What do you think the word ‘flotsam’ means? From what you know about the story,

could you take a guess?

Flotsam is the wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on or washed up by

the sea.

Here is a news article about a real life incident where a camera was washed up on a

beach and the photographs were still on the camera:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-43579098

For English this week, I have thought of a range of activities related to Flotsam that

you could do. Choose any of the activities that you would like (you do not have to

do them all – there are nine in total so that you can pick whichever ones you would

like to do).

Activity 1

We are going to be using some of the pictures from Flotsam to record our ideas

about what we think is happening. We are going to focus on what we can observe

happening and what the pictures make us wonder.

Look at my example.

Observe

I can see lots of fish swimming in the sea.

There is one fish that looks mechanical as it has

propellers and handles that are making it move.

The fish look similar to the fish that is on the

front cover of the book.

Wonder

I wonder if the real fish know that the other fish

is not real.

I wonder how the fish still works even though it

is underwater.

I wonder if the fish needs someone to wind it

up before it can move.

What do you observe/wonder about these pictures?

Activity 1

In an acrostic poem, the first letters of each line spell out the subject of the poem.

You are going to create an acrostic poem based on the book Flotsam. Remind

yourself about the story by watching this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MTKWnxzqvM

Activity 2 – Create an acrostic poem

The word that you are going to use for your acrostic poem is ‘Flotsam’. Each letter

than is in the word will be the start of a line of your poem. Think about the

different creatures you saw in the story to help you.

Activity 2 – Create an acrostic poem

F

L

O

T

S

A

M

Activity 2 – Create an acrostic poem

Can you use freeze frames to act out what is happening in each page of the story?

Think about what each character is doing at the different points in the story. Use facial

expressions and body language to show what the characters are doing/feeling.

Activity 3 – Act out the story

We know lots about persuasive writing from creating our leaflets about London.

Create a poster, radio advert or television advert to persuade people to buy the

camera that is in the story. It is called ‘Melville Underwater Camera’.

Activity 4 – Create a persuasive advert

Look at the pictures on the next few slides. Can you use thought bubbles and speech

bubbles to show what the characters might be thinking or saying?

Activity 5 – Writing conversations

The creatures in the story are all quite unusual. For example, there is a mechanical

fish, an octopus that reads a book and giant star fish!

Invent your own sea creature that could also appear in the story. It could be based on

a sea creature that already exists. Then, write a short description about your sea

creature.

Activity 6 – Create your own sea creature and describe it

In the story there is a mechanical fish. Explain how the mechanical fish works. For

example, what makes its tail move? How does its mouth open and close? How do its

fins move? Can it change direction? You could even draw a detailed diagram of how it

works. Have a look at an example from a book called Until I met Dudley. It is a book full

of bizarre explanations for how different objects work.

Activity 7 – Write an explanation

Activity 7 – Write an explanation

Research the history of the camera. Could you create a timeline showing how

cameras have changed over time? When was the first camera invented? When were

digital cameras invented?

Activity 8 – Research and report

Imagine that the boy in the story shares his findings about the camera and the

photographs. Write a newspaper report that gives the reader details about what has

been discovered. You could use the link to the article about a real-life discovery of an

underwater camera to help you (at the beginning of the PowerPoint).

Alternatively, you could imagine that you are reporting about the incident on television.

You could even ask someone to film you!

Activity 9 – Create a newspaper/television report