Story Beginnings
Communicating infomation using text

To use ICT appropriately to communicate ideas through text (ICT).
To investigate changing font colour, size and style for emphasis and effect (ICT).
To save work with support (ICT).
To understand that changes can be made to saved work at a later date (ICT).
To re-read own writing for sense and punctuation (Literacy).

Activity Description
The activity provided an opportunity for the children to demonstrate the skills that they had developed over a six-week block of work, which focused on features of word processed text.

The activity was introduced as part of a shared writing session in the Literacy Hour, focusing on story beginnings. A laptop and large monitor were used. The children were shown how to save their work. As a class, they discussed how their work could be amended later.

In the following ICT session, the class looked at the story beginning and discussed how it could be made more 'interesting' and 'real'. Pupils made suggestions and the text was changed, reinforcing understanding of formatting the font for emphasis and effect. The children worked in pairs to write sentences about the Gruffalo, or a story beginning, with appropriate support.

Pupils printed or saved their work, which was then shared with the class, comparing their descriptions or story beginnings to the book. Where the children had saved their work, changes were made following the discussion. A small group of children completed a computer diary for the activity.

Sample 1: Anna and Lewis

Level 1, but showing aspects of Level 2

present and share ideas using text, images and sounds

produce sentences that communicate meaning (with some support)

Lewis and Anna talked confidently about their activity; they entered text into the word processor confidently. They identified the space bar to create spaces between words, and the enter/return key to create a line break. They used the appropriate vocabulary. Lewis and Anna were able to identify words in the text which could be changed. They made suggestions as to what these should look like, to make '... the sentences look exciting'. They required some support to change the font, scrolling through the lists after identifying the style on a font list.

They were able to change the size and colour of the words independently, and double clicked with the mouse to highlight words confidently. They were pleased with the way their work looked on the screen, and printed independently.

Literacy: re-read writing for sense and punctuation; read aloud with growing use of intonation.

To raise levels of attainment:

suggest and incorporate different forms of presentation

save and amend their work where appropriate

Sample 2: Joseph and Siani

Level 2

present and share ideas using text communicating meaning effectively

generate and amend work

Joseph and Siani talked confidently about their activity, using appropriate vocabulary. They opened Talking First Word, entered text into the computer, and were continually reviewing and modifying their work on screen. They changed the font colour, style and size of the text to 'make the writing look real', choosing a different font style where they were not happy with their original choice on the screen. They printed their work when they were happy with what it looked like on screen. They saved the file '...in case it needs changing again'. They opened their file and added a title to their work with support.

Literacy:re-read for sense and punctuation; read aloud with expression and intonation.

To raise levels of attainment

incorporate sounds and images to communicate meaning

save and open work independently

Sample 3: Kayleigh and Annastasija

High Level 2, with aspects of Level 3

generate, develop and organise their work; communicate meaning effectively

generate and amend work

Kayleigh and Annastasija talked confidently about the activity and used appropriate vocabulary. They entered text into the word processor and reviewed and modified their work on screen. They changed the font size, colour and font to communicate meaning, and explained their choices. They saved their work independently. The girls wanted to have a picture of the Gruffalo on the screen, so we discussed different ways of gathering images. Kayleigh drew a picture of the Gruffalo; the image was scanned inserted and resized with support. Kayleigh and Annastasija talked about having different pages for the story beginning, middle and ending, saying that they '...need to be joined up...'.

They completed a computer diary, focusing on what they did, the vocabulary that they used and how they could improve their work.

Literacy:re-read for sense and punctuation; read with confident use of expression and intonation.
To raise levels of attainment:

 present, share and exchange their ideas with others