TEACH READING & WRITING
35
Fig. 2
Example fromthe story
New idea
Steaming pies, fresh strawberries like gleaming embers
and glasses full of creamy drinks.
Billy dreamed of dark halls, fantastic
feasts and golden cupboards.
The metal handle was shaped like
a dragon’s mouth.
Inside, in the middle, in, at the
end, from, down.
Sweeter than starlight
Lemon biscuits, rich cake andmalted
scones.
She dreamed of glittering rivers, jagged
rocks and slender reeds.
The door was carved like an
ancient face.
Beside, under, on top, outside, across,
behind.
Larger than an elephant
Tool 1 – lists
using commas
Tool 2 – well-chosen
adjectives
Tool 3 - similes
Tool 4 –
prepositions
Tool 5 -
comparisons
Tools
Analyse thestructure
Nowbox the story upwith the children (see
Fig.1). This should help thembegin to see the
underlying pattern that eventually theywill
be able to usewhenwriting their own
‘portal’ story. Complete the planner
with the class giving ideas for a new
story. The children then complete
their own planner for their own story.
Createa
writing toolkit
Focus on learning towrite
effective descriptions.
Drawattention to the use of
descriptive lists, well-chosen
adjectives and similes to show
the readerwhat things look like.
Also, highlight theway inwhich the
prepositions help the reader seewhere
things are placedwhen describing. Illustrate
the toolkit by referring to the story aswell as
creating new ideas. (seeFig. 2for examples).
Writeyour own
portal stories
Use sharedwriting to create the class story
with the children then planning andwriting
their own versions. Stretch this over a
number of days so that their stories
gradually emerge, e.g.
Josie hadalways been nosy. Early one
morningbefore she set off for school,
she noticeda strange lookingdoor at the
back of the cupboard under the stairs. It had
peculiar carvings and the handlewas shaped
like apair of strangewings. Carefully, she
tugged it open, croucheddown and crawled
into the darkness.
The inside openedout intowhat looked
like a vast park. In the distance there
stretchedabright green forest. Far away,
she could see a thin blue line thatmust have
been the sea. Everywhere she looked, she
could see strange creatures. Ahead there
were yellowmonkeyswith scarletwings, tiny
tigerswith ragged ears like elephants
andgiant, stripedgiraffes. Thousands of
tiny people seemed tobe guarding these
strange animals. Theywere dressed inflat,
blue caps, mauve, silk shirts and had emerald
green ribbons in their hair. Josie askedone
of the tiny peoplewhere shewas but he just
said, “You canwanderwherever but don’t
touch a feather!”
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