Build a Canal a Literacy Resource

Build a Canal A Literacy Resource

This downloadable self-directed resource has been developed for teachers and home-schoolers to Canals are great support the Build a Canal Learning places to write poems, Bundle and Workshop through Literacy. stories and songs! (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ learning-bundles/build-a-canal). It is aimed at Key Stage 1 & Key Stage 2 pupils. There are six stand-alone topics. Each one includes a lesson plan and an activity for pupils to use as you wish. Teachers and home-schoolers can use the certificate on canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ learning-bundles/build-a-canal to give to pupils on completing the activities. © Erica Martin © Erica Martin

The Oxford Canal

Canal & River Trust — Explorers @CRTExplorers canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers

© Canal & River Trust is a charity registered with the Charity Commission no. 1146792 ⁄ May 2021 INTRODUCTION Main links to Literacy Key Stages 1 & 2 Contents This resource provides opportunities to: ACTIVITY 1 •• articulate and communicate > TEACHERS...... 1 ideas clearly for a range of audiences, > ...... 2 styles, contexts and purposes PUPILS ••improvise, devise and script ACTIVITY 2 drama, narrative and composition > TEACHERS...... 4 •• engage with wordplay, including > PUPILS...... 6 alliteration, rhyme, phonics and onomatopoeia ACTIVITY 3 ••facilitate spelling, vocabulary, > TEACHERS...... 8 grammar and punctuation. > PUPILS...... 9 ACTIVITY 4 > TEACHERS...... 11 > PUPILS...... 12 ACTIVITY 5 > TEACHERS...... 13 > PUPILS...... 14 ACTIVITY 6 > TEACHERS...... 15 > PUPILS...... 16

USEFUL RESOURCES...... 18 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 1 > TEACHERS Who wants to be a millionaire?

This activity looks at the process Discussion points To do of planning and building a canal. ••Talk about how money might Explain to pupils that they must try Pupils write a letter, advert or speech 1 be raised for a big project today, to find investors for a new canal to persuade people to invest money e.g. for restoring an old canal and write a letter to people who in a new canal. (charities, grants, local people might be interested. Alternatives Learning objectives supporting campaigns). could be writing a speech to raise awareness at a meeting, or a ••Explain that people who invested • poster for the meeting. •Know that the great age of canal in the first canals were wealthy building began in the mid 1700s landowners and businesspeople 2 Remind them that however the ••Understand that canals needed who wanted more efficient ways to message is delivered it must grab investment to be built deliver materials to their factories, people's attention with powerful • and the finished goods to markets words (and images if it’s a poster). •Discover that canals made some in Britain and the wider world. people very wealthy Key terms ••Talk about how some canals — but Main links to Literacy Key Stages 1 & 2 not all — made investors very rich. The Invest • Investment • Engineer Duke of Bridgewater, who invested in Profit • Markets • Entrepreneur • •Articulate and communicate ideas one of the first canals, the Bridgewater clearly for a range of audiences, Canal, was said to be the richest man National Curriculum links styles, contexts and purposes in Britain when he died in 1803. Key Stages 1 & 2 ••Facilitate spelling, vocabulary, • •Great engineers were attracted •• History: Events beyond living memory; grammar and punctuation to solving the problems involved significant historical events in the in building canals. They included locality (building of canals) James Brindley (1716-1772), who Lesson plan built the Bridgewater Canal. Key Stage 2 •• Geography: Human geography (land Before undertaking this activity use, economic activity, trade links) pupils are likely to have played the Build a Canal Online Game (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ games/build-a-canal) and found out that entrepreneurs wanted to invest in more efficient ways to receive and deliver goods. The Duke of

1 Bridgewater canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 1 > PUPILS Who wants to be a millionaire?

The story so far… Josiah needs a canal! It’s 1765… Josiah Wedgwood is a Canals cost a lot of money. Josiah potter who wants to make new white must find out who will invest money The new teapots I pots like the ones being imported to build one in return for profits. make for Mr Wedgwood from China. To do this he needs are popular. white clay from Devon and Cornwall. But the packhorses used to transport the materials will take too long. I’d like you to write a And the bumpy roads will break letter to people who might the delicate white pots when be interested in investing they are sent to markets in a new canal. to be sold.

Josiah wanted a canal to link the factories in Stoke- on-Trent to the port of Liverpool. From there his pots could be delivered all over the world. © Michael Ware Image Collection/Canal & River Trust

2 Josiah invested in the Trent & Mersey Canal. Josiah Wedgwood canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 1 > PUPILS Whatever you write or draw must attract people’s attention. To whom it may concern ... Words that you Dear ......

may find useful: ...... Spend Advance ...... Invest Success ...... Gain Profit ...... Percentage

Winnings ...... Benefit Value ......

......

This new canal will ...... be a challenge. I’ll have to tunnel through hills......

......

...... Remember to say ...... that everyone will make loads of money! James

3 Brindley SIGNED: ...... canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 2 > TEACHERS Horses for courses

This activity looks at the role horses played in the development of canals. Lesson plan Pupils are asked to write a story, Before undertaking this activity a diary or a script for a play from Discussion points pupils are likely to have explored a canal horse’s point of view. the Build a Canal Online Game ••A horse’s working day (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ Learning objectives ••How horses were looked after games/build-a-canal) and learnt ••Know that horses towed canal boats that horses towed canal boats. ••Accidents with horses. All About Canals (canalrivertrust. ••Understand that horsepower org.uk/explorers/resources? To do was important in the development keyword=all+about+canals) of canals is useful for explanations about 1 Discuss different forms of narrative, e.g. diaries, stories, scripts for videos, ••Discover that canal horses were broad and narrow canals and role plays or cartoon strips. well looked after river navigations. 2 Talk about the structure of a Main links to Literacy Key Stages 1 & 2 Notes for pupils on page 6 provide some facts; various narrative, e.g. as in a children’s twelve-page picture book (see ••Articulate and communicate ideas Canal & River Trust Fact Files page 5). The same formula would clearly for a range of audiences, will provide more. work for all forms of creative writing. styles, contexts and purposes ••Improvise, devise and Key terms script drama, narrative Narrow canals • Broad canals and composition Narrative • Structure • River navigation ••Facilitate skills in spelling, vocabulary, grammar National Curriculum links and punctuation Key Stages 1 & 2 ••History: Events beyond living memory; significant historical events in the

locality (building of canals) © Canal & River Trust River & Canal © Children often •• Science: The basic needs of animals led the horse towing the boat.

4 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 2 > TEACHERS

One way 1 Set up 1 2 Set up 2 3 Set up 3 to write Introduce character/s, Plan of action. Characters enter Fun, adventure, journey a story... scenario or problem scenario, consider problem, or quest begins have an idea

4 Moving forward 5 Moving forward 6 Moving forward Main character/s go through Adventures and/or… Comic or tragic a variety of situations… episodes until…

7 Turning point 8 Onwards 9 Onwards Something happens to alter and upwards and upwards the course of events. Time to Time to think about Plan B Working out Plan B rethink, escape, panic or bring in new character

10 Triumph 11 Twist 12 Resolution or disaster Something unexpected The end of the adventure. happens, e.g. baddies meet Everything comes to a The end is in sight. their comeuppance, heroes satisfactory conclusion. Or is it? have one last wobble Or one last twist for the very end?

5 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 2 > PUPILS Horses for courses

Your job is to write a story from a canal horse’s point of view.

Things to think about Hardworking horses Looking after canal horses

Decide whether you want to write: ••Canal horses worked from ••The animals were rested overnight dawn to dusk. in stables. These were usually near the ••a day in the life of a canal horse pubs where the boaters rested too. ••Horses were fed while ‘on the or move’ from a nosecan attached ••Horses needed re-shoeing by ••a story about a canal horse for a with a strap around blacksmiths every two weeks because friend or a younger brother or sister the horse’s head they needed to grip the towpath. and neck. or • Boaters often used canalside plants They were fed to heal sores and grazes on animals. ••a short play for your school. on a mixture of hay, • Boatwomen crocheted caps for straw, bran, horses to wear over their ears to peas, oats prevent them from being bitten and chaff by flies. (husks of grain).

Horses Horsey facts ate from a nosecan. ••Canal boats were towed by horses until about 100 years ago. Accidents ••All types of horses worked on ••Horses sometimes fell in the water, canals — cart horses, delivery van by slipping or bolting when frightened. horses and old carriage horses • as well as donkeys and mules. •Canals are shallow but the banks are steep. If a horse fell in, the boater had ••Smaller animals were used on the to find a shallow spot to lead it out. narrow canals because of the low bridges. Large horses towed big barges on broad canals and fast Horses wore

6 flowing river navigations. ear caps. canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 2 > PUPILS Give it a title and don’t forget to add your name as author Now write your in LARGE LETTERS! masterpiece!

TITLE: ......

BY: ......

......

7 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 3 > TEACHERS What was it like to be a navvy?

This activity uses contemporary Discussion points To do photographs to find out more about ••The work was rough and hard, Pupils assume the role of a ‘health navvies. Pupils adopt the role of 1 and the pay was poor. and safety inspector’ and fill out their ‘health and safety inspector’ and fill in reports based on their observations. a report based on their observations. ••Navvies built canals with picks, spades, barrows and muscle power. 2 Provide magnifying glasses if Learning objectives ••Navvies were looked down upon by possible — not essential but a fun way to look at photographs. ••Know that navvies built the canals most people and blamed for causing trouble, e.g. fights and riots. ••Understand that navvies were skilled Key terms •• men (and some women) who worked in There were few rules about Health and safety • Foreman harsh and often dangerous conditions health and safety. Barrow run •• Women sold ••Consider the roles men and women Women played an important food and drink played in the past and how this was role in building canals and to navvies. different to today carried out physical tasks. Their work was rarely photographed, Main links to Literacy Key Stages 1 & 2 probably because the work was thought to be unfit for women. ••Articulate and communicate ideas clearly for a range of audiences,

styles, contexts and purposes

Record Office Record Greater Manchester County County Manchester Greater

National Curriculum links Lesson plan Use the photographs to talk about: Before undertaking this activity, pupils Key Stages 1 & 2 1 Navvies were split into gangs •• Significant historical events are likely to have played the Build a History: of fifty, each with a foreman. in the locality (building of canals) Canal Online Game (canalrivertrust. •• Use of everyday materials org.uk/explorers/games/build-a- 2 Young boys were employed as navvies. Science: (clay, rock, water) canal) and to have found out that 3 Some canals were too deep to navvies supplied the labour. throw the spoil up to the surface Key Stage 2 These photographs are of the •• so it was taken up in barrows History: Events beyond living memory Manchester Ship Canal taken between on a barrow run. (building of canals) 1887 and 1894. Photographs of navvies •• Geography: Human geography are rare before the invention of 4 This navvy lost a hand in an (land use, economic activity, 8 photographic journalism in 1840s. accident, but he kept his job. trade links) canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 3 > PUPILS Look carefully at What was it like these photographs. to be a navvy? Photograph 2 Photograph 1

Building the Manchester Ship Canal, 1890s Photograph 4

Photograph 3

9 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers Manchester Ship Canal: A barrow run Manchester Ship Canal: A one-handed labourer laying stones ACTIVITY 3 > PUPILS Imagine you are a health and safety inspector. Your job is OFFICIAL REPORT to find out about the working conditions of navvies and fill in a report. NAME: ...... DATE: ......

Photograph 1 Photograph 2 Photograph 4

1 Navvies worked in gangs of fifty. 4 How old do you think 7 This navvy lost his hand in an accident Each gang had a foreman. these young navvies are? but he kept his job. What is he using to help him move stones? Put a circle around the man I think they are ...... years old you think might be a foreman. He is using ...... Photograph 3 ...... 2 What clothes are the navvies ...... Navvies had to push heavy loaded ...... wearing? Do you think they are 5 barrows up planks (barrow runs). suitable for working in? ...... It was exhausting work...... I think ...... What do you think would happen ...... if the barrow run was slippery? ...... 8 What other tools are the navvies using? ...... I think ...... They are using ...... 3 How deep is the canal the navvies ...... are digging? ...... 6 Can you see any safety precautions ...... Clue: the men are about 1.5 metres tall. such as danger signs and first aid posts? ...... 1.5 metres? ...... 2.5 metres? ...... 3.5 metres? ......

MY CONCLUSIONS Mark it on this scale. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 How do you rate the working

10 conditions for navvies? Poor Good canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 4 > TEACHERS A navvy shanty

In this activity, pupils write the lyrics To do for a ‘puddling’ shanty for navvies. 1 Using an existing shanty (See Useful Learning objectives Discussion points resources, page 18), ask pupils to write rhyming couplets for a clay- ••Know that shanties are a type of song ••Explain the term ‘puddling’, i.e. how puddling shanty. navvies mixed clay with water to ••Understand that songs and music Talk about wordplay and the use make a thick liquid and plastered it 2 can be used to make hard physical of alliteration (words that have the on to the bottom and sides of the tasks easier same sound at the beginning, canal in layers to make it watertight. e.g. ‘claggy clay’); rhyming couplets; ••Discover that navvies puddled clay ••Point out that cattle were words that have two meanings, to make canals watertight sometimes driven along the e.g. ‘trunk’; making up words to imitate Main links to Literacy channel to puddle the clay sounds, e.g. ‘squiggy’, ‘slippy’, ‘slurpy’ Key Stages 1 & 2 (see Build a Canal Online Game (onomatopoeia). canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ ••Engage with games/build-a-canal). Key terms wordplay, • Talk about shanties — songs Puddling • Shanty • Lyrics including that help people to work in alliteration, a team to carry out hard National Curriculum links rhyme, physical tasks. For example, phonics and Key Stage 1 sea shanties helped sailors to • onomatopoeia raise anchors and hoist sails • Music: Use voices expressively ready for departure. and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes • Play examples of well-known •• History: Events beyond living memory shanties (See Useful resources, •• Science: Use of everyday materials Lesson plan page 18) and discuss how the words (clay, rock, water) and the rhythm describe the action. Before undertaking this activity, Key Stage 2 • pupils are likely to have played Encourage pupils to act out shanties •• Music: Appreciate and understand the Build a Canal Online Game and other working songs, e.g. marches, recorded music drawn from (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ moving in time to the music. different traditions games/build-a-canal) and found •• History: Significant historical events that navvies puddled clay to make in the locality (building of canals) canals watertight.

11 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 4 > PUPILS A navvy shanty

Write the words to your puddling shanty here...

Shanties are songs that ...... help people to do hard ...... physical tasks. The strong rhythm and rhyming ...... words make sure everyone ......

lifts, heaves, stamps ...... or pulls together......

......

1 Think about which words ...... describe a stamping action...... You might find these ...... 2 Why not make up some words of words useful: ...... your own, for example to describe the Crush sound of slapping on sloppy clay? ...... Trample Beat Batter ...... Pound Break 3 Or you could make up a ‘call and ...... Bang response song’ where people sing Stamp Thump ...... back to you exactly the line you sang Ground ...... Bish Mush to them: Bosh ...... Splatter Slippy You: ‘I’ve got boots, big and strong’ Bash Sloppy ...... Them: ‘I’ve got boots, big and strong’ ......

...... 4 Sailors were once only allowed to complain about their working ...... conditions through their shanties......

You could include a complaint ...... about digging canals! ......

......

Let’s sock it to them! ......

......

...... 12 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 5 > TEACHERS A box of memories

In this activity, pupils imagine that a navvy they know well is going away to work on a canal and won’t be back for a long Discussion points To do time. Pupils make a ‘memory box’ ••Explain that tens of thousands of Ask pupils to: to remind him/her of home. navvies built the canals. They were ••consider what materials would first known as ‘navigators’ because be suitable for a container and they built canal ‘navigations’. to select a small box or other Learning objectives ••Talk about how the first navvies were container to put items in local workers, e.g. farmers and miners. •• •• choose two or three things to Know that navvies built the canals Later canal work attracted men and remind a navvy of his/her family ••Understand that navvies were women particularly from Ireland skilled men who worked in harsh and Scotland. •• write a simple message to keep his/ her spirits up. Explain that most navies and often dangerous conditions ••As navvies became experienced were illiterate so the message should •• and used to the gruelling work, Discover that navvies worked be easy to read and understand on canals all over the country they found they could earn more money by moving around the ••draw a picture of something Main links to Literacy Key Stages 1 & 2 country from canal to canal. or someone to remind him/her of •• family life. ••Spelling, vocabulary, grammar Discuss when and punctuation it might be Key terms important for pupils to have Navigator • Illiterate • Gruelling reminders of home, e.g. a National Curriculum links Lesson plan stay in hospital, a week away Key Stages Key 1 & 2 Before undertaking this activity •• on a school trip. History: Events beyond living memory; pupils are likely to have played significant historical events in the the Build a Canal Online Game locality (building of canals) (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ games/build-a-canal), become Key Stage 2 •• familiar with the term ‘navvy’, and Design & Technology: Select materials learnt that navvies built the canals. according to their characteristics

13 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 5 > PUPILS A box of memories

Canals were built by navvies who travelled all over the country to work on one canal after the next.

This is my picture of

Imagine you know a navvy who is ...... going away and won’t be back for to remind you of your home. five years. Your job is to make them a box of memories to remind them of their home and family, and to keep their spirits up. I am going to put these things in my box: What to do 1 ...... 1 Find a small container to fit in a navvy’s pocket. 2 ...... 2 Choose three things to remind 3 ...... your navvy of home, for example a photograph, a small toy, a tiny favourite object. My message is: Write a message to keep his/her 3 Dear ...... spirits up...... 4 Draw a picture of someone or a pet to remind the navvy ......

of family life......

......

Love from ......

......

14 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 6 > TEACHERS Hazards and rewards

In this activity, pupils design a A bank board game to make them aware collapses. of the hazards and rewards in

Learning objectives To do Lesson plan ••Know that there were many Ask pupils to: hazards involved in building canals Before undertaking this activity ••draw the outline of your local canal. •• pupils are likely to have played Understand that there were also the Build a Canal Online Game (Use the website to find a simple map many rewards to be gained in (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ of your local canal.) building canals games/build-a-canal) and ••mark on where it starts and finishes ••Discover that many canals were discovered some of the hazards ••add features such as rivers, villages very successful but some failed and rewards in building a canal. •• ••Look at a map of your local canal mark on where hazards and rewards Main links to Literacy (see Useful resources, page 18) will fall Key Stages 1 & 2 and note features such as ••colour in the counters and cut ••Articulate and communicate locks and bridges. them out. ideas clearly for a range of audiences, ••Discuss when and why your Key terms styles, contexts and purposes local canal was built, and where it starts and ends. Hazards • Rewards © Mary Evans Picture Library Labour • Locks • Bridges ••Talk about hazards in building a canal such as bad weather, difficult landscape, shortages of National Curriculum links materials, equipment, and labour, Key Stages 1 & 2 and accidents. •• History: Events beyond living memory; ••Rewards could include good significant historical events in the weather, plenty of labour, locality (building of canals) •• features such as locks and Design & Technology: Acquire bridges, and the canal being knowledge, understanding and skills completed on time. needed to engage in an iterative

15 process of designing and making canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers An icebreaker ACTIVITY 6 > PUPILS Hazards and rewards

Your task is to design a board game. Things to think about The aim of the game is to build ••Penalties if you land on ‘snakes’ a canal as quickly as possible and avoid hazards. ••Rewards if you land on ‘ladders’

Hazards Hazards could include: ...... •• ice and snow, ...... ••no local clay ...... for puddling ...... ••navvies fall sick BACK TO BACK MISS A GO MISS A GO ••banks collapse THE START 1 SQUARE

Rewards Rewards could include: ...... ••good weather ...... ••plenty of navvies ...... ••major locks completed FORWARD FORWARD HAVE FORWARD FORWARD on time 1 SQUARE 1 SQUARE ANOTHER GO 2 SQUARES 3 SQUARES ••canal makes lots of money

16 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers ACTIVITY 6 > PUPILS

Draw an outline of your local canal.

Decide where your hazards and rewards will fall and mark them in.

17 canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers USEFUL RESOURCES

Places to visit Books for children

Use the website canalrivertrust.org.uk/ ••The Canal Boat Café ••Barney the Boat Dog explorers to: by Cressida McLaughlin by Linda Newbery Summer Freeman returns to the Little dog Barney lives on a ••find out about your local canal or river waterside village of Willowbeck to narrowboat with his owner, Jim. (canalrivertrust.org.uk/places- rescue the Canal Boat Cafe, her late Barney loves his life on the canals to-visit?bounds=50.064192%2C- mother’s picturesque narrowboat. but the one thing he’s frightened 4.26218%2C55.50375%2C1.537571&tag of is tunnels… s=489&radius=20) ••Rescue Rosie’s Canal Adventures by Andrew Chapman ••Oxford Reading Tree: Level 1+: ••discover where our volunteers Climb aboard Rescue Rosie with Floppy’s Phonics Non-Fiction: lead school and group visits Skipper Pete and his fluffy, scruffy dog, Fun on the Canal (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ Henry, as they set off on their travels (Floppy’s Phonics — New Edition 2011) educational-sites) around the English canal system. Allow children to practise their ••find lots of resources to support decoding and literacy skills in the ••Snowy by Berlie Doherty children’s learning context of exciting non-fiction books, Rachel loves living on a narrowboat, (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ which include a variety of text types and she loves Snowy, the boat horse. learning-bundles). and topics. A fantastic school trip is organised, Build a Canal activities with links to: with Snowy working. Music ••The Gate in the Wall by Ellen Howard •• ••Soon May the Wellerman Come, a n online game In nineteenth-century England, traditional sea shanty (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ ten-year-old Emma, finds her life games/build-a-canal) completely changed when she ••Row, row, row the boat, ••Build a Canal Learning Bundle inadvertently gets a job on a canal traditional nursery rhythm (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ boat carrying cargoes between learning-bundles/build-a-canal) several northern towns. ••Build Your Own Canal Video (youtube.com/watch?v=hYmEoxnJgw8) ••b ook a virtual or classroom workshop (canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers/ Text Elizabeth Newbery school-and-group-visits). Design Charles Watkins Illustration Sophie Foster Picture research Erica Martin

18 Production Newbery & England canalrivertrust.org.uk/explorers