TEMA 2
ACTIVITIES TO EXPLOIT STORIES IN THE
CLASSROOM.
PLOT, CHARACTERS AND SETTING.
INTRODUCTION
 Stories play a significant role in children´s development as
readers, writers and tellers of tales.
 Opportunities abound in school for children to engage with
powerful fiction, to enter the imaginary worlds presented
and to extend their understanding of the choices writers have
made.
 Narrative elements of the story: characters, plot, theme and
language.
STORY STRUCTURE
 Story structures can be examined, discussed, experienced
and composed in the classroom.
 In order to notice the structure of certain narratives, their
similarity to other tales, children need to enjoy and engage
with well-structures stories.
 Types of stories:





Problem-resolution tales
Journey tales
Cumulative tales
Climatic tales
Retold stories
PROBLEM-RESOLUTION TALES
 Problem-resolution tales
 a clear difficulty at the start of the narrative
 A series of steps to resolve this difficulty
 Resolution of the problem
 THE CAT THAT SCRATCHED and THE DOG THAT DUG by
Jonathan Long
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZp4YZC9_Tg
 THE OWL WHO WAS AFRAID OF THE DARK by Jill Tomlinson


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCMRQbGNXzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGh0KSeY1o4
 THE CAT THAT SCRATCHED and THE DOG THAT DUG by
Jonathan Long

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZp4YZC9_Tg
 'There once was a cat with a terrible itch. She had a flea in her fur which was
making her twitch.'
 The cat tries everything possible to get rid of the flea but every attempt
ends with the lines: 'ha ha ha' came a voice, all tiny and teasy. ' To get rid
of me won't be nearly that easy.'
In the end it is a lion who solves the problem and the cat realises she
should have trusted her family to help her in the first place.
THE CAT THAT
SCRATCHEDby Jonathon Long
illustrated by Korky Paul
ISBN (PB) 0099353717
Red Fox
ISBN (HB) 0370318943
Reading Age: 6+
Interest level: 4-8
THE OWL WHO WAS AFRAID OF THE DARK by Jill Tomlinson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCMRQbGNXzo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGh0KSeY1o4
Plop, the Baby Barn Owl, is like every Barn Owl there ever was, except for one thing–he is
afraid of the dark. "Dark is nasty" he says and so he won't go hunting with his parents.
Mrs. Barn Owl sends him down from his nest-hole to ask about the dark and he meets a
little boy waiting for the fireworks to begin, an old lady, a scout out camping, a girl who
tells him about Father Christmas, a man with a telescope, and a black cat who takes him
exploring. He realizes that through these encounters that dark is super after all.
Age Range: 5 to 11
JOURNEY TALES
 Journey tales
 Involve the main character in meeting a series of people,
animals or places on his journey.
 Sometimes he returns home, and in other stories he remains in
the new setting.
 THE HOUSE CAT by Helen Cooper
 SLEEPING NANNA by Kevin Crossley-Holland
 LITTLE RIVER TURTLE traditional tales
 THE RAINBOW BEAR by Michael Morpurgo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrfSsFRlwAY
THE RAINBOW BEAR by Michael Morpurgo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrfSsFRlwAY
"Rainbow! Rainbow over my wild white wilderness. Beautiful and bright he was, more
wonderful than anything I had ever seen before. I knew at once I had to catch a rainbow and
make him mine. So I went after him. I went hunting for a rainbow." Snow Bear is so
enchanted by the sight of a brilliant rainbow that he longs to soak up its colors for
himself. But when his wish is granted, it brings great danger and sadness to his life.
To save himself, he must become an ordinary snow bear once more—but how? It is
a kind little boy who shows him the way.
CUMULATIVE TALES
 Cumulative tales
 Include a series of events or the introduction of characters at
regular intervals as the narrative grows cumulatively.
 THE TAILOR’S BUTTON a traditional tale
 THE ENORMOUS TURNIP a traditional tale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysPxSHHE8Lg
 THE WAS AN OLD WOMAN WHO SWALLOED A SKY a traditional
tale
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXQPD6OcugY
THE WAS AN OLD WOMAN WHO SWALLOED A SKY a
traditional tale
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXQPD6OcugY
Traditional American Story/Song
THERE WAS AN OLD LADY
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
I guess she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider
That wiggled and jiggled and tickled insider her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
I guess she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird.
How absurd!
To swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wiggled and jiggled and tickled insider her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
I guess she'll die.(Continue verses)
Cat . . . Imagine that!
She swallowed a cat.
Dog . . . What a hog!
She swallowed a dog.
Goat . . .
She opened her throat and in
walked a goat.
Cow . . .
I don't know how she swallowed
that cow.
There was an old lady, she
swallowed a horse. She died of
course!
THE ENORMOUS TURNIP a traditional tale
A re-telling of the traditional tale. 'One day, the farmer planted a turnip seed...The
sun shone and the rain fell, and under the ground the little seed began to grow...It
grew...and it grew...and it GREW!'
CLIMATIC TALES
 Climatic tales
 The narrative builds to a marked crescendo and often explosive
climax after which characters may return home or the tale
ends.
 A VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkYmvxP0AJI
 GIANT by Juliet Snape
 THE RASCALLY CAKE by Jeanne Willis
 ANGUS RIDES THE GOODS TRAIN by Alan Durnat
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQIyiYMyvpA

 LITTLE TIM AND THE BRAVE SEA CAPTAIN by Edwar Ardizzone
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AXmfBXjLBk
A VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle
 This Eric Carle's classic story begins one sunny Sunday, when the
caterpillar was hatched out of a tiny egg. He was very hungry. On
Monday, he ate through one apple; on Tuesday, he ate through three
plums--and still he was hungry. Strikingly bold, colorful pictures and a
simple text in large, clear type tell the story of a hungry little caterpillar's
progress through an amazing variety and quantity of foods. Full at last, he
made a cocoon around himself and went to sleep, to wake up a few weeks
later wonderfully transformed into a butterfly!
The Rascally Cake by Jeanne Willis
The ghastly Mr Skumskins O'Parsley's favourite dishes include wormcast
butties, squashed tadpoles on toast and bogey burgers. O'Parsley decides one
day to bake an extra special cake, with more revolting ingredients than you
can possibly imagine. However, when the cake decides to eat HIM, he realises
it is time to mend his ways.
"A jug of spit, some garden snails,
The clippings from his finger nails.
In went a tramp's sock! In went the fleas!
In went the scabs from a schoolboy's knees!
In went a cowpat! In went mud!
In went the blubber, the bones and the
blood!"
Angus Rides the Goods Train by Alan Durnat
A thought-provoking tale about a boy who realises he can help
change the world.
When Angus boards the goods train, laden with milk, honey, and rice, he's
full of excitement as the driver speeds across land and sea. But why won't the
train stop for those who are hungry and thirsty? What can Angus do?
Age Range: 5 - 8 years
RETOLD STORIES
- Old stories told in a new way
-THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS by Jon Scieszka
-THE SNOWWHITE IN NEW YORK by Fiona French
-THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND A BIG BAD PIG by Eugene
Trivizas
-PAPER BAG PRINCESS by Robert Munsh
-THE GREAT NIGHT by Chris Adrian
-A WOLF AT THE DOOR AND OTHER RETOLD FAIRY TALES
by Terry Windling
THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS by Jon Scieszka
In this hysterical and clever fracture fairy tale picture book that twists point of view
and perspective, young readers will finally hear the other side of the story of “The
Three Little Pigs.”
“In this humorous story, Alexander T. Wolf tells his own outlandish
version of what really happens during his encounter with the three
pigs…. Smith's simplistic and wacky illustrations add to the effectiveness
of this fractured fairy tale.”
—Children’s Literature
THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS by Jon Scieszka
The wolf is trying to set the story straight of how he came to be 'big and bad'. It's the story
of the 3 little pigs from the perspective of Alexander T. Wolf. At the beginning of the book
he plans a cake for his grandmother's birthday. He checks in his cabinet for sugar, but finds
nothing. He has a cold but he goes to ask his neighbors, the pigs, for some sugar. The end
result is two ham dinners, Mr. Wolf in jail and his poor sweet granny gets no birthday cake
NARRATION:
http://www.ricks-bricks.com/wolfside.htm
DRAMA VERSION:
http://www.timelessteacherstuff.com/readerstheater/TruePigs.html
YOUTUBE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m75aEhm-BYw
THE SNOWWHITE IN NEW YORK by
Fiona French
•An original twist on the
classic tale of Snow White
•Features beautiful art deco
illustrations and dazzling
pictures
•The story pulsates with the
rhythm and vibrancy of the
Jazz Age
•Winner of the Kate
Greenaway Medal
This book is intended for interest
age: 7+
THE SNOWWHITE IN NEW YORK by
Fiona French
This is the tale of Snow White, transposed to New York in the 1920s. Snow
White's wicked stepmother uses her position of influence in the city's
underworld to contract the killing of Snow White. But the hired gun cannot
shoot Snow White and abandons her instead to wander the streets. She
stumbles into a club where the seven jazz-men take pity on her and she joins
their band. A reporter who hears her sing propels her into the headlines . . .
but her fame puts her once again in the sights of her evil stepmother. She is
poisoned with a cocktail cherry. A shocked city mourns the death of the
beautiful and talented Snow White but as her coffin is carried up the church
steps by the grief-stricken jazz-men, Snow White's eyes open and her gaze is
met by the reporter. They fall in love and live happily ever after.
THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND A BIG BAD PIG by Eugene
Trivizas
When it comes time for the three little wolves to go
out into the world and build themselves a house, their
mother warns them to beware the big bad pig. But
the little wolves' increasingly sturdy dwellings are no
match for the persistent porker, who has more up his
sleeve than huffing and puffing. It takes a chance
encounter with a flamingo pushing a wheelbarrow
full of flowers to provide a surprising and satisfying
solution to the little wolves' housing crisis.Eugene
Trivizas's hilarious text and Helen Oxenbury's
enchanting watercolors have made this delightfully
skewed version of the traditional tale a contemporary
classic.
Ages: from 5 to 10
PAPER BAG PRINCESS by Robert
Munsh
The Paper Bag Princess has captured the hearts of
readers young and old all around the world. The
New York Times called it ""one of the best
children's books ever written"" and it has
appeared countless times on ""best books"" lists.
The story reverses the ""princess and dragon""
folklore stereotype and celebrates feisty females
everywhere, making it a firm favourite with
female readers of all ages, as well as women's
groups, teachers and librarians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIPrb-sA6Uo
One of the best princess stories ever told, Elizabeth turns the princess stereotype on its
head, empowering young girls to be true to themselves.--Elizabeth Shaffer"BC Parent"
(10/01/2005)
THE GREAT NIGHT by Chris Adrian
A brilliant and mesmerizing retelling of Shakespeare’s
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
On Midsummer Eve 2008, three people, each on the
run from a failed relationship, become trapped in San
Francisco’s Buena Vista Park, the secret home of Titania,
Oberon, and their court. On this night, something
awful is happening in the faerie kingdom: in a fit of
sadness over the end of her marriage, which broke up in
the wake of the death of her adopted son, Titania has set
loose an ancient menace, and the chaos that ensues will
threaten the lives of immortals and mortals alike.
Selected by The NewYorker as one the best young writers
in America, Adrian has created a singularly playful,
heartbreaking, and humorous novel—a story that charts
the borders between reality and dreams, love and
magic, and mortality and immortality.
A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales by Ellen
Datlow
Did you ever wonder what
happened to the seven dwarfs after
Snow White ditched them, or what
life was like for the giant in "Jack
and the Beanstalk?" Can you
imagine a wicked stepsister who
really gets what she deserves, and a
Cinderella who isn't dainty, but
actually rather plump? Then this is
the book for you.
Prepare to see fairy tales from a
completely new angle!
http://books.google.es/books?id=gaAjCiJses8C&print
sec=frontcover&hl=es&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&c
ad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
All the fairy tales you've heard over and over again are revisted
here, made new by award-winning fantasy and science fiction
authors: Garth Nix tells a twisted new version of "Hansel and
Gretel," Nancy Farmer shows us what life was like for the
princess's magical horse, Gregory Maguire provides a side of
the seven dwarfs you've never seen, and Neil Gaiman lays out
the "Instructions" that fairy tales should have taught you. In all,
thirteen new stories are born from old fairy tales, some
disturbing and dark, others strange and funny, but each offering
something original and unexpected -- and as surprising as a
wolf at the door.
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
 The activities in this chapter seek to bring narrative
structures to life, to help children notice the construction of
the plot and to identify the key incidents.
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
 ACTIVITY 1: ZIPPED BOOKS
 This activity encourages kids to generate their own stories based
on the visuals on picture books covers.
 1. Select 10-15 quality picture books that are unknown to the children.
 2. Explain that these books are zipped up tight so they cannot be opened.
 3. Each group will work with one book.
 4. Each group should create the story of their zipped book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz05diaKZmk
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
 ACTIVITY 2. STORY PLATES
 This activity provides children with an imaginative visual
approach that will help them record the main events and
sequence key incidents.
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
 Show the children a pattern plate and examine it to identify the
images.
 Ask the class to select a traditional tale on which they can base
their own plate.
 Share different ways the children have tacked this presentation.
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
 ACTIVITY 3: STORY MOUNTAIN
 This activity uses the varied shapes and sizes of a mountain
range to act as a visual representation of a story structure.
 Tell a highly structures story (Little River Turtle).
 Introduce the idea of the narrative having a certain shape.
 Record the key events of the tale, the series of events in the middle of a
rise, etc.
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
 ACTIVITY 4: CUMULATIVE STORY GRAPHS
 This activity suits cumulative tales in which events or characters
are repeatedly added to the unfolding narrative until an often
explosive climax.
1. Read a cumulative story.
2. Discuss the accumulating characters
or events.
3. Retell the first part of the story , then
stop and draw the first part of the
cumulative graph.
4. Continue the story adding more
picture to the graph.
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
 ACTIVITY 5: STORY MAPS
 This activity may be used to help children to understand and
record the main events.
1. Read the story together and
build up a map showing all of
the key incidents of the story.
2. When the map is complete,
retell the story together as a
class.
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
 ACTIVITY 6: FREEZE-FRAMERS
 The focus of this activity is on representing the key events ina
short story as a series of still images using the drama
techniques of freeze/frame.
 1. Re-read a well-known short story.
 2. Invite the pairs or groups to form themselves into freeze-
frames to represent different episodes.
ACTIVITIES: THE PLOT
 ACTIVITY 7: COMIC-STRIP CAPERS
 The activity draws attention to story structure within the
medium of comics.
2. CHARCATERISATION
 Characterization is one of the most influential ingredients of
narrative since the characters co-create the story.
 The type of characters who inhabit the story will determine
they ways events unfolds.
2. CHARCATERISATION
 ACTIVITY 1: THE NAME GAME
 This activity helps kids to understand connections between
themes and characters’ names.
 1. Gather a collection of familiar books with easily recognizable
characters.
 2. Help the children to categorise the names into: sweet, funny, nasty,
scary, silly, beautiful, etc.
 Discuss how authors use names to describe their characters.
 Form a collection of names in a basket. Kids take one at random and
describe what this person might be.
2. CHARCATERISATION
 ACTIVITY 2: WHAT ARE THEY SAYING
 This activity involves children in adopting roles and improvising.
 1. Select a tense moment from a text to explore.
 2. Invite the children in pairs to take up character roles and improvise the
conversation.
 3. Ask pair to combine into groups of four, encouraging those in similar
roles to work together.
 4. Improvise the dialogue with the whole class.
2. CHARCATERISATION
 ACTIVITY 3:INTERIOR MONOLOGUES
 Children voice the private thoughts of a story character at
particularly tense moments of the story.
 This activity can be organised through everyone simultaneously
speaking the character’s thoughts aloud, or a chair can be used
to symbolize the character and children are invited to step
forward and speak out.
2. CHARCATERISATION
 ACTIVITY 4: EMOTIONAL GRAPH
 This activity explores a character’s feelings and emotional
stance within a narrative.
 1. Select a book the children already know.
 2. Focus on the main character and discuss how this person feels at a
particular moment.
 Ask the children to adopt positions and expressions that reveal his/her
emotional state.
2. CHARCATERISATION
 ACTIVITY 5:MY LIFE STORY
 Children take part in role-play around characters in a class
reading a book.
 1. The activity is based on the TV show THIS IS YOUR LIFE.
In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them
through their life in front of an audience, including special guest
appearances by colleagues, friends and family.
 2. Decide which character will be the focus of the show. Then list the
other characters. Decide in what order they will appear.

2. CHARCATERISATION
 ACTIVITY 6: CHARCATERS’ ROOMS
 The purpose of this activity is to help children to develop a full
sense of the characters they include in their stories and to learn
more than one way in which characterisation can be shown.
 THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m75aEhm-BYw
“In this humorous story, Alexander T. Wolf
tells his own outlandish version of what
really happens during his encounter with
the three pigs…. Smith's simplistic and
wacky illustrations add to the
effectiveness of this fractured fairy tale.”
2. CHARCATERISATION
 1. Read the story and present the possibility that the character
of the wolf may have been misjudged.
 2. Talk about where clues about the wolf’s personality may exist
(his house).
 3. Design his bedroom providing clues that a reader could
determine his innocence or guilt.
3. STORY SETTINGS
 Children experience a very visual world and quickly learn to
make sense of images around them. This early learning at
home, combined with their alertness to detail in images of all
kinds creates a useful framework for children's’ encounters
with fiction.
3. STORY SETTINGS
 ACTIVTY ONE: LITERATURE VENNS
 The activity encourages children to focus on the importance of
setting in the development of story writing by asking them to
explore the difference setting makes.
 They use simple form of Venn diagrams to compare different
versions of one story that have clear differences in settings.
3. STORY SETTINGS
THE SNOWWHITE IN NEW YORK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVXkcaZIz6Y
1. Red the story of Snow White in York. Ask children to
record the differences between this version and the
others they know.
2. Construct the Venn diagram.
3. STORY SETTINGS
 ACTIVITY 2: GEOGRAPHICAL MAPS
 This activity encourages kids to imagine the geographical
settings in stories.
 Ask the kids to imagine a map of where the action takes place.
 Show some examples .
3. STORY SETTINGS
 ACTIVITY 3:COMPARE AND CONTRAST
 This activity aims to help kids compare how different
vocabulary works for different settings. Children learn to
understand and read pictures.
 Find to contrasting images of settings (rural and urban scene).
 Ask children to tell you what they perceive from each of the picture in
realation to their sense.
3. STORY SETTINGS
 ACTIVITY 4:PREDICTIONS AND PARALLELS
 Children speculate on the setting of a story by focusing on the
title and information they can get from the cover.
3. STORY SETTINGS
 ACTIVITY 5:BRINGING THE SETTING TO LIFE
 This activity aims to enrich children’s understanding of setting
through improvisational involvement and reflection.
 They are involved initially in drawing, then re-enacting a key
scene or place.
4. THEME AND LANGUAGE
 Activity 1: MONUMENTS
 The activity aims to engage kids in representing the theme of a
story in the form of a group monument or mimed sculpture.
4. THEME AND LANGUAGE
 Activity 2: RE-TITLE THE TALE
 The purpose of this activity is to help children understand how
title can suggest the content of the book and indicate its tone
and genre.
 Children select a text that they know well.
 They experiment with their own title for the book.
4. THEME AND LANGUAGE
 Activity 3: REPRESENT THE STORY
 Children consolidate their understanding of the key elements
that comprise the essence and meaning of a story.
 Children read the story and in groups represent it on A3 paper, either
through the use of a single picture, or by a number of pictures.
4. THEME AND LANGUAGE
 Activity 4: QUOTE AND COMMENT
 This activity encourages children to use their reading journals
effectively: record, review and comment texts.
 1. Ask the kids to select an extract from the text.
 2. Focus on a particular quote form the text and record it on the board.
Explain to the children why you chose this phrase.
 3. Now encourage kids to do the same with their texts.
4. THEME AND LANGUAGE
 Activity 5: WORD WALL
 This activity develop their knowledge about the language.
 Create a word wall which offers bricks for children to record
words or phrases from the story.
PUZZLING
RHYTHMIC
STRANGE
AMUSING
REPEATED
SCARY
POETIC
SAD
REPEATED
AUTHORS
 KORKY PAUL
 http://www.korkypaul.com/awa.html
 Jill Tomlinson

http://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/author/1018/Jill-Tomlinson.html
 Michael Morpurgo

http://michaelmorpurgo.com/all-books
 Children Nursery Rhymes

http://www.anglik.net/rhymes.htm
 Alan Durant

http://www.alandurant.co.uk/mybooks.html
 Jane Willis

http://jeannewillis.com/
 Eric Carle

http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html
 Robert Munsh
 http://robertmunsch.com/book/the-paper-bag-princess#
TEACHING IDEAS
 http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/library/books/theowlwhowa
safraidofthedark.htm