Descriptosaurus Story Writing Language in Action for Ages 5–9

Descriptosaurus Story Writing provides a resource for younger pupils that will not only expand their descriptive vocabulary but also provide them with models that demonstrate ‘language in action,’ in a genre that is popular and familiar to children aged 5–9. Providing the essential building blocks to create a narrative text, alongside contexualised banks of vocabulary, phrases and sentence types, this book is designed to provide young pupils with the opportunity to see how a text is constructed using words, phrases and sentences. This exciting new resource: Provides vocabulary for setting, character, ‘show not tell’ and sensory descriptions with clearly defined progression Demonstrates how to use this vocabulary in different contexts using set sentence structures Offers four model narratives written in different styles and level of difficulty Presents modelled sentences with exercises so that pupils can expand their vocabulary Enables young pupils to develop their understanding of how sentences are constructed and become more confident about using these skills in their own story writing This is an ideal resource to dramatically improve children’s knowledge and understanding of language, grammar and punctuation for all KS1 and KS2 primary English teachers, literacy coordinators and parents. This easily accessible guide will also be helpful for teachers to use in preparation for Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG) alongside a creative writing task.

Introduction How to use this book Part 1: Settings: Landscapes 1 Forests and woods 2 Hills and mountains 3 Seas and oceans 4 Islands and beaches 5 Caves 6 Modern street 7 Sounds 8 Smells 9 Touch 10 Sun 11 Wind 12 Rain 13 Thunder and lightning Part 2: Characters 14 Characters’ appearance 15 Characters (heroes) – personality 16 Characters (heroes) – animals 17 Characters (villains) – personality 18 Characters (villains) – animals 19 Defeating a villain 20 Dialogue Part 3: Resources for ‘Language in action’ 21 ‘The Ninjabread Girl’ 22 Modelled sentences 23 Innovating sentences model 24 Coordination and subordination 25 ‘Captain Moody and his pirate crew’ 26 Modelled sentences 27 Innovating sentences model 28 Coordination and subordination 29 ‘Ruby Red’ 30 Modelled sentences 31 Innovating sentences model 32 Coordination and subordination 33 ‘Jack and the Crystal Fang’ 34 Modelled sentences 35 Innovating sentences model 36 Coordination and subordination Part 4: ‘Language in action’ templates Plot outline Scene outline Collecting descriptive words and phrases Sentence parts and structure Stretching a sentence Experimenting with vocabulary and sentences

Alison Wilcox is a Law and Economics graduate from Cardiff University, who worked as a primary-school teacher for many years. Whilst teaching, she developed Descriptosaurus to scaffold and improve children’s creative writing, with dramatic results, and she made the decision to give up full-time teaching to work on the Descriptosaurus series. To keep up to date with current practices in schools, Alison undertakes brief teaching assignments, works with schools to develop new resources and conducts workshops for schools and teaching alliances. Adam Bushnell was a primary-school teacher and is now a published author of both fiction and academia. He has had fifteen books published for children and six books published for teachers on the teaching of writing. He works as a ‘visiting author’ in the UK and internationally, delivering writing workshops for primary school aged children. He also offers CPD (Continuing Professional Development) for schools and delivers keynote speeches at conferences about reading and writing in education.