The Lost Happy Endings, written by Carol Ann Duffy, illustrated by Jane Ray (Bloomsbury)
Jub has the important job of ensuring all the Happy Endings of stories are in the right part of the forest when bedtime
arrives. She scatters the golden words into the air from a sack. Then one night as Jub traverses the forest, a scary woman
snatches the sack from her. How will Jub restore the Happy Endings to their rightful place?
Overall learning aims of this teaching sequence:






To explore, interpret and respond to a picture book
To consider the ways in which illustrations can deepen and enrich the meaning of a text and enhance the reader
experience
To study the language and writing style of an author in order to broaden knowledge of vocabulary and grammar
and inform understanding of how effective application can determine the quality of a text
To develop creative responses to the text through drama, storytelling and artwork
To write in role in order to explore and develop empathy for characters
To develop reader response by exploring interpretations of themes, plots and characters’ actions and motivations
through discussion and debate
This teaching sequence is designed to be differentiated for a Key Stage 2 class. It forms part of CLPE’s Inspiring Writing
in KS2 course.
Note to schools and teachers: Teachers should be aware this book includes a depiction of a witch burning to death.
However, this in the tradition of the fairy tale genre and children familiar with traditional tales such as Little Red Riding
Hood or Hansel and Gretel will be familiar with this type of ending. Teachers will however want to make sure they have
read the whole text before they decide whether to work with it and share it with children.
Overview of Sequence:
Throughout this sequence there are plenty of opportunities to inspire authentic pieces of writing for a range of
purpose and audience. There are many opportunities to teach grammar in context and for children to gain
understanding of the impact of precise language choices on meaning. Teachers can support children to consider
author intent and the impact on the reader using a range of teaching approaches, enabling understanding of metalanguage through reader response and later in their own writing conferences. The book offers a range of opportunity
to work across the curriculum as well as in English sessions, giving children the chance to work in more depth around
the themes.
This teaching sequence is approximately 6 weeks long if spread over 30 sessions.
Teaching Approaches









Reading aloud
Book Talk
Visualisation
Response to illustration
Role on the Wall
Hot-seating
Soundscapes
Debate and Discussion
Readers’ Theatre
Writing Outcomes





Writing in role
Advisory notes
Non-chronological reports
Narrative
Poetry
Other picture books by Carol Ann Duffy:
 The Princess’ Blankets, illustrated by Catherine Hyde (Templar)
 The Tear Thief, illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli (Barefoot Books)
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Other books to support and extend the sequence:

































Classic Fairy Tales by Berlie Doherty and illustrated by Jane Ray (Walker)
Grimm Tales: For Young and Old by Philip Pullman (Penguin)
The Singing Bones, Art Inspired by Grimms’ Fairy Tales by Shaun Tan (Walker)
Faery Tales by Carol Ann Duffy and illustrated by Tomislav Tomic (Faber & Faber)
The Story Collector, The Emperor’s Nightingale and Other Feathery Tales by Jane Ray (Boxer Books)
The Story Collector, The Little Mermaid and Other Fishy Tales by Jane Ray (Boxer Books)
The Story Collector, The Lion and the Unicorn and Other Hairy Tales by Jane Ray (Boxer Books)
Seasons of Splendour – Tales, Myths and Legends of India by Madhur Jaffrey and illustrated by Michael
Foreman (Puffin)
Tales of Wisdom and Wonder by Hugh Lupton and illustrated by Niamh Sharkey (Barefoot Books)
Tales Told in Tents. Stories from Central Asia by Sally Pomme Clayton and illustrated by Sophie Herxheimer
(Frances Lincoln)
African Tales by Gcina Mhlophe and illustrated by Rachel Griffin (Barefoot Books)
The Ogress and the Snake and Other Stories from Somalia by Elizabeth Laird and illustrated by Shelley Fowles
(Frances Lincoln)
Tales of Hans Christian Andersen illustrated by Joel Stewart (Walker)
Blackberry Blue and other Fairy Tales by Jamila Gavin and illustrated by Richard Collingridge (Tamarind)
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell (Bloomsbury)
The Little Blue Slipper. An Irish Cinderella Story by Jude Daly (Frances Lincoln)
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe (Puffin)
The Stepsisters' Story by Kaye Umansky (Barrington Stoke)
The 13th Fairy by Kaye Umansky (Barrington Stoke)
The Queen’s Tale by Kaye Umansky (Barrington Stoke)
Sleeping Beauty. A mid-century fairy tale by David Roberts and Lynn Roberts-Maloney (Pavilion)
Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole (Puffin)
Prince Cinders by Babette Cole (Puffin)
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch (Annick Press)
Not All Princesses Dress in Pink by Jane Yolen & Heidi E Y Stemple and illustrated by Anne-Sophie Lanquetin
(Simon & Schuster)
Goldilocks on CCTV by John Agard and illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura (Frances Lincoln)
Snow White in New York by Fiona French (Oxford University Press)
The Three Pigs by David Wiesner (Andersen Press)
The Wolf’s Story by Toby Forward and illustrated by Izhar Cohen (Walker)
Into the Forest by Anthony Browne (Walker)
Hansel and Gretel by Anthony Browne (Walker)
Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Lorenzo Mattotti (Bloomsbury)
Dangerously Ever After by Dashka Slater and illustrated by Valeria Docampo (Dial Books)
See also the CLPE booklist A Rash of Red Riding Hoods https://www.clpe.org.uk/library-andresources/booklists/rash-red-riding-hoods
Teaching Sessions
Getting into the story: Exploring prior knowledge and setting the scene:


Before beginning this sequence of work prepare a class journal using large pieces of flip chart or sugar paper.
This will allow you to note and capture discussions related to the book. You may also want to create a Working
Wall, an ongoing display of the children’s work and responses to the text.
Provide each child with their own personal writing journal that provides them with the space to experiment and
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.




play with language as inspired by the book. These can quite simply be made up of paper with a coloured card
cover, stapled together. The children should be allowed to decorate these in any way they choose to give them a
sense of ownership and be given the assurance that the content will not be marked and should be seen as space
for them to note their explorations and thoughts.
Depending on the children’s prior knowledge and experience of fairy tales, you may need to spend time
exploring a range of these stories, considering the tone, voice, mood and style. The Singing Bones, Art Inspired by
Grimms’ Fairy Tales by Shaun Tan has short extracts from Grimms’ fairy tales alongside images and could provide
a useful starting point to explore fairy tales with the children.
Ask the children to share their favourite fairytales with each other, encourage the children to bring these stories
or books in to class if they have them and provide a setting in which they can explore their recommendations,
such as in the book corner.
This will also be a useful starting point for discovering what the children like and dislike about the genre, which
stories are their favourites, which stories may come from their own cultural heritage and if they read fairy tales
outside of the school setting.
You may also want to begin the cross curricular research into forest and woodland habitats and wildlife which
will support sessions 10 and 11.
Session 1: Responding to illustration
The children's books featured on the Core Books have been chosen because of the quality of the illustrations they contain
and the ways in which the illustrations work with the text to create meaning for the reader. Children will need time and
opportunities to enjoy and respond to the pictures and to talk together about what the illustrations contribute to their
understanding of the text.
In order for the sequence to work effectively you will need to ‘keep back’ the text from the children initially. The story
will need to unfold slowly and it is best for the children not to know the ending until you are at the culmination of the
teaching sessions. After this, however, it would be beneficial if there is a set of the books so that the children can access
the text and illustrations independently and in small groups to continue their exploration of the story.
Do not reveal the title of the book to the children until session 16.








Share the initial image of Jub sitting at the top of a tree, shaking out the happy endings, by scanning the image
onto the interactive whiteboard as well providing A3 copies for the children to look at in groups.
Invite the children to share their initial impressions and responses. Ask: What is the first word, phrase or
association that comes to mind when you look at this image? What does the image remind you of? What is the
little girl doing? Why do you think she is doing this? Who could she be?
Also ask the children what they like and dislike about the images, any connections that they make with other
images or stories and any questions the images provoke.
Draw out through discussion what they notice about the writing that covers the page, linking this back to the
preparatory work on the fairy tale genre.
Ask the children to talk in their groups first. Ask the children to note their reflections around the photocopied
image; the children could assign a scribe to the group who could also make notes and jotting of their ideas. Then
have a whole class discussion where the children feedback their group talk.
Ask the children to make predictions on what the story could be about; ask them to justify their responses
drawing out any connections they may have made to other stories.
Record their predictions and return to these as you read the book, comparing the children’s initial thoughts to
how the story actually unfolds.
Record the children’s responses in the class journal or on the working wall.
Session 2: Reading Aloud and Book Talk
Reading aloud is one of the most important ways that children are motivated and supported to become readers. It is
essential that children experience hearing texts read aloud in the classroom as a regular part of each school day.
Discussion about books forms the foundations for working with books. Children need frequent, regular and sustained
opportunities to talk together about the books that they are reading as a whole class.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.




Read the first page only to the children and have the image that they explored in the previous session displayed.
Put the children into mixed ability groups and give each group a copy of the text or display this on the IWB and
re-read the text aloud.
Once the children have heard the first page of the book read aloud, the class can begin to explore their
responses to it with the help of what Aidan Chambers calls 'the four basic questions'.
These questions give children accessible starting points for discussion: Tell me…was there anything you liked
about this text? Was there anything that you particularly disliked…? Was there anything that puzzled you? Were
there any patterns…any connections that you noticed…?
The openness of these questions unlike the more interrogative 'Why?' question encourages every child to feel that they
have something to say. It allows everyone to take part in arriving at a shared view without the fear of the 'wrong'
answer.
Aidan Chambers: Tell Me: Children, Reading & Talk with The Reading Environment (Thimble Press 2011).









Ask the children to discuss this section of text and to talk about their response to the writing.
Ask the children to talk in their groups first; then have a whole class discussion where the children feedback their
group talk.
As children respond it can be useful to write down what they say under the headings ‘likes’, ‘dislikes’, ‘puzzles’,
‘patterns’. This written record helps to map out the class's view of the important meaning and is a way of
holding on to ideas for later. Asking these questions will lead children inevitably into a fuller discussion than
using more general questions.
Record the children’s responses in the class journal and return to any questions or puzzles as the sequence
continues.
Once the children have had time to explore the text using the Tell Me approach, ask the children to consider the
relationship between the image and text: What did they think was happening when they explored the image in
the previous session? Has that been confirmed or challenged by the text they read in this session?
Ask the children what words or phrases in particular stood out to them; what made them so vivid or memorable?
What mood or sense of place is created by the author through the description?
This is a valuable opportunity to contextualise teaching around effective vocabulary choices and the writing
features writers draw on in developing a strong sense of place for the reader.
Complete some close textual analysis, looking at the author’s use of verbs which suggest that although Jub feels
proud, she is compelled to complete this job. For example ‘Jub had to shoulder her big green sack’, ‘Jub had to
climb to the top of a huge old oak tree’. You may also want to focus on the mystery surrounding Jub and her job
releasing the Happy Endings into the night. Ask: who do you think has given her this job? Why does she do it?
The children may also comment on the fact that Jub has six fingers and that this means she is good at the job. At
this point you may want to explore other characters in fairy tales who have distinguishing features or to explore
depictions of characters with links to magic and witchcraft.
Session 3: Visualisation and drawing
Asking children to picture or visualise a place from a story is a powerful way of encouraging them to move into a fictional
world. Children can be asked to picture the scene in their mind's eye or walk round it in their imaginations. Finally they
can bring it to life by describing it in words or recreating it in drawing or painting.


Read aloud the next page to the children.
Re-read the passage again but this time ask the children to close their eyes and invite them to try to visualise the
scene in their mind’s eye.
 Focus the children’s attention on the parts of the text that describe both the Happy Endings and the setting.
 Ask: what images does this conjure up in the children’s minds? Which choice of words or phrase helped them to
see the scene in their mind’s eye? Ask the children to talk about what they imagine, clarifying, recasting and
enriching their descriptions and drawing on those in the text.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.












Give the children appropriate and available art materials, and then ask the children to sketch, paint or draw the
scene they pictured.
You may want to allow the children to use watercolour and ink, as in the book. Once the children have created
the backdrop in watercolour, you may want to allow them to use wooden sticks of various thicknesses, gathered
from the local area, to dip into the ink to create the woodland. Then the children could choose appropriate
colours such as gold and silver, to add the ‘Happy Endings’.
You could re-read the section again several times while the children draw their pictures.
After they have completed their drawings the children could annotate the pictures with key vocabulary or
phrases from the text which support their understanding or interpretation. For example, ‘drifted away like
breath’, ‘fluttered upwards like moths’, ‘zipping skywards like rockets’ and ‘like living frisbees’.
You may want to give the children a gold pen to do this so that their images reflect the style of the illustrations in
the book.
Ask the children why these words or phrases in particular stood out to them, what made them so vivid or
memorable? What mood or sense of place is created by the author through the descriptions? Read aloud some
of the children’s annotations, discussing particularly effective words or phrases that either confirm or add
meaning to the artwork.
At this point, you may want to use this as a starting point for exploring the impact of particular choices of
vocabulary and grammar. You may want to give the children copies of the text (but without the illustration).
Through discussion, draw out from the children the way in which the author has chosen particular language and
sentence structure to support the creation of this world in the reader’s imagination. For example, the figurative
language used in the first paragraph which focuses on the Happy Endings, and then the use of active verbs to
create a sense of movement, energy and urgency in the second paragraph as Jub rushes home.
Give the children time to share their artwork with one another and to compare and contrast their images. Invite
children to comment on what is similar and what is different about the way they have illustrated the scene and
why they think this is.
Ask the children to consider how the way in which they have drawn the pictures expresses the atmosphere of
the scene they had in mind.
Show the children the image in the book and discuss the impact of this illustration on the children’s
understanding and interpretation. Compare and contrast this image with the images that they have created.
Display the children’s art work on the working wall.
Session 4: Role on the Wall
Role on the wall is a technique that uses a displayed outline of the character to record feelings (inside the outline) and
outward appearances (outside the outline) at various stopping points across the story. Using a different colour at each of
the stopping points allows you to track changes in the character’s emotional journey. You can include known facts such
as physical appearance, age, gender, location and occupation, as well as subjective ideas such as likes/dislikes,
friends/enemies, attitudes, motivations, secrets and dreams.




Ask the children what they think we have found out about the character of Jub so far.
Draw around one of the children or have a prepared template cut out, pin this to the learning wall.
Ask the children to write on post-it notes words or phrases they would use to describe Jub’s feelings and
personality, which can be stuck on the inside of the outline and what the children know about her outward
appearance or facts and other information about her to be stuck on the outside.
Revisit the Role on the Wall outline at the points indicated in the sequence and add reflections on how our
perspectives evolve over the course of the story in a different colour each time.
Session 5: Response to Illustration, Examining Language and Creative Writing
Discussions about illustrations can include all children and help to make a written text more accessible. Time spent
focusing on illustration can contribute to children’s ability to read for meaning, express their ideas and respond to the
texts they encounter.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.













Look at the next image of Jub in her cosy hole, but do not reveal the text or the following page.
Ask the children to look really closely at the image, drawing out what they notice. Ask them to consider what
clues are in the image which tells the reader more about her character.
For example, the children may note the bunting, which suggests a celebratory mood, the washing hanging up
with bright and colourful clothes, the warm colours used to depict the forest and the content expression on Jub’s
face as she reads her book. Bring their attention to the other smaller details such as: a pair of glasses hanging in
the tree, a pair of wings, a plane, a basket, a crescent moon, a red bucket and the bicycle wheel. Ask the children
to consider what the significance of these details could be and what it may tell them both about Jub and about
the story that will unfold.
The children may also notice the animals that surround her, reminiscent of other characters in fairytales such as
Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.
Return to the Role on the Wall and add additional details inferred from the illustration.
Then read aloud the accompanying text and give the children copies of this section.
Ask the children to read the text carefully considering what further information it gives the reader about Jub.
Explore with the children the choice of verbs listed to suggest that Jub is very busy and the use of an extended
sentence which further adds to this sense of activity and ‘busyness’.
Return to the Role on the Wall again and add more information in another colour.
Following this, ask the children to imagine that they live in a cosy hole like Jub. Ask the children to design their
own cosy hole which would give someone information about their personality and interests. For example, if they
enjoy sewing they may have a pair of knitting needles hanging up outside, if they enjoy playing football they may
have their boots hanging up or if they enjoy swimming their costume may be on the line to dry.
Allow the children time to sketch their cosy holes, including consideration of the colours that they may choose to
reflect their personality. You may also want to suggest that the children choose their favourite season and draw
the scene at that time of year.
After the children have designed their cosy hole, ask them to swap with a partner and discuss their work,
considering the clues the images reveal about them.
After this, ask the partner to write a short paragraph, in the style of Carol Ann Duffy, to accompany their friend’s
image. For example, ‘by the time he’d batted, bowled, cooked, sang and visited his Grandfather he was ready for
bed!’
Display the children’s work on the working wall or place them into the class journal.
Session 6: Hot-Seating
In hot-seating, one member of the class role-plays a central character from a poem or story and is interviewed by the
other children. This activity involves children closely examining a character's motivation and responses.






Re-read aloud the story so far.
After this, ask one of the children, or you could model this if doing this for the first time, to hot-seat in role as Jub
to find out more about her experiences, thoughts and feelings.
Give the children time to discuss questions they might her beforehand. Ask the children to work in small groups
to decide on five questions that they would ask Jub. Then ask the children to refine these questions together,
considering which would elicit the best response from the character. Depending on your children’s experiences,
this may need modelling first. Then ask the children to choose their three most effective questions to submit to
the hot seating.
The children playing the part of Jub will also need time to prepare their story and inhabit the character. Simple
signifiers can be useful to support this process, such as a hat or a pair of gloves.
After the hot-seating has taken place, consider which were the most effective questions and why.
You could record these sessions so that the children can refer to them again prior to writing. You could also take
photographs of the children in the role and ask the children to annotate the pictures following the hot-seating.
Session 7: Writing in Role
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
When children have explored a fictional situation through talk or role-play, they may be ready to write in role as a
character in the story. Taking the role of a particular character enables young writers to see events from a different view
point and involves them writing in a different voice.




Re-read the story so far aloud and reflect on the children’s hot-seating completed in the previous session.
Explain that the children will now be writing in role as Jub, completing a diary entry to reflect her experiences
and viewpoint at this point in the story.
Before the children write in role, give them time to look over all the different work completed in the sessions,
such as the Role on the Wall. You may also need to provide real and fictional examples of diary entries to
support the children in their writing.
Give sustained writing time for the children to plan, draft and write their diary entries, this may need to be
supported in group writing sessions or through modelled writing first.
Session 8: Response to Illustration and Poetry
Children’s interest in images and their ability to read them can be developed through carefully planned interventions with
an emphasis on talk. Discussions of this kind can include all children and help to make a written text more accessible.
Time spent focusing on illustration or key props can contribute to children’s ability to read for meaning, express their
ideas and respond to the texts they encounter.






Share the end pages from the book with the children and look again at the images explored already, with a focus
on the setting. Allow the children time to look intently at these images and to note their responses.
Returning to the end papers, ask the children to consider what it might feel like to step into this scene. What
might they see, hear, smell and feel?
Invite the children to discuss in groups and note words and phrases that they feel would best describe these
sensations.
You may want to support this initially by exploring a forest or woodland environment. You could do this by
taking the children on a trip and recording what they hear, see, smell and feel.
If this is not possible, you may want to play them the following sound and visual clips:
- http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/earth/naturelibrary/assets/t/te/temperate_coniferous_forest/nhs1294-06.mp3
- http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/earth/naturelibrary/assets/t/te/temperate_coniferous_forest/nhs877-07.mp3
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/habitats/English_Lowlands_beech_forests#p007fnj9
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005m44b
Once children have had time to discuss and note their reflections draw the grid below on a flipchart and use this
to take suggestions.
See
Shimmering gold against the violet sky
Hear
Bats fluttering and gliding
Smell
The rich dry earth
Feel
Trepidation



Take the time to value the suggestions, say them out loud, pause and reflect on their effect and discuss how the
reflection and range of ideas can support the refinement of the contributions.
Consider what synonyms could be used to refine the quality of the language. Reflect on how the use of
personification might intensify the language. E.g. The branches reached up towards the moonlight
Model with the children how you might use the range of language generated so far to compose a poem inspired
by the scene. Use the framework below to support the structuring of this composition.
Phrase expressing what you might see, hear or smell
Word expressing the feeling
Phrase expressing what you might see, hear or smell
Word expressing the feeling
Phrase expressing what you might see, hear or smell
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Word expressing the feeling
Phrase expressing what you might see, hear or smell
Word expressing the feeling

Once you have created a draft, you may want to encourage the children to look at the poem again to see if they
would like to refine the words or phrases chosen.
 Explain that you are now going to rehearse a collaborative performance of the poem. Discuss with the children
the different aspects of poetry performance that enhance the experience for a viewer such as tone of voice,
intonation, volume, facial expression and gesture.
 Rehearse and then perform the poem, evaluating the impact of the language and performance.
 What impression was created of the forest habitat through the poetry performance?
Session 9: Broadening Subject Knowledge and Exploring the Setting of Fairy tales
When exploring a story that raises wider issues and explores concepts that may be new to some children, in terms of
language or themes, it is important to build on and develop children’s interests and understanding and plan investigative
work around it.





Ask the children to list or note the settings of familiar fairytales and traditional tales e.g. Little Red Riding Hood,
Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel. Draw out through the discussion that a significant number of
these stories are set in forests.
Ask the children to consider why fairy tales are set in forests, discussing in small groups and then feeding back
their suggestions to the whole class. Record the children’s comments and ideas.
The children may suggest some of the following ideas; that the forest is considered to be a place of magic and
that this magic can be either dangerous or can transform someone or something; particular characters often live
in forests, such as fairies and witches; dangerous animals such as bears and wolves live in forests; when the
stories were written more of the landscape was covered in woodland and forests rather than urban
developments, so it makes sense that stories were set there; the idea of straying from the path and into the
woods is also dangerous as the character may get lost. However, in some legends such as Robin Hood the forest
can be a hiding place and a sanctuary.
You may want to show the children the following clip which can support the children’s discussions:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p006b9cp
Ask the children to consider why they think Carol Ann Duffy chosen to set the story in the forest. What does it
add to the story so far? Come back to this idea as the story unfolds and the children read on.
Exploring Non-Fiction
At this point you may want to plan for some additional cross curricular lessons which will support the following sessions.








Return to the end papers and initial images from the book explored already and explain to the children that they
are going to complete some cross curricular work on forest habitats and wildlife.
Discuss with the children what they already know about this subject.
Organise the children into groups and ask the children to discuss and make notes about forest habitats and the
wildlife that may live there:
What they know
What they think they know
What they would like to find out
Gather the class together and compile the children’s notes and ideas. This can support assessment for learning,
guiding any further cross curricular learning that will take place during the sequence.
Discuss the ways in which the children think they can find out information. Use the responses to talk about
reliable sources and where they might find the most accurate information.
In the following cross curricular sessions use texts from your school library, contact the school library service (if you have
one available) or a local library to create an information text display in the classroom to support group, paired or
individual research.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
The following websites have supportive information, clips and audio files:
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/habitats/Temperate_coniferous_forest#p003bcvk
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/habitats/English_Lowlands_beech_forests


Ensure the children have the opportunity to hear a range of non-fiction texts read aloud so that the children can
experience the ‘voice’ and tone of a non-fiction text and how this differs from a fictional piece of writing.
In order to support the children in understanding the fictional narrative, also focus on woodland creatures such
as owls and bats in popular culture, myths and literature. For example, in the past people believed that the
screech or call of an owl flying past the window of a sick person meant imminent death.
Session 10-11: Exploring Narrative Non-Fiction






Following the children’s research and fact finding, the children could write fact files on woodland animals such as
bats or owls or complete non-chronological reports about these animals.
Through shared writing, model how to take some of the notes from previous sessions and construct informative
passages or paragraphs to give the reader information about these creatures. Include modelling the
technicalities of writing, such as spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Look at other features of information texts, e.g. labelled diagrams, drawings or photographs with captions, ‘Did
you know?’ boxes. Think about which of these features the children might use in their own information texts.
Ask the children to consider who the audience is and therefore what they will need to do to engage them in the
text they are producing.
Following this, introduce (or contrast) narrative non-fiction texts which further engage audience through story
and personification. The following books could support this discussion:
Bat Loves the Night by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Sarah Fox-Davies (Walker)
White Owl, Barn Owl by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Michael Foreman (Walker)
Caterpillar Butterfly by Vivian French and illustrated by Charlotte Voake (Walker)
One Day On Our Blue Planet ... In the Savannah by Ella Bailey (Flying Eye)
One Night, Far from Here by Julia Wauters (Flying Eye)
The Pebble in My Pocket. A History of Our Earth by Meredith Hooper and illustrated by Chris Coady (Frances
Lincoln)
-
Examine a particular text with the children, such as Bat Loves the Night and draw out through discussion the way
in which the writer has engaged the reader by writing about the bat in the third person. The creature is named
and then only one bat is written about rather than bats in general. The book is written as a narrative, describing
the events in one night in the bat’s life. Arguably this then leads to more reader investment and empathy as we
identify with this bat as we would do with a character in a story, but we are still learning facts about the animal
at the same time.
Watch the following nature documentary clip; http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p006b9dq
Ask the children to listen to the language used and reflect on the language. Ask the children to make notes and
feedback as a whole class discussion.
Watch the video clip again and ask the children to consider the purpose and audience and then discuss what
they noticed. Such as: tone, voice, pauses, figurative language. For example:
Birds of dusk and night
Creatures of the moon
Apparitions
Ghosts in the bird world
Supernatural vigilance
Alight with wildness
Silence of falling snow

Following this, ask the children to take the transcript of the narration (see below) and edit it so that they are



©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
adopting the same style of narrative non-fiction that will engage the audience further. For example, swapping
‘they’ for ‘she’.
We think of barn owls as birds of dusk and night, haunters of the dark, creatures of the moon. So to see them hunting by
day along the Essex sea wall is startling. In daylight they resemble apparitions, the closest thing to ghosts in the bird
world, flying with a supernatural vigilance. They set the land over which they move alight with wildness, they pass
through the air these birds, with the silence of falling snow.

The children can then narrate the same clip and have the video playing in the background (sound off) while they
present to the rest of the class. Then they can compare and contrast the language choices, discussing which had
more impact on the audience.
Session 12: Drawing, looking at language and text marking
In text marking children are asked to highlight particular lines or words that they like from the book and to articulate
what they like about these in particular. The teacher can demonstrate this as a whole class activity to introduce the idea,
modelling the ways in which children respond and their reflective comments before asking children to work in groups,
pairs or individually to focus on the language in a similar way.





Give each child a colour copy of the image of Jub in her cosy hole. It may be best to laminate these images for
the purpose of this session. Provide the children with wax crayons in shades of grey, brown, white and black.
Read aloud the following page up until Jub hurried on. Explain to the children that you are going to read the text
again several times and while you read you would like the children to alter the image to reflect what is
happening in the text.
Once the children have had time to alter their images, ask them to share their images with one another,
commenting on what they did and why they did it. Reflect as a class on the images created and the shift in tone
and mood in the story.
Give the children in mixed ability pairs, copies of the text and ask them to text mark the piece highlighting what
authorial choices created the change in mood for example, scarves of mist, noosed itself, villainous, ghouls,
pounced liked muggers.
Share the image from the text with the children and allow them to respond to this.
Sessions 13-15: Creative Writing








Re-read the book from the beginning up until Jub hurried on and revisit the Tell Me grid, adding in the children’s
responses in another colour.
Ask the children to work in pairs and to discuss what could happen next.
Give the children time to talk about their ideas and then feedback as whole class, discussing particularly effective
and creative ideas.
Allow the children time to plan their own version of the next part of the story.
You may want the children to use story mapping to support their planning process. To support their
development of the narrative, as the children to imagine that each part is like the next scene in a film or TV
programme. Ask the children to consider how they can move the events of the story along, keeping the interest
of the reader.
Once they have developed a plan or story map, ask the children to work in pairs to annotate the planning with
key vocabulary, phrases and sentences that they might want to include in their writing, including drawing on the
style of Carol Ann Duffy that they have explored already.
Give the children time to draft and then re-draft their stories. Those not working with adult support could work
with a response partner who supports the editing process by giving them time to read their work aloud.
When the children have a final version, give them time to read their stories aloud to one another, comparing and
contrasting their ideas and considering the effectiveness of the story they have imagined.
Session 15: Visualisation
Asking children to picture or visualise their ideas is a powerful way of encouraging them to move into a fictional world.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
Children can be asked to picture the scene in their mind's eye or walk round it in their imaginations. Finally they can bring
it to life recreating it in drawing, painting or other media.







Read aloud the next part of the book from ‘Hello, my small deario’ until ‘into the darkness and the fog’.
Read the section aloud again and focus on the descriptions of the old woman, asking the children to visualise
what she may look like.
Give the children extracts from the text which will support their visualisation:
A twisted old woman with a face like the bark of a tree and horrible claw hands
She had fierce red eyes like poisonous berries
Her touch nipped like pepper
Vicious old woman
Spat green spittle
Faster than fury
She snarled
Hobbled rapidly away
Using modelling clay or play dough in varying shades invite the children to create their own witch sculpture. (If
using modelling clay allow for the opportunity to return at a later date to paint the model using acrylic paint
once the model is dry).
At this point you could return again to the book The Singing Bones, Art Inspired by Grimms’ Fairy Tales by Shaun
Tan and look to his sculptures as inspiration.
Ask the children to share their sculptures commenting on how they have depicted the old woman and why they
have made the choices that they have.
Following this, complete the Role on the Wall for the old woman.
Session 16: Book Talk and Text Analysis
Discussion about books forms the foundations for working with books. Children need frequent, regular and sustained
opportunities to talk together about the books that they are reading as a whole class. The more experience they have of
talking together like this the better they get at making explicit the meaning that a text holds for them.



Re-read the text so far until ‘into the darkness and the fog’ and revisit the Tell Me grid, adding in the children’s
responses in another colour.
Focus on the text explored so far that features Jub. Discuss and note with the children the words and phrases
that they find most striking and why. What do the words and phrases identified suggest about her character?
Provide the children again with text describing Jub and the extract of the text that first introduced us to the old
woman, as summarised in the box below.
She would sleep quite late the following day. By the
time she’d shopped, cooked, laundered, ironed, read
a bit of her new book and perhaps visited a neighbour
in another hole, the happy endings had flown back to
the forest like homing pigeons and were hanging
from the ancient silver birch all ready for Jub to
collect once again.


A twisted old woman with a face like the bark of a
tree and horrible claw hands was standing on the
path in form of Jub. She had fierce eyes like
poisonous berries… The old woman had grabbed hold
of Jub’s arm. Her touch nipped like pepper.
Invite the children to note and text mark the differences in how the scene is set, the contrast in the language
used to describe Jub and the old woman and how all of these authorial choices inform our perception of their
characters and hypothesis about what might happen next.
At this point you may want to complete an investigation into the way in which different authors present
contrasting characters including the trope of ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ in children’s literature. (See attached
appendix 1 as a starting point)
Session 17: Poetry and Language Exploration
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
One of the most basic pleasures of poetry is the pleasure of playing with words and language and using all the elements
of language to the full, so that the shapes and sounds and rhythms of words are enjoyed as well as their meaning.













Organise the children into mixed ability pairs and then give the children a diamante poem cut up in an envelope
about day and night (see appendix 2)
Give the pairs a set amount of time to sort the words in any way they like, leave this open ended – the children
might sort them into semantic fields or recognise word classes e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives.
Discuss how the groups have sorted the words and why, explain that there were no ‘right’ answers but reveal to
the children the actual form of the poem and the way in which the words are arranged.
Diamante poems are usually organise in the following way:
noun, adjective+adjective, verb+verb+verb, noun+noun+noun+noun, verb+verb+verb, adjective+adjective, noun
Explain to the children that these poems are called diamante poems – can they guess why?
Depending on the needs of the children you may want to recap the different word classes by asking the children
to write a quick definition and example of the word class on a post–it note.
Draw out through discussion that the present participle verb forms in this poem (with –ing) can also be used as
adjectives in other contexts.
Show the children a mixed up version of a diamante poem about Cinderella and her wicked step-mother (see
appendix 3) and ask the children to quickly re-arrange it into the correct order according to the ‘rules’ of the
diamante poem on mini-whiteboards or plain paper.
Reveal the organised original poem and compare their poems. Ask the children to consider if there was one
answer or several and why that could be.
Discuss the word choices and ask if they think you can re-arrange it. Ask the children to consider the rhythm of
the poem; could they move any words around? Which word could be the opening line? Why? Which word could
be at the end? Why? Who agrees? Who disagrees and why?
Physically move the words around on an interactive whiteboard or on a flipchart using large post-it notes, rereading the same words in a different order and discuss the impact of changing them – highlight to the children
that this is like editing their work.
Draw out through discussion the way in which the characters are presented as opposites and that the word
choices used suggest this, gradually switching from one to the other.
Explain to the children that they will be writing their own diamante poems about Jub and the old woman,
drawing on the information that they know about the characters. You may also want to draw on the language of
the text to support the children’s writing. For example:
Jub
Proud Careful
Scampering Rustling Trotting
Stars Moonlight Gloom Darkness
Grabbing Nipping Hobbling
Fierce Vicious
Old Woman


To support the children’s writing you could give the children the template provided (see appendix 4) and then
ask the children to use small post-it notes to experiment with different language choices, moving the words
around and swapping words until they have a final poem. The children may also want to use dictionaries and
thesauri to support this process.
Once the children have written their poems, give them the opportunity to share their poems aloud and to
discuss the language choices made, evaluating for impact.
Session 18-20: Creative Writing


Read aloud the text explored so far and read on until ‘But tonight there were to be no happy endings’.
Place the children in small mixed ability groups or in pairs and explain that in this session the children are going
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.








to write the endings of some popular fairy tales but without the happy endings.
You may want to assign a different story to each group and you may want to explore the stories referenced later
in the text: Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella. You may also want to explore Sleeping
Beauty and Snow White.
Give the children some time to talk about and loosely plan their alternative ending, considering what would
make an ‘unhappy’ ending. Ask the children to feedback their group discussions to a whole class discussion.
At this point you may have some children who question the idea that the endings were ‘happy’ in the first place,
for example Snow White being ‘saved’ by a prince and getting married, as some of the children may consider a
happy ending to be something different.
From this draw out in a wider discussion the children’s opinions on what makes a happy ending. Ask the children
if they think stories need ‘happy’ endings and why they think fairy tales traditionally have happy endings.
At this point you may want to spend some time exploring revisionist retellings of traditional fairytales and
alternative fairytales to explore the way in which authors have subverted the genre.
You may want to share with the children the last page of the book The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman,
where instead of retracing her steps back to her palace and marrying the prince, the queen (Snow White)
decides to walk in the opposite direction, leaving the story open-ended.
You may also want to share the poem Stepmother by John Agard (in the collection Goldilocks on CCTV) with the
children which inverts our usual perceptions of the role of the ‘wicked’ stepmother.
At this point the children could return to the diamante poem explored in the previous session and consider how
the language chosen to describe Cinderella’s stepmother, might change if we took on the point of view
expressed in John Agard’s poem.
The following books could also support this discussion:
-
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell (Bloomsbury)
The Stepsisters' Story by Kaye Umansky (Barrington Stoke)
Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole (Puffin)
Prince Cinders by Babette Cole (Puffin)
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch (Annick Press)
Not All Princesses Dress in Pink by Jane Yolen & Heidi E Y Stemple and illustrated by Anne-Sophie Lanquetin
(Simon & Schuster)
The Wolf’s Story by Toby Forward and illustrated by Izhar Cohen (Walker)
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith (Puffin)
Dangerously Ever After by Dashka Slater and illustrated by Valeria Docampo (Dial Books)
John Agard’s collection of poems Goldilocks on CCTV (Frances Lincoln) also explores this theme and supporting resources
can be found on the CLPE Poetryline website:
- https://www.clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poems/damsel-distress-rap
- https://www.clpe.org.uk/poetryline/poems/goldilocks-cctv

After this, give the children the opportunity to refine their ideas and then write the fairy tales with alternative or
‘unhappy’ endings.
Session 21: Soundscapes
Opportunities to create, both before and during writing, increase children's motivation to write, and can help them to
think. Drawing or creating can help all writers to plan their writing, develop their ideas and use vivid description.


Read aloud the next part of the book until ‘Jub rocked back and forth in her hole, moaning with sorrow’ and
explore the images that accompany the text. Revisit the Tell Me grid, adding in the children’s responses in
another colour.
Give the children time and appropriate and available resources and allow them to create a soundscape of the
forest come to life with the sounds of the unhappy children.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.




Return to the language chosen by the author to create this sense of sound and movement in the forest and
encourage the children to use this to support their soundscapes.
For example:
- Owls’ hoot questioned sadly
- Scattering bitter tears
- Sobbing
- Crying children
- Howling
- Weeping
- Wailing
- The sound of disappointment
- The sound of fear
Once the children have rehearsed their soundscapes, give them time to perform these, recording them where
possible. You may want to then ask the children to role-play in role as Jub, while you play the recording back to
them, imagining that they are in their cosy hole and these are the sounds that they are surrounded with.
Return to Role on the Wall and explore how Jub must be feeling at this point in the story.
Session 22: Freeze-Frame and Thought Tracking
Freeze-frames are still images or tableaux. They can be used to enable groups of children to examine a key event or
situation from a story and decide in detail how it could be represented. This technique is often used in conjunction with
freeze-frame. Individuals are invited to voice their thoughts or feelings aloud using just a few words. This can be done by
tapping each person on the shoulder or holding a cardboard 'thought-bubble' above their head.






Re-read the book from the beginning.
Ask the children to form a large tableau of the scene depicting the children hearing the stories without happy
endings. The children could take on the role of the family depicted in the window, with other children taking on
the role of the shadowy monsters around them, the girl in her bed screaming, the other parents trying to
comfort their children and finally Jub in her hole.
You may also want to include the witch in the scene, considering her point of view and therefore predicting what
she may have done with the happy endings and why she took them.
Following this complete thought tracking. Invite different members of the class in role to voice their thoughts or
feelings aloud using just a few words. This can be done by tapping each person on the shoulder or holding a
cardboard 'thought-bubble' above their head.
After this, reflect on what the class have heard and compare and contrast the different characters’ thoughts and
feelings.
You could take photographs of the children in their tableaux and ask them to annotate the pictures following the
session, recording the different thoughts of the different characters.
Session 23: Writing in Role
In role, children can often access feelings and language that are not available to them when they write as themselves.




Re-read the story so far aloud and reflect on the children’s role-play completed in the previous session.
Explain that the children will now be writing in role as Jub, completing a diary entry to reflect her experiences
and viewpoint at this point in the story, ensuring that they contrast the tone and atmosphere with the previous
diary.
Before the children write in role, give them time to look over all the different work completed in the sessions,
such as the Role on the Wall and to discuss how they will create the shift in mood.
Give sustained writing time for the children to plan, draft and write their diary entries, this may need to be
supported in group writing sessions or through modelled writing first.
Session 24: Debate and Discussion
Talking together about books using the ‘Tell me’ questions is a very powerful way to explore and reflect on emotional
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
response to a story and what It means for us as individuals. In contrast, debating ideas calls for a more formal and
objective response to the story and helps children begin to analyse how the writer has made us feel this way.





Re-read the story so far aloud and ask the children to consider what Jub could do next. Ask the children to
discuss their ideas in groups and then have a whole class discussion.
The children could then write a note to Jub advising her of what to do next. At this point the children will
probably begin to use modal verbs in order to persuade the Jub of their opinion, such as should, must and will.
This would therefore be an opportunity to use metalanguage in context. You could draw attention to this,
identifying the modal verbs and discussing the difference between using might or could in comparison to must
and should.
When all children have finished their writing, ask them to screw up their note into a ball and throw them across
the room. The receiver of the note then writes in role as Jub in reply to the children’s note telling them what she
is going to do.
Ask the children to consider the language and style used, including emotive language and repetition, and which
was the most persuasive note and why.
These can then be placed on the class working wall, in the children’s literacy books or in the class reading
journal.
Session 25-27: Narrative writing








Read aloud until ‘every word she wrote shone out in perfect golden handwriting’.
Ask the children what their ‘happy’ ending to the story would be? Allow time for the children to discuss their
ideas and suggestions.
Allow the children time to plan their own version of the end of the story. This will provide children with the
opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to complete a narrative. This is often an aspect of
writing children find more challenging and therefore this should support children to have the time to explore
ways in which to end their own stories.
You may want the children to use story mapping to support their planning process as this is the technique they
have used in this sequence already.
Ask the children to consider how they complete the story, drawing on the tradition of fairy tales explored. Ask
the children to consider if the witch will meet the same fate as the withes in the traditional fairy tales they have
explored or if they will write a more subversive ending.
Once they have developed a plan or story map, ask the children to work in pairs to annotate the planning with
key vocabulary, phrases, and sentences that they might want to include in their writing, including drawing on the
style of fairy tales that they have explored already.
Give the children time to draft and then re-draft their endings. Those not working with adult support could work
with a response partner who supports the editing process by giving them time to read their work aloud.
When the children have a final version, give them time to read their endings aloud to one another, comparing
and contrasting their ideas and considering the effectiveness of the ending that they have imagined.
Session 28: Response to Illustration and Book Talk
In the best picture books illustration and text work closely together to create meanings. Children are naturally drawn to
the illustrations in a picture book and are frequently far more observant than an adult reader. Children’s interest in
images and their ability to read them can be developed through carefully planned interventions with an emphasis on talk.



Organise the children into mixed ability pairs or small groups and begin by looking at the image of the witch in
the trunk of a tree. You might want to give each group an enlarged A3 copy of the picture. Do not read the text
to the children yet.
Allow the children time to look at the illustration in depth and pose questions or thoughts about the image - you
might want to layer the discussion as suggested here, or ask the children to annotate copies of the picture with
post-it notes and then develop the discussion starting with the children’s ideas.
Draw attention to the whole illustration; what do they notice immediately? Where is their eye drawn to in the
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.







picture? Why do they think that? Are different children drawn to different aspects of the image? Why? What do
they notice about the colours? Are there any questions they have about the space or objects in this focussed
space? E.g. the bones strung up on string (arguably mirroring Jub’s bunting), the bones on the floor, the thorns
tangled around her hat, her pipe.
Starting with the picture as a whole and then zooming in on the detail you might want to consider: Location: Do
we know where we are? What clues have we been given? Point of view: What point of view have we been given?
What information does that give us? If this was a film what point of view would the next shot be from?
Move on to focus in on the character of the witch. Look at her facial expression and body position which gives
further information about her. What impression of her do we have from looking at this image? Does it contrast in
any way with our original perception and if so, why? What predictions about the ending of the story Jub is
writing can they make from the observations they have already made?
Once sufficient time has been provided conduct a whole group discussion, sharing their speculations and what
they have inferred about her based on the illustration.
Read aloud the text that accompanies the illustration and allow the children to look carefully at it. Discuss the
text and what further information we are given about the witch. Return to Role on the Wall and add new ideas
in a different colour.
Ask the children to consider if the witch appears as menacing and vicious in this scene as she did when she stole
the bag from Jub, using the text and illustration to justify their opinions.
Show the children the next image of the witch where she is facing the reader. Encourage the children to return
to the ideas explored previously such as position of character, gaze, body language etc. ask the children to
consider what might happen next in the story and to infer what Jub may have written.
Read aloud the accompanying page of text and return to the Tell Me grid, exploring the children’s likes, dislikes,
puzzles and patterns.
Session 29: Readers’ Theatre
Readers’ theatre is a valuable way for children to work in a group to perform the text. Children can begin marking or
highlighting parts of the text, indicating the phrases or sections to be read by individuals or by several members of the
group. This enables them to bring out the meanings, pattern and characterisation.


Re-read the story so far to the children and the next page where the witch burns to death.
Give the children the text divided into sections as suggested:
1. The witch danced crazily around the fire, singing hideously. The flames danced with her, cheek to cheek, step by
step, arm in arm, 1-2-3, 1-2-3.
2. The witch’s screams scattered the sleeping birds from the trees in a panic of wings. Jub heard the awful noise
and smelled a strange, salty, burning smell drifting through the trees. She followed her nose and it led her to the
middle of the forest.
3. At first she thought she has stumbled upon a fire, spitting and crackling like the breath of a dragon. But then the
fire opened its jaws and roared and she saw it was the witch burning to death.








Split the class into groups, giving each group a different part. Ask the children to complete Readers’ Theatre.
The children can then work together to decide how to perform the text creatively:
Which parts might be read in unison?
Which bits might be read with one voice/two voices?
Which bits might be read loudly/softly/echoed?
Might you include sound effects?
Following their group work the children can now perform the work as a whole class, putting their separate
sections together.
After this, ask the children what language was highlighted during the Readers’ Theatre activity and how did this
activity support their learning of author intent and purpose.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.

Revisit the Tell Me grid, adding in the children’s responses in another colour.

You may also want to use this point in the sequence to explore collective nouns, as in the text the birds are
described as a ‘panic of wings’.
Show the children a range of collective nouns and discuss this language.
Give the children example of collective nouns and the nouns they match but separated e.g. flight and swallow
and then ask the children to try to match them up correctly. Ask the children to work in pairs and feedback to
the class.
Then ask the children if they can they find and also think of their own collective nouns appropriate to the story
such as, a cackling of witches, a murder of crows, a cloud of bats, a hooting of owls, a flutter of moths.
You may want to record these alongside images in a collective noun dictionary and you could then draw on these
when the children complete their own writing.




Session 30: Book Talk
Conversations about books help children to explore and reflect on texts in ways that are made meaningful, personal and
pleasurable.







Read the final part of the story to the children.
Discuss the children’s responses to the ending of the book. What they liked or disliked, anything that puzzled
them or any connections they can make.
Ask the children to consider if the witch deserved what happened to her and if Jub could have stopped what
happened.
The children may also note the cyclical nature of the story, the mystery that remains surrounding who Jub is and
why she has the job of looking after the happy endings.
Use some of Aidan Chambers’ ‘special questions’ to explore the children’s responses to the book e.g.
- Think of yourself as a spectator. With whose eyes did you see the story? Did you only see what one character
in the story saw, or did you see things sometimes as one character saw them and sometimes as another and
so on?
- When you were reading the story, did you feel it was happening now? Or did you feel it was happening in the
past and being remembered? Can you tell me anything in the writing that made you feel like that?
- Which character interested you the most?
- Is that character the most important in the story/ or is it really about someone else?
- Which character(s) didn’t you like?
- Did any of the characters remind you of people you know?
- Or remind you of characters in other books?
The children could then write book reviews describing their responses to the text.
This may also be a good opportunity to recommend further reading to the children so that they can continue to
explore the themes of the book.
Drawing the learning together
Discussion about books forms the foundations for working with books. Children need frequent, regular and sustained
opportunities to talk together about the books that they are reading as a whole class. The more experience they have of
talking together like this the better they get at making explicit the meaning that a text holds for them.


In order to draw the learning together you may want to complete a comparative literature study where the
children explore the fairy tale genre further. A literature study provides children with opportunities to: broaden
their exposure to a wide range of literature; make explicit connections across texts; reflect on distinctions in
author choices and writing style; deepen their understanding of how narrative structures work.
After this you may want to offer your children a choice of further writing opportunities such as:
-
Use the insights gained from the literature study, map out and compose a fairy tale, with characters and in a
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.
-
setting of your choice.
Write an alternative ending to the story
Write the story from the perspective of the witch
Other ideas to use across the curriculum:
Art:

Learn the techniques that Jane Ray has used with watercolour and ink to create illustrations in the same style as
the ones in the book.
Geography:
 Explore and investigate forest habitats and wildlife.
PSHE:
 You may want to explore the feelings Jub had when her bag was stolen and consider how children can stay safe
when travelling anywhere without adults.
©The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.
You may use this teaching sequence freely in your school but it cannot be commercially published or reproduced or used for anything other than educational purposes
without the express permission of CLPE.