Three-page PDF featuring cross-curricular activity ideas
KS2
Years 3-6
The Island at the End of Everything by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a tale of inspiring and selfless courage. It’s a great starting point for a variety of KS2 activities. This PDF contains a range of KS2 cross-curricular activity ideas, all based around the book.
This beautifully written, heartbreaking yet heartfelt novel is bound to captivate your class from the first few words. It’s a perfect piece for some brilliant PSHE and science links.
What is The Island at the End of Everything about?
Amihan and her Nanay live together on Culion, a gorgeous island with lovely weather, stunning greenery and beautiful beaches. But life on Culion is not as desirable as the divine setting would have you believe. It is, in fact, an island for lepers.
Despite this, life is peaceful and the inhabitants go about their day-to-day business with little fuss. That is, until government representative Mr Zamora turns up. He announces a new government initiative that will tear the island apart.
Those with leprosy (the ‘Touched’) are to be segregated from those without (the ‘Untouched’). Even worse for Amihan and her Nanay, those under 18 that do not suffer with leprosy must live in an orphanage on the separate island of Coron.
Subsequently, Ami is shipped off with Mr Zamora and the other children of Culion to an island. The locals are unfriendly and she misses her Nanay dearly.
With the help of new friend Mari, can she get back to Culion? Will she reunite with her family, before it’s too late?
Starter activity
Hold a debate about whether the segregation on Culion island is the correct move. While the tone and plot of the book very much guides the reader towards feeling like it’s a cold, calculated and heartless move, some in-depth discussion should lead children to be able to consider it from both sides.
There is a point in the book where Tala even says to Ami that it is the correct decision, yet she is one of the people suffering most heinously from it.
Turn your classroom into a courtroom and hold a trial – the people versus Mr Zamora. What case can you make for keeping the children on the island, and what case can you make for removing them?
Is there a middle ground? Invite some of the other teachers and staff in to make up the jury on the last day. Your children will really surprise you with some of the arguments they come up with.
Ashley Booth is a Y6 teacher in Toxteth, Liverpool. Follow him at @mrboothy6 or visit theteachingbooth.wordpress.com.
