The Lost Words

The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

‘Once upon a time, words began to vanish from the language of children. They disappeared so quietly that at first almost no one noticed – fading away like water on a stone.’

Through a series of enchanting acrostic poems, or ‘spells’ The Lost Words conjures those once-forgotten words, bringing them back to life alongside stunningly exquisite illustrations that will keep both children and adults captivated for hours at a time.

I was introduced to this book by a friend’s daughter who read English at Oxford and I was instantly hooked. Rich with language and love, metaphor and magic, I knew this was a book I would return to time and time again.

Ideas for the classroom

The possibilities for learning in the classroom seem endless. I have included a few ideas to start you off, but I am sure you will have many more.

Acorn

‘As flake is to blizzard, as

Curve is to sphere, as knot is to net, as

One is to many, as……’

Children hone their reasoning skills to discover analogies. What is the relationship between a flake and a blizzard? Between a curve and a sphere? Can they think of further part to whole analogies?

What other types of analogy are there? Perhaps they could explore analogies of synonym, antonym, category or function.

They create their own acrostic poem using analogy. Of course, giving them time to add their own colourful illustrations would be the perfect way to complete their work and would surely make it something that they would want to display and keep!

Adder

‘A hank of rope in the late hot sun; a curl of bark; a six, an eight..’

This poem is teeming with metaphor. Children explore metaphor and create their own for an animal or object.

This is a great excuse to get out of the classroom - I always love an opportunity to get the children outdoors amongst the flora and fauna. What could be more inspiring than the natural world?

Fern

‘Fern’s first form is furled,

Each frond fast as a fiddle-head…’

Why not create an abecedary of alliteration; a bounty of babblery, a cornucopia of crafty clauses! To do this well, children need to engage with dictionaries and choose interesting and unusual words, that fit together to make thought-provoking alliterative sentences.

A great way of expanding vocabulary and exploring the meaning of new words.

Be prepared to lose many an hour, leafing through this extraordinarily beautiful book.