Mrs Main and Miss Hunter, teachers of primary 3 at St Margaret’s PS have been using the storyline approach to help develop their pupils’ understanding of citizenship. They used a WOSDEC (West of Scotland Development in Education Centre) global storyline resource called The Giant of Thistle Mountain – this involves using  drama as a vehicle to tackle complicated societal issues which are interdisciplinary. This storyline links social studies, literacy and health and wellbeing E & Os as seen in the photo of the display below.

The Giant of Thistle Mountain helps even very young pupils understand concepts such as: what is a community, what is a stereotype, how it feels to be ostracised in a community, how we should behave when someone in need joins out community, what is a refugee? It offers teachers a creative way to address elements of Learning for Sustainability as a cross-cutting theme also.

On Wednesday 15th November both classes invited guests along to help them celebrate the success of their learning AND their storyline villages. The children gave a presentation summary, shared what they had learned, then showed their guests their storyline frieze and other work they had done throughout the project.

Find out more about global storylines here. We hope the pictures and the quotes below from the children give a flavour of how valuable this approach can be in developing deep and memorable learning.

“We learned that there are lots of different people in the world – they all have different skills.”

“We didn’t want the giant to feel sad – we wanted him to feel part of our community.”

“My favourite part was saying my line because I got to stand up.”  “I had two lines!”

“My favourite part is listening to the stories because I liked hearing it and love the story.”

“Keeping the giant safe …we worked out he was safe to live in Thistle Mountain.”

“Thistle Mountain, learning about the giant, getting to do the play.”

“Just now – the open afternoon…the writing through practising – I can write more now.”