Using Language Creative in English
Across the curriculum, there has been a focus on developing children’s ability to use language creatively, effectively and purposefully. These photographs show the development of children’s writing, from the early emergent stage in nursery to the fluent stage in Year 6. Teachers provide a range of meaningful opportunities for the children to write for real purposes and audiences.
Writing for Purpose in English
In Nursery, the children are encouraged to write for a purpose. The children were unable to rescue a ball that went over the wall. They decided to draw a map and write a letter to the premises assistant to retrieve it. The picture shows the children’s map and letter with the request which is translated as “Tony get the ball.” They also signed their names.
Using Description in Year 1
In Year 1, the children have been learning how to use description effectively to engage the reader. The children created their own ‘bad’ character for their version of the traditional tale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. They generated a list of adjectives for their character. Then they practised writing sentences with similes to appropriately describe their villain. The photograph shows a child’s use of similes in the final outcome - a character description.
Writing BFG Diary Entries in Year 3
Year 3 have been reading the BFG and are now writing a diary entry from Sophie’s perspective. They have been working hard on identifying emotive language in the text and using this as inspiration for their own writing. They are also focussing on creating tension through the use of different sentence structures and punctuation. The draft books have been really useful as part of the writing process. They allow the children to be more creative, take more risks and refine their writing in editing partners. The photograph shows this in action.
Shared Writing in Year 6
In Spring term Year 6 have been reading Shackleton’s Journey. They wrote diary entries, motivational speeches and newspaper articles. They have been focusing on writing for a specific purpose and audience and have had interesting discussions on which vocabulary and grammar to use in their work that is most appropriate for this. In the picture you can see children completing shared writing where they have to discuss their ideas and explain the choices they are making. This gives them opportunities to be collaborative and feel comfortable to take risks they might not normally make on their own.