#saveyupi - Inspiring writing through real life issues

Today I started a new project with a group of Year 5 children. After researching about Polar Bears, a pupil stumbled across this website - saveyupi.com. After discussing the issue with the class, we felt the need to learn more and try to help this defenceless animal.

After a shared writing session, where we tried to use as many of Alan Peat and Mat Sullivan's exciting sentences as possible, the children wanted to create something that would catch people's attention. Using greenscreen, we created a video sharing our research about the topic. Adding music and images helped to enhance the writing and make it more

Here is the finished effort -


I am hoping this video will inspire some amazing writing that we will be doing over the next few weeks on this topic. After the amazing response we had last year to our #blackfish and #marius project, I would love to have the same impact on children's learning this time round.

What I have found is that when children are writing about something real and the writing they produce will be viewed by an audience on the school blog, they have a purpose to write. This has had a massive impact on the quality of their writing in the past.

If you want to help inspire the children visit their blog - davyhulmeyear5.primaryblogger.co.uk  and comment on their video and writing. Feel free to share the video or even do some writing on this topic with your own class.

I will update this post with more examples of work from this project.

Reaction to the children's video -

 Comments on the Youtube video - 


Emails -

"Dear  Lee,
We can't thank you enough for doing this video with your students about Yupi and Arturo!
Thanks for helping us create awareness about Yupi.
Pls check some info about what we have been doing behind the scenes for Yupi, to learn some of the facts behind the Yupi Campaign here: Yupi  and I invite you and your students to join the OFFICIAL SAVE YUPI FB GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/123510584465451/
Best regards from Canada,
Ericka Ceballos, Coordinator
SAVE YUPI CAMPAIGN
INTERNATIONAL SAVE YUPI COALITION
President and Founder
CATCA Environmental and Wildlife Society/
Campaigns Against the Cruelty to Animals
www.catcahelpanimals.org (Canada and Int)
Animal Conservation and Welfare Foundation (Europe)
www.ACWFeu.orgWorld Animal Day Canadian Ambassadress"

"Hi Lee. 
Rob, at Zoocheck, forwarded me your class video. I coordinate the education program with Zoocheck. I've just posted your video on our blog. You can see some of the postcards and comments other students here in Toronto have written about this issue if you look at some past posts.   Too bad you are so far away - I would love to visit your class and do a polar bear workshop with them. Thanks for trying to help Yupi. I will check out your class blog to find out what the kids are writing. Take care, Nadja
Nadja Lubiw-Hazard, D.V.M.Education Coordinator, Keep It Wild
www.keepitwildeducation.com "

"Hi Lee:
Thanks for sending the video. It's great. We'll post it on our Facebook page and I'm sure others will as well.While the prospects for Yupi and Arturo are at present not good, their plight has attracted a great deal of attention and will help ensure that other bears in future do not suffer in the same way. Having said that, you can never tell what will be enough to convince them to give up Yupi and/or Arturo, so the ongoing pressure may at some point yield a positive result. As to future actions, I would simply encourage everyone to continue to write on both the Yupi and Arturo issues. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks again for sending the video.
Sincerely,RobPS - Please let the students know that their efforts are greatly appreciated. "

"Dear Lee,
I am writing to you from the Zoo Check team here at the Born Free Foundation following the message you sent to our Facebook page concerning polar bears in captivity. Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to you.The issue of keeping polar bears in zoos remains a contentious issue, so I was pleased to see that your students feel passionately about the matter and worked together to make this video.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us again.
Yours truly, Sarah Jefferson Zoo Check Assistant Born Free Foundation "

Facebook -

"Hi Lee I have just seen this message and shared this video now. Thank you! xoxo Hopefully everyone will share it including the hashtag #Storm4Arturo when sharing and tweeting. Please tell all those beautiful children that we are still trying very hard to help Arturo! May god bless both those bears xoxoxo"



Twitter -



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