Writing

Monday:

After all your fantastic descriptive river poetry last week, we are now going to look more closely at fantasy stories. Some of you wrote some very exciting stories in the first week off of school and now we are going to be looking at examples of some famous books that have such stories in them, and learning more about developing our stories and including direct speech and greater description.

• The first book that we are going to look at is 'Ocean Meets Sky' by the Fan Brothers.
• ACTIVITY: Watch the book being read (link below) until you get to "The journey had begun!" at 1:12. Stop it there! Then, I would like you to write a paragraph making predictions of what you think will happen in the rest of the story. What different places do you think Finn's journey will take him? Who do you think he will meet along the way? What do you think will happen at the end of the story?
• You might want to use the following sentence starters:         I predict that...           I think that...      
• Remember to write down your reasons for your predictions by including 'because' in your sentences.
• Keep your predictions safe so that you can see whether you are correct tomorrow!

Tuesday:

• Watch the video of 'Ocean Meets Sky' being read all the way through. Were any of your predictions from yesterday accurate? Don't worry if they weren't - sometimes it's more fun when you can't predict what is going to happen in a book!
• ACTIVITY: Use the story mountain sheet to show the 5 different parts of the story. You will probably need to watch the video again to decide what part of the story goes where. You can draw a simple picture in each box and try to add some key words to each to add detail.

Wednesday:

• In a fantasy story, some parts will be based on fact and other parts will be fiction. When you plan and write your own story, you will need to decide what facts and fictions you will include.
• ACTIVITY: Re-watch 'Ocean Meets Sky' and complete the 'Fact or Fiction' sheet. Think about why it is important that fantasy stories include a mixture of both.

Thursday:

• Book reviews can be helpful when we are deciding whether or not to read a book. Today, you are going to be writing your own review of 'Ocean Meets Sky'. Before you start, you might want to look with an adult at some online reviews of the book or another one that you have read to give you some ideas. 
• ACTIVITY: Use the Book Review sheet or create your own to give your opinions on 'Ocean Meets Sky'. Remember that it is important to give thoughtful and considered reasons for the opinions that you give in your review! I look forward to reading your thoughts on this fantasy story.