Little Daisy – Project Rationale
 Many children enter school without a background of story
telling.
 Children with poor speaking and listening skills may have no
‘story to tell’. This project aims to give these children a story
to tell.
 Oral story learning strengthens memory.
 Oral story learning provides children with a script to adapt for
their own story telling.
 As the children learn the stories, they internalise the
structures and features of the stories. This moves them away
from the language structures of talking which often features
in the writing of less confident writers.
 The process also internalises the structures of sentences
which is transferred to story writing.
 Emphasising the connective words and phrases in the story
embeds their importance and internalises their use.
 The children get to know a story really well and this increases
confidence and the ability to innovate is enhanced.
 Early writers imitate stories they have heard – read – tell –
write – innovate.
 Good writers tend to be good readers. They have had a rich
experience of story telling in pre-school. Many have already
internalised patterns of stories and sentences before they
come to school.
The Process
Helping children to learn stories
Teacher as teller
Child as listener
Teacher as prompt
Child as co-teller
Teacher as listener
Child as teller
 The teacher/TA teaches the child the story.
 Using actions and emphasis, they begin by telling the story.
 As the days go by, the teacher/TA allows the children to join
in, taking a back seat as the children become competent,
prompting as necessary.
 As the children become familiar with the story, using a story
map supports the children in the sequence of the story.
 The prompts can be removed gradually until the children are
word perfect.
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The use of actions and story maps help as kinesthetic prompts:
Possible actions: (Any will do as long as they are consistent)
Opening hands as if opening a book for ‘Once upon a time’
Arching arms and opening a semi-circle for ‘Early one morning’
(rising sun)
Pointing and lowering finger for ‘So’
Turning hand over like a page for ‘Then’
Moving hand from left to right for ‘Next’
Opening both hands from fists for ‘Soon’
Make appropriate shapes for the basket and each item of food
Make ear shapes on your head with your hands for the mouse
Pull at your whiskers when you are the cat
Rub your tummy when you are hungry
Make a beak with your hand when you are the duck
Open and close your hand when describing juicy cherries
Prayer-hands when you get to the church
Moving on
When the children know the story they can begin to innovate.
Begin with the progression – word to sentence to text.
For example, initially change the animals, then the things in the
basket, then the places. The children can produce their own story
maps. Add sentences to extend the story. A more sophisticated
story may change the incident completely and the story will begin
to change. However, the children will maintain the patterns and
flow of language they have learned from the original story.
Suggested implementation
 Choose a small group who will work on the project over half a
term.
 Decide who will be involved in the project. The TA or the
teacher may be able to develop the project.
 Undertake initial training and discussion.
 Learn the story well, e.g. record onto tape and listen in the car.
 Teach the children the story; use small pockets of time such
as just before lunch, wet playtime, home-time, etc. This may
take two weeks.
 Keep to the pattern of the story.
 Remember to tell it in whole sentences – this will help to
embed the story structure.
 Emphasise the connectives – these will help the children to
internalise the story structure and plan.
 Avoid dominating – by the end you should be saying nothing and
the children should be able to retell the whole of the story.
 Enjoy the sessions!
 When the story is well known, aspects can be changed;
different characters, settings or food.
 It would be useful to gather samples of writing before and
after the project to assess the impact.
We have developed a two-week exemplar plan to show how the
project can be developed after the children have learned the
story. This plan links to the NLS Narrative 2 unit for Year 1.
HAVE FUN!