Bring The Watertower by Gary Crew to life with a carefully sequenced collection of teacher-led reading, drama and discussion activities designed to immerse pupils in the unsettling atmosphere of the story.
Rather than simply reading the text, children are encouraged to experience the story from within it: exploring the setting, stepping into the characters’ shoes, considering thoughts and motivations, making predictions and building their understanding as the mystery unfolds.
The resource uses a wide range of engaging drama techniques, including role on the wall, sculpting, communal voice, thought tracking, conscience alley, paired role-play, freeze frames, thought tapping and village gossip. For example, children explore one of the character’s growing fear through conscience alley as he waits inside the tower, before considering how the sights, sounds and smells contribute to the increasingly unsettling atmosphere.
Activities include:
Immersive exploration of the watertower setting
Character analysis of Bubba and Spike
Role on the wall
Sculpting and freeze-frame activities
Thought tracking and thought tapping
Conscience alley
Paired dialogue and role-play
Village gossip and whole-class drama
Prediction and inference
Exploring suspense, tension and atmosphere
Opportunities for photographs and video to capture learning
Perfect as a stimulus for subsequent writing, or as an engaging reading and drama sequence in its own right.
Ideal for:
KS2 English
Year 5/6
Guided Reading
Whole-Class Reading
Drama
Book Talk
Inference
Characterisation
Suspense & Atmosphere
Creative Writing
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