KS2 Activity Pack

Bring Me

Sunshine

Written by

Wendy Storer

1

Index

Page

2 PSHE Learning Objectives

3. Primary Literacy Framework

4. Young Carers - Background Information

5. Young Carers - Class Discussions

6. Young Carers - How does it feel?

7. Young Carers - Drama Activities

8. Who Are You? - The Sums of Your Life

9. Who Are You? - Creative Writing, Poetry and Prose

10. Who Are You? - Perfect Birthday

11. Memory - Short term Memory games

12. Memory - Long Term Memory, Boxes

13. Memory - Character Wordsearch

14. Rights and Responsibilities - Think Tank

15. Rights and Responsibilities - Do you know the difference?

16. Rights and Responsibilities - Do you know the difference? Worksheet

17. Rights and Responsibilities - What’s important to you, and why

18. Rights and Responsibilities - Poster

19. Rights and Responsibilities - The Bullying Problem

20. Rights and Responsibilities - The Bullying Problem. Worksheet

21. Getting Help - Who helps me?

22. Getting Help - The people I can ask for help

23. Getting Help - Useful Contacts

2

KS2 Learning Objectives

This activity pack is based around the KS2 PSHE Curriculum and provides students with

the opportunity to achieve the following learning objectives:

Ref.

Objective

1. Knowledge, skills

and understanding

Children are given an opportunity to talk and write about their opinions,

and explain their views, on issues that affect themselves and society.

To recognise their worth as individuals by identifying positive things about

themselves.

2. Preparing to play

an active role as

citizens

To realise the consequences of anti-social and aggressive behaviours, such

as bullying, on individuals.

That there are different kinds of responsibilities, rights and duties at

home, at school and in the community, and that these can sometimes

conflict with each other.

To reflect on moral, social, and cultural issues, using imagination to

understand other people's experiences.

4. Developing good

relationships and

respecting the

differences between

people

To understand that their actions affect themselves and others.

To care about other people's feelings and to try to see things from their

point of view.

To know where individuals can get help and support.

5. Breadth of

opportunities

Feel positive about themselves by remembering positive events in their

lives and appreciating the help and support they receive.

3

Relevance to the Primary Framework for Literacy

Objective

Speaking

• Speak competently and creatively for different purposes and

audiences, reflecting on impact and response

• Explore, develop and sustain ideas through talk

Listening and responding

• Understand, recall and respond to speakers’ implicit and explicit

meanings

• Explain and comment on speakers’ use of language, including

vocabulary, grammar and nonverbal features

Group discussion and

interaction

• Take different roles in groups to develop thinking and complete tasks

• Participate in conversations, making appropriate contributions

building on others’ suggestions and responses

Drama

• Use dramatic techniques, including work in role to explore ideas and

texts

Understanding and

interpreting texts

• Retrieve, select and describe information, events or ideas

• Deduce, infer and interpret information, events or ideas

Engaging with and

responding to texts

• Read independently for purpose, pleasure and learning

• Respond imaginatively, using different strategies to engage with texts

• Evaluate writers’ purposes and viewpoints, and the overall effect of

the text on the reader

Creating and shaping texts

• Write independently and creatively for purpose, pleasure and

learning

• Use and adapt a range of forms, suited to different purposes and

readers

• Use structural and presentational features for meaning and impact

4

YOUNG CARERS

Background

Bring Me Sunshine gives an insight into the issue of children acting as carers for a family

member. A recent survey estimated that there may be as many as 700,000 young carers

in the UK, with an average age of 12. ∗

The definition of a young carer is a child or young person (up to the age of 18) whose life

is affected by looking after someone with a disability or long term illness, including a

mental illness, learning disability, drug or alcohol dependency, frailty, or old age. The

young person may be the sole carer, or he/she may assist in the care of a parent, sibling,

other family member or friend. The care they give may be practical, physical, and

emotional.

Sometimes, as with Daisy and Sam, children don’t realise they are young carers, and just

carry on doing what needs to be done.

Young carers often

• have more responsibility than other children

• worry about themselves and family members

• feel sad

• feel scared

• feel anxious about the future

• don’t get enough sleep or rest, and are tired

• miss school

• have difficulty concentrating at school

• find it difficult to stay friends with other children

• get bullied

• don’t know who to turn to for help

∗

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/02/young-carer-teenager-mum-dad

5

YOUNG CARERS

Class Discussions

Daisy does a lot of things to help her dad and brother. She does the

shopping, cooks meals, washes clothes, reads Sam bedtime stories, and tidies up the

mess. These things are the most obvious aspects of caring, but there are lots of other

ways that caring impacts on her life.

How is Daisy’s life affected by being a young carer?

This is an opportunity to reflect on moral, social, and cultural issues, and for pupils to

use their imagination to understand other people's experiences.

Possible starting points might be…

• What does Daisy do that other children don’t often have to do?

• What can’t Daisy do that other children can?

• What do you think she worries about?

• Why is she often late for school?

• Why does she fall out with her friends?

• If Daisy didn’t do the things she does, what would happen to Dad and Sam?

Open up the discussion by talking about young carers in general.

For example:

• What is the hardest thing about being a young carer?

• What is the worst thing about being a young carer?

• What is the best thing about being a young carer?

6

YOUNG CARERS

How does it feel?

Pass the hat

This is an opportunity to think about other people's feelings and to try to see things

from their point of view.

• Ask the children to give you a list of feeling words, (happy, sad, angry and so on)

and write them all on pieces of paper.

• Fold each piece of paper up and put it into a hat.

• Add your own ideas; including - special, tired, important, worried, grown up,

helpful etc.

• Let the children pass the hat around the room, and take one piece of paper each.

• Take it in turns to read out the feeling/emotion.

• Then tell the rest of the class one reason why being a young carer might make

them feel that way.

7

YOUNG CARERS

Drama Activities

In small groups

Choose one of the following scenarios and have a go at acting out the situation to see

what might happen and how it might make you feel.

1. Sick parent - Daisy’s Dad isn’t very well and she looks after him.

In your group, choose one person to be a parent, one or more people to be their children,

and others to be friends, or relatives, or neighbours. Imagine the parent is ill, but that

you have something important to do. Think about how you would handle the situation

and act it out.

2. Strange happenings! - Dad does strange things; like putting his wallet in the fridge,

forgetting where he has been, and making unusual meals.

In your group, choose one person to be a parent, one or more people to be their child or

children, and others to be friends, or relatives, or neighbours. Imagine that something

very strange and out of the ordinary happens. Decide between you what it is, think

about how it affects everyone in the group and then act out the events.

3. Scared and unhappy - When Sam is scared and unhappy, Daisy cheers him up.

In your group, you are all brothers and sisters. Imagine a situation where of you feels

scared. What are they scared of and how would the rest of you handle it? Act it out and

see if you can find a way to cheer him or her up.

Afterwards, encourage pupils to share and evaluate their ideas with the class.

8

WHO ARE YOU?

The Sums of your life

When Daisy cannot do the thing she likes doing most of all (drumming) she finds it

difficult to express herself. She says,

A Drummer – A Drumkit = A What?

She makes up lots of other sums about her life too. For example:

Dusting + Dad = Unbelievable

Sam + Glittery Wand + Curtis Watson = Total Annihilation

Sammy + Elvis Jnr = Best Mates

How many sums can you make up which tell us something about your own life?

1……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………

7………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………

8……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

10……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9

WHO ARE YOU?

Creative Writing

Poetry

Sam makes up an acrostic poem about the people in his life. His poem tells us a little bit

about Daisy, Dad and him, but also a little bit about the way he feels about them.

If you were describing the important people in your life, what would you say about

them? Try to use words that reflect their personality; for example, Daisy says Dylan’s

smile is “like yellow sunshine.” Later she compares Dylan to another drummer; “If Dylan

was a drummer he’d be Will Champion playing Yellow; supportive, thoughtful and

totally laid back.”

Choose three important people in your life and write a poem about them; one verse for

each person.

Prose

Daisy and Dylan see an otter in the river.

“The otter is startled by our squeals and slides back into the river. We watch it disappear

up stream. But it’s like, magical. Totally magical. Amazing. An injection of bliss... The

only word that comes out of my mouth is “WOW!” Just WOW.

Remember a ‘WOW!’ moment in your own life and describe how it felt to you.

10

WHO ARE YOU?

Birthdays

Daisy and Dad make an effort to give Sam his perfect birthday. He has a special

breakfast of chips, balloons, a trip out, presents and the unexpected joy of seeing a joey

emerge from a pouch.

Imagine your perfect birthday.

Write a diary entry for everything that

might happen on that day.

My perfect birthday…My perfect birthday…My perfect birthday…My perfect birthday…

11

MEMORY

Short term Memory games to play with class groups

Dad has problems remembering things from his recent past, but he can easily remember

things from his childhood. This is because we remember things in two ways.

1. Short term memory lasts for a few seconds or minutes.

2. After that, the things we remember are part of our long term memory.

Activity 1 - Now You See It, Now You Don't

Ask every student to draw a picture of one happy memory from their

childhood and label the picture.

For example - ‘Wendy’s day at the seaside’

Collect all the pictures together and tell your students that you want them to remember

as many of the events as they can.

Show them all briefly to the class - holding each picture up for no more than 5 seconds.

When all the pictures have been displayed, tell your students to list as many items as

possible (on paper).

Activity 2 - What's Missing?

One day after school, Dad doesn’t notice Sam is missing. Would you notice if someone

or something was missing?

Have one student leave the room. While they are out of the room, have another student

hide, OR, hide a significant object. Bring the first student back into the room. Can they

name the missing student or object?

12

MEMORY

Long term Memory

Dad has a box under his bed with lots of things from his past.

“He has little or no recollection of some of the more recent things he has hidden away,

but some of the older stuff goes back to when he was a teenager and it’s full of

memories.”

Activity 1 - Sam’s Memory Box

If Sam was creating a memory box, tick which of these things he would include?

Martin the Kangaroo

A toothbrush

Irons Maidens t-shirt

A picture of Bambi

Flashing Wand

A sheep-shaped helium balloon

Monkey hat

His school uniform

Mr Gum book

A werewolf

Activity 2 - Your Memory Box

If you were creating your own memory box, what would you put in it and why? You can

either draw things or write them down.

13

MEMORY

Character Wordsearch

Dad has trouble remembering people’s names. Can you remember the names of the

characters in Bring Me Sunshine? Find them in the grid below.

There are 7 children, 4 adults and 4 band names.

Names will appear, horizontally, vertically and diagonally; some are written back to

front.

D A I S Y Q W S M E R T Y U D

S D F G H L J I R K L P O A I

A Z X C V E B M S A M N D W M

A P O I U G Y P P T R E W O Q

T L I K J O H L I G F D S N A

T M R N B S V E K C A X Z F C

E B O N Y O Q T E W L E T O U

R J N K L L P R O I E U Y R R

O H G G Y D F U D S X A Z E T

L W A G R I X T N A L Y D W I

Y Q G M B E N H N B V C X O S

A I A S D R F S G H J K L P V

Z O P D X S C R E G D A B R M

14

RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES

Daisy has a lot of responsibility at home. Apart from doing jobs around the house, she

looks after her little brother Sam and takes care of Dad. At times, she feels like “the

mum talking to her kid, instead of the fifteen-year-old talking to her dad.”

Responsibility for Daisy is about making decisions and taking actions on her own,

independently of anyone else.

But Daisy is still a child, and she has the same rights as every other child. According to

the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ‘Rights’ are things every child should

have or be able to do. All children have the same rights.

Think Tank

In small groups or pairs, can you think of 3 rights and 3 responsibilities that you have

as a child. These can be at home, in school, or in the community.

I have a right

to… I have a right to…

I have a responsibility

to…

I have a right

to…

I have a

responsibility

to…

I have a responsibility

to…

15

Do you know the difference?

Can you sort the following list into rights and responsibilities?

To be treated with respect

To be taken seriously

To listen to others

To take care of yourself

To be loved and protected from harm

To show love and caring towards others

To be the best you can be

To be proud of your heritage and beliefs

To respect the origins and beliefs of

others

To live in a safe and comfortable home

To keep your environment clean

To make mistakes

To learn from mistakes

To be adequately fed

To be honest

To expect honesty from others

To be a good friend

To be trustworthy

To expect other people to be

trustworthy

To say what you think

To listen to your friends

To be listened to

16

RIGHT

RESPONSIBILITY

1.

1.

2.

2.

3.

3.

4.

4.

5.

5.

6.

6.

7.

7.

8.

8.

9.

9.

10.

10.

11.

11.

17

RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES

What’s important to you, and why

Choose one of the rights on your worksheet, which is especially important to you.

Think about why it is important.

How might this right be broken?

Think about what responsibilities go with the right you have chosen.

For example:

• I have a right to be listened to.

• When people listen to me, I know I matter.

• This right is taken away when people ignore

me.

• When people listen to me, I feel it is my

responsibility to listen to them

I have a right to …………………………………………………………………………………………

It’s important because ………………………………………………………………………………

If I am not given this right …………………………………………………………………………

One responsibility that accompanies this right is ……………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

18

RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES

POSTER

Using the information on the previous page, make a poster to illustrate what is

important to you.

19

RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES

The Bullying Problem

Bullying comes in many forms. Alex Watson, Ebony Edmunds, and their friends are often

mean to Daisy and Sam; calling them names, talking about them behind their back,

making fun of them, teasing them and chasing them at the Torchlight Procession.

Other forms of bullying include

• making fun of others

• laughing at someone’s misfortune

• making things up to get others into trouble

• hitting, pinching, biting, pushing and shoving

• taking things away from you

• damaging your belongings

• stealing your money

• taking your friends away from you

• spreading rumours

• making silent or abusive phone calls

• sending you nasty texts

Activity 1 - Write a letter to a problem page

Imagine that you are Daisy or Sam, and write a letter to a problem page explaining how

it makes you feel when someone bullies you.

Now, swap your letter with a friend’s letter and do activity 2

Activity 2 - Write a reply from the problem page

Imagine that you are the agony aunt/uncle and you have just received a letter from

Daisy or Sam. What would you say to them to help them feel better about themselves?

20

Dear Agony Aunt,

I am writing to tell you about a problem I have been having with people

bullying me…

Dear Daisy/Sam,

Well done for writing to me and asking for help…

21

GETTING HELP

Daisy kept her worries a secret for a long time. When she finally told Dylan and Loretta

how things were, she said that just talking about her problems made her feel better.

Who would you talk to if you were feeling bad?

Draw a picture or a diagram, with you in the middle of the page, and around the edge

write down the names of all the people you can talk to (in and out of school) if you are

in trouble, or worried, or scared.

For example…

Talking to somebody can be the start of receiving support and help …

Childline

0800

11 11

Neighbour

Doctor School

Nurse

Family

Friends

Teachers

YOU

22

GETTING HELP

The people I could ask for help

Draw or write a list of the people who would help you in different situations.

(Hint - you might like to start with the emergency services.)

23

GETTING HELP

Useful Contacts

CHILDLINE 0800 1111

Contact ChildLine anytime - calls are free and confidential.

Help, advice and support 24/7

http://www.childline.org.uk

YOUNG CARERS NET

A supportive, online community of young carers. Discussions and advice from qualified

youth workers.

http://www.youngcarers.net/

MACMILLAN

Young people caring for someone with cancer.

http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Ifsomeoneelsehascancer/Youngcarer

s2010.aspx

THE CHILDREN’S SOCIETY

Information and resources for professionals working with young carers.

http://www.youngcarer.com/

YOUNG CARERS’ PROJECTS

A map of young carers’ projects around the UK.

http://www.youngcarer.com/young-carers-services

24

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading

Bring Me Sunshine

and doing these activities.

If you would like to find out more about

the author, Wendy Storer, or arrange for

her to visit your school,

please contact her at

www.wendystorer.ws

Thank You