions to one another and each group decided what instruction each group member would do according to abilities etc. They then set to work.
With each member only having one / two instructions there was a bit of time when perhaps they’d have nothing to do – but they enjoyed lending one another a hand, or just watching the others and learning from them. My 6 year olds learned today what a radius of a circle was! They would also seek support to see if they could start an instruction that was later down the list.
Both groups worked well and really enjoyed this.
I think that some of the instructions were fairly fiddly – the exact measurements, cutting of windows, poking holes etc but it worked well as my older children did these jobs and the younger ones enjoyed printing stones, glueing and mixing paint. Some of it we did have to lend a hand with – the poking of the hole was particularly tricky!!!
We got the top glued on today but ran out of time for the battlements – i hope we can add these easily tomorrow as the glue will have dried by then – DOH! Never mind.
I think it too just over the hour for both groups to almost complete the towers.
It was a great activity. I know Child Ed have said that the children can be as creative as they like with it, but my aim for these activities is for the children to follow instructions carefully – be able to read, understand and follow the instructions to make their Kingdoms. So ours will be looking similar to the magazines.
I will upload my photos when we have both roofs and battlements on.
Thanks Child Ed! Looking forward to the next one already!!!
Kat :-)
Today we read the story of Rapunzel which was downloaded from this site and wow, what a text!
We used it as a fantastic example for WOW words and phrases. I could see the children indicating to me they were hearing wow words and phrases so the follow up task to this turned on it’s heel! It became highlighting wow words and phrases in the story and then using a story board sheet, the children chose 6 of their favourite wow phrases and illustrated them. Something different but the picutres were great.
I cant wait to gather them all! They will go in our library.
Although…. why cant a witch be a witch? Why does she have to be an ‘enchantress’???
I’m glad you liked the story, kat! It was a fun one to write.
In the original Brothers Grimm version of the tale, the witch is referred to as an ‘enchantress’. I was in two minds whether to change it, but decided to go with the original!
This project looks really interesting and I’m trying to talk my class share partner into giving it a go.
I was wondering how are others planning to do it? Are you putting your class into groups and making four or five models or you having them make one each (30+ models?!!)
And where are you storing it all??
My class has started this- making a tower each. 28 in total. The children are just loving it and there has been a real buzz about the whole topic. Lots of cross curricular opportunities and the most fantastic writing has been generated (Thank you Mike, for that fabulous ‘read aloud’ version of Rapunzel!!) I have adapted lots of the activities to give the children more ownership- thinking of an easier way to make the window, using paper plates cut in half for the spire, selloptaping 3 strands of wool to the desk to allow children to make their plaits independently. With a carousel of activities to move around, the children are pretty much up to speed to complete Rapunzel’s tower just as the next building comes live! Every child has made their own tower with the minimum of adult intervention- child initiated for sure. And the beauty is, they are all so thrilled with the results. Storage is not yet a problem, but I am thinking of letting the children vote on their favourite at each stage (for display in the school library) and letting the rest of my pupils take their efforts home to complete a fairy tale kingdom in their own bedrooms!!
By the way- a single hole punch- available for under 3 quid, is an invaluable investment for doing the tricky side piercing!!
Wow helenb! You made 28 towers? I am very impressed. I like your idea of letting the children vote for their favourite and then taking the others home. That certainly solves the storage issue which has been giving me some sleepless nights.
I’ve just looked at the grandma’s cottage instructions and they look very complicated and fiddly for our Y1s. I think we would have to adapt it quite heavily to make sure the kids could handle it all without constant adult supervision.
Are you planning on making 28 cottages too? If so you deserve a gold medal!!!
28 towers? Hats off to you. I had my hands full making four!
Yes i think 28 models is impressive! Its chaos with our two! (well not chaos but managable but with 2 i cant think how 28 are!)
Yes the cottage looks lot more fiddly and i think it will have to be spread over a couple of sessions to let the mod roc dry – no amount of blowing will dry mod rock i frear! haha.
Well we have now generated a whole new ‘side’ activity because my pupils were really excited about the idea of rotating beds!! I think we will probably make about half a dozen cottages with members of each group having a contribution to make to the end result. Then all the pupils can have a go at the ‘revolving bed’ challenge, but not on a scale small enough to fit inside the cottage. This is great!! We pretty much finished our towers today and the fact that each one was so individual has given the children real pride in the outcome. A hugely enjoyable venture!
Revolving beds? Did I miss something?! Sounds interesting and also quite scary. ;—)
We watched the powerpoint! It’s not actually the bed that revolves, but the occupant. Almost as scary! :)
Seen the powerpoint and the rotating bed! Now it all makes sense.
Good luck with that one!! Will you be putting up a powerpoint to show us how you got on?
Yes, we will be putting up a power point as the project continiues. And Lord help me- because I can’t bear to disappoint the children we WILL be making 29 cottages….(New pupil arrived last week, she must have heard we were doing Fairytale kingdom!!!) Here’s a tip for the windows: instead of acetate, if your school has a laminator, feeding through some empty sleeves makes great ‘glass’ and is easier for the children to work with. Have also thought of a short cut to the roof, but wont pass it on until I know it works!!
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Hello Just been looking through this to make a start next week and i just thought id let you know i cant get that link to work – the fairytalekingdom website one.
:-)