Introducing
Writing
Stories
Continents
How to use these notes
KS1 – English
These teacher notes and independent activities can be
used to introduce pupils to the books in the Writing
Stories series. These activities are suitable for Reception
to Year 2 pupils. All the activities included are stand
alone but by using them alongside the books in the
series Writing Stories, children can explore the ideas in
more detail.
Year 1 Writing
Composition
Pupils should be taught to:
Write sentences by:
• saying out loud what they are going to write about
• composing a sentence orally before writing it
• sequencing sentences to form short narratives
• re-reading what they have written to check that it makes
sense
Curriculum links
EYFS – Communication and Language
and Literacy
Discuss what they have written with the teacher or other
pupils.
The early learning goals prime areas:
Communication and language
Year 2 Writing
Listening and attention: children listen attentively in
a range of situations. They listen to stories, accurately
anticipating key events and respond to what they hear
with relevant comments, questions or actions.
Pupils should be taught to:
Understanding: children follow instructions involving
several ideas or actions. They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’
questions about their experiences and in response to
stories or events.
• writing narratives about personal experiences and those
of others (real and fictional)
Consider what they are going to write before beginning
by:
The early learning goals specific areas:
• planning or saying out loud what they are going
to write about
• writing down ideas and/or key words, including new
vocabulary
• encapsulating what they want to say, sentence by
sentence
Make simple additions, revisions and corrections to their
own writing by:
Develop positive attitudes towards and stamina for
writing by:
Literacy
Writing: children use their phonic knowledge to write
words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They
also write some irregular common words. They write
simple sentences that can be read by themselves and
others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are
phonetically plausible.
• evaluating their writing with the teacher and other
pupils
• re-reading to check that their writing makes sense
and that verbs to indicate time are used correctly and
consistently, including verbs in the continuous form
• proofreading to check for errors in spelling, grammar
and punctuation
Expressive arts and design
Being imaginative: children use what they have learnt
about media and materials in original ways, thinking
about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas,
thoughts and feelings through design and technology,
art, music, dance, role-play and stories.
©Raintree Publishers 2013. This page may be photocopied for classroom use.
www.raintreepublishers.co.uk
1
discussion points
Making your writing more interesting
Talk to the children about the stories that they enjoy.
Introduce the idea of genres – which different types of
story can they think of? What are their favourite types of
story? What sort of stories do they like to write?
• Talk to the children about ways to make their writing
more interesting. Introduce adjectives and adverbs and
make sure they know the difference between them.
Talk about how adjectives and adverbs give the reader
more information.
• Write a simple story together on the board, trying to
include as many contributions as possible. Then go
through the story together and talk about where you
could add adjectives and adverbs. Ask for plenty of
suggestions and try to choose the best words for the
story together.
• Keep a record of the children’s adjective and adverb
suggestions up on your working wall for them to refer
to when they write their own stories.
General activities
Thinking about settings
• Introduce the idea of story settings. Talk to the children
about why certain stories have particular settings and
look at some examples of powerful settings in stories
you have shared together as a class.
• Give children a copy of Activity 1: Story settings. Ask
them to suggest what type of story might be good for
each of the settings pictured. They can write their ideas
on the sheet.
Story starters
• Give the children a copy of Activity 3: Story starters and
ask them to choose a sentence to use as a prompt to
start a new story.
Character questions
• Talk to the children about characters in a story. Talk
about a story you have read together and discuss what
the main characters are like. Ask the children questions
about each character, for example, Where do they live?
What do they look like? What do they like? What do
they dislike? What do they want more than anything?
Encourage the children to ask each other questions
about the characters, too.
• Give the children a copy of Activity 2: Character
questions. There is a space in the middle for the child
to draw their own character for a story they are going
to write. Around their picture there are questions about
the character. When the children have finished drawing
their characters, ask them to talk through the questions
with a partner and then write their answers.
further reading
You and the children might enjoy reading these other
titles about writing stories:
• How to Teach Story Writing Ages 4-7, Pie Corbett
(Routledge, 2013)
• I Can Write Stories, Anita Ganeri (Raintree, 2012)
• Write Your Own Storybook, Jane Chisholm and Louie
Stowell (Usborne, 2011)
The full list of titles for the Writing Stories series is:
• Adventure Stories
• Animal Stories
• Fairy Tales
• Mystery Stories
• Scary Stories
• Silly Stories
To view these titles, visit our website: www.
raintreepublishers.co.uk/product/9781406260410
©Raintree Publishers 2013. This page may be photocopied for classroom use.
www.raintreepublishers.co.uk
2
Activity 1: Story settings
Name ______________________________________ Date ______________________
Look at these pictures. Each picture could be a setting for a story. Write
down what sort of story you would write for each setting. You can choose
from these ideas or write your own.
a funny story
an adventure story
a scary story
an animal story
a fairy tale
©Raintree Publishers 2013. This page may be photocopied for classroom use. www.raintreepublishers.co.uk
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Activity 2: Character questions
Name ______________________________________ Date ______________________
Draw a picture of a character from your story in the box below. Then answer
the questions about your character.
What is your character’s name?________________________________________
How old is your character?_____________________________________________
Who are your character’s family and friends?_____________________________
What does your character like?________________________________________
What does your character hate? ______________________________________
What does your character want most in the world?_______________________
©Raintree Publishers 2013. This page may be photocopied for classroom use. www.raintreepublishers.co.uk
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Activity 3: Story starters
Name ______________________________________ Date ______________________
How do you start a story? Pick one of these sentences, or
one of the pictures, to help you!
“Quick! Hurry!”
s
shouted Max, a
e
he ran down th
es.
street with Jam
Anna’s guine
a pig
was special…
It seemed like an
ordinary Monday as
Ayesha walked down
the street, until she
spotted the key on
the ground.
est
Deep in the for
a hooded figure
the
crept through
shadows.
Sam’s eyes
widened as he
suddenly heard
an ear-splitting
screech.
Dennis was
excited abou
t
the jelly-eat
ing
competition.
©Raintree Publishers 2013. This page may be photocopied for classroom use. www.raintreepublishers.co.uk
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