Today in Key Stage One we have been celebrating the end of a successful Storytelling Week. Classes across KS1 and Early Years dressed up as their favourite storybook characters and retold their own stories. The children have had lots of fun reading, retelling and innovating stories over the course of the week.
Year 1 read ‘Handa’s Surprise’ and made-up actions to help them remember the story. They then innovated the story and made up their own class stories which they performed in front of another class. Later on, the children worked in pairs and used their imaginations to create their very own version of the story. Year 2 read the story ‘The Papaya that Spoke’ and created actions and story maps to bring the story to life. They then made their own changes to the story and made-up new actions to help retell the story to Year 1 and Reception. It was a delight to see the children perform to their peers with such confidence and joy. We are all very proud of the work the children produced and it has been wonderful to listen to their very imaginative creations.
Continuing with the focus on English, Key Stage Two have also been further developing their skills in writing. Year 6 have been concentrating on demonstrating an ability to write for different audiences, different purposes and different genres. We have been really impressed by the progress made by students, and they have felt a sense of pride and satisfaction at comparing their current writing with their writing at the start of the year. So far this term, Year 6 have completed a newspaper article based on an historical event, a travel brochure for Shanghai and a persuasive letter to Mr. Farrell about the importance of plastic reduction. They are currently learning about the format of blogs, and to finish the term will write a blog style post about one of their own main interests, which will also aim to ensure that they have taken onboard key grammar points.
Year 5 have been studying points of view where they have explored texts looking at first, second and third person writing. Children have explored being able to change from one style into another by looking at a range of fairy tales. They particularly enjoyed writing from the point of Little Red Riding Hood, giving it a modern-day twist too!
Year 4 have completed their recounts by writing a conclusion of the Olympic Games event they had last week. They shared their feelings and thoughts about the event, memorable moments and what they had learnt. The children edited their recounts by sharing their work with a friend. They reflected on each other’s work by recognising which criteria they had included, those they hadn’t as well as things that they did well and things that they would need to improve next time.
Meanwhile, Year 3 have been excitedly writing their own fable based on one they already know. They have carefully considered the animals’ characteristics and given their own moral to the story. All the teachers have been very impressed with how they have successfully independently used noun phrases, dialogue and conjunctions.
Well done to all - keep up the great stamina and enthusiasm for writing!
Katherine Mustoe
Vice-Principal and Head of Primary
Storytelling Week
