Year 3 and 4’s Big Top Storybook

Year 3 and 4 were commissioned by The Ministry of Movement (the imaginary company that have employed us) to publish a storybook that would be sold at our Science and Movement Fair.  We decided to use an author as our mentor and chose Angela McAllister who wrote ‘Leon and the Place Between’.  In her story, 3 brothers and a sister find themselves at a magic show inside a big-top.  In order to create an inspiring writing environment, we built our own big-top in the classroom!  Each week we have been looking at some of Angela’s writing techniques and incorporating them into our own stories.  The stories begin in a similar way but now they are branching off in different directions.  Each child has planned a mini-adventure after one of the children in the story volunteers to enter the magician’s magic world, or as Angela McAllister calls it, ‘The Place Between’.

In KS2, we follow a process of reading and talking for writing before putting pen to paper.  After drafts are completed, the children edit to improve the experience for their reader and are helped by 1:1 teacher conferences and through using the teacher’s green and pink marking system.  Next, they publish their pages and share the final results with their peers.   We are currently looking to see if we could find a small publisher that would be willing to publish our stories professionally...watch this space for more news on that!  The children know that World Book Day is approaching in March and are excited about presenting themselves to the school as real authors, including some author book talks and even book signings. Step aside JK Rowling, Year 3 and 4 are on your case! 

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