22.07.2020
Rock Pools and other delights….
Hi there!
Welcome back to another week of creative writing. As it’s the start of the summer holidays, I thought we could take a virtual trip back to the beach to explore in a bit more detail.
I promised we would return to some more focused writing about different species, so this week my chosen topic is the rockpool and the species that live within. Rock pools can be micro worlds full of creatures. Studies have shown that some fish live out their whole lives in one rock pool. So this will be our coastal theme, I hope that you enjoy dipping your thoughts into a virtual pool!
Task 1: (5 mins) The rock pool as a garden! Just for fun, to get us warmed up for writing, I thought it might be nice to think of a rock pool as an underwater garden. Can you incorporate these garden themed words into a description of a rock pool? (For example you might think about the sea weed and describe it as branches of seaweed, or rivulets of water running down rocky paths, perhaps sea anemones are like jewels in a flower bed? If you need more inspiration use the pictures below). Don’t worry if the words don’t inspire you, just write what comes into your head and see what happens!
- Branches
- Paths
- Rockery
- Leaves
- Petals
Task 2: (5 mins) The bestest of friends! Here is an interesting fact! Some hermit crabs and sea anemones have a symbiotic relationship. The sea anemone will attach itself to the hermit crab’s shell and ride around on the hermit crab’s back. The anemone will open up and protect the hermit crab from potential predators. In return the anemone can eat scraps and titbits left over from the hermit crab’s meals! The relationship is so complimentary that when the hermit crab upgrades to a bigger shell the anemone moves on to the new shell too!
Using this fact as inspiration write from the perspective of either the crab or the anemone to describe the friendship. Perhaps you could give them names and human traits, perhaps one is grumblier than the other. Describe how they get along living together!
Or: (If the above task doesn’t inspire you) write about another relationship in the natural world, for example a squirrel living in a favourite tree, or butterflies and flowers. Perhaps you would like to write about something you have personally witnessed?
Task 3: (10 mins) Choosing just the right home. Choose one of the following rock pool dwellers: (If you need more detail to identify any of these creatures click here.
- Starfish
- Hermit crab
- Anemone
- Barnacle
- Shrimp
- Muscle
Now you have picked your chosen creature write for ten minutes on the following theme ‘Choosing the perfect home’. You might want to write from the perspective of a creature and finding just the right rock pool or spot within a pool, or perhaps you might want to write about our environment and why our seashores should be protected. Another option could be to write about your own home using inspiration from one of these creatures?? Be as creative as you like.
Task 4: (5 mins) Reflections. If you look back at the photographs of rock pools you will see that I also managed to photograph reflections of the clouds. Imagine that you are standing on the beach staring into a rock pool, suddenly you notice something unusual in the reflection ….what do you see!?
Well, as usual I hope that you enjoyed this week’s watery theme! Next week we will be moving on to a species that lives on the land, but I will surprise you with that topic next week!
Hope you are all enjoying some better weather and thinking about these themes. Don’t forget – there is no pressure with these tasks, you can pick one or two, or just use them as something lovely to think about and to learn something of the natural world.
Look forward to hearing from some of you!
Best wishes,
Emma
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