Learning and Growing Together
Imitate
A text is introduced and read to the children; together the class learn to tell the story. To help the children remember a multi-sensory approach is used:
-A visual story map
-Actions
-Using animated and lively expression
As the children learn the stories word for word, they develop the use of specific sentence structures and language patterns that suit the text type.
The principle is that if a child can tell a story, they will be able to write a story.
Innovate
The children explore different ways they could change aspects of the original text, for example changing characters, setting or writing from a different point of view. They then make changes to their story map and orally tell this new story.
Invent
In this final stage, the children use all the skills they have learnt so far to write an independent piece.
There is a freedom to draw upon their own ideas, or they can use the same structure of the original shared text should they need to. Teachers use this task to assess how much progress the children have made.