An injured sloth has inspired a couple to create Venezuela’s first centre for rescuing sloths and helping them return to the wild. This resources pack includes an article from The Week Junior magazine, along with a sheet of activities designed to get children thinking, talking and writing about what the story means to them.
Debate:
Sloths move so incredibly slowly, it can seem comical. Yet they still manage to achieve everything they need to do in life. Is there something we could learn from them? Why not take the opportunity to enjoy each moment, notice what is happening in nature all around you or concentrate on what you’re doing in order to do a really good job? Or is that just a waste of time? Life is short so should you do as much as you can, as quickly as you can, so that you can get as much out of each day as possible? Isn’t it better to be more like a puppy, running around, trying everything and experiencing more? What do you think?
Writing challenges:
Write a poem about a sloth’s day. It can have any rhyming or rhythmic pattern you like (or none at all!) as long as it has vocabulary choices and a structure that conveys a sloth’s nature.
Or
Write an imagined news report for a sloth’s newspaper about the animal in this story getting an electric shock.
Investigate:
The sloth in this story was named after the character called Chewbacca from the Star Wars films. Chewbacca was a Wookiee and there is a surprising amount of information about these creatures, given that they are completely fictional. Research and compile a fact file about them, detailing their behaviour as well as their physical qualities.
Find the entire series of Topical Tuesday resources to download here.
What is The Week Junior?
The Week Junior magazine looks at current affairs and helps children make sense of the world, provides context and clarity to complex issues, improves general knowledge and encourages discussion and debate.
To find out more about The Week Junior and to download its free resources, please go to schools.theweekjunior.co.uk.