Cracking Creative Writing contains 100+ tried and tested activities
which will inspire Key Stage 2 children to write creatively and be
in charge of their own creative writing process.
Each sheet begins with a worked example showing the kind of finished
piece being aimed at. Then step-by-step instructions explain what young
writers need to do to create their own piece of writing that they can be
proud of. The aim throughout is for the writer to be independent and in
charge of their own writing, not the other way round.
The activities take between 30 and 60 minutes each to complete and cover
a great range of writing-related features and terms as well as some
creative routes into the trickier aspects of the National Curriculum
grammar requirements.
The ideas here cover a great range of writing-related features and terms
as well as some creative routes into those trickier aspects of English
grammar and punctuation. Some are straightforward, others more
demanding. Rather than using decontextualized exercises, these
activities invite young writers to explore the language. The children's
own creative writing becomes the context for their playing with, and
thus learning about, the language - how it works, its rules, its
possibilities - and crucially therefore, what they can do with it. These
are not 'free' writing activities; each has its specific challenges,
constraints and formal game plan. If a child could benefit from using,
say, a dictionary or thesaurus for a particular idea, then they are told
this at the outset.
'Writing is the greatest human invention.' - Professor Brian Cox
Writing matters. It matters to teachers, and it certainly matters to
children - they want to be able to do it, and be good at it. As
teachers, we want children to write successfully and also enjoy the
activity itself. Perhaps even find it fun.
