Prompt #12 › 5 Sentence Challenge I was really impressed with the way many of you created stories about the people in the picture for the last prompt. There were lots of wonderful pieces so yet again it was very difficult to choose the showcase but here they are! ********** Prompt#11 Showcase ********** Isaac in Yr.1 at Shenfield St Mary's, Essex, UK Miles in Yr.2 at Bangkok Patna School Caitlin in P3 at Dunipace Primary, Falkirk, Scotland Bailey in Yr.1 at Bidston Avenue Primary, Wirral, UK Emily in Yr.3 at Snowsfield Primary, London, UK Jessica at Vauvert Primary, Guernsey, Channel Islands Nay Thit in 2P at Bangkok Patna School As you were so good at story writing last time, the new prompt is: The Secret Room What could be in it? The link will be open until 20th March
Serendipity How effective is THRASS in teaching literacy? By Sarah Yeung, Lewis & Lewis. My initial interest with THRASS (Teaching Handwriting Reading and Spelling Skills) started when I saw these large THRASS charts in classrooms. I began wondering about the approach we take towards teaching literacy, especially for those students who have literacy difficulties. How do you explain that the letter ‘A’ does not always make the ‘a’ sound as in apple? I recently went to the THRASS two-day workshop during the summer holidays. Traditional learning – graphophonic Previous traditional teachings take a ‘graphophonic’ approach, which is the one letter (grapheme) makes one sound (phoneme) approach (e.g. However, when students enter primary school, we struggle to explain to students why these rules don’t apply anymore and that a sound is not always depicted by a specific letter. We often see errors in spelling choices such as ‘woz’ (was), where the letter-sound rule does not apply anymore. The THRASS chart has a consonant and a vowel chart.
Writing game Writing games provide skills practice with authentic texts … Simple games can provide opportunities for language experience, explicit teaching, coaching and collaboration. Here’s a simple one I was playing recently. You need 45 minutes for crafting, reviewing, revising, sharing and feedback. Start with two sentences: Jack went up the hill. What to do Organise students into pairs or groups of three and explain: Your task is to work with others to enhance the sentences by improving vocabulary, working on the sequence of words or groups of words and providing detail about your ideas which enable readers to imagine what is happening. Your improved sentence should be interesting and grammatically correct. Walk students through the task, one step at a time and allowing time for small group discussion. Instructions Copy the sentences.Cross out the word ‘went’ and substitute another word. Sharing, reflection and feedback Other examples may include: Here’s an innovation from a Year 5 trio below:
25 Things Writers Should Know About Creating Mystery 1. Your Story Must Be An Incomplete Equation A complete equation is 4 + 5 = 9. 2. This isn’t a list about murder mysteries. 3. A news story is upfront. 4. Put differently, have you heard the one about Betty Crocker and the Egg? 5. Not every mystery is a worthy one. 6. A good ol’ big-ass mystery is a meteor that punches a hole in that once-complete equation we were talking about. 7. Instead of one big mystery, consider instead (or in addition) a series of smaller mysteries: little mini-arcs that rise on the question mark and fall toward the answer. 8. A tiny point, but one worth mentioning: sometimes creating mystery is not an act of asking a question but the deed of providing a clearly incorrect answer. 9. To create suspense and invoke tension, offer the audience a mystery. 10. A mystery must have stakes — we must know why it exists, and what it means for it to go unanswered. 11. Exposition is the mystery-killer. 12. 13. 14. Mysteries are often tied to plot or character. 15. 16. 17.
A List of The Best Free Digital Storytelling Tools for Teachers 1- ZimmerTwins It is all about creative storytelling. ZimmerTwins is a web2.0 tool that allows students to give vent to their imaginative powers and exercise their storytelling skills from early stages to advances ones. 2- Digital Story Telling in The Classroom This section provides resources and materials for teachers to use with their students in storytelling. It helps students personalize their learning and perform better. 3- Story Bird This is an awesome website that allows students and teachers to create short art inspired stories to read, share or print out. 4- Someries Someries is a fantastic storytelling site . 5- PicLits This is another awesome website where students can choose a picture and start drawing or writing a text on it to create a story. 6- Generator This is a creative studio space where students explore the moving image and create their own digital stories to share with others. 9- Domo Animate This is one of the best tools online for digital story telling.
The Literacy Block Saturday, 7 July 2012 at 3:47 pm A literacy block should provide a balanced program of literacy instruction including the following teaching/learning approaches to support reading and writing. Essential Reading Components: Modelled Reading occurs when an expert reader reads a difficult text to less experienced readers, enabling the experienced reader to model how effective readers sound, solve and think about texts when readingThe “think aloud” strategy is used strategically by the expert reader to model thinking and problem solving actions. Reading Aloud occurs when an expert reader reads a difficult text to less experienced readers for the purposes of: building a community of readers,creating shared experiences amongst students,exposing students to new ideas, story lines, characters and contexts,exposing students to new vocabulary, text and language structures,building a love of reading. Shared Reading Guided Reading Guided Reading/Reciprocal Teaching Independent Reading Modelled Writing The Aim