We then read ‘Mrs Noah’s Garden’ which was focusing on renewal and starting afresh, just like we were doing in school. Find out more Listen to a version of the original Noah’s Ark story here Find out more about weather and climate change Mrs Noah told her children stories about unicorns, dragons and other mythical creatures. Try making up one together one or more of the mythical animals. Children could decide which animals are in the story and you could take turns Make a rainy-day picture Mayhew uses paper collage and linocut illustrations to achieve wonderful colours and depth. The use of blue, the darkening of the colours during the rains, the wonderful lightness as the sun reappears and the rain stops, is very effective. The illustrations of the rain with vertical lines changing in intensity and the swirling clouds and tempestuous seas are very effective. This contrasts brilliantly with the calm still bright blue after the storm. The mythical creatures are each wonderful collages.

Grangetown Primary School - Mrs Noah Project - Year 4 Grangetown Primary School - Mrs Noah Project - Year 4

Mrs Noah’s Garden is forthcoming in 2020….Mr Noah builds a house from the ark while Mrs Noah develops her garden. One to look forward to. Year 4KM delved into the Mrs Noah’s stories to link with our time away from school and talk about our feelings. Mr Noah is busy building the ark and sorting out the pairs of animals to join him, anxious at the same time to ensure that the ‘troublesome creatures’ are not included. There is no explanation of which animals fall into this category. Meanwhile, Mrs Noah is busy sewing, clue in the title, and visiting parts of the woods that are her special domain. Mysterious and intriguing, what she is doing is not revealed until the ark finally finds land after the great rains and we see, in a series of beautiful illustrations, the fantastical creatures she has saved.

What might Mr Noah say when he finds the creatures he tried to get rid of still exist? You pretend to be Mr Noah and Mrs Noah and have an imaginary conversation.

Jackie Morris Artist Book List - Jackie Morris Artist

Find out about different types of weather, using the internet and information books. Talk about the difference between a shower and torrential rain that causes floods. Talk about climate change In the original story Mr Noah is the main character making the decisions, sharing this book might lead to discussions about the role of women and girls in history and traditional stories.

Keep a weather diary, or make a weather chart, and count how many days it rains in a week/ month. If there is a very rainy day, collect rainwater in a jam jar or measuring jug, and see how many centimetres of rain has fallen. In English, the children created their own hybrid ‘mythical creatures’ and then wrote non-chronological reports to give details about what they look like, their diets and their habitats. Look together at the rainy day pictures in the book and make your own. You could try with crayon or paint or draw lines, dashes and dots with a candle on paper and then paint with well diluted blue paint or ink. Be a weather spotter