Acknowledgements:
Research for this document included the following:
Education Dept Western Australia; First Steps Reading (Rigby Heinemann) 1997
Phenix, Jo; The Reading Teacher’s Handbook (Folens) 2000
Wray, David & Lewis, Maureen Extending Literacy, children reading and writing non-fiction
(Routledge) 1997
Education Bradford
Primary Literacy Team
Remodelling fiction texts to develop comprehension strategies
 Make into caption books or film storyboard
 Make into concertina book – one event per page
 Re-order the story or information
 Invent your own ending – write or record on tape
 Re-tell the story using small models or puppets
 Paint a picture – particularly useful for re-interpreting poems
 Perform the story as a play in “readers’ theatre”
 Draw a flow chart or time line to describe the events or the
changing settings of the story
 Draw a “feeling graph” to show how the character’s feelings
change throughout the story:
Start of the story
Very scared
End of the story
Not at all scared
 Write a blurb or advertising poster to promote the book
 In pairs, improvise a telephone conversation to relate the
story, prompting each other with questions and clarifications
 Write a newspaper report of the events of the story
 Similarly write the script for a television or radio news report
 Write in the role of one of the characters in the text. (For
drama techniques and improvisations, see information in
Speaking, Listening & Learning materials from NLS)
 Write a letter or post card in role to describe what happened
after the story ended.
 Show the general structure of a story theme from a particular
story e.g. “Where the Wild Things Are” - Maurice Sendack
[Picture Lions]
Sequence of events in text
 Max makes mischief in his wolf suit.
 His mother sends him to bed with no
supper
 A forest grew in Max’s room and a boat
appeared on a river.
 Max sails to where the wild things are
and things look very frightening.
 Max tames the wild things by staring
into their eyes without blinking.
 Max is made king of the wild things and
they have a party.
 Max begins to miss home.
 Despite the entreaties of the wild things,
Max sails home.
General theme
 Someone does something wrong.
 They are punished.


When he returns to his room, Max finds
everything as it should be. His supper is
waiting for him and it is still hot.






It appears that there are some
advantages in this punishment.
A new danger appears.
The danger is overcome by the skill
or cunning of the main character.
The character is honoured for this
achievement.
The character realises his faults.
The character decides to return to the
scene of the original crime to face the
consequences.
On returning, the character finds sure
evidence that the original crime has
been forgiven.
Use the general theme to write variations on the theme without the
constraints of the original characterisation and setting
 Find whether books by the same author use the same themes
or whether there are different similarities in their work
 Find other stories with similar plots and identify one or more
of the eight main story themes:
The eight plots or story lines – is there any such thing as an original story?
1. Cinderella – rags to riches – virtue is recognised in the end
2. Achilles – there is a fatal flaw in what at first appears perfect
3. Faust – there is a debt to be paid from which no escape is possible
4. Tristan and Isolde – triangle 2 men + 1 woman or 2 women + 1 man
5. Circe – the spider and the fly – a cunning trap
6. Romeo and Juliet – lovers facing difficult circumstances
7. Orpheus – the gift that is taken back because it is not appreciated
8. David and Goliath – the hero or indomitable spirit –cunning is greater
than strength
 Use stories with parallel plots (sometimes only observed in
pictures e.g. “Rosie’s Walk” Pat Hutchins [Red Fox] ) and retell
the sub plot e.g. in “Not Now Bernard” David McKee [Red Fox]
the story could be told by the mother who describes her daily
tasks and Bernard’s constant interruptions.
 Write a letter to the author asking questions about the book.
The questions can be focussed on the text e.g. the characters’
motivations or they can be directed at the author. Make sure
you send the letters (usually via the publisher) and expect a
reply.
 Arrange for authors to visit. (This can be organised through
groups of schools to ease financial pressure.) Devise questions
or organise a debate to which the author can respond.
 Create a greeting card from one character to another (see
“The Jolly Postman” J&A Ahlberg [Viking Kestrel]). Explain why
it was sent and what the recipient’s reaction would be (orally or
in writing)
 Design a gift box for a character in the text. Design the
covering with appropriate graphics, then describe the contents
and the reasons for your choice. This could also be designed as
if the gift were from another character.
 Construct a map of the story and use this to retell - orally or in
writing – the sequence of the story. Notes and captions can be
added
 


  
Leave
home on
bike
Go into
woods
Dad picks me up
in car
Stop to pick flowers


Get lost. Ask at house.
They phone home.

Home safe
 In role, organise a debate between the characters in the story.
For example from “The Butterfly Lion” Michael Morpurgo
[Collins] a group of children could represent the interested
parties in Michael’s case (- his parents, the head teacher, the
history teacher, Millie, Michael’s friend + any other characters
who are not represented in the novel, but whom the children
may feel could have a part). They could debate whether
Michael should be punished when he returns from his escape.
(See NLS Speaking, Listening & Learning materials for details
on organising debates)
 Develop a board game – particularly suitable for stories with
journey or quest themes e.g. “Firework Maker’s Daughter”
Philip Pullman [Corgi]. See also non-fiction text restructuring
ideas.
 Change the text type, e.g. rewrite the narrative as recount,
story as a poem, instructions as recount etc.
 Change the setting of a story then investigate whether the
setting affects the plot or characterisation
 Compose a soundtrack to accompany parts of the text. This
could be performed by children using readers’ theatre
techniques for the text and others using instruments or voices
as the soundtrack.
 Relate the theme of the story to children’s own experiences.
For example record a real occasion when the children have lost
something special after reading about Dave losing Dogger
(“Dogger” Shirley Hughes [Red Fox]).
 Make reading journals active and useful resources, not mere
records of books read. See Lancashire Literacy Team’s journals
on website: www.lancsngfl.ac.uk for examples of focussed, NLS
objective-related activities to include in journals.
The lists of texts read should be kept separately. This should
record the start and finish date and serve as a record for
assessment purposes
The journal should be a personal record of responses to various
aspects of literature, although the tasks may be set by the
teacher.
Some generic ideas for entries:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Personal responses to texts – giving reasons
Drawings of settings or characters
Drawings of a plan of the journey that takes place
Predictions about the story at various points throughout the reading
Lists of interesting or unusual words and their definitions
Sentence, chapter or story openers that have interested you
Comparisons between books by the same author
Comparisons between books on the same theme but by different authors
Suggestions of how you would change the story if you were the author
Examples of phrases/poems expressing imagery that you particularly like
Restructuring non-fiction texts to develop comprehension
In order to represent information in a different format, readers must process
the information i.e. work at understanding it and be able to draw conclusions
from their research. Here are a few examples of the ways in which non-fiction
texts can be restructured
 KWL charts – it is helpful to ensure that pupils begin to activate
their prior knowledge before investigating any non-fiction texts.
This also orientates children towards the topic and the learning is
more focussed.
 QUADS grids are similar but allow more detail and help the
children to direct themselves to resources for finding information
Questions
Answer
Details
Source
This begins to break the answer to the questions into the short
answer, the one the children may originally offer, and the long
answer with the details discovered from the research. By adding
the source of the knowledge, the child offers the opportunity to
add to the knowledge and to allow others to confirm findings.
 Comparison charts – a great deal of information easily presented
Name of plant
onion
carrot
cucumber
tomato.
Fruit or
vegetable
vegetable
vegetable
fruit
fruit
 Family trees – narratives about Greek Gods, for example, can be
represented as a family tree to indicate an understanding of the
relationships.
 Pie charts can indicate comparisons.
 Life cycle wheels and time lines show sequences of events.
 Sequential charts devised by the children can show understanding
of the sequence of events without the constraint of a given
framework. This can aid assessment both of and by the children.
 Mind maps, semantic maps or concept maps (all variations on a
theme where similar concepts are grouped together around a
central theme). These are particularly useful for visual learners as
it is a graphic representation of the information gathered.
It is useful for children to assess their own learning by drawing a
concept map before studying a topic or reading a text then, using a
different coloured pen, adding what they now know to this at the
end
 Lists – this is often the first form of recording that young children
devise for themselves and should be valued.
 Graphs – the labelling of the axes will be of particular significance
when assessing comprehension.
 Diagrams - representing narrative in diagram format is again
helpful to visual learners and those for whom writing is a challenge.
 Maps to indicate journeys of explorers, describe routes between
destinations, show comparisons between climates, describe the
development of civilisation etc.
 Flow charts indicating relationships between facts or the method
of a procedure.
 Summarise facts into headings – reframe headings into questions
to focus research.
 Fact files - as in information boxes in certain non-fiction texts.
 “Trivial Pursuit” cards with matching questions and answers.
 Board games – these can be designed to encourage consolidation of
factual knowledge or to indicate a procedure
 Grids, pictograms, Venn diagrams – these are all ways in which a
great deal of information can be exchanged with a minimum of
writing e.g.
Name of dinosaur
Type of food
Length of body
Habitat
Enemies
Genre exchange
This is where one written genre is transposed into another. It is more commonly
used in fiction contexts but can be a useful way of developing comprehension. By
re-ordering knowledge into a different genre or text type, the children are
forced away from direct copying and into an exposition which shows they have
really understood the topic. Here are some examples of the ways in which
different text types can be used to present comprehension of non-fiction texts.
 Advertisements – children could design an advert for sailors to
join James Cook on his second voyage to New Zealand. By
describing what may lay in store for the volunteers, children
can demonstrate their comprehension of Cook’s discoveries.
Advertisements for rail tickets on Stephenson’s locomotive
could include many facts about the invention.
Holidays to the countries studied in Geography could be
advertised, including all the features that have been learned
After a design project, the finished product could be
advertised so that the details of its design and construction
may be described
 Using advertisements in this way will also bring in discussions
about fact and opinion or truth and exaggeration. This is a
useful tool in making judgements about the depth of a child’s
understanding of a particular topic.
 Recipe – Recipes for embalming mummies could be written. A
scientific experiment could be written up in the form of a
recipe, although there may be PSHCE issues here and the
suitability of the genre needs to be considered. Such a genre
exchange will be most successfully used as a parody.
 Fax, e-mail or text message – the literary style of these genres
demands that the presentation will be short and succinct. It is
a good way of showing condensed versions of areas of
knowledge. These formats are useful for presenting summaries
of arguments.
 Newspaper/ radio/ television reports. Historical events are
particularly suited to these genres.
 Diary entries – these can be based on studies of real diaries
such as Pepys or Ann Frank, or they can be imagined entries by
historical figures. Children can put themselves in the role of
the scientist explaining the investigation in a personal journal
or as a geographer describing the landscape etc.
 Eye-witness accounts – these are similar to above and allow
children to put themselves into the role of the protagonist –
scientist, geographer, musician, historical figure etc.
 Letters – letters home or to other historical figures could
describe an historical event
 Playscript – the characters in the play could represent any
topic. This could also be a format for presenting arguments for
and against a particular event.
 Poem – taking the model of “The Iliad” or “The Charge of the
Light Brigade”, sieges and battles can be represented in
descriptive imagery or even metaphor.