This free downloadable Pie Corbett’s Reading Spine support guide provides invaluable support for teachers using Pie Corbett’s Reading Spine to teach comprehension, drama and writing. Guides available for Nursery, Reception, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6.
Building a poetry spine
In this free four-page resource written by Pie Corbett, Pie explains how to build a bank of poems to use with children at KS1.
Stories for Nursery and Reception – a few recommendations
In this document, Talk for Writing expert Carol Satterthwaite provides a few recommendations of stories to use with Nursery and KS1 groups, along with her reasons for selection and some ideas for how these texts could be used in class.
The swallow and the wasp
This model text is a story called ‘The swallow and the wasp’ or ‘Why wasps can only whine’. Its underpinning storyline lends itself to creative innovation.
Morgan and his Magical Maths Underpants
In the summer 2016 newsletter we ran a competition looking for stories of no more than 400 words that could be used as model texts for Talk for Writing. We received a number of entries, four of which stood out as prize winners. This one is Morgan and his Magical Maths Underpants by Chris Farnen. Suitable for Year 2.
Tell Me a Dragon teaching notes
These Teachers’ Notes have been specially written by Pie Corbett to assist teachers and librarians in the promotion and teaching of Tell Me a Dragon by Jackie Morris in schools and to help foster a love of good books, literature and reading in children.
Digging deeper into picture books
Voices in the Park author Anthony Browne is a former Children’s Laureate. His books are part of a game he plays with the readers. But Voices in the Park is more than surreal entertainment, it is rich in many layers of meaning. Here are 7 suggested Talk for Writing activities to deepen understanding.
Creating a playful poem
A unit of creative work inspired by the poems ‘In the City of Silences’ and ‘The Cave of Curiosity’, the latter based on the simple idea of creating a place (cave) and linking it to an abstract idea (curiosity). The unit covers an abstract noun game, shared and independent writing.
Sightings of dragons
Pie Corbett outlines a work unit which includes diary entries, persuasive writing, shared writing, boxing up a recount and features four model texts. IMAGE: Alexander Zick (published 1899) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons