The Pied Piper of Hamelin

The Writing Root begins with reading a range of myths, legends, fables and traditional tales, where children identify and discuss common themes, for example good over evil, wise over foolish, etc. The class then look at the Pied Piper of Hamelin and sequence the key events using a storyboard and describe the key characters, with reference to the text. Children prepare reports on rats in response to a request from the mayor. Using a familiar story theme, children plan and write own stories in style of myth/legend/fable, etc.

Escape to Pompeii

Children begin by exploring a range of artefacts to try to determine the events that have taken place. They move on to re-enacting an everyday scene from the city of Pompeii before writing a setting description. Children will explore the main characters, including how their feelings change through the story, and will write letters of advice to help save them from the eruption. Through collecting banks of powerful vocabulary, children will write a vivid description of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In the final part of the leanring sequence, children will become journalists and write a newspaper article to report on the eruption, including quotes from survivors in the town. Teachers may wish to run this Writing Root alongside learning on Volcanoes or The Romans.

Cloud Tea Monkeys 

This three-week Writing Root begins with the arrival of a Royal Tea –Taster in class seeking apprentice tea-tasters. The children experience an immersive session where they smell and taste a range of different teas before creating descriptive statements to describe a tea. A basket is then delivered and inside is a magical and moving story about Cloud Tea and how monkeys save a young girl and her mother. As the text is read, the children are exposed to range of language activities to stimulate grammatical development and reading comprehension skills. The children then write letters of thanks to the monkeys. Using the authors’ note as further stimulus, children research, plan and then write a non-chronological report on tea, the tea-trade and traditions relating to tea.

Change Sings

The sequence of learning begins with children discovering a guitar in their classroom with a motivational letter from the author. Your child will have multiple opportunities to hear the poem being performed as well as performing the poem themselves in a range of different ways. Children will have opportunities to explore the central theme of positive change by thinking about changes they would want to see happen in their school, local community and the wider world.

Leon and the Place Between

Throughout the sequence of learning children will explore the author’s language and use it as the basis for their own descriptive writing.  Your child  will explore the characters’ thoughts and emotions and take part in drama activities, leading to writing in role and the creation of dialogue. Using the structure of the original story, children will plan their own version of the story where their own character enters a magical world.

The First Drawing

During this sequence of learning, your child will explore the text, including exploration of the Stone Age and cave paintings. The children will write diary entries, explore the conventions of speech, create character descriptions and finish by writing their own historical narratives.

The BFG 

Throughout this sequence of learning, your child will have the opportunity to explore a wide range of text types including,  recounts, character descriptions, wanted posters, instructional writing and letters

They will finish by creating diary entries as Sophie and write a new chapter/own version of what might happen. To conclude, your child will write their own giant story.