LITCRAFT

T REAS URE
ISLAN D
BOOK 2 - ACTIVITIES
T REAS URE ISLAN D

LESSON PLANS & TRANSCRIPTS

5 in-game tasks:

1. My Shore Adventure
2. Ben Gunn Survival Challenge
3. Sea Adventure
4. Treasure Hunt
5. Creative: Make your own Island

1
 NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
IMPORTANT NOTE

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Keep the settings in SURVIVAL MODE so that pupils cannot cheat in

collecting items (using the inventory) and so that they can easily pick
things up (you cannot do this in CREATIVE MODE).

For an aerial view of the island:

We recommend that children do this to get their bearings initially or if they are
struggling to locate themselves.

Simply press the button at the start point on the island that says: “PRESS BUTTON
TO SEE ISLAND FROM ABOVE”. This teleports the child up to a platform above
it. Another button returns them to the starting point.

IF working with children who really need to be able to fly all the time then you will
have to switch into CREATIVE MODE. But remember that they cannot pick up items
in CREATIVE, only in SURVIVAL.

TO CHANGE SETTINGS:

IPAD: Click on top right hand button on centre of the in-game screen that looks like
a quotation mark [“] then go to SETTINGS then change “Default Game Mode”]

MAC: Press COMMAND BUTTON [/] then type into the command box that appears
on screen: </gamemode creative> or </gamemode survival>

2
3
 Project Outline
Pre-Immersive Activity [In-Game activities only start once Jim reaches Treasure Island]

Suggested Warm Up/Hook

Create two Treasure Island style maps of the school grounds, which don’t show the location
of the treasure but only the place where children can find the first clue.

Split the class into two groups – ‘Pirates’ and ‘Ship’s Crew’ – and give each group a different
map. At the first point on the map there should be a clue that children have to interpret to
find the next location and so on until they find the treasure. The treasure should be in the
same location on both maps but the clue locations should be different for each map. Who
will be first to find the treasure? Will it be the ‘Pirates’ or the ‘Ship’s Crew’?

In the treasure chest/box should be a range of objects relating to the story e.g. the real
map, a parrot, a ship, a pirate flag etc. Can children guess the story from the objects in the
treasure chest/box?

Ask children to read the summary of the story and discuss. What is the story of Treasure
Island about? Who are the main characters? What happens in the story?

4
 N ACTIVITY 1 + IN-GAME TASK ‘MY SHORE ADVENTURE’ N
Reading aloud/shared reading of extended extract ‘My Shore Adventure’

Key Objectives:
• To gather information about a character using point, evidence and explanation
• To use a range of strategies to work out the meaning of unfamiliar words

Children re-read the extended extract with a partner taking turns to read a paragraph and
helping each other with any difficult vocabulary.

• Working together, the children highlight any phrases that tell them about the
character of Jim. These can be sentences where meaning is direct or where it is
inferred. Discussion and feedback.

• Role on the wall activity (in groups or whole class):

- Draw a large body shape on a piece of paper to represent the character of Jim
Hawkins.
- Children work in partners and, on post-it notes, they record facts that they know
about Jim using the point, evidence and explanation prompt. These are stuck
around the outside of the body. Feedback and discussion.

Children are given a different coloured post-it note and the record what they think
they know about Jim using the point, evidence and explanation prompt. These are
stuck around the outside of the body. Feedback and discussion.

• Create a word bank of challenging words from the extended extract e.g. becalmed,
melancholy, amphitheatre, foliage, stagnant, consort, outlandish, contorted,
redescending, foolhardy. Discuss a range of strategies that children can use to work
out the meaning of these words e.g. looking for compound words, breaking words
down into prefixes and root words, reading the word in the context of the sentence,
using a dictionary. Task children to work out the meaning of the words in the bank.
Feedback and discuss.

5
 COMPREHENSION PASSAGE: My Shore Adventure

We brought up just where the anchor was in the chart, about a third of a mile from each
shore, the mainland on one side and Skeleton Island on the other. The bottom was clean
sand. The plunge of our anchor sent up clouds of birds wheeling and crying over the
woods, but in less than a minute they were down again and all was once more silent.

The place was entirely land-locked, buried in woods, the trees coming right down to high-
water mark, the shores mostly flat, and the hilltops standing round at a distance in a sort
of amphitheatre, one here, one there. Two little rivers, or rather two swamps, emptied
out into this pond, as you might call it; and the foliage round that part of the shore had a
kind of poisonous brightness. From the ship we could see nothing of the house or
stockade, for they were quite buried among trees; and if it had not been for the chart on
the companion, we might have been the first that had ever anchored there since the
island arose out of the seas.

. . . Then it was that there came into my head the first of the mad notions that
contributed so much to save our lives. If six men were left by Silver, it was plain our party
could not take and fight the ship; and since only six were left, it was equally plain that
the cabin party had no present need of my assistance. It occurred to me at once to go
ashore. In a jiffy I had slipped over the side and curled up in the fore-sheets of the
nearest boat, and almost at the same moment she shoved off.

No one took notice of me, only the bow oar saying, "Is that you, Jim? Keep your head
down." But Silver, from the other boat, looked sharply over and called out to know if that
were me; and from that moment I began to regret what I had done.

• Using the map can you work out where the

ship must be anchored from Jim’s
description?

• Can you also find on the map the rivers, the

stockade and the hills?

• Why does Jim say, “I began to regret what I

had done”? What has Jim done?

What does it mean to “regret”? What do you

think Jim is regretting?

Have you ever done anything that you regret?

6
 IN-GAME TRANSCRIPT – ‘MY SHORE ADVENTURE’

Chest 1: My Shore Adventure

Book in chest 1 at start point: Instructions

Treasure Island: Scavenger Hunt

Find as many of these items as you can and be the first of your crew (friends) to return
- A compass
- Leather armour
- A solid tool
- A solid weapon
- Some cooked food
- An apple
- Some grog
- A jewel
- A parrot companion
- A caught fish.

Remember to also bring along your journal from this chest to record how you acquired each item necessary for
a pirate’s life.

[Children also pick up Journal]

CABIN BOY’S JOURNAL

As the ship’s cabin boy (or girl) you are charged with writing a description of the island for the first mate.
Write down your experience of the island - what you see, hear, think and feel as you journey about to find the
items.

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES: ‘MY SHORE ADVENTURE’

Follow-up reading activity:

Now the children have experienced being Jim in the game can they add anything about his
character to the role on the wall? In particular, can they infer anything about how he might
have been feeling at this point in the text from their experiences in the game?

Follow-up writing activity:

Children write a first-person account of their experiences of exploring Treasure Island based
on their experience in the game and on Jim’s account.

*This writing activity should develop over a sequence of lessons and include sentence level
development work and modelling of good practice.

7
 N ACTIVITY 2 + IN-GAME TASK ‘THE MAN OF THE ISLAND’ N
Reading aloud/shared reading of extended extract ‘The Man of the Island’

Key Objectives:
• To use the language of the text to create an image of a character
• To compare characters within a text
• To compare characters across texts

Children read the shorter extract with their partner taking turns to read a paragraph and
helping each other with any difficult vocabulary.

• Using only Jim’s description of Ben Gunn, the children draw a picture to show what
Benn Gunn looks like. They annotate their picture with quotations from the text,
which support their drawn interpretation of the character. Children compare their
representations of Ben Gunn with their peers and discuss the following:
- Do the drawings share similarities?
- Are there key differences?
- Why do the children think the drawings look different?
- What does this tell us about what happens in our imaginations when we read
a book?

• Drawing on the work that they have already done on Jim’s character and the initial
work on Ben Gunn, the children create a table with two headings: ‘What is the
same?’; ‘What is different?’. They complete the table to help them compare the
characters of Jim and Ben Gunn, where possible, using evidence from the extract to
support the points that they are making. It will be more challenging for them to find
similarities but they are there e.g. both characters are in a precarious position on the
island, they have both hidden to protect themselves from danger, they both arrived
by ship etc.

• Once the children have compared the two characters ask them to feedback their
responses. Does Jim’s encounter with Ben Gunn tell us anything more about him as a
character that can be added to the role on the wall? Why does the author include
contrasting characters in his novel?

8
 COMPREHENSION PASSAGE: ‘THE MAN OF THE ISLAND’

From the side of the hill, which was here steep and stony, a spout of gravel was dislodged
and fell rattling and bounding through the trees. My eyes turned instinctively in that
direction, and I saw a figure leap with great rapidity behind the trunk of a pine. What it was,
whether bear or man or monkey, I could in no wise tell. It seemed dark and shaggy; more I
knew not. But the terror of this new apparition brought me to a stand. . . .

He was concealed by this time behind another tree trunk; but he must have been watching
me closely, for as soon as I began to move in his direction he reappeared and took a step to
meet me. Then he hesitated, drew back, came forward again, and at last, to my wonder and
confusion, threw himself on his knees and held out his clasped hands in supplication.
At that I once more stopped.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Ben Gunn," he answered, and his voice sounded hoarse and awkward, like a rusty lock. "I'm
poor Ben Gunn, I am; and I haven't spoke with a Christian these three years."
I could now see that he was a white man like myself and that his features were even
pleasing. His skin, wherever it was exposed, was burnt by the sun; even his lips were black,
and his fair eyes looked quite startling in so dark a face. Of all the beggar-men that I had
seen or fancied, he was the chief for raggedness. He was clothed with tatters of old ship's
canvas and old sea-cloth, and this extraordinary patchwork was all held together by a
system of the most various and incongruous fastenings, brass buttons, bits of stick, and
loops of tarry gaskin. About his waist he wore an old brass-buckled leather belt, which was
the one thing solid in his whole accoutrement.
"Three years!" I cried. "Were you shipwrecked?"
"Nay, mate," said he; "marooned."
I had heard the word, and I knew it stood for a horrible kind of punishment common enough
among the buccaneers, in which the offender is put ashore with a little powder and shot and
left behind on some desolate and distant island.

• Why is Jim so afraid at first? How does Ben Gunn show that he is not a threat?

• Why does Ben Gunn look and dress so oddly?

• What is the difference between being “shipwrecked” and “marooned”?

Give children the background context for the Robinson Crusoe extract. E.g. Robinson Crusoe
is shipwrecked on an island. Following an encounter with cannibals, he rescues a man and
names him Friday, after the day on which his life was saved.

9
Children read the following extract from Robinson Crusoe with a partner:

In a little time I began to speak to him, and teach him to speak to me; and, first, I let him
know his name should be Friday, which was the day I saved his life; I called so for the
memory of the time. I likewise taught him to say Master, and then let him know that was to
be my name; I likewise taught him to say Yes and No, and to know the meaning of them. I
gave him some milk in an earthen pot, and let him see me drink it before him, and sop my
bread in it; and gave him a cake of bread to do the like, which he quickly complied with, and
made signs that it was very good for him.
I kept there with him all that night; but, as soon as it was day, I beckoned to him to
come with me, and let him know I would give him some clothes; at which he seemed very
glad, for he was stark naked. As we went by the place where he had buried the two men, he
pointed exactly to the place, and showed me the marks he had made to find them again,
making signs to me that we should dig them up again and eat them. At this I appeared very
angry, expressed my abhorrence of it, made as if I would vomit at the very thoughts of it,
and beckoned with my hand to him to come away, which he did immediately, with great
submission.
I then led him up to the top of the hill, to see if his enemies were gone, and pulling
out my glass, I looked and saw plainly the place where they had been, but no appearance of
them or their canoes; so that it was plain they were gone, and had left their two comrades
behind them without any search after them.

• Ask children to discuss the following

questions in groups (emphasise use of
point, evidence, explanation):

- How does the relationship between

Jim and Ben Gunn compare to the
relationship between Robinson
Crusoe and Man Friday? Why are
these relationships so different?

- What challenges do the characters

Ben Gunn and Man Friday face? Are
they similar or different? If so, why?

- Why is it useful to compare

characters across texts?

Ask children to feedback on the questions they

have discussed.

10
 IN-GAME TRANSCRIPT – ‘THE MAN OF THE ISLAND’

Chest 2: Ben Gunn Survival Challenge

Book in Chest 2 at start point: Instructions:

“Island Survival
Your aim is to find Ben Gunn (the marooned sailor) on the East coast of the island.

Hint: look near the oak trees.

Find his cave and follow the instructions on signs in the entrance-way.

Question:
Can you work out what sort of food Ben has missed most during his time marooned here? If you were
shipwrecked away from home, what food or drink would you miss most? Why?

Ben Gunn [at immediate entrance to his cave]

Written on signs when first enter:
“Halt! Seek my look-out on Spye-Glass hill. Read my advice in the chest ye find there.”

Book in Chest at look-out cave:

“Survival Guide
I Ben Gunn, being of sound mind and body do hereby write my advice for the help and benefit of any future
sailors who find themselves marooned on this forsaken isle. Follow these pointers, shipmates, I beseech ye.

i. Find fresh water or a means of potage - a man can only live 3 days without it. Always make a
shelter near such a source.

ii. Make weapons and keep them upon your person all times. An axe or a sword are your best
companions now.

iii. Find a suitable to build a shelter from both elements and beasts. Take advantage of natural
features to stay hidden and see far.

iv. Gather any food available and a means of cooking it. Warmth is vital, and fire keeps wild beasts
at bay.

v. Keep a weather eye open for ships. If ye can, build a beacon at a visible point nearby. Fire is the
best sign, but other things may be useful too….

vi. Heed this warning well: don’t be stealing my shelters ya good-fer-nothings! Find yer own spots. “

11
 FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES: ‘THE MAN OF THE ISLAND’

Follow-up experiential activity:

• Following their experience in the game, children should be given an opportunity to

actually experience living like castaway for a morning/afternoon in school grounds or
in a controlled way in a suitable indoor space. [Alternatively this could be run as a
drama activity in which they script and act out a key scene]

• Children are given a series of tasks to complete in order to survive (teachers will
have planted the necessary equipment before the task begins):
- Find a source of food. Children should be warned not to eat anything during the
task. They should find the food (berries, nuts etc.) that teachers have left.
- Find a source of fresh water and work out a way of transporting it back to camp.
- Build a shelter from materials found in the wild (again planted by teachers).

• Children will be given a set time to complete the tasks. If they manage to do so, they
have survived; if not, they are at risk.

• Afterwards, identify and discuss any of the challenges of the activity. What do
people need to know how to do if they are going to survive? What should they not
do? If you could take three essential things to a desert island what would they be
and why?

Follow-up writing activity:

Children write an instruction text entitled ‘Ben Gunn’s Guide to Island Survival’ based on
their experience in the game and of the Treasure Island text.

*This writing activity should develop over a sequence of lessons and include engagement
with the instruction texts, sentence level development work and modelling of good practice.

Follow-up cross-curricular activity:

Art link – Drawing on the island paintings of Paul Gaugin, the children could create their own
‘Treasure Island’ in the style of Gaugin.

Key skills: critically analyse the style of an artist and use this to inform their own work; use
knowledge of drawing and painting to imaginatively create their own style; draw and paint
using knowledge of foreground, background and middle ground; understand how to use
complementary colours to create effects.

12
 N ACTIVITY 3 + IN-GAME TASK ‘THE CORACLE’ N
Reading aloud/shared reading of extended extract ‘The Coracle’

Key Objectives:
• To scan for information
• To create a story map using key moments and quotations from a text
• To summarise a section of a story

Children re-read the longer extract with their partner taking turns to read a paragraph and
helping each other with any difficult vocabulary.

• Teacher sets a timer and the children have to re-read the extract and underline as
many key events as they can find during the time that they have. Feedback and
make a list of the key events from the chapter. Did all children have the same
events? If not, why not? How can we tell if something is important in a story?

• Agree on a list of key events as a class. Children create a story map of the key events.
They draw the events in the correct order and annotate them with key quotations
from the text. Once the children have completed this activity they discuss the
following:
- What different feelings/emotions does Jim display in this section of the text?
- How do Jim’s feelings/emotions change over the course of the section? Why
do you think this might be?
- What devices does the author use to create tension in this section of the
story?

• After the discussion, ask children to go back to the story map and add words that
show the emotional journey of the character at each of the different points that they
have identified. Encourage them to use quotations from the text.

• Jigsaw the children so that they show their completed story map to a different
partner. Working together with the partner the children write a synopsis of that
section of the story. Choose children with good examples to read theirs to the class.

Discuss: Why bother summarising a section of a story in this way? What is the
purpose of a synopsis? How does it help the reader?

13
 COMPREHENSION PASSAGE: ‘THE CORACLE’

I began after a little to grow very bold and sat up to try my skill at paddling. But even a
small change in the disposition of the weight will produce violent changes in the
behaviour of a coracle. And I had hardly moved before the boat, giving up at once her
gentle dancing movement, ran straight down a slope of water so steep that it made me
giddy, and struck her nose, with a spout of spray, deep into the side of the next wave.

I was drenched and terrified, and fell instantly back into my old position, whereupon the
coracle seemed to find her head again and led me as softly as before among the billows.
It was plain she was not to be interfered with, and at that rate, since I could in no way
influence her course, what hope had I left of reaching land?

I began to be horribly frightened, but I kept my head, for all that. First, moving with all
care, I gradually baled out the coracle with my sea-cap; then, getting my eye once more
above the gunwale, I set myself to study how it was she managed to slip so quietly
through the rollers.

I found each wave, instead of the big, smooth glossy mountain it looks from shore or
from a vessel's deck, was for all the world like any range of hills on dry land, full of peaks
and smooth places and valleys. The coracle, left to herself, turning from side to side,
threaded, so to speak, her way through these lower parts and avoided the steep slopes
and higher, toppling summits of the wave. . . .

It was very tiring and slow work, yet I did visibly gain ground; and as we drew near the
Cape of the Woods, though I saw I must infallibly miss that point, I had still made some
hundred yards of easting. I was, indeed, close in. I could see the cool green tree-tops
swaying together in the breeze, and I felt sure I should make the next promontory
without fail. . . . The sight of the trees so near at hand had almost made me sick with
longing, but the current had soon carried me past the point, and as the next reach of sea
opened out, I beheld a sight that changed the nature of my thoughts.

• Why is the coracle so difficult to move around?

• How does Jim describe the waves? Why do they look different from shore?

• Why does Jim feel “sick with longing” when he sees the tree-tops?

14
 IN-GAME TRANSCRIPT: ‘THE CORACLE’

Book in chest 3 at start point: instructions and Journal

In the book, Jim Hawkins takes Ben Gunn’s coracle and is swept around the island. You are going to imitate
him and also write about your experience in 4 tasks.

First, find Ben’s small boat hidden under the white rocks.

Get in and set off to circumnavigate the island (go all round it by sea).

Carry out the four tasks on the following pages, and write about how it would feel to do them in the Journal.

1. Use your harpoon provided in the chest to catch three different kinds of sea creatures. What did you
catch and why? If you could only live on things you fish for what would you eat?
2. Take an underwater swim. What was it like? What did/could you see?
3. Take the boat so far out that the island is almost out of sight. How did this make you feel? How
might Jim have felt after weeks at sea on a ship?
4. Now head back to the white rock harbour. How does the island look or feel different when you return
safely to it?

Book 2: JOURNAL

Journal for Notes and Thoughts

Write your answers in full or in note form. [Same questions given as prompts]

1. Use your harpoon provided in the chest to catch three different kinds of sea creatures. What did you
catch and why? If you could only live on things you fish for what would you eat?

2. Take an underwater swim. What was it like? What did/could you see?

3. Take the boat so far out that the island is almost out of sight. How did this make you feel? How
might Jim have felt after weeks at sea on a ship?

4. Now head back to the white rock harbour. How does the island look or feel different when you return
safely to it?

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES: ‘THE CORACLE’

Follow-up writing activity:

Children write a ‘Ship’s Log’ of their journey around the island in the Coracle based on their
experience in the game and of the Treasure Island text.

*This writing activity should develop over a sequence of lessons and include engagement
with examples of first person writing about sea journeys, sentence level development work
and modelling of good practice.

15
Follow-up cross-curricular activity: Design and Technology link – Design and make a better
boat for Jim that will float and that can be powered by the wind.

Key skills: Plan a sequence of work; identify suitable materials; make prototypes; join
materials using appropriate methods; identify strengths and weaknesses of design ideas;
refine product; test and evaluate overall effectiveness of the design.

16
 N ACTIVITY 4 + IN-GAME TASK ‘THE TREASURE HUNT’ N
Reading aloud/shared reading of extended extract ‘The Treasure Hunt’

Key Objectives:
• To use the point, evidence, explanation (P.E.E.) prompt when answering questions
about a text.
• To predict what might happen from information stated and implied.

Children re-read the longer extract with their partner taking turns to read a paragraph and
helping each other with any difficult vocabulary.

• Put the children into groups and ask each group to focus on one of these questions:
- How does Long John Silver behave in this section of the text? What does his
behaviour reveal about him as a character?
- How is Jim feeling in this part of the story? How is this similar, or different, to the
other characters in the text?
- How does the knowledge that they are getting near to the treasure alter the way
that the pirates are acting in the text? Why have their actions changed?
- What has happened at this location in the book in the past? Why might it be
significant to what is currently happening in the story?
- What are the different ways that the author builds tension in this section of the
text?

Children are expected to respond using the point, evidence, explanation prompt.

• Give them the text glued in the middle of a piece of sugar paper and two different
coloured post-it notes. They use one colour for point and another for explanation.
They highlight the evidence in the text.

• As a group, children decide on their best P.E.E. and feed this back to the rest of the
class.

• Each group then writes a prediction, on a piece of card, about what they think
happens next after the pirates discover that treasure has been stolen. Children must
explain why (with evidence from the text) their prediction is plausible.

• Teacher gets the prediction from each group and the class agrees a ranking system
based on the most plausible to the least plausible prediction.

• Children listen to the extract from Treasure Island which describes what happens
after the pirates realise that the treasure has been stolen.

• Return to the predictions that the children made. Were any of them correct? Has
anything surprising happened? Could any of the information that was already there,
in the section of the text they read the previously, have helped them to make a
better prediction?

17
 COMPREHENSION PASSAGE: ‘THE TREASURE HUNT’

The first of the tall trees was reached, and by the bearings proved the wrong one. So with
the second. The third rose nearly two hundred feet into the air above a clump of
underwood—a giant of a vegetable, with a red column as big as a cottage, and a wide
shadow around in which a company could have manoeuvred. It was conspicuous far to sea
both on the east and west and might have been entered as a sailing mark upon the chart.

But it was not its size that now impressed my companions; it was the knowledge that seven
hundred thousand pounds in gold lay somewhere buried below its spreading shadow. The
thought of the money, as they drew nearer, swallowed up their previous terrors. Their eyes
burned in their heads; their feet grew speedier and lighter; their whole soul was bound up in
that fortune, that whole lifetime of extravagance and pleasure, that lay waiting there for
each of them.

We were now at the margin of the thicket.

"Huzza, mates, all together!" shouted Merry; and the foremost broke into a run.

And suddenly, not ten yards further, we beheld them stop. A low cry arose. Silver doubled his
pace, digging away with the foot of his crutch like one possessed; and next moment he and I
had come also to a dead halt.

Before us was a great excavation, not very recent, for the sides had fallen in and grass had
sprouted on the bottom. In this were the shaft of a pick broken in two and the boards of
several packing-cases strewn around. On one of these boards I saw, branded with a hot iron,
the name Walrus—the name of Flint's ship.

All was clear to probation. The cache had been found and rifled; the seven hundred thousand
pounds were gone!

There never was such an overturn in this world. Each of these six men was as though he had
been struck. But with Silver the blow passed almost instantly. Every thought of his soul had
been set full-stretch, like a racer, on that money; well, he was brought up, in a single second,
dead; and he kept his head, found his temper, and changed his plan before the others had
had time to realise the disappointment.

• Why are the pirates searching for tall trees do you think?

• How do the pirates feel when they think of the treasure? How do you think they feel
when they discover that the treasure has been stolen?

• How do the pirates react when they discover the treasure is missing?

• How does Silver react? How is his reaction different to the other pirates and why?

18
 IN-GAME TRANSCRIPT – ‘THE TREASURE HUNT’

TASK 4: Hunt for Treasure

Book in chest 4 at start point: instructions

Search for Treasure.

Like the pirates you are now going to hunt for the treasure.

Using the map of Treasure Island from the book, find the three sites where X marks the spot (and other
interesting sites). Bring back as much loot as you can.

You wil receive a bonus 5 golden nuggets value for each of the following . . .
- A suit of golden armour
- An ornate timepiece
- A carved crystal globe
- A priceless painting
- A golden statue
- A cluster of opals

How would it feel to discover a treasure trove? What would you do with such a cache?
Keep it hidden? Move it somewhere safe? Spend it?

Book inside chest at first (main) treasure site:

“Ahahahaha! Fooled ye, shipmates! I, Ben Gunn, have found the treasure and taken it for meself. If you want
any part of it ye’ll have to find my cave on the East of this accursed Island and offer what I want most.”

Book inside chest at Ben Gunn’s Cave:

Ben Gunn’s Journal: How I found the Treasure
Though I be not good at writing, this I must pen for all to know – how I, Poor Ben Gunn, marooned on this
island for many a long year, found Flint’s treasure.

It came about like this – I had been about a year marooned and was wandering the land below the Spye-Glass
when I caught my foot on something hard and tripped over. Well I was cursing and swearing at that object
until I saw that it was a skull and the rest o’ the skeleton seemed to be pointing a certain way. I though such a
despicable trick one of Flint’s and that it might be a clue to the burying of his treasure all those years ago. That
same treasure that led to me being abandoned.

Well I dug here and I dug there and had not a lick of but, with nothing else to do I kept at it day after day until
one fine morning I was staring at a tree and thinking how mighty tall it was. Whether stood on land or deck, it
could be seen long aways - then it came clear to my mind that Flint might well have needed more than one
marker – and such a tree would serve fine.

So I set to all around. It is hard digging all alone, I can tell you, but before long I heard a clunk as my makeshift
pick hit the top of a chest. Words cannot describe the satisfaction I felt at taking the old sea dog’s booty.

When I pulled it fully from the earth, and managed to prise that chest open, why it was so full of gold it fair
dazzled me. The sun shone on it and it shone on me. I leaped up and danced around it like a mad man. After
that I spent many a day carting it back to my hideout and here it rests with me. I’ll be a rich man If I ever get
home again. And I know what I will be seeking out when first I step on civil shores. . .

19
 FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES: ‘THE TREASURE HUNT’

Follow-up writing activity:

Children write a newspaper report based on Ben Gunn’s journal account of the theft of the
treasure and the pirates’ reactions to discovering the treasure had been stolen.

*This writing activity should develop over a sequence of lessons and include engagement
with examples of newspaper reports, sentence level development work and modelling of
good practice.

Simpler follow up: Children read Ben Gunn’s journal account and write a summary of it.

20
 N ACTIVITY 5: Comprehension + Creative Task
DESIGN AND BUILD SKELETON ISLAND N
Key Objectives:
• To think creatively and imaginatively about place and space in literature
• To work together to design and plan
• To understand basic scale

Reading Comprehension relating to Skeleton Island

The Hispaniola was laid a couple of points nearer the wind and now sailed a course that
would just clear the island on the east.
“And now, men,” said the captain, when all was sheeted home, “has any one of you ever
seen that land ahead?”
“I have, sir,” said Silver. “I've watered there with a trader I was cook in.”
“The anchorage is on the south, behind an islet, I fancy?” asked the captain.
“Yes, sir; Skeleton Island they calls it. It were a main place for pirates once, and a hand we
had on board knowed all their names for it. That hill to the nor'ard they calls the Fore-mast
Hill; there are three hills in a row running south'ard—fore, main, and mizzen, sir. But the
main—that's the big un, with the cloud on it—they usually calls the Spy-glass, by reason of a
lookout they kept when they was in the anchorage cleaning, for it's there they cleaned their
ships, sir, asking your pardon.”
“I have a chart here,” says Captain Smollett. “See if that's the place.”
Long John's eyes burned in his head as he took the chart, but by the fresh look of the paper I
knew he was doomed to disappointment. This was not the map we found in Billy Bones's
chest, but an accurate copy, complete in all things—names and heights and soundings—with
the single exception of the red crosses and the written notes. Sharp as must have been his
annoyance, Silver had the strength of mind to hide it.
“Yes, sir,” said he, “this is the spot, to be sure, and very prettily drawed out. Who might have
done that, I wonder? The pirates were too ignorant, I reckon. Aye, here it is: “Capt. Kidd's
Anchorage”—just the name my shipmate called it. There's a strong current runs along the
south, and then away nor'ard up the west coast. Right you was, sir,” says he, “to haul your
wind and keep the weather of the island. Leastways, if such was your intention as to enter
and careen, and there ain't no better place for that in these waters.”
“Thank you, my man,” says Captain Smollett. “I'll ask you later on to give us a help. You may
go.”

• Why is the anchorage behind an islet do you think?

• Use the passage to explain the reason for these place-names: Fore-mast hill; Spy-
glass hill; Captain Kidd’s anchorage.

• Why do Silver’s eyes “burn in his head” when he looks at the map. Why is he
disappointed?

21
“He can't ‘a found the treasure,” said old Morgan, hurrying past us from the right, “for that's
clean a-top.”
Indeed, as we found when we also reached the spot, it was something very different. At the
foot of a pretty big pine and involved in a green creeper, which had even partly lifted some
of the smaller bones, a human skeleton lay, with a few shreds of clothing, on the ground. I
believe a chill struck for a moment to every heart.
“He was a seaman,” said George Merry, who, bolder than the rest, had gone up close and
was examining the rags of clothing. “Leastways, this is good sea-cloth.”
“Aye, aye,” said Silver; “like enough; you wouldn't look to find a bishop here, I reckon. But
what sort of a way is that for bones to lie? 'Tain't in natur'.”
Indeed, on a second glance, it seemed impossible to fancy that the body was in a natural
position. But for some disarray (the work, perhaps, of the birds that had fed upon him or of
the slow-growing creeper that had gradually enveloped his remains) the man lay perfectly
straight—his feet pointing in one direction, his hands, raised above his head like a diver's,
pointing directly in the opposite.
“I've taken a notion into my old numbskull,” observed Silver. “Here's the compass; there's the
tip-top p'int o' Skeleton Island, stickin' out like a tooth. Just take a bearing, will you, along
the line of them bones.”
It was done. The body pointed straight in the direction of the island, and the compass read
duly E.S.E. and by E.
“I thought so,” cried the cook; “this here is a p'inter. Right up there is our line for the Pole
Star and the jolly dollars. But, by thunder! If it don't make me cold inside to think of Flint.
This is one of his jokes, and no mistake. Him and these six was alone here; he killed 'em,
every man; and this one he hauled here and laid down by compass, shiver my timbers!
They're long bones, and the hair's been yellow. Aye, that would be Allardyce. You mind
Allardyce, Tom Morgan?”
“Aye, aye,” returned Morgan; “I mind him; he owed me money, he did, and took my knife
ashore with him.”
“Speaking of knives,” said another, “why don't we find his'n lying round? Flint warn't the
man to pick a seaman's pocket; and the birds, I guess, would leave it be.”
“By the powers, and that's true!” cried Silver.
“There ain't a thing left here,” said Merry, still feeling round among the bones; “not a copper
doit nor a baccy box. It don't look nat'ral to me.”

• Why does “a chill strike for a moment to every heart”?

• What does Silver mean when he says “You wouldn’t look to find a bishop here, I
reckon.”

• What does the use of a human body as a pointer to the treasure tell you about
Captain Flint?

22
 IN-GAME TRANSCRIPT: ‘ISLAND BUILDING’

For this final task you are free to be creative and undertake your own island build!

The island you are standing on is called Skeleton Island. How might you reshape and design the island to make
it more fully represent this name?

PLAN
In pairs or threes talk together, brainstorm and decide what you are going to do.

DESIGN
Before you start to build IN-GAME take some squared paper and map out your island.
Decide what you want to put on it. Think about natural features (trees, caves, waterfalls etc.) Think about
secret places – passageways, trapdoors etc.
Don’t worry if you need to redraw to get it right.

MAP TO SCALE
If you can, make the map to scale! Skeleton Island is approximately 114 Minecraft blocks long by 110
Minecraft blocks wide. If you make each square on your paper = 10 blocks in Minecraft you can map
accurately to scale (1:10).

BACK IN-GAME
Now re-enter the Minecraft world and build your own Skeleton Island. Scavenge items from the ship and fort
if you need to.

You can get rid of the starting point and chests.

MAKE YOUR OWN CHALLENGE

Why not build some simple tasks into your island as we have done for you?

Chests and books are given here for you to set your own challenges!

SWAP WORLDS
Take a screenshot when you have finished and print it off to keep!
Now swap ipads with another group and explore each other’s island (but don’t destroy it!)

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY: ‘ISLAND BUILDING’

Children are asked to research the life of a historical pirate and give a short presentation on
them.

• They can choose a pirate from this list or one of their own:
1) Captain Kidd (mentioned in Treasure Island)
2) Blackbeard
3) Coxinga
4) Black Bart
5) Ned Low
6) Jeanne de Clisson
7) Lady Mary Killigrew
8) Francois l’Olonoise

23