Telling Case 1 year 3

Fantasy Narrative Writing with an Interactive Story, Padlet and ChatterPix Kids

This unit of fantasy narrative writing gives children the opportunity to bring together many of the compositional and grammatical skills developed over the school year. Using digital and traditional resources for writing, the children will engage in a range of activities over two weeks, leading to the development of their own fantasy story.

Digital resources used:

The Bewitched Forest interactive story
Padlet
Chatterpix Kids
Interactive White Board
Chromebooks
Ipads

Overview

Fantasy Narrative Writing with Year 3 Children

In this Telling Case, Year 3 children develop their fantasy narrative writing across a two-week unit of work. A range of digital resources and apps are used during the unit: Chromebooks to access a commercial interactive reading and story making resource - ‘The Bewitched Forest by Inspire Education’ as a stimulus for their storymaking; Padlet, a sandbox style resource for story planning; and an Ipad, to access an app called ChatterPix Kids to develop the skill of composing in the first person, and punctuating direct speech.

The class setting is literacy-rich, with wall and washing line displays of children’s work and a working wall for literacy. There is an interactive whiteboard displaying literacy tasks, objectives and prompts; and a flipchart for teacher modelling. The children have a Chromebook each for the project, borrowed from the school’s central store. There is a bank of Ipads that are borrowed from the school library when they are needed. The children sit in pairs, with some shared writing resources: scrap paper, dictionary, pens, pencils and rulers. Some children have literacy folders to gather written work on their desks; some children have their reading books on their desk. The environment is literacy and technology-rich.

Classroom context

Year Three class in a large, two-form entry, primary school, in a rural town setting

Very experienced teacher (24 years) and Literacy Lead
Two Teaching Assistants (providing 1-1 and targeted group support)
Interactive White Board (IWB), learning wall for literacy, flip chart/ wipe board
Chromebooks (laptops) used by all classes in the school and reserved for these lessons

27 children (14 boys and 13 girls)

8 children labelled as ‘pupil premium’
9 children with SEND (one with EHCP)
5 children with English as an Additional Language
60% working at age-related expectations
40% working below age-related expectations

Class writing targets

Ensure sentences make sense
Proof read for capital letters and full stops

Teacher observations about children’s narrative writing

Some children struggle to generate creative ideas 
Reading skills are generally quite poor
Some children struggle to imagine (in relation to composing)
Some children prefer to be told what to write or to have ideas given to them. 
Some children struggle to work collaboratively; this has improved as the year has progressed.

Digital resources used

Teacher laptop
Interactive White Board (IWB)
Chromebooks (one per child)
Ipads (one per child)
Interactive learning platform: The Bewitched Forest – Inspire Literacy https://www.inspire.education/literacy/ (free trial package)
Padlet (free sandbox-style planning board/ timeline resource) https://padlet.com/
ChatterPix Kids (free animation resource) https://www.duckduckmoose.com/educational-iphone-itouch-apps-for-kids/chatterpixkids/

Activity Summary Table

Visit	Timing	Activity	Digital resources	Literacy focus	Writing skills	Digital skills
Visit 1	45 mins	Activity 1: Ebook Shared/ Guided reading using IWB and Chromebook	IWB Chromebook Inspire Education	Choral reading Reading comprehension Vocabulary development	Reading as preparation for writing	ebook reading
Visit 1	50 mins	Activity 2: Producing an event timeline in Padlet	IWB Chromebook Inspire Education Padlet	Recount Summarisation Timeline construction	Timeline construction	Padlet use to build timeline
Visit 1	20 mins	Activity 3: Watching The Bewitched Forest introductory video clip	IWB Chromebook Inspire Education	Role taking Questioning World-building Vocabulary building Expanded noun phrases	Mindmapping Writing in role Diary writing Composing Transcribing on paper	Digital resource navigation
Visit 2	80 mins	Activity 4: Writing a diary entry in role (grammar focus)	IWB Chromebook Inspire Education	Writing a diary entry	Expanded noun phrases	Digital resource navigation
Visit 3	66 mins	Activity 5: Reading for information	IWB Chromebook Inspire Education	Reading for information Writing to justify	Creating mini mind-maps Understanding justification Sentence construction Annotation	Digital resource navigation
Visit 3	105 mins	Activity 6: Punctuating direct speech	IWB Ipad Chatterpix Kids	Noticing direct speech in narrative Composing speech in role Punctuating direct speech	Composing speech Punctuating speech in narrative Adding reporting clauses	Ipad use ChatterPix Kids use Voice recording using Ipad Photography using Ipad
Visit 4	70 mins	Activity 7: Planning and drafting sections of stories	IWB Chromebook Inspire Education	Completing a story planner (using interactive scene and previous work)	Oral composition Planning story stages Composing narrative from planner	Digital resource navigation

Unit Objectives (Teacher Planning)

Composition 

Plan the structural features of a narrative using a planning scaffold 
Plan by noting ideas on structure, vocabulary of a given text type using a planning scaffold 
Compose and rehearse sentences orally, progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures 
Read aloud their own writing, to a group or to the class, using appropriate intonation 
Use paragraphs as a way of grouping related material 
Create own narrative with a setting, characters and plot

Grammar/punctuation 

Introduce inverted commas as the punctuation which marks direct speech 
Express time, place and cause, using adverbs, conjunctions and prepositions 
Use the full range of sentences within a piece of writing

Proofreading/Editing 

Check that sentences make sense and are accurately punctuated, including correct use of capital letters 
Correct key spellings using word lists and ACE dictionaries 
Use the first two or three letters of a word to check spellings in a dictionary

New vocabulary for this unit 

inverted commas 
direct speech

Planned outcome(s)

To plan and draft a narrative from a given opening 
To produce a ‘Lost Children’ Poster (character qualities) 
To write a character description 
To write a diary entry 
To label a picture of a character 
To produce a storyboard
To plan and write a set of instructions for making a potion 
To write about thoughts, feelings and emotions 
To practise writing dialogue using the correct speech punctuation

Prior experiences needed

Practice using Padlet to capture ideas collaboratively
Class reading using an e-book resource: The Bewitched Forest – Inspire Literacy. This is part of a multimedia subscription programme that provides targeted literacy projects consisting of 10-20 ‘sessions’, including an e-book, interactive scenes and resources to promote reading and writing. Inspire Literacy is an immersive and interactive learning platform that focuses on the visual literacy of KS1-KS2 cross curricular reading and writing https://www.inspire.education/literacy/
Discussion about magical and enchanted forests
Discussion about features of fantasy narratives