Developing the activity

Class 6 worked in mixed ability groups. Their first task was to analyse the types of books that children in Year 1 were reading. The features of a storybook for younger children were discussed and examples viewed.

Children were given suggested topic areas and themes for the books, linked to work being covered in History and Geography in Year 1.

Draft storyboards were developed collaboratively in the classroom. Once all parties had agreed these, the next phase could begin.

Now, pupils began composing the text directly onto the computer. The children organised themselves, some typing the text, others drawing the illustrations for scanning.

Children decided that individual characters in the stories should always be drawn by the same children in order to maintain continuity. This decision grew from the children's understanding that pictures tell a great deal of the story. This section of the work took much longer than I anticipated, but was an important aspect of the Literacy and Art content of the work.

Once the pictures were finished, the main ICT work could begin.