West End in Schools – Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo
As part of World Book Week, Year 5 took part in an exciting dance workshop.
In the lead up to this event, 5PK and 5JS thoroughly enjoyed learning the story behind ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’, which is a heart-warming tale of an exceptional friendship which survives beyond the boundaries of culture and language, written by Michael Morpurgo.
The children were asked to retell the story of the friendship between the main character, Michael, and Kensuke, a former Japanese soldier, after Michael was washed up on a remote island, where Kensuke lives. The children were split into groups, and each tasked with presenting a different section of the story. These were then performed in chronological order through the medium of dance. This was cleverly done to music, using freeze frames, partner choreography and group scenes.
Both classes enjoyed summarising, retelling and listening to the story in such a unique way. This opportunity to experience books differently was funded by the PTA, using money generated by their fundraising efforts.
