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Topic “Narrative/story-telling”
Produce meaningful print signs or symbols
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Produce meaningful print Photos of the child doing everyday activities Drawings by you or the child of daily activities e.g. playtimes plants grown, food eaten. Pictures of favoured toys or toys the child owns Pencil grips | Stick the photo or the cut out picture onto a clean page. Draw a border round the picture and fill with zigzag marks as 'decoration'. The child may need to follow the dots to do this. Colour over the zigzags to make a picture frame for the 'book' Label the photo or picture e.g. 'Child's name jumping.' 'Child's name toy car'. You write the 'jumping' or 'toy car' and leave a space for the child to write his name. You may need to provide dots for the child to overwrite his/her name. Use a painting or drawing the child has done. Write most the child's name for them.........can the child finish the name off? The child may respond to being able to choose a 'special pen' to write his/her name Make Christmas cards or birthday cards or thank you cards. As before, do most of the writing inside yourself leaving the child to finish off some/all of his/her name. Reward all attempts. | Short work sessions Using a really short pen can help a child to hold the pen correctly or use a pen grip. This work can be collected into a 'book' to take home or read to others. |
| Computer | ||
| Child's drawings or paintings etc Letters of the child's name written large and cut out individually. |
Building story telling/narrative skills using visual aids
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Story Lines - Washing line - Pegs - Selection of pictures | 1. Peg a picture on the line and ask your child to look at it - you could ask you child to choose a picture from a selection. 2. The adult says "It's story time and we are going to make up a story with the pictures" The adult starts the story by using the word on the picture. 3. Encourage your child to take the next turn by choosing a new picture and thinking how they can add to the story that has already been started. 4. Keep going until all the pictures have been used, or the story comes to a natural end. | This activity can be carried out with a small group of children You may need to recap the story at each turn, or give options if your child is finding it challenging to know what they can add. You could use a familiar story and use pictures from the book pegged to the line - you could encourage your child to retell the story with the pictures.
|
| Story Dice | This activity can be carried out with a small group of children You may need to recap the story at each turn, or give options if your child is finding it challenging to know what they can add. |
Stories from pictures
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sequence pictures and comment on them Commercially available sequencing pictures Photo-copied pictures from a favourite book Photos from an outing |
| You may need to model this skill for children ie talking about what is in the picture. Encourage children to give the information about their pictures to others who are not already 'in the know'! This is motivating and can make more sense to some children. |
| Child's own drawings |
Joins in discussion about a story
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sharing big book at carpet time | 1. Define child's sitting space with carpet tile or tape. Always use the same space for big book time. (This might not be necessary for all children). 2. Start with short periods of shared sitting and listening to a story and build up to longer times. Using an egg timer may help to establish the idea of good sitting initially. When good sitting is established the timer can be removed. 3. If asking a question about the shared book to a group always use the child's name to alert him/her to a question - even a question addressed to the whole class. 4. Start by asking questions you know the child can answer. 5. If necessary focus the child's attention by taking his/her hand and pointing to/touching the relevant part of the book 6. Allow the child a chance to pre-read the big book so that events are already familiar. | Be clear about expectations but keep them reasonable You could use a visual timetable to indicate that it is big book time or that the big book time is finished. |
Discusses pictures and creates simple narrative
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Creates own narrative when reading a book Appealing book - if possible without text. |
| Choose a much liked book. Use phrases of 1 or 2 words only to name and label pictures. Use lots of repetition. Give the child time to explore materials and pictures in his/her own way. End the activity on a high note - even if this means only doing the activity for a short time. Use lots of praise when the child names or labels pictures. |
| Discusses pictures in a book Appealing book photocopied - Blu tac |
Story retelling when looking at books
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Favourite book 'wh' words (who, what, when, where) on symbol cards You can make question symbol cards using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint. | 1. Share an attractive book with the child. Point to the pictures talk about what is happening in the picture, what the characters are doing etc 2. Let the child become very familiar with the book 3. Ask questions about the story and pictures and use one of the 'wh' word symbols to help focus the child's attention e.g. 'who is eating?' and show the 'who' symbol, or 'where is Spot hiding' and show the 'where' symbol. Help the child with model answers if needed. E.g. 'Look Spot is hiding here...under the rug.' | Shared enjoyment of a book Use simple language Reward all attempts to retell a story Provide a model answer if the child is struggling. |
| Familiar stories A 'wh' word retell sheet A familiar book |
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