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to story
writing for
Year 3 &
Year 4 Teachers
Thursday 26th
February 2009
Spelling games.
systematic, daily phonics pushed into writing and reading
link spelling and handwriting
Daily from R to Y3 segment and blend.
Which one?
Picture it.
Speedwrite.
Finish.
Countdown.
Riddles.
Muddles + Common words and patterns plurals, starts, middles and
ends ly, ing, ed.
Shannons game.
Rhyme it.
Try using train, wheel, bone, light, flies, soap, seed, snail, goat, cream,
face, five, bowl, cake, hook, car, sock, back, shout, wood, led, bad, toy,
day, gate, see, try, blow, true, game, gave, fine, moon, fool, boast, feet,
cap, ash, rat, day, best, ill, bit, line, ring, ink, ship, shot, stop, hump, poke,
mug.
Use their errors common words and patterns + words needed for the
text type.
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! = whee bang
. = bang
= eee, eee
- make a sentence
1 word - dog
2 words - shark jelly
3 words - zebra humbug because
- boring sentences/improve a paragraph
The cat went along the wall.
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- sentence/paragraph doctor
He runned down the lain the men was behind him
A new boy wos comeing to our school, we were exsited when
Mrs Khan tolled us that he was extra speshul. In assembly she
said so were all going to make him feel welcome, arent we.
From How to win at football by Rachel Anderson.
- finish
The old king. . and laughed..
- drop in
Pie drove in his car to Bradford.
Adjective, adverb. or clause
Pie, who was tired, drove in his car to Bradford.
Pie, chewing a toffee, drove in his car to Bradford.
Pie, disgusted by his family, drove in his car to Bradford.
- join
The cart stopped.
The hobbit got down.
- compare, e.g. strong/weak sentence
- Oral and written imitation, e.g. varying sentence
openings and sentence types.
Slowly, she crept into the room.
Angrily, he
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Reminder Sheet.
1. Vary sentences to create effects: Short, simple sentences for drama and clarity: Tom ran.
Compound sentences for flow: Tom ran and Kitty walked.
Complex sentences to add in extra layers of information: As Tom ran,
Kitty ate the cake.
Questions to draw in the reader: What was that?
Exclamations for impact: Run for it!
Sentence of 3 for description: He wore a dark cloak, shiny shoes and
red trousers. The troll was tall, bony and very hairy.
Sentence of 3 for action: Tom ran down the lane, jumped over the
hedge and collapsed.
2. Vary sentence openings: Adverb opener (how):
Slowly,.
Connective opener (when): Last thing at night, ..
Prepositional opener (where): On the other side of the road.
Adjective opener: Tall trees towered over the river.
Simile opener:
as quick as a flash. Like an eel.
One word opener:
Sad, ..
ing opener:
Running for home, Tim tripped.
ed opener:
Exhausted by the run, Tim fell over.
3. Drop in clauses: Who:
Tim, who was tired, ran home.
Which: The cat, which looked mean, ran home.
That:
The car, that was made of metal, melted!
ing:
Tim, hoping for silence, crept into the staffroom.
ed:
Tim, frightened by class 4, ate another cream bun.
4. The ing clause.
Before: Laughing at the dog, Tim fell backwards.
During: Tim, laughing at the dog, fell backwards.
After:
Tim fell backwards, laughing at the dog.
Stage direction for speech: Hi, muttered Tom, waving to Bill.
Practise sentences types that relate to the text type and that will help progress. Provide spellings and
sentence types on cards and mats, etc. and in display. List the key words and sentence features needed to
make progress in your plans.
Digging deeper.
Poems are not like sums they do not always easily add up. Some are
straightforward enough but will trigger memories and responses nonetheless
(such as Michael Rosens Chocolate Cake). When reading poetry, it is
important to read aloud - for poems are as much about sound as meaning.
The full impact is often a combination of the words and the sound and
sometimes the layout as well. There are many poems that are easy to
understand and lightweight that will be fun to read and chant but for
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If you had 1 and words cost 10p which words would you buy?
Jot down your initial ideas, memories, questions, thoughts, similar
experiences, feelings and share these in pairs.
What was the most powerful picture?
Annotate the poem make statements or raise questions.
Use a colour to identify powerful words or surprising images.
Explain the poem to a friend.
Give children a poem without the title what is it called?
Cut a poem up by verses, lines or words to be re-sequenced.
Omit key words and present a poem as a cloze procedure.
Write a poem out as prose the children have to decide what pattern
would look best upon the page.
Respond to the poem in another form, e.g. a letter, diary entry,
message, newspaper article.
Illustrate a poem and annotate with words and images.
Use two colours one for sound effects (alliteration, onomatopoeia,
rhymes, hard/soft sounds) and another colour for pictures (similes,
metaphors). Talk about their effect.
Paint the poem - set the poem to dance or music.
Act the poems story out.
Create a model of the poem or collect images and artifacts to create a
mini poetry museum where poems are matched with images and
objects on display.
Imitation reading game.
Read a short poem to the class. The game is for the children to listen
carefully and then as soon as you have finished, they should write down as
much as they can remember filling in gaps, if they need. In pairs, they can
compare results and then listen to the original again. This develops memory
but is also interesting because different people remember different sections
or everyone remembers the same piece why? Discuss the memorable
aspects was it rhythm, the image, the word combination, its impact?
Poetry Reading Interviews.
Children work in pairs - one in role as the poet (or poem) and the other is
about to interview them. Read a poem. The interviewers then ask questions
and role-play an interview. Hear some in front of the class. Questions can be
about the poem but also any other aspect that the interviewer deems
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This idea of cumulatively building a writing repertoire should lie at the heart
of any schools teaching of writing. The original Writing Poetry flyer
suggested to children:
The Poets Repertoire.
Over time you will learn different forms that you can select for different
occasions, e.g. raps for entertaining, haiku for memorable moments, free
verse for serious poems and capturing experiences and ballads for story
telling.
Being true to the experience that you are writing about is more important
than trying to squeeze words into a form.
To write in any form you need to spend
time reading good poems written in
that form.
Read like a writer notice how poets
achieve different effects.
Borrow simple repeating patterns from
poets and invent your own.
Invent your own forms and structures.
Be careful with rhyme. Forcing a rhyme
can lead to dishonest writing.
Go for the right word rather than a
forced rhyme.
Keep the writing concrete and detailed.
Use your own poetic voice. Try to
use natural language and invent
memorable speech listen for this
in everyday speech.
It is through attentive reading and plenty of performing poems by heart that
children begin to internalize patterns and possibilities. Much of this may happen
without a child knowing that a rhythm or turn of phrase has become memorable
and will influence their future writing. As children get older, their attention to
the detail and their savouring of the language may well become more explicit so
that approaches to writing and poetic inclinations become a more conscious part
of their repertoire. Writers need to develop curiosity about what other writers do.
How are poems created? How do they intrigue our imaginations?
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Powerful poetic writing can occur in most schools, in most classes, given the
right conditions. The key factor is the teaching the children have the
talent, for childhood is a time where the world is fresh and new language is
there for experimentation. I remember one of my children seeing the cooling
towers by Nottingham and describing them as cloud factories. As we grow
older, our language increasingly fossilizes and the deadening hand of clich
makes our speech formulaic and predictable. But children are different. In a
sense, it is a special moment in time when language is used to bring oneself
and the world into being. Each new word is tasted and precious little ones
often just repeat words to hear and savour their sound. The difficulty comes
later on, as they learn the conventions of their culture. Perhaps our society
no longer values the apt phrase, the elegant argument, the beautifully crafted
anecdote? As teachers we should be the preservers and celebrators of the
well-chosen word.
One of the problems that the old literacy strategy faced was that the
objectives were too often seen as one-off events rather than something
cumulative that then needs plenty of practice. For instance, these objectives
from the old framework were essential for all young writers and not just for
the terms they appeared:
Year 3 term 1
T10 to collect suitable words and phrases, in order to write poems and
descriptions; design simple patterns with words, use repetitive phrases;
write imaginative comparisons.
Year 4 Term 3
T15 to produce polished poetry through revision, e.g. deleting words, adding
words, changing words, reorganising words and lines, experimenting with
figurative language.
This was an attempt to establish writing strategies. Ill return to these when
we move on to thinking about writing poems.
A Word of Caution - Poems as Models for Writing.
One of the effects of the original strategy was to create a focus upon
different poetic forms. Whilst children should read and experience a rich and
broad diet of poems, when it comes to writing this lead to some strange
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outcomes such as children being asked to write classic poems because they
had been reading them! Many of the forms were fine for reading but too
demanding for writing. Where the form becomes dominant then it may
stultify the writing. For instance, haiku may have three lines and seventeen
syllables but because all the childs efforts have gone into the form may well
be lifeless. A well-chosen form should liberate writing and not interfere with
creativity. Some poems offer simple forms and have that magical quality that
acts like a catalyst to writing. They invite creativity. For instance, Kit
Wrights Magic Box never fails. I would also mention the following:
The Door Miroslav Holub
A boys head Miroslav Holub
Cat began Andrew Matthews
14 ways of touching the Peter - George MacBeth
The magical mouse Kenneth Patchen
I saw a peacock anon
A fistful of pacifists David Kitchen
My name is Pauline Clarke
You! traditional Igbo
Go inside Charles Simic
36 ways of looking at a blackbird Wallace Stevens
In a station of the metro Ezra Pound
Cat in the window Brian Morse
Clouds Teddy Corbett
This is just to say William Carlos Williams
The red wheelbarrow Wiliam Carlos Williams
The sound collector Roger McGough
A poem to be spoken quietly/Wings Pie Corbett
Listen- John Cotton
Body sounds Katya Haine
The oldest girl in the world Carol Ann Duffy
Things to do at Sandpoint 5th grade class, Sandpoint, Idaho
Wind Dionne Brand
For Francesca Helen Dunmore
Small dawn song Philip Gross
Not only Brian Patten
Fog Carl Sandburg
Leaves Ted Hughes
Amulet Ted Hughes
To make a Prairie Emily Dickinson
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possesses even if the flow is broken for effect. Reading ones writing aloud
can help the child to hear whether it flows well.
The ploughed field.
The icy wind shreds leaves,
like a thousand broken sparrows wings,
scattered on the frosted fields.
Ridged ruts,
scratch lino cuts in parallel lines.
The earth ripples;
holly in the hedgerows is hard as iron.
A few berries speckle the green scarlet.
Other structures may be borrowed from poets, or invented, as long as they
liberate the writing and neither constrain nor dominate. The poetry
progression suggests that the key forms for childrens poetic writing are:
It is worth noting that rhyme is too difficult for most children and generally
leads to doggerel. A few simple formats and rapping can be fun but usually it
is a skill that only the most gifted use effectively. Also, early attempts at
syllabic poetry such as haiku might be best attempted without worrying
about counting syllables so that the children can focus upon creating a
simple word-snapshot. The principle forms are free verse and collage poems.
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2. Creative games.
Before we begin to look at creative games, I just want to return to the whole
business of establishing writing strategies that are essential to short burst
creative writing in a poetic mode. For instance, the ability to rapidly
generate words and ideas and then select what is powerful is essential to
writing effectively. This has to be practised and children can be trained to
become very skilled at generating ideas. The key writing abilities seem to
me to be:
Observing carefully learning how to look very carefully, especially
noticing the sensory details. Poets are observers of their world;
Brainstorming rapidly generating lots of possibilities and words jotting words and phrases independently. Poets are word hunters and
hoarders (this may need to be practiced as a class many times);
Memory search revisiting and visualising the details of experiences
trying to get to the heart of what happened; seeing it in your mind;
First word not always the best word double-checking each word that is
chosen being alert to the idea that the brain is likely to think of the most
obvious words and these may be clichs so learning to pause, think and
select carefully for maximum impact;
Word play having an eye and ear for unusual and striking combinations
that may create different effects;
Draft concentrate totally on the poem, drawing on the brainstorm and
returning to the original experience; writing swiftly and meditatively; seeing
it in the mind; sifting and experimenting; muttering it aloud as you write to
hear how it sounds;
Read aloud read aloud to a partner or group and listen/look to hear/see
where the poem works and where it needs polishing; shift from being the
writer into reading your own writing as a reader;
Polish learning how to improve by changing or adding words, deleting
over-written parts, trimming words or sentences, using poetic techniques
with caution and for impact, reorganising;
Publishing e.g. anthologies, posters, performing or recording onto a CD.
A creative positive classroom is one where everyone is excited about writing
trying for optimal performance, with activities that develop the whole
person where everyone has a passion and commitment to trying hard and
getting better at writing. Creative classrooms have space for playing with
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language and ideas for risk taking and inventiveness. These sorts of
quickfire games are a useful basis for writing and brain development and
make great little warm-ups to tune children into a creative mode at the start
of a session. It is worth remembering that nothing of significance can be
written without using the imagination.
Creative Connections
Play this game often just give them a word and ask them to write down as
many words as they can think of that are associated with it. Time them a
minute only - and then see who has written the largest number of words.
Play this many times so that they get used to generating words and ideas
rapidly. This is a fundamental creative writing skill.
If the children find this difficult, then you need to play it as a whole class.
Provide a focus such as a picture, video clip, photo or object. Then, as a
class, brainstorm as many words and ideas as possible. Dont let them worry
about the words concentrate on letting the words flow.
Ink waster
To warm up the brain and get into a creative mood give the children a topic
and ask them to write as much as they can in, say, one minute. Time them
and ask them to count the number of words then try again with another
topic. They should write as rapidly as possible. This limbers up and frees up
the mind.
Noun and verb game
Ask for a list of nouns (engine, ruler, pencil, tree). Then make a list of verbs
(sipped, stole, rushed, wished). The game is to invent sentences that include
a noun and a verb from the lists. This can be fun if the nouns and verbs do
not match in any sensible way you will get some quite creative solutions!
The engine sipped
The ruler stole
The pencil rushed
The tree wished
Now complete the sentences, preferably choosing unusual ideas, e.g.
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A quake of cowards
A wonder of stars
The Box of Stars.
Split the class in two. One half makes a list of places, e.g. room, town, city,
village, mountain, river, star, sun, kitchen, alleyway, box, etc. The other half
has to make a list of nouns and abstract nouns, e.g. memories, love, doom,
sparklers, curtains, sunsets, wisdom, jealousy, disasters, grass, stars, etc.
Then put children into pairs and they match the words listed exactly in the
order they wrote them down, e.g.
The room of memories.
The town or love.
The city of doom.
The village of sparklers.
The mountain of curtains.
The river of sunsets.
The star of wisdom.
The sun of jealousy.
The kitchen of disasters.
The alleyway of grass.
The box of stars
Crossing the River.
Invent creative ways to cross a river, e.g. make friends with a frost giant and
ask it to breathe onto the river, freezing it so that you can walk across.
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elaborate and extend a few of their ideas and then ask them to select their
favourite lines and improve them in the same way. Lets say that a child has
written:
With my magic eye
I saw a cat.
Adding in an adjective and then extending the idea by adding on what the
cat was doing might improve this:
With my magic eye
I saw a grey cat slinking along the sunlit path.
Of course, it would be even better if we knew what sort of snake it was
(naming it). And perhaps it might be more playful and surprising (less of a
dull clich) if we had the snake doing something impossible:
With my magic eye
I saw a Siamese cat
shopping at Tescos
for the finest salmon!
Many teachers might feel that is sort of writing is just silly. This arises out of
a lack of understanding of creativity. Innate creativity is impeded by socially
and culturally acquired habits of linguistic expression clichs. To some
extent therefore, education has to eliminate whatever stops children being
creative. As we grow older our language becomes frozen into a set routine of
linguistic patterns. If we are not careful so too does our thinking. If you take
a look at Shakespeare or any great writer, you will find many examples of
language play where the rules are broken and fresh word combinations
created in order to illuminate the truth of experience.
For some children the pressure to create can actually freeze their thinking.
This may be because of a desire to get it right, to be good, to create an
amazing story or poem with little effort right from the outset. This
misconception about creativity may stultify some young writers. And it is
playing with words and ideas that may help them loosen their approach to
accept the haphazard, the daft, the mistakes, the blind alleys and blunders all
as part of generating ideas, fishing for words and trying out new
combinations. For play lies at the heart of creative writing. As Ken Robinson
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Children As Writers.
The Writing Poetry flyer offered children advice on the writing process
which suggests the sorts of classroom conditions in which writing flourishes:
Getting started
Keep a poetry-writing journal jot down ideas for poems, things you
notice, details, words, similes, things people say.
Listen to your feelings, thoughts and dreams.
Write inside or outside use your senses to listen, touch, smell, taste,
look and wonder.
Write about the following:
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After Writing
Read your poem aloud and listen to how it sounds. Often you will
immediately notice places where it might be improved.
Read your poem to a partner, poetry circle or the whole class listen to
their response and then take the time to work on it.
Be a good response partner read through, or listen to the writer, read
their poem. Always tell the writer what you liked first. Discuss any
concerns the writer may have. Make a few positive suggestions.
Poetry is about celebration and enjoyment. Here are some ways to spread
your poems around:
perform to the class, other classes, the school
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Final words.
Over the years, I have constantly been trying to capture what leads to
helping children write powerfully. It is partly the richness of regular reading,
the modelling of writing, showing an interest and valuing the childrens
ideas, the relentless challenge, but also that creative ingredient that stops the
classroom from being an ordinary place and turns it into the most serious of
games; a time when we are no longer teacher and pupils but all briefly
suspended in a moment when our minds are liberated to enter a place beyond
fear of failing; a new world where words and images stalk out of nowhere
and we wander into a territory where we become truly intelligent and our
imaginations stalk the earth.
Perhaps it is that final ingredient that can never be described how the spell
is cast, how the mind enters a new zone and suddenly the writing flows..
that tension between discipline and creation where the reading meets the
writing and the writer. A poem is a journey which the reader and writer
share, where the reader peeks into part of the writers imagination and in
doing so part of their own inner world. And why should all this matter?
Well, in a poem you have to care for each word and words are so closely
linked to our thinking and being that when we care for the words, we care
for the child. A poem says hello world, this is me and this is my life and
my imagination and this is what I experienced. Poems are little distillations
of humanity and should be cherished.
The original Writing Poetry flyer listed a few principles to guide teaching:
Provide a clear focus usually based on first-hand experiences that
interest/intrigue.
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b. Use Images:
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6. They should then retell it again, trying to become more fluent. It is worth
moving partners around so that you form new pairs. They need to retell the
story not once, not twice but at least 3 times to begin to gain fluency less
experienced may well need to retell 6 times or more.
7. Have pairs retell to the class from the storytellers chair take feedback to
evaluate what works well? When coaching or responding, it is worth
focusing upon the positive and learning from others how we can improve.
8. Try story circles with each child saying a sentence or chunk and passing
the tale round the circle.
9. Eventually, tell it to another class which doesnt know it, one to one or
two to two.
10. When developing an oral story independently, the children will need
some private space to rehearse their story aloud. They can tell it to the wall
or even better is to go into the playground and tell it to a bush, bin, bench or
car!
As children become more experienced, they should be able to select a short
story for themselves from a selection of written down tales, create a map or
board, pare it down to the bare bones and work in pairs to develop and refine
their own retelling.
Improving the telling of stories
Once the children have worked in a pair and reached the point where they
can retell a version in a reasonably confident and fluent manner, then they
are ready to work on their performance skills. They can perform to a partner,
in a three or four, small group and ultimately to the class or another class.
Remember that anyone who tells needs to be praised and clapped. Simple
pointers include:
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Of course, you may wish to just make the story up and leave it at that. It
might be captured in writing, with a Dictaphone or video. Or, just by
drawing: Story map - Story mountain - Story flow chart or Box it up.
Start from the basic Story Ingredients.
Begin by discussing the key questions:
Who build up a character;
Where does the story take place;
What will happen. Bearing in mind that you will need something to go
wrong a dilemma or problem or mystery or exciting event.
If you get stuck use a story trigger have something happen such as a
phone ringing, a new character enters, someone screams
Use a basic plot.
Many schools have identified key plots which the children meet every year
one per half term. In this way the children become familiar with a basic
pattern that may be reused in endless permutations: 1. Problem/resolution. 2. Warning. 3. Quest a to b, there and back
again. 4. Wishing. 5. Lost/found. 6. Defeating the monster, e.g.
(Gary had never believed in trolls or Gary had always been afraid
of being trapped in dark places). 7. Cinderella. 8. Character flaw
(tragedy). 9. Cumulative, e.g. The Hungry Caterpillar. 10. Traditional
(myths, fables, etc).
If children are building up to writing it is worth following this pattern.
Draw your story making decisions about what will happen;
Use the drawing to tell the story to a partner, by word of mouth;
Discuss the story with your partner, taking suggestions for improvement;
Retell the story with refinements;
The more you retell aloud or in your head, the better you get to know the
story, the more it can be improved;
Once the plot has developed, use story grids to work on characterization,
description, etc;
As you write the story, retell it again in your head, tweaking it where
necessary.
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TROUBLE.
Im just going down to the shops, snapped Mrs Robertson, as she closed the front door.
Dont do anything daft while Im out! It was silly really but she always said the same
thing. As far as she was concerned, her Steves second name was Trouble. Steve stood
at the window, watching his mother. As soon as she had turned the corner, he glanced at
Sam.
Lets go down to the rope swing, he said, tugging on his hoodie.
But Mum said we werent to muck about, muttered Sam, staring at the t.v. without
moving.
Youre scared! Besides, well be back well before Mum.
Ten minutes later they were down by the old canal. The rope swing had been there for
years. Invitingly, it dangled over the water. Your go first, said Steve, handing Sam the
rope. But Sam hesitated. The canal smelt of drains and they had seen water rats
swimming there. The odd bubble rose to the surface, matching his fear. Things floated.
Reluctantly, Sam took a few steps back and prepared to launch himself out across the
water. He didnt want to look like a coward in front of his older brother but his heart was
beating madly. He ran and leapt out, clinging onto the rope as if his life depended upon it.
He sailed across the canal and swung back. Relieved, he landed with a thump. Now it
was Steves turn.
Steve pulled his hoodie off, took a run up and leapt out. He whooped like a mad thing.
But half way back, the rope snapped. Steve smashed into the surface of the water and
disappeared under.
Sam froze. He stared in horror. Steve couldnt swim! Almost without thinking, Sam took
a deep breath and leapt straight in. Desperately, he searched the water but it was too thick
and dark to see anything. His eyes stung and his nose was clogged with scum. He kicked
for the surface. Then red! It was Steves Iron Maiden tee shirt. Grabbing it, Sam
tugged his brother to the side. They lay there for a while, spluttering and spitting out
canal water.
Twenty minutes later, the two boys were walking back up Peasland Road. They were
soaking wet. Steve grinned at Sam. Thanks, he said. Sam grinned back. For the first
time, he thought that perhaps his brother might not be so ready to call him a coward
again.
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Once upon a time there was a little boy called Charlie who lived on the
edge of a big city.
Early one morning he woke up and his Mumma said, Take this bag of
goodies to your Grandmas. Into the bag she put a slice of cheese, a loaf
of bread and a square of chocolate.
Next he walked, and he walked and he walked till he came to a bridge.
There he met a cat a lean cat, a mean cat.
Im hungry, said the cat. What have you got in your bag?
Ive got a slice of cheese, a loaf of bread but he kept the chocolate
hidden!
Ill have the cheese please, said the cat. So Charlie gave the cheese to the
cat and it ate it all up.
Next he walked, and he walked and he walked till he came to a pond. There
he met a duck a snowy white duck.
Im hungry, said the duck. What have you got in your bag?
Ive got a loaf of bread but he kept the chocolate hidden!
Ill have the bread please, said the cat. So Charlie gave the bread to the
duck and it ate it all up.
Next he walked, and he walked and he walked till he came to a tall town
clock tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. There he met not one, not two but
three scruffy pigeons.
Were hungry, said the pigeons. What have you got in your bag?
Unfortunately, there was only the chocolate Luckily, Charlie found some
crumbs. So he scattered them on the ground and the pigeons ate them all up.
Next he walked, and he walked and he walked till he came to a crossroads.
There he met a . Nobody.
Mmmm, Im hungry , said Charlie. What have I got in my bag?
Mmmmmm, chocolate! So, he ate it all up!
Next he walked, and he walked and he walked till he came to Grandmas
house. There he Grandma.
Im hungry , said the Grandma. What have you got in your bag?
Unfortunately, there was only the chocolate wrapper Luckily, grandma
had pizza and chips for tea.
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Once upon a time there was no sun, no moon, no stars. There was only darkness.
On the first day of the week the piper began to bang his great bass drum like thunder
beating and the mountains appeared, one by one.
On the second day of the week the piper began to play his flute like songbirds singing
and the rivers flowed down the hills and into the sea.
On the third day of the week the piper began to bang his silver cymbals like storm waves
clashing and the forests appeared, flowing like water over the land.
On the fourth day of the week the piper began to play his violin like the wind singing in
the trees and the grasses grew and swept like waves across the earth.
On the fifth day of the week the piper began to strum his guitar like the rhythm of the rain
and with each note a new creature appeared.
On the sixth day of the week the piper began to click his castanets like bony fingers
snapping and man and woman grew in the forest.
On the last day of the week the piper began to sing like a thousand choirs and as the piper
sang the sun, the moon and finally the stars appeared one by one in the great open skies.
So the world began.
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Greedy Fox.
Early one morning Mr Fox woke up. He picked up his bag and went out to visit his lady
friend.
He walked and walked and he walked till he came to the town pond. There he saw a frog.
Mmmm, he thought, that would make a nice present. So, he grabbed the frog and
popped it into his bag.
He walked and he walked and walked and he walked till he came to the candlestick
makers. He knocked on the door and went straight in.
He said to the candlestick maker, May I leave my bag here while I visit my Uncle?
Of course you can, said the candlestick maker.
Very well, said Mr Fox, but there is one thing while I am gone, mind you dont look
in my bag. Then he walked down the path, turned the corner and disappeared out of
sight.
However, the candlestick maker grew curious. He opened the bag and out hopped the
frog! A large brown rat pounced onto the frog and ate it up in one huge gulp.
Unfortunately, at that moment back came Mr Fox. Where is my frog?
Im sorry, said the candlestick maker, I opened up your bag and it hopped out and that
large brown rat ate it up!
Right, said the Fox. Ill have the rat instead. So he grabbed the rat, shoved it into the
bag and off he went.
He walked and he walked and he walked till he came to the bakers. He knocked on the
door and went straight in.
He said to the baker, May I leave my bag here while I visit my Uncle? There is one thing
while I am gone, mind you dont look in my bag. Then he walked down the path, turned
the corner and disappeared out of sight.
However, the baker grew curious. He opened the bag and out shot the rat! It shot out into
the backyard and was chased off by the bakers puppy!
Unfortunately, at that moment back came Mr Fox. Where is my rat?
Im sorry, said the baker, I opened up your bag and it ran out into the backyard. My
puppys chased it off!
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Right, said the Fox. Ill have your puppy instead. So he grabbed the puppy, shoved it
into the bag and off he went.
He walked and he walked and he walked till he came to the butchers. He knocked on the
door and went straight in.
He said to the butcher, May I leave my bag here while I visit my Uncle? There is one
thing while I am gone, mind you dont look in my bag. Then he walked down the path,
turned the corner and disappeared out of sight.
However, the butcher grew curious. He opened the bag and out shot the puppy! It ran into
the farmyard and was chased off by a little boy whack, whack!
Unfortunately, at that moment back came Mr Fox. Where is my puppy?
Im sorry, said the little butcher, I opened the bag and it ran out into the farmyard and
my boy chased it off!
Right, said the fox. Ill have . some meat instead. So he grabbed a leg of lamb
that was on the table, shoved it into the bag and off he went.
He walked and he walked and he walked. Before long, one by one the dogs of the town
began to follow him. They could smell the fresh meat in the bag. Soon he had twenty
dogs following him, then thirty dogs, then forty. They began barking at his heels so he ran
and he ran and he ran,
Out of the town, out of the town,
Over the down, over the down,
Across the lea, across the lea,
Down to the sea, down to the sea
And as far as I know Mr Fox is still running to this day,
still chased by that pack of dogs.
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Rumplestiltskin.
Now once upon a time in the land where icicles grow all summer
there lived a silly miller who boasted to the King that his daughter
Rosalind could spin straw into gold.
So the King put Rosalind into a room at the top of a tall tower and
told her to spin one bale of straw into gold by morning or she
would never see the light of day again.
Sadly, Rosalind cried and cried because she knew that she could
not spin straw into gold.
As soon as she started to cry a little old man appeared who said,
Wipe away your tears, put away your fears, if you give me your
necklace, I will spin the straw into gold.
By next morning the straw was gold.
But the King just gave her not one but two bales of straw to spin
into gold.
Sadly, Rosalind cried and cried because she knew that she could
not spin straw into gold.
As soon as she started to cry a little old man appeared who said,
Wipe away your tears, put away your fears, if you give me your
ring, I will spin the straw into gold.
By next morning the straw was gold.
But the King just gave her not one not two but three bales of straw
to spin into gold.
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Sadly, Rosalind cried and cried because she knew that she could
not spin straw into gold.
As soon as she started to cry a little old man appeared who said,
Wipe away your tears, put away your fears if you give me your
first baby I will spin the straw into gold.
By next morning the straw was gold.
Luckily, the King was so pleased with all the gold that he married
Rosalind.
After a year a baby boy was born.
That night the little old man appeared to take away the baby.
Rosalind cried and cried because she did not want to lose the baby.
To keep the child, you must guess my name, said the little old
man.
One night later, he appeared but Rosalind could not guess his
name.
Two nights later, he appeared but Rosalind could not guess his
name.
On the third day a woodcutter overheard the little old man singing,
Rosalind will loose this game,
for Rumplestiltskin is my name!
and he told Rosalind.
That night the little old man appeared.
Is your name Zambola?
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into a beating
so he was very unpopular.
In the end, Tortoise gave the drum
back to the King,
back to the rightful owner.
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Shared Writing.
If teachers are not doing shared writing on a regular basis then
they are not teaching writing.
Many teachers: show a pre-written piece for children to analyse and do no shared
writing;
just write openings;
only write a few lines;
work slowly so that the flow of composition dies;
do not focus on what will make the difference;
find it hard to articulate decisions, generate interest or build up a
creative atmosphere;
find it hard to challenge and shape pupils contributions;
find it hard to refer back to the reading model, targets or what will
help children make progress.
Shared Writing
Teachers who struggle with shared writing are not really teaching
writing. It is rather like saying, well I want you to learn how to play
tennis but Im not going to show you or help you. They probably need:
to develop pleasure and confidence in their own ability to write up to
level 5 (key stage 2) or level 3 (key stage 1);
to develop subject knowledge of different text types, how they are
organised and written;
to develop different writerly approaches to use when teaching
different types of writing;
to develop the skills involved in modelling writing , teacher scribing,
supported composition and guided writing;
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Adult guides children into thinking for themselves what they need to
do in order to plan, write, or revise and make progress.
May involve modelling or teacher scribing by adult followed by
children trying for themselves with the adult overseeing that
progress is being made.
With younger children there may be occasions when the pen is shared
and they help with the transcribing.
With mature writing the focus is on developing composition.
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Independent writing.
Set very clear expectations/ targets.
Re-read good models just before children start writing.
Pause for progress check, reminders, hear examples that you have
noticed.
Ask children to identify strengths/areas for improvement, where
targets have been used, progress made.
Response partnering has to be taught and developed;
Discuss what makes effective writing with the whole class in pairs
before individual polishing for publishing.
There are many underlying writerly skills that have to be made explicit
during shared writing of any sort, e.g.
Make word lists, jot down ideas and save them up to use in your
writing.
Keep re-reading to check for accuracy;
Think about the effect you want to create and then how to achieve
this;
Draw upon ideas from your reading;
Always read your writing aloud to see and hear how it sounds;
Be ready to polish and improve.
Year 3/4 Story Making Language Bank
Consolidate
Once upon a time
One day
Early one morning
First
Next
After/a while
Before
And
As
But
At that moment
Suddenly
Immediately
Although
However
So
Soon/as soon as
Then
.. until/till
While/meanwhile
In the end
Finally
Introduce
later
whenever
without warning
eventually
Consolidate
.. who ..
.. while ..
.. when ..
.. that ..
.. to ..
.. or ..
Introduce
ing clause starter, eg Running along, Tim tripped over.
drop in ing clause, eg Tim, running along, tripped over.
drop in who clause, eg Tim, who was late, tripped over.
short sentences, questions, exclamations
plus speech verb/adverb
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Suddenly
Immediately
Without warning
Although
However
Later
So
As/Soon/as soon as
Then
.. until/till
While/meanwhile/When/whenever
Eventually/Finally/In the end
Introduce
Elaborate,
eg Early
one frosty
morning
although
if
Consolidate
.. who .. .. while ..
.. when .. .. that ..
.. to .... or ..
Introduce
* ed clause starter, eg Exhausted, Tom ran home.
*drop in ed clause, eg Tim, exhausted by so much effort, ran home.
*sentence of 3 for action, eg Tim ran home, sat down and drank his tea.
*speech plus stage direction ing clause, Stop, he whispered, picking up his tea.
*Personification
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b. Paragraph Toolkit.
Story Opening
Build up.
Problem
Resolution
Ending.
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