A Story Like the Wind / After Reading / Writing Opportunities /
Hope

Text potential
- Writing opportunities: Free writing
Purpose
Gill Lewis writes about ‘a small hope’. In this lesson, children are asked to consider what those small hopes might be and to reflect on their hopes for the future, expressing them in their preferred form: prose or poetry.
Preparation
- Make available a selection of writing materials.
- Download and display the Amnesty International logo.
Process
Ask the children to consider if A Story Like the Wind is a story of hope.
(Note: Gill Lewis writes about a small hope in a small boat but also the dream of freedom.)
You may want to refer to the lesson about Amnesty International.
- Does A Story Like the Wind support the mission of the organisation?
Introduce the word optimism meaning hopefulness and confidence for the future.
Freewriting – allow a short time (3 – 5 minutes) for the children to write down all the things that they hope for a better world.
After they have done this, share some ideas. Invite them to choose ideas from their free writing to expand into a poem or prose piece about hope.
Final reflection
Share the children’s writing more widely
Create a wall of hope in school displaying the children’s writing and the Amnesty International logo. Encourage other children to add to the display, providing writing materials in the vicinity so that they can do this easily.
Key vocabulary
optimism, hope