TP-14.4

Createmaps featuring key events fromyour class novel to ensure all pupils are on board F EATURES PRACT I CAL ADV I CE www.teachwire.net | 17 Read the chapter containing the passage you are going to study. Ask pupils to read, read some parts yourself, read some all together and ask children to read to each other in pairs. In the section we studied, the main characters and their friends were tricked into going to the aid of an apparently stranded man. It was a trap, however, and they were quickly attacked. As all hope appeared lost, they were rescued by yet more strangers. What would be easy to show in a film is tricky for some pupils to comprehend in print. Discuss what has happened and ensure children understand the key points. Recap events using yesterday’s notes. Discuss where each event took place in relation to different characters, important landmarks and the story’s wider geographical setting. Display yesterday’s sugar paper notes and ask children to work in pairs to plot each event on a blank map, using a number to define each plotpoint. Use examples of event maps from newspapers, such as a map that shows the route of a royal procession or a rescue mission. This enables children to see how one event leads to the next and how characters in turn respond to the actions of others. Children will need to demonstrate high levels of comprehension and decoding during this task. It takes mature thinking to be able to accurately recall and plot multiple characters, comprehend motivation and causality and then be able to show this using just the text as a guide. The children’s maps will show you who really ‘gets’ what has happened in the text and who might need some extra input. As well as looking brilliant, event maps are a great way to ensure that children have understood crucial parts of your class novel. Ask children to create a clear map that shows the characters involved, the terrain around them and their locations in relation to other events. Draw and label key areas and include ‘zoomed in’ boxes (larger-scale depictions of particular parts) to help others clearly see what is occurring. The children can add one or two sentences to explain characters’ direction of travel or what is happening at a particular time. Number these to show the order of events. As a class, recap what happened in the scene, who the key players are, what their roles are and what we know as readers that the characters don’t. Collectively note the key events and their order on a sheet of sugar paper. Ensuring that everyone is confident with what has happened is crucial for the comprehension part of reading. Until then, you can’t begin to infer or deduce why it may have happened. Display the shared writing you have created. Formany children it canbe hard to visualise and reallyunderstand action that takes place over a short amount of timewhen reading. Add innumerous variables – character, setting, equipment orweather, for example – and it canbecome difficult to truly keepupwithwhat is happening at various stages of a key event. To ensure that all children in class are able to followand comprehend these key events, it is important tobreak each stage down and fully discusswhat is happening. I did thiswithmy class to great effectwhen studying a particular passage of BrightstormbyVashti Hardy. The activity, explained below, was spreadover several days. Conclusion Ben King is a Y5 teacher and reading lead. kingintheclassroom.blogspot.com @mrbking1988 DAY DAY DAY BEN K ING DAY