The Island
Year 3 and 4
Autumn 2007 onwards
Learning objectives
• To think about things that are the same
about different religions.
• To think about how you would feel and
react in different situations.
• To think about why people do what they
do.
The story begins with a cruise around
the world. Some of you are rich people
who go on cruises every winter to get
away from the cold. Some of you are
not rich, but you won a ticket for the
cruise in a competition in a newspaper.
Everyone is waving and cheering and
is very excited. At the last minute a
limousine pulls up on the quay and a
beautiful young bride steps out of the
car with her husband. She runs up the
gangplank and the ship sets off!
On the first Saturday night there is a
fancy dress party. You are beginning to
get to know the other passengers and
have a wonderful evening.
In the middle of the night you are
woken up by a terrible crunching,
crashing sound. The ship begins to tip
to one side. You are terrified and leap
out of bed, but the captain says that
there is no danger and that everyone
should go back to bed until morning.
In the morning you wake up to find that
the ship has run around on a coral reef
which wasn’t on any map. The captain
tells you that the computers aren’t
working and that there is no signal on
the ship’s radio. There is no way of
communicating with the outside world.
The captain takes a party of crew out to look
around the island. You all wait nervously on the
broken ship, wondering what is going to happen.
When he gets back, he reports that there is good
news and bad news. The good news is that there
is a stream with fresh water, lots of fruit trees, fish
in the sea to eat and no dangerous animals. The
bad news is that the island is small and there are
no people anywhere.
He tells everybody to get off the ship and take
anything which could be useful for making shelters
on the island – we could be here for a few days.
What are we worried about?
You have been on the island for two
weeks now. People are starting to get
irritable and argumentative. The
captain calls a meeting. He says that,
as we are going to be here for longer
than he though, we need to set up
some rules for how to get on with each
other and live safely on the island.
Rules
Where do we have rules in our
lives?
Our rules
In groups, can you think of 10 rules which would
make life on the island safer and easier?
We will then vote on the rules to decide on the 10
more popular rules for living on the island.
Compare to rules in religions
Nine months later
(Talk about how time has passed.
Discuss what could be the useful
things you have taken from the ship
and how they could be used. Good
DT link. Mention that things such
as jewellery and best dresses were
also taken, because they will be
used for special ceremonies later.)
(Set the scene by talking about the
bride being very worried encourage the
children to work out what the problem
may be, talk about childbirth and its
dangers where there is no medical
help. Tell the children that the bride is
in the hut all day with some of the older
women in the group. They don’t know
what is happening.)
In the middle of the night, the
baby is born. Will it be alive?
Will the mother be alive?
Can you think of a name for the baby?
It will have to be suitable for a boy or a
girl, as we don’t know which it will be.
We will vote on the most popular name.
The baby is alive! The mother is
alive! How can you all
celebrate?
• Work in small groups
• Make a list of ideas to put to
the class. Remember to say
why you have chosen each
idea.
•
•
•
•
Special food
Special clothes
Special words
Special gifts
• Some of our ideas as an example:
• The ceremony:
• Fire a firework into the sky to start the ceremony so that
everyone knows
• Give the baby gifts because I had some when I was born
• Party because I like parties
• Bowl of water from the stream and the captain or the
baby’s mother and father puts some on the baby’s head.
We will use water because that makes us think of
cleanliness.
• Carve the baby’s name on a tree
• Choose an adult to be responsible for the baby if its
parents die. Maybe the whole community could be
responsible?
(Lots of cross-curricular
opportunities: art, DT cooking,
ICT research on local plants,
shells, etc)
(Compare to birth ceremonies in
different religions)
Thirty years later
The baby has grown up and more
babies have been born. The first baby
is now the leader of the community.
Some of the people are beginning to
get old.
(Talk about ageing and death, then
introduce a character who will die.
What will you do with the body? How
will you make sure that you remember
that person?)
What have you, the islanders,
invented?
Find out about rituals and
ceremonies to do with death in
various religions. What do they
do that is the same? What do
they do that is different?
There are now many children on the
island. Some of the adults are
beginning to worry that, when the old
people have died, the children will not
know about the landing on the island or
where they came from.
What could you, the islanders, do about
this?
In this book they wrote all the
information that would teach the
islanders about their history and
how to live safely on the island.
How could you make sure that
the book doesn’t get damaged
or lost?
What could you put in the book?
• The story of the shipwreck and what
happened afterwards
• The names and families of the first people
on the island – family trees
• Jobs done by the first settlers
• The rules they wrote when they first
arrived
• Details of the ceremonies for new babies
and people dying
What have you, the islanders,
invented?
Compare to different religions.
Christianity
• What is in the Bible?
• The Holy Bible is a collection of books. These are arranged in the
Old Testament (before Jesus Christ) and New Testament.
• The Old Testament has three parts
*History:about creation and the history of the Jewish people
* Wisdom literature, which includes prayers, great wisdom, and
some prophesy.
• The New Testament consists of 3 sections:
* The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) tell about Jesus’ life
and teaching.
* Acts records the history of the early church
* The Letters contain important
teaching for those who follow Jesus Christ.
* Revelation is a book of prophesy that tells about what is going to
happen, as well as sending some warning messages to Christians
now.
Which of the things from our list
are recorded in these parts of
the Bible?
• Exodus 20:2–17
• Leviticus 11
• Matthew 1:2
Islam: What’s in the Koran?
• The Bible and the Koran tell a lot of the same stories,
though the Koran tells the stories in somewhat different
words. For Muslims, the Koran is the words of God,
passed by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Mohammed,
written down so they will not be forgotten.
• Like the Torah and the Bible, the Koran told believers
how to be good. The Koran says that people should not
drink wine or beer, for instance or eat meat from pigs.
Also, the Koran told people about their rights.
• The Koran includes the stories of Nuh and Musa.
Two hundred years later
(A good place for a discussion
about who would make up the
community. Could introduce
smaller communities which have
split off and do things differently
– compare to different kinds of
Christianity, Judaism and
Islam.)
Every year, on June 16th, everyone
holds a big party, where they listen to
the story of the arrival on the island.
There is special food and decorations.
The story.
This is told on this special day
by the leader of the community.
The children often act out
different roles, and give each
other presents.
What does this day remind you
of?
When children are 14 there is a
special ceremony
When children are 14 there is a
special ceremony
• Children have to go to special lessons beforehand –
learn about history and rules
• Happens at weekly meeting of all the islanders
• Child must stand up in front of everyone
• Recite the story of the shipwreck
• Leader pours bowl of water over child’s head and says,
“You have come up out of the sea and are now a true
Islander, with responsibility to keep our rules and look
after the whole community.”
• Party afterwards
What does this day remind you
of?