My own story

What if Kogia met something he had never seen?

ArabicAges 4–520 minutes3 pagesInk-light

Being written

This one is planned but not finished yet. Everything below is what it will contain.

Not drawn yet

I can make up a story and tell it in three pictures.

How the fifteen minutes go

The five steps on this sheet, in the order a child meets them. This is what you will actually be doing, not a description of the method.

1
Wonder
What if Kogia met something he had never seen?
2
Listen
Your grown-up asks three questions and only listens: who? where? what happened?
3
Explore
Draw the beginning in box 1.
4
Share
Tell it to two different people. Notice if it changes.

Print the one that fits today. Same skill, three depths — and on this sheet they differ like this.

Support

Two boxes: beginning and end. The middle is spoken, not drawn.

Fewer items, more pictures, hints included, parent reads the instructions.

Core

Three boxes.

The standard task, recognition, practice and explanation.

Challenge

Give it a title and write the first letter of it yourself.

Open-ended. Explain why, make your own example, use it somewhere new.

The same guide that is printed on the back page, so you can read it before you decide to print anything.

The answers

There are none, and that is the point. If you find yourself wanting to correct the story, that is the sheet working.

If they get stuck

Start it for them with one sentence and stop mid-air: 'Kogia found a door at the bottom of the sea, and…'

Common mistakes

When they finish early

Staple three of these together over three weeks. That is a book they wrote.