Writing an Adventure Journal

Student Activities

Start by loading the Robinson Crusoe and Swiss Family Robinson Minecraft world file found in the resources section. Open the chest you find there marked Task 5: Mini-Island

In-Game Activity: Mini Island

Go to the small island off the left-hand side (the West Coast) of Swiss Family Robinson Island.

This is the base for your own island adventure.

Use the descriptions of each stage of the shipwreck story to re-enact your own castaway story.

Write up each stage of your story in the Journal also in this chest.

Copy Crusoe’s journal form to help you write convincingly. Here are some ideas.

Make the island your home, using whatever you can scavenge to make it comfortable. Why might a smaller islet be safer

1. Shipwrecked!
   1. Describe what it might be like being on a sinking ship. Think about the noises, the confusion, suddenly being  alone.
2.  Building Shelter
   1. What are your priorities? What makes you most at risk? What does your shelter need to last more than a few  nights? Describe what you would do to make it safe.
3. Exploring Surroundings.
   1. Take a boat and go all round the isle, writing a description of what you see. And what you imaging may lie out  of view.
4. Rescue.
   1. Do you want to be rescued? If so, how will you go about helping it happen? What sort of beacons could you  make? Or would you be content with an island life?
   2. Create a journal of your life on the island.

FOLLOW UP TASK:

Read the short extracts relating to the narrative structure of the “Robinsonade” or  shipwreck narrative.

Encourage the children to see that if they focus on each STAGE of the shipwreck they can  build and sustain a longer piece of writing.

Let them use the shorter version they wrote in-game in their Journal as the basis for a fuller  version of the narrative. (You can take screenshots of the book written in on screen and  print these off if you need to get the writing “out” of the world.)