IN SCHOOL

I keep being invited back to schools so over the years have created lots of 'days', each focussing on a different aspect of writing and literacy. If you click on 'what happens' you can see a provisional time table of a visit. Each day follows the same format - I introduce the school to the theme and when not 'up front' lead class workshops which are outlined in the 'workshop' part of the website. 

Meanwhile, to help you choose which day you would like, read on... 

  1. PROFESSOR PRAGUE looks at settings and characters

ALL IN THE HALL: Professor Prague is a writer looking for inspiration. He flies over April Avenue, a cue to explore buildings and settings

BACK IN CLASS: decide which buildings and characters are in April Avenue then create them

FOCUS ON…

NARRATIVE  set in April Avenue

NON-FICTION  estate agents' details; directions to find buildings; weather forecasts for Professor Prague 

POETRY  reflect on what buildings look like at different times of the day and in various weather/season conditions 

PREPARATION  photographs of buildings in different lights and moods; find craft materials and construction toys to make characters, rooms and buildings (shoe boxes are ideal)

2. CIRCUS STORIES explores settings, characters and word choices

ALL IN THE HALL: children create stories based in a circus and think about interesting words to use

BACK IN CLASS: create circuses and the characters who work in and visit them 

FOCUS ON…

NARRATIVE  based in circuses; take a known book character to the circus

NON-FICTION  tickets; advertising; programmes; newspaper reports; instructions to care for and feed the animals

POETRY  focus on atmosphere, colours, shapes and how performers move

PREPARATION  circus skills apparatus (eg quoits, balls, hoops); craft materials and construction toys to make Big Tops, animal cages and characters; www.circushistory.org has interesting information about circuses; possibly create a circus area in the classroom

3. DICING WITH DRAGONS generates creative ideas

ALL IN THE HALL: a dragon's foot is the focus to create stories where random objects are used to generate ideas 

BACK IN CLASS: design dragons and dragon habitats and record ideas as story boards

FOCUS ON…

NARRATIVE  about dragons, their habitats and the people they interact with

NON FICTION  labels and recipes in a dragon's kitchen; instructions how to (or how not to) scare people; directions to the nearby castle; posters offering rewards to gallant knights; lists of things the dragon needs to do; an invite to a princess's birthday party

POETRY  explore the loneliness and unsociability of being a dragon: what it's like to fly; a description of dragons eating together

PREPARATION  craft materials and construction toys to make the dragon and its habitat; dragon stories; possibly create a dragon's den in the classroom, lots of dice (a game to generate ideas is modelled using a die)

4. CHARACTER CAFÉ is about settings, characters and non-fiction

ALL IN THE HALL: characters (ie child volunteers) meet in a cafe. Each chooses an envelope with a short piece of non-fiction inside it. The characters and random non-fiction ideas are then woven in to a story

BACK IN CLASS: create non fiction writing, characters who frequent the café and the café itself

FOCUS ON…

NARRATIVE  featuring café stories with non-fiction inserts

NON FICTION  lists; newspaper articles; signs; recipes; bills; time tables; menus; adverts                        

POETRY  write about quirky café characters, why they have come to the café, their feelings, pasts and futures

PREPARATION  craft materials and construction toys to make the cafe and characters; envelopes; examples of non-fiction that characters are reading: dressing up clothes; possibly create a cafe in the classroom: envelopes to copy the idea modelled during the opening session

5. (new for autumn 2008) EDITING SPACE helps children develop editing skills

ALL IN THE HALL: children find out about the vital role an editor plays in the process of making a book before helping edit a story about a spaceman using editor's symbols and thinking about some useful strategies to help when editing their own writing 

BACK IN CLASS: children create space ships, astronauts, planets adn aliens before writing about what they have created

FOCUS ON...

NARRATIVE  about happenings in space, possibly written in science fiction genre

NON-FICTION  create an alien's or astronaut's birth certificate; signs in the space craft; newspaper articles (astronauts and aliens are celebrities); character profiles and invitations: create a way that aliens communicate using written symbols

POETRY reflect on feelings of fear, claustrophobia, loneliness, boredom, fascination, exhilaration - and that's all in one day...

PREPARATION boxes and craft materials to make the astronaut and space craft

  6. TALKING OF ELEPHANTS is for KS2 only and focuses on speaking and listening. For primary schools, twin the day with KS1 version of Fairy Stories (number 7 below)

ALL IN THE HALL: children act out a story about a baby elephant that is swept away in a mud slide and rescued by another elephant

BACK IN CLASS: work in small groups to create and act out stories that include elephants. One from each class is chosen to share with the rest of the school in a final assembly

FOCUS ON…

NARRATIVE  work in groups to plan, create, script and perform the elephant story

NON-FICTION  information leaflets about elephants; persuasive arguments about the way they are hunted; reviews of 'plays' children produce; debates about whether elephants should live in zoos or the wild

POETRY  focus on how elephants move and what they look like

PREPARATION  craft materials to make props for the story; information and pictures about elephants

7. FAIRY STORIES deals with genre

ALL THE HALL : a Japanese fairy tale containing jealousy, talking birds and feasts is acted out. In the afternoon, children are also told a Croatian fairy story about frogs, princes and vineyards 

BACK IN CLASS: KS1 children retell, draw and sequence the story before making story mats. KS2 manipulate and/or change the story’s genre before creating story mats showing their new version; make frog (Croatian) or bird (Japanese) puppets out of paper plates to retell the story 

FOCUS ON…

NARRATIVE  retell, manipulate and work with the fairy stories

NON FICTION  Japanese story - recipes; menus; directions to forest; newspaper article reporting what happened

Croatian story - directions to the castle or vineyard; shopping list; instructions on how to behave in a castle; ticket inviting people to come to the competition 

POETRY  how characters' lives change after different experiences

PREPARATION   paper plates if making puppets; card for the story mats; craft materials to make a plate of food; dressing up clothes to be princes, princesses, frogs, birds

8. PIRATE POEMS concentrates on poetry

ALL IN THE HALL: a rhyming poem is acted out with props. For KS1, friendly pirates find treasure and crocodiles. KS2's poem is about a peace loving pirate who finds treasure after escaping from ‘The Stinking Bee’

BACK IN CLASS: create islands and pirates, noting good words to use in writing    

FOCUS ON…

NARRATIVE  retell, manipulate and develop the poem (either mine or their own) story line in to prose

NON FICTION  messages; instructions; inventories; articles for the Pirate Times newspaper; recruitment adverts; estate agents' descriptions of an island

POETRY  contrast the rhyming poem heard in the introduction session with non-rhyming poetry forms; create word banks of alliterative phrases, similes, metaphors and atmospheric adjectives; write haikus, shaped poems and limericks using ICT to help with presentations; make sound walls with musical instruments telling stories about pirates; describe life on the ocean wave by matching noun with verbs and adverbs making 3 (or 2) worded lines; write acrostics

PREPARATION  paper to draw; craft materials and construction toys to make islands; travel brochures with photos of islands; mathematical nets to make treasure chests

9. (new for autumn 2008) ISLANDS OF INFORMATION is mostly about non-fiction

ALL IN THE HALL: the concept of islands is introduces. Children think of non-fiction writing found on beaches, such as messages in bottles, pirate maps, menus, lists, newspaper articles

BACK IN CLASS: create an island and mark on where non-fiction writing can be found

FOCUS ON

NARRATIVE stories set on an island. These could include non-fiction inserts

NON-FICTION as found on beaches - banners, posters, adverts, labels from clothes and litter as well as those already listed above

POETRY think about the sounds heard on islands to make onomatopoeic poems

PREPARATION boxes and craft materials to make islands, pictures of islands (travel agents' brochures are good)