Linda Newbery's 2010 novel, Lob, is not only a gift to readers but also to teachers everywhere. The problem of teaching and the difficulty of learning about punctuation is that it is all too quickly whipped out of context and learners are plunged into meaningless, repetitive tasks. This is where a richly crafted book such … Continue reading Lob and the Art of the Hyphen
This week we are going to think about language in a more focused way. We continue to read aloud and have children read for themselves. In doing so they acquire the rhythms and turns of phrase, the vocabulary of a favoured author, the desire to try out a new way of writing. It is also … Continue reading Inside the words
Non-fiction has a terrible reputation in schools. I have to say it has earned it -all that endless, pointless, writing of instructions, the torture of an explanation and the dreariness of a recount or a balanced argument, painstakingly written within the spiky scaffolding of a writing frame; the convoluted excuses - or the, more honest, … Continue reading Non-fiction
Through fiction we develop a body of knowledge about language unlike any other. Developing language through the reading and hearing of fiction gives us a deep understanding of writing through sitting in the opposite seat - that of the reader. A much broader range of language is employed in literature than in spoken language so … Continue reading Fiction
Everybody needs poetry in their lives. And no one more than those of us learning to write. The great thing about poetry is that it is high octane -small but powerful. We can find many ways of filling our classrooms and our days with poems of every variety. We can choose poems that are sturdy … Continue reading Poetry
However broad or narrow it may seem to us as adults, children are rich in their own language. Not just in terms of vocabulary, but also the ways in which they construct language too, for example, saying certain phrases or words in a certain order because that's how a parent or grand-parent says them. It … Continue reading Children’s Language
Talking, writing, reading, listening: these are all ways of making sense of the world. Language is the means by which we make sense of things. The richer our store of language, the greater the possibilities. We know that those who are fluent in more than one language have a greater capacity for thought. It is … Continue reading Language Rich
If you’ve been following our blog for a while then you’ll know that there’s nothing we love more than making books. But why? Yes, we’re both partial to a bit of crafting but it’s more than that – there is pedagogical reasoning behind the making. Firstly, there is an obvious surface value to creating beautiful … Continue reading
Writing is a process of discovery. It is a meaning making activity. Language is dynamic, the means by which we make sense of the world. Through talk, inner speech and writing, language allows us each to construct our image of the world, our understanding of it. And it is an active and engaging activity. That … Continue reading
What’s all the fuss about freewriting? You may have noticed that many of our writing prompts include the use of freewriting. But what is it and why do we think it’s important? Imagine you want to run a marathon. You can’t just turn up on the day and hope for the best, you need to … Continue reading
Writing Box 