About the Flying Fergus Lesson Pack...sports kit working in a team Lesson outcome: a sports kit Lead-in questions: 1. What are the sports kits like of your favourite teams? 2. What

www.flyingfergus.co.uk/schools

About the Flying Fergus Lesson Pack:

Books Featured:The Best Birthday Bike

The Great Cycle Challenge

The Big Biscuit Bike Off

The Championship Cheats

On Your Bike

Dear teachers and librarians, Join us for a fantastically fun, magical cycling adventure from Sir Chris Hoy and Joanna Nadin. With your help we will explore the enchanting world of Flying Fergus through teamwork, creativity and a whole lot of action.

This pack is made up of five distinct lessons that explore the themes, characters and events of Chris Hoy’s Flying Fergus series. The lessons are made up of two or three individual activities that can be taught as hour-long lessons or dipped in and out of in class, the library or for homework. The lessons foster team-working skills and are interdisciplinary in nature, touching upon many different parts of the national curriculum, including Literacy, Art, Speaking and Listening and Physical Education.

There are posters for you to display around the school and leaflets to send home to parents to get them involved. Please feel free to make extra copies of any of these materials and print out any extras from www.flyingfergus.co.uk/schools

And don’t forget to Tweet photos of your class getting involved to @PiccadillyPress with the hash tag #FlyingFergus

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“Extract and lead-in activity:

Yes, he was ordinary in almost every way, except one. Because, for a small boy, Fergus Hamilton had an extraordinarily big imagination. Some days he imagined he lived in an enormous underground lair, with fifty-seven bedrooms and a hover car and a butler to serve him lemonade whenever he wanted it, instead of in the flat above his grandpa’s junk shop on Napier Street. Some days he imagined he could build a time machine out of a vacuum cleaner, like Captain Gadget, his favourite comic book superhero. Then he could defeat his own arch-nemesis Wesley Wallace, who didn’t have a hover car but his house was massive and he was definitely allowed lemonade whenever he wanted. Some days he imagined Chimp was a sleek and well-mannered pedigree hound who could sniff out buried treasure and catch criminals, instead of being a mongrel with matted fur and a tendency to dig for bones in the carpet. But mostly he imagined he was the most brilliant boy cyclist in the whole wide world, because if there was one thing he liked more than football, or chocolate cake, or even Chimp (especially when he was chewing Fergus’s socks), it was cycling.

Book 1, The Best Birthday Bike, p2-3

Lead-in questions:Imagine the COOLEST life you can:

1. Where would you live?

2. What would your house be like?

3. What special gadgets would you have?

4. What would you be allowed to eat or drink whenever you wanted?

5. What kind of pet would you have?6. What would you be extra-specially good at?

SynopsisFergus is a boy with a big imagination and a very special bike. He is also the first member of the Hercules’ Hopefuls, the cycling team set up by his Grandpa Herc to fight off their arch-rivals, Wallace’s Winners. Whilst Fergus and his friends battle it out on the cycle track, nine-year-old Fergus discovers that if he gets up enough speed and spins his pedals backwards he can travel back and forth to a parallel universe called Nevermore, where cycling is banned and his dad is trapped by the mean King Woebegot. Join us this summer to learn about Fergus’s adventures, the perils of Nevermore and what can happen when a group of friends pedal as fast as they can.

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Lesson objective: to develop speaking and listening skills

Lesson outcome: a team identity

Fergus Hamilton is crazy about bikes. On Fergus’s birthday we learn that:

“Most of all he imagined hopping out of bed tomorrow morning on his birthday, seeing an enormous parcel in the front room and unwrapping it to find a Swift inside, along with a new helmet, gloves and a special racing jersey.”

Book 1, The Best Birthday Bike, p5

Lead-in questions:1. What is your favourite

sport? What do you like about it?

2. What would you like to find wrapped up when you wake up on YOUR birthday? A shiny new football? A sleek new hockey stick?

ACTIVITY ONE: First, organise your class into five fabulous groups. Each group need to sit in a circle and talk about their favourite sports. They should try to include:

Why they like them

What makes the sport special for them

What it feels like to play it

Who their favourite players are

Using all the information presented, the groups need to choose one sport that they will work on in their groups. This is a great activity for speaking and listening – everyone should present their ideas and then the group needs to take a vote to choose the sport they will focus on.

ACTIVITY TWO:Hamilton’s Heroes

Hercules’ Hopefuls

Wallace’s Winners

Using the names above as inspiration, each group needs to choose a name for their team. Can they use alliteration to make it as snappy as the Flying Fergus examples?

ACTIVITY THREE:Students should design a logo for their team. They should be as creative as possible, including colours, images and their team name.

LESSON ONE: WORKING AS A TEAM

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Lesson objective: to understand how to give a successful presentation

Lesson outcome: a presentation to the rest of the class

“The Swift had twenty-four gears, hydraulic brakes and state-of-the-art suspension and was, without doubt, the most beautiful bike Fergus had ever seen. He imagined shooting down Craigmount Hill on it, so fast he would feel the wind taking his breath away.”


ACTIVITY ONE: Students should work in the same groups and organize themselves into the roles of:

• Team captain (organizer)

• Artist

• Researcher

• Creative thinker

Just like Fergus’s dream bike in the extract above, students need to design their ideal piece of equipment. This could be anything from a racket, to a ball or even a pair of amazing trainers! The team captain needs to make sure that everyone is focused and on track. The researcher can use a computer to research the latest model of their chosen equipment whilst the creative thinker comes up with ways in which this can be even better! Groups can choose their very best drawers for the artist role but everyone needs to pitch in – this is all about teamwork!

ACTIVITY TWO:Now, armed with their team names, their specially designed equipment and their logo, each group should present their team to the rest of the class. Everyone should say at least one thing and be creative – could groups include pictures? A song? Dramatic voices?

LESSON TWO: TEAM PRESENTATIONS!

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LESSON THREE: LOOKING SNAPPY! ACTIVITY ONE: When Grandpa Herc buys Fergus and his friends a brand new kit with ‘Hercules’ Hopefuls’ emblazoned on the front, Fergus feels like he can do anything.

In teams, students need to get creative and design the perfect kit for their team. Students should think about what they would like their team colours to be, how they will include their team name and any special features that might lead them to victory. Teams can use the worksheet below to help them.

Extension activity Teams can make their ideas a reality by making their kits and showing their creations to the rest of the class. This might involve pinning logos to old jumpers or making life-size paper copies of the kit. A sports kit fashion show is the perfect opportunity for each group to show off their handiwork!

Lesson objective: to understand how to design a sports kit working in a team

Lesson outcome: a sports kit

Lead-in questions:1. What are the sports kits like

of your favourite teams?

2. What do you like about these kits?

3. What different kits do different types of sports need?

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LESSON FOUR: ENCOURAGEMENT AWARDS!

ACTIVITY ONE: In preparation for sports day or sporting tournaments, students should design their very own community encouragement awards! Each team will need think of three different awards they would like to give out. These are not ordinary awards for winning but awards for encouragement – could there be an award for the person who cheered the hardest? Was the most fun on the day? Who put the most effort in?

ACTIVITY TWO:Students should get busy designing their awards – these could be trophies or certificates and they should remember to include their team name and logo on the award. The more colourful the better!

ACTIVITY THREE:Let the games begin! Awards can be given out at sports day or a sporting tournament and remember to tweet your pictures to @PiccadillyPress with the hash tag #FlyingFergus to show us all your brilliant work and those amazing students who won an award! We will be sharing the best ones!

NB Please make sure you have the necessary permissions to show any children in the photographs.

Lesson objective: to understand the idea of community

Lesson outcome: an awards ceremony at sports day or a sporting tournament

In book three Fergus finds that his local community are behind him all the way:

“One by one more voices joined in – Mrs MacCafferty, Colonel Nidgett from his wheelchair, even Malky McGovern from the council – until the individual cheers became a cacophony of encouragement, willing Fergus on and on towards the finish line. These people all believe in me! thought Fergus.”

Book 3, The Big Biscuit Bike Off, p99-100

Lead-in questions:1. How do you think the

community described above helped Fergus to win the race?

2. Do you think he could have done it alone?

3. How important is it to support one another?

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Lesson objective: to understand how to write creative and engaging descriptions

Lesson outcome: a piece of descriptive writing

When Fergus goes as fast as he possibly can, and pedals backwards, he can reach an amazing magical land called Nevermore.

“Fergus gazed at the scene around him: the castle up on the hill in the distance, the seam of mist hanging between that and the forest below, then the lush green clearing in which he seemed to be sitting. “Where . . .?” he began, a thousand questions whirling in his head. “No idea, mate,” replied Chimp. “And why . . .?” Fergus asked. “Beats me.” Chimp shrugged. “But . . . how?” “Portal to another world? Magic pedals? Too much cheese before bed?” suggested the dog. “Take your pick. And before you ask, I haven’t the first clue about the accent, but I reckon it suits me.” “But you’re . . .” “A dog? I know.”


LESSON FIVE: CREATIVE WRITING ACTIVITY ONE: 1. Students should circle everything Fergus can

see when he reaches Nevermore.

2. Students should underline any clues they can find that shows them this land is magical.

3. Students should put a star next to anything they find funny about Nevermore.

ACTIVITY TWO:Students should continue the description of Nevermore but from the point of view of Chimp, Fergus’s dog. They should include how he feels to be in this new land, what he can see and what he can smell. Remember – this needs to be written in the first person!

If time, students should be encouraged to read their descriptions to the rest of the class.

When Fergus pedals backwards as fast as he can, he reaches the magical land of Nevermore.

If you could pedal backwards just like Fergus, and reach your own land of magic and mystery, where would you go?

1. Draw a map of the land where you would end up. Try to include interesting and magical locations. Fergus has to wind his way through the Bicycle Graveyard, the Swamp of Certain Death, and is lucky enough to meet a new friend, Princess Lily. Where will your imagination take you? Include colours, labels and any useful instructions.

2. Once your map is complete and full of juicy details, write a descriptive paragraph explaining what it feels like to land in this magical place. How did you get here? What can you see? What can you smell? What do you hear?

FLYING FERGUS NEVERMORE CHALLENGE!

“Your imagination is more powerful than you know.”


Objective: to get students engaged and creative

Outcome: a magical map and creative description

www.flyingfergus.co.uk

PLEASE TAKE ME HOME WITH YOU

INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

Join us for a fantastically fun, magical cycling adventure from Sir Chris Hoy! Your child has been learning all about the enchanting world of Flying Fergus through teamwork, creativity and a whole lot of action.

Fergus is a boy with a big imagination and a very special bike. He is also the first member of the Hercules’ Hopefuls, the cycling team set up by his Grandpa Herc to fight off their arch-rivals, Wallace’s Winners. Whilst Fergus and his friends battle it out on the cycle track, nine-year-old Fergus discovers that if he gets up enough speed and spins his pedals backwards he can travel back and forth to a parallel universe called Nevermore, where cycling is banned and his dad is trapped by the mean King Woebegot. Join us to learn about Fergus’s adventures, the perils of Nevermore and what can happen when a group of friends pedal as fast as they can.

Find out more about how your child can get involved in the Flying Fergus Nevermore Challenge this summer overleaf…


A fantastically fun, magical adventure from Olympic cycling champion, SIR CHRIS HOY

MEET FERGUSHe’s a boy with a big imagination. He likes football and fish fingers and he dreams of becoming the most brilliant boy cyclist in the world. But then when he gets a second hand bike for his birthday he discovers something magical . . .

MEET DAISYShe likes chocolate spread and peanut butter sandwiches and is Fergus’s best friend. She knows all about bikes from the books she

borrows from the library.

MEET CHIMPHe likes to eat socks and sausages, barks loudly and loves to run around in the park.



MEET FERGUSHe’s a boy with a big imagination. He likes football and fish fingers and he dreams of becoming the most brilliant boy cyclist in the world. But then when he

gets a second hand bike for his birthday he discovers something magical . . .

MEET DAISYShe likes chocolate spread and peanut butter sandwiches and is Fergus’s best friend. She knows all about bikes from the books she borrows from the library.

MEET CHIMPHe likes to eat socks and sausages, barks loudly and loves to run around in the park.


www.flyingfergus.co.uk

Documents

About the Flying Fergus Lesson Pack...sports kit working in a team Lesson outcome: a sports kit Lead-in questions: 1. What are the sports kits like of your favourite teams? 2. What