A Walker has worked as an LEA Literacy Consultant, an Expert Leading Literacy Teacher, a primary school teacher, an author and was responsible for teaching and learning at one of the UK’s leading Independent Prep schools. She is an author of educational materials used in schools for Cambridge University Press, Pearson, Rising Stars and Cambridge Hitachi and is an experienced KS2 & KS3 English teacher.
A Walker has worked as an LEA Literacy Consultant, an Expert Leading Literacy Teacher, a primary school teacher, an author and was responsible for teaching and learning at one of the UK’s leading Independent Prep schools. She is an author of educational materials used in schools for Cambridge University Press, Pearson, Rising Stars and Cambridge Hitachi and is an experienced KS2 & KS3 English teacher.
This delivers great short story writing results for upper KS2, because this photo story includes a scaffold frame to support weaker writers to get good story writing results. It also includes a popular visual stimulus and a story start. It also includes a vocabulary building sheet to develop the vocabulary of the most able.
I started the task by watching Steve Backshall's Shark Bites - very short CBBC programmes on sharks, including the Great White.
Next, I read the extract from Anthony Horowitz's Skeleton Key where Alex Rider came in contact with a shark and discussed how the writer uses description of the character's feelings as well as description of the shark to build suspense.
The worksheet of vocabulary can be used to model an effective noun phrase and sentence to describe the shark as a speaking and listening, or guided writing task.
The story starts with a diver swimming next to a tiger shark and everything is calm. Next, he notices the shadow of a great white approaching. The pupils need to finish this story start. I suggested that the story ends with the diver getting away from the shark.
The children that need more support could work with the scaffold frame for guided story writing to structure their work and show how feelings and description are required to build suspense.
We also listened to 'Jaws' music from John Williams.
I find these so useful, because they make children self assess. The work because they make pupils notice the features that will improve their descriptive writing and story writing.
I find these a much more effective tool than success criteria.
Children don't always take ownership of targets or success criteria, but this encourages them to reflect critically on their writing and make progress.
The self assessment worksheets are differentiated.
Change the highlighted words to change the person. It is a word document, so it is an activity that children could do on the computer, or as a written task.
This is a bundle of punctuating resources. It includes a PowerPoint explaining the rules of punctuating speech and a Powerpoint on complex sentences. There is also a punctuation challenge to fill in the missing punctuation in an extract from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
This is a bundle of punctuating resources. It includes a PowerPoint explaining the rules of punctuating speech and a Powerpoint on complex sentences. There is also a punctuation challenge to fill in the missing punctuation in an extract from Sheep Pig by Dick King Smith.
This is a bundle of punctuating resources. It includes a PowerPoint explaining the rules of punctuating speech and a Powerpoint on complex sentences. There is also a punctuation challenge to fill in the missing punctuation in an extract from Anglo-Saxon Boy by Tony Bradman.
This is a bundle of punctuating resources. It includes a PowerPoint explaining the rules of punctuating speech and a Powerpoint on complex sentences. There is also a punctuation challenge to fill in the missing punctuation in an extract from Emily's Leg's by Dick King Smith.
A bundle of three PowerPoints on complex sentences and a bookmark to reinforce sentence level work by requiring pupils to notice sentence starts in their reading.
Reading mat and bookmarks with questions on any narrative KS3/4. Bookmarks encourage pupils to notice the authors use of sentence starts, speech tags and characterisation.
This is a bundle of reading mat and bookmarks with questions for highly able readers KS2 on any story. Bookmarks encourage pupils to notice the authors use of sentence starts, speech tags and characterisation.
