<p>Lauren Child Learning Resource</p><p>Creative activities to explore Ruby Redfort: Look Into My Eyes</p><p>CfE Second/Third Levels (Age 9-12)</p><p>Resource created by Linda Murray, classroom teacher at St Peter’s Primary School</p><p>Contents of this resource</p><p>Note to teachers Page 1 About Lauren Child Page 2 Preparing to watch the Authors Live event Page 2 Look Into my Eyes – the Activities Page 3</p><p>Note to teachers using this resource</p><p>This resource contains cross-curricular activity suggestions to help you explore Ruby Redfort: Look Into My Eyes with your learners in library and classroom activities. Adapt and use as you see fit! The resource has been produced to help you get the most out of our online Authors Live event with Lauren Child, but you can use it at any point to engage pupils with this book. </p><p>You can watch the event on 24th November 2016 – here is the link to register for free: http://bit.ly/AL-LaurenChild</p><p>Don’t worry if you miss the event – you’ll be able to watch it soon afterwards in our Watch On Demand section: http://bit.ly/ALiveVds </p><p>1 About Lauren Child </p><p>Lauren Child is an award winning, bestselling author and illustrator. She is the author of the Charlie and Lola books, as well as Associate Producer on the TV show of the same name. </p><p>She has now turned her hand to novels for older children with this series of novels about Ruby Redfort and her exploits in espionage. She describes herself on the Ruby Redfort website as a ‘starer out of the window’. She first introduced the character Ruby to her readers in her Clarice Bean books. </p><p>Her books have been translated into dozens of languages around the world and she has won many prizes, including the Smarties Prize (four times), the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Red House Children’s Book Award.</p><p>Lauren Child’s website is full of extra information and news including an address for you and your class to post questions which will be answered. http://www.milkmonitor.com/ http://www.milkmonitor.com/faqs/ </p><p>Preparing to watch the Authors Live event</p><p>Investigating the author LIT 2/3-02a, LIT 2/3-04a, LIT 2/3-08a</p><p>Lauren Child is an intriguing character. For example, she changed her given name of Helen to Lauren when she was still a child because she didn’t feel she was a Helen. She didn’t grow up with a burning ambition to become an author and her path to publication is an interesting one. Spend time with your class researching Lauren and piece together a more comprehensive biography which could ‘fill out’ the details offered on the official Ruby Redfort and Lauren Child websites. This is an excellent opportunity to discuss the reliability of sources and our interpretation of the information available. </p><p>2 A useful starting point might be her interview in The Guardian written by Sarah Crown in October 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/04/lauren-child-clarice- children-books </p><p>Take this a step further and split your class into small interview teams to create interview questions for Lauren before requesting volunteers to take the ‘hot seat’ as the author to answer the questions. This should help your learners demonstrate their full understanding of the information gathered. Activities inspired by Look Into My Eyes</p><p>Sidekicks LIT 2/3-29a, ENG 2/3-31a</p><p>Every good sleuth deserves a great sidekick. Clancy Crew is Ruby’s. He is the son of an ambassador which gives him added interest. His most significant character trait is the reliability of his ‘hunch instincts’. When Clancy has a hunch, Ruby sits up and pays attention.</p><p>Discuss well-known sidekicks such as Dr Watson, Chewbacca, Robin or Lumiѐre and their role within a novel or film. How do they help move the action or plot along? Some experts consider the role of the sidekick is to stand in for us, the reader or viewer. They offer us a chance to be part of the action and we tend to have great sympathy for them.</p><p>Ask your class to consider how they would fit in as Ruby’s sidekick. What could they bring to a sleuthing partnership? Have them come up with then complete an application form to apply for this role, stating the character traits they could adapt or use to help her. How would they dress and act? What quirks might they have to make them memorable characters? </p><p>Set up interviews to help them appreciate the process of applying for a job, linking into real life skills. Perhaps they could record each other’s interviews and give and take feedback. Could they ‘dress to impress’ in character?</p><p>Ruby’s Rules ENG 2-27a, ENG 2-31a </p><p>Ruby carries around a dog-eared pink notebook in which she enters her ‘life rules’, eg, Rule 1: You can never be completely sure what might happen next, and Rule 19: Panic will freeze your brain.</p><p>3 Select a few of Ruby’s rules and ask your class to consider situations when these might be particularly relevant – can they write a short story involving Ruby and the reason she came up with that rule?</p><p>Alternatively, ask your class create a comic strip story which explores the rule. Here are a couple of websites to help with this: http://plasq.com/education/take-comic-life-to-school/ http://www.penguin.com/static/pdf/teachersguides/you_can_do_a_graphic_novel_TG.pdf </p><p>Pick a theme or topic and encourage your class to think of rules relevant to them within that theme. For example, what rules might they come up with to help develop a Growth Mindset? An alternative suggestion would be to think about rules to help create a more sustainable world. http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/learningacrossthecurriculum/the mesacrosslearning/sustainability/index.asp </p><p>As you and your pupils explore these concepts and come up with rules, they may find themselves wrestling with ideas which contradict each other. You can use James Nottingham’s Learning Pit idea to support your pupils’ exploration of these ideas. See James’ website below: http://www.jamesnottingham.co.uk/learning-pit/</p><p>T-shirt slogans TCH 2-11a/b, TCH 3-10c, TCH 3-11a, SOC 2-21a, TCH 3-21a</p><p>Ruby has her own fashion style, much to her parents’ frustration (they are always immaculately dressed). One feature of her outfits is the interesting array of slogans splashed across her t-shirts, eg, Some Dogs Stink, Let Them Eat Cake and Keep It Zipped. </p><p>Encourage your class to think of a slogan they might put on their t-shirt. Why would this be their choice? Link the choices to a particular theme such as a period in history, a novel genre or sporting event, perhaps your current topic, or the rules your class came up with in the previous activity.</p><p>Select some famous phrases from the past and have your class research their context, eg, ‘A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work’, ‘Arbeit Macht Frie’ or ‘The buck stops here’. There are lots of helpful websites online with many, many examples. </p><p>4 Create a school motto if you don’t already have one.</p><p>Arrange for the t-shirts to be printed as part of an enterprise project, either as a make-and- sell project or a fashion show in aid of charity. Involve your community, including local businesses who might be able to supply other clothes and possibly even the venue. This could be extended to include Experiences and Outcomes related to textile and sustainability aspects of our curriculum, eg, upcycling old clothes. http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/learningacrossthecurriculum/the mesacrosslearning/sustainability/index.asp </p><p>Is there an opportunity here to link with other primaries feeding into your local secondary as a transition activity? Perhaps this could be suggested at transition meetings and become a special event which could take place on visiting days to the secondary school. http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/video/d/video_tcm4562785.asp? strReferringChannel=educationscotland&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-615801- 64&class=l1+d86716 </p><p>Female protagonist debate and cover design EXA 2/3-05a, LIT 2/3-02a, HWB 2/3-05a</p><p>This novel has a female protagonist – a girl version of Alex Rider if you will. How do you think the boys in your class will react to this? Hold a debate on who makes the best type of hero. Does gender matter, or is it all about their attributes and skills?</p><p>‘Never judge a book by its cover’. How true might this statement be about this particular novel? Does the cover appeal to both girls and boys? If not, why not? What does a cover need to have or be to entice all of the class to read it? Can you please everyone? </p><p>Hold a discussion about what gives a book ‘read-appeal’ and perhaps even redesign the cover for this novel. Take one shelf from the classroom library and study covers. What predictions can you make from them before reading any descriptions? How does cover design influence your choices? </p><p>Have a ‘Blind Date’ event with a book and cover the selections with brown paper, handwriting the ‘blurb’, in order to limit first impressions.</p><p>This news article might provide a stimulus for further discussion and debate: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/24/girl-8-strikes-blow-for-equality-over-boys- only-books</p><p>5 Website investigation including Spectrum test LIT 2/3-13a, LIT 2/3-14a, HWB 2/3-06a</p><p>The Ruby Redfort website is full of interesting information and activities, including interactive pages such as a page dedicated to Ruby’s bedroom and various spy gadgets. Download the code breaker app to help you with the trickier puzzles. There is a Spectrum test to complete too! http://rubyredfort.com/</p><p>Research and Design Activity LIT 2-14a/3-14a, LT 2-16a/3-14a, EXA 2-02a, EXA 2-06a </p><p>Ruby has a passion for collecting telephones! Those mentioned in the novel include one shaped as a conch shell and one disguised as a bar of soap which both live in the bathroom. Those in her bedroom include her first, which is shaped as a doughnut, and her most recent acquisition, a cartoon squirrel dressed in a tuxedo. </p><p>Inspire your class to plan a mini-topic on the subject of telephones and communication. Areas to cover might include the history of telephone development – do your learners know that there is a lot of debate about the inventor of the first telephone? Alexander Graham Bell is generally considered the father of telephone development but others believe a little-known Italian immigrant Antonio Meucci ought to receive the credit. What do they think about this dispute? </p><p>Your class can also study telephone design before creating a museum of telephones (either virtual or real), or an exhibition of new novelty designs created by your class. These could be 3D models or pictorial images made using a variety of media, including any software available in your establishment. Here are a few links and tools which could help with this: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/design/2012/05/telephone_design_a_brief_history_photo s_.html http://www.shapecollage.com/ http://www.canva.com/ http://www.postermywall.com/index.php </p><p>Is there anyone in your area who was involved in operating a telephone switchboard? Invite them to come along to explain the process and the importance of their role. Bear in 6 mind phones were only owned by the most ‘important’ people within the area such as the doctor and minister!</p><p>Origami TCH 2-14a/b</p><p>Ruby and Clancy exchange notes using origami shapes hidden in a hole in a tree. They use intricate designs which are hard to refold, so it’s easy to tell if someone has unfolded the note to read their messages. Have a go with your class at making some basic shapes before advancing to more intricate folds. Write the instructions or create video tutorials. http://www.origamiscotland.co.uk/en/ </p><p>Codes HWB 2/3-06a, LIT 2/3-16a</p><p>Codes and the solving of them play a huge part in this novel – it’s what Ruby is good at. The book is filled with codebreaking activities. How many of them did your class manage to break or unscramble before an answer or explanation was given? If they found them challenging, why was that? Is codebreaking a skill only a few of us have, or can we teach ourselves how to do this?</p><p>Explore a range of codes and puzzles. Ask pupils to design their own. As a class create a survival manual for puzzle solving to help others who are finding this challenging. What other types of puzzle do people in your class know of, or perhaps even have a fear of? You could include hidden 3D pictures and extend this into mathematical puzzles such as Sudoku. Hold a Rubik’s© Cube challenge. Register with Top Trumps or Banagrams school competitions. Winning Moves, the company behind these two puzzles, will send you free resources to help you take part. https://bananagramschallenge.co.uk/ http://toptrumpstournament.com/ </p><p>Investigate Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine. https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/ </p><p>There is a huge amount of scope here to consider both Growth Mindset and the concept of The Learning Pit. Just how do your pupils approach a puzzle or code? Would they instantly fall deep into the learning of it, unable to think about even how to begin tackling </p><p>7 this problem? How will they tackle this issue – how do you get over that sense that you are well away from your ‘comfort zone’? How can you climb out from that pit? http://www.jamesnottingham.co.uk/learning-pit/ </p><p>Diary page for Mrs Digby ENG 2/3-31a</p><p>Poor Mrs Digby is taken in the burglary which results in the removal of almost the entire contents of the Redforts’ home. The burglars have no idea they have taken her – she was resting in the flotation tank at the time of the theft!</p><p>We are given snippets of her time in the warehouse when it is relevant to the general mystery of the book. What was a day like for her though? Just how did she fill her time? Have your leaners write a diary for Mrs Digby, covering either just one day or the duration of her time in captivity. </p><p>As an alternative to a written diary, you could ask pupils to create a narrated digital story. They can narrate from the point of view of Mrs Digby, recording oral diary extracts and accompanying these with downloaded images of warehouses from the internet. https://www.littlebirdtales.com/ http://plasq.com/education/take-comic-life-to-school/ </p><p>Cycling event HWB 2/3-18a</p><p>Ruby usually uses her bike to get around. This is an extremely sustainable method of transport. Set up a cycle aware event or arrange a bike to school week. Revisit your transport policy to see if you are making best use of local cycle paths to and from school. Do you have safe and secure bike storage?</p><p>How are you tackling the EcoSchools Transport topic? Sustainable ways to travel to school are always a major theme for your Junior Road Safety Officers. http://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/sustainable-development-education/eco-schools/ten- topics/transport/ </p><p>Take this to another level and consider how you might introduce bikeability to become part of your school’s curriculum. http://bikeabilityscotland.org/ </p><p>8 Bank security SOC 2/3-21a, MNU 2/3-09a</p><p>In the novel, Twinford Bank is believed to be under threat and bank security is ramped up. What security measures do banks have in place to keep our finances safe? Do your learners appreciate the importance of their PIN and how we should behave at a cash machine? Do they understand the concept of holding a bank account and all related products and activities involved (for instance, deposits, withdrawals and interest)?</p><p>Invite staff from your local banks to come in and discuss this. Run a finance focus week and link it to banking and enterprise.</p><p>Research some of the most secure places on Earth. How and why are they considered so secure? Invite your learners to present their findings. Possible places might include Fort Knox in Kentucky, Bold Lane in Derbyshire or even the location of Coca Cola’s secret recipe!</p><p>Telephone answering EXA 2/3-13a</p><p>Ruby always answers the phone with a quirky response. As a fun quick-fire thinking round, how many more can your class think of in 1 minute each? Contrast this with how we might respond in a more formal setting such as the school office, a bank, a restaurant or funeral parlour. What would be most appropriate in these different settings?</p><p>Add another layer of challenge and request the response as a rhyming couplet.</p><p>Telephone answering is a life skill and understanding how to do so respectfully is very important as this can often be the first impression someone has of your business or organisation. Practise taking messages from mock phone call situations. It’s not always as easy as it may seem, especially if you forget to take notes!</p><p>What message would they leave for a voicemail or answerphone both as the greeting and the response?</p><p>Liberty designs EXA 2/3-07a</p><p>Lauren Child is also the illustrator for her other books and enjoys designing graphics and patterns. Click on the bird marked ‘Lauren and Liberty’ on her website and find out about her task to design materials for the company Liberty. The process is very interesting and could spark a mini textile topic on fabric design. Explore different methods of achieving colour on fabric from dying to block printing to batik. Get your pupils to find out about the other authors asked to create designs too. 9 http://www.milkmonitor.com/liberty/ </p><p>Gadgets LIT 2/3-29a, TCH – all craft, design, engineering graphics Es and Os</p><p>Every good spy novel has its own range of gadgets. The obvious activity here is to design more. What about putting a twist on this? Ruby uses ‘vintage’ gadgets that she inadvertently manages to ‘borrow’ from Spectrum’s museum. This is partly because she wasn’t supposed to have any gadgets, as she was employed to be a desk worker with no field action remit.</p><p>Designing gadgets could look a little different if you thought back in time and created a vintage gadget perhaps pre-internet and computer era. What would a spy have needed then? Produce design drawings, a 3Dtemplate, and even period advert flyers, perhaps using the 1950s or 1960s as your theme. Turn back time even further – what gadgets might have been used in Victorian times? There’s plenty of scope for research here.</p><p>As a home learning task, invite your students to interview parents and grandparents about the innovative technology of their childhood and early adult lives. What did they consider ‘vintage’ in their day? You often hear people saying they wish they had kept certain belongings as they have now come back into fashion. What might your interviewees wish to have kept?</p><p>Your pupils could also visit a local residential home and interview its residents. They can prepare questions before they go. This might present a good opportunity for pupils to interview parents and grandparents about the technologies that emerged during their childhood; they could then create podcasts compiling these interviews. Our Malcolm McNeil resource gives technical advice about creating podcasts: http://bit.ly/2cP19ub </p><p>Make a museum of your own to show all these designs. If your class is studying either of the world wars, why not research real gadgets from these times and their uses and find out about the men and women who used them? Alternatively, race forward in time to 2050 and think about what might be needed then. Perhaps all espionage will be electronic – will we even need people to do the job? http://www.livescience.com/topics/military-spy-tech </p><p>Agent files/villain files LIT 2/3-24a, LIT 2/3-31a</p><p>Files or profiles are held for all agents and known villains in this novel. What information do you think needs to be collated and recorded in these?</p><p>10 Have your class create their own characters to have a file held – perhaps they could use themselves as the agent? Can they produce a whole file for their chosen spy? In contrast, what might be required in the villains’ files? Ask them to make a file for a fictitious villain too – would there be any difference in the information held? </p><p>Can your learners think of a famous person in history and create a file for them? Would they turn out to be hero or villain? Examples to start off a discussion might heroes of WW2 – clearly they were villains in the eyes of those on the receiving end of their ‘heroics’. These might include leaders of countries who have had to make huge decisions which have affected the path of history.</p><p>Present the files as part of a heroes and rogues gallery with accompanying artwork.</p><p>Entrances to Spectrum LIT 2/3-28a</p><p>To gain access to Spectrum’s offices, Ruby initially is challenged to find and then use a manhole cover. Later in the novel she uses a doorway within the structure of a bridge. Both entrances are temporary as Spectrum change them regularly. When Ruby tries to use them later, they have been sealed up again. Thinking about your local area, can your learners identify potential entrances? Go for a walkabout and photograph these choices. Write clues to help Ruby find them. Can others in your class identify the sites from the clues given?</p><p>Just for fun, take a virtual tour of a famous landmark and identify potential entrances there! https://www.google.co.uk/edu/expeditions/ </p><p>Statues HWB 2/3-05a, LIT 2/3-29a</p><p>Lauren Child has chosen a number of strong female characters for this novel including LB (head of Spectrum), Ruby herself and even the housekeeper Mrs Digby. This is not always reflected in all areas of society: there are only 20 statues of women in the whole of Scotland and 5 of these are of Queen Victoria! In Edinburgh there are almost as many statues of animals as there are of women.</p><p>Scotland surely has plenty of women who have influenced our lives sufficiently to be honoured through this type of memorial. Investigate women who have played a significant role in the history and development of Scotland and Scottish life. Why might they deserve this accolade? Where should the statue be placed and what form should it take?</p><p>11 Have a discussion or debate about why women have not regularly been portrayed in a heroic light. What roles have women played which might be considered heroic? Indeed, what is ‘heroism’? Consider the life of Jane Haining as a possible discussion starter. http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/life-of-scottish-missionary-who-died-in-auschwitz- revealed/ </p><p>Have your learners produce a proposal paper or presentation for their chosen woman. Perhaps they will be persuasive enough to be sent to either your local authority, or Scottish Parliament for genuine consideration.</p><p>Clue Hunt LIT 2/3-16a</p><p>Spectrum takes a very roundabout way to test Ruby on her code-cracking skills before they allow her to even attempt their official assessment. Track all the steps of this test together as a class and create a handbook for the less ‘code-savvy’ amongst us.</p><p>Can your class create a similar test for another class (a sort of treasure hunt, if you will)? </p><p>Language 1 + 2 – Translation MLAN 2/3-12a</p><p>Lauren Child’s work has been translated into many different languages. Why not have a go at translating a couple of pages of one of the books into one or both of the languages now introduced into your school? Use this as a transition opportunity and work with the language department for the local secondary school to develop this into a mini project with their support. Create new pages using the vocabulary you are currently focussing on, or use it as a general recap of vocabulary previously learned.</p><p>Book Reports HWB 2/3-14a, LIT /32-11a. LIT 2/3-28a</p><p>There are many, many ways to develop skills in book reports. Try some of the ideas available from Unique Teaching which is a site run by a teacher from the United States. She tends to make UK versions as well to avoid spelling issues! You do pay a fee to download your chosen report but it is very low cost and there are often ‘sales’. You can choose from a board game template, wanted posters and hamburgers to name but three. Can you create your own ‘Unique Teaching’ pack? http://www.uniqueteachingresources.com/ </p><p>12</p>