Hints

These self-delivering  literacy lessons may not be suitable for use with students with a specific learning disability.

Ideas for most efficient use:

• read/tell the tale to the group - if the tale is quite long, set the group the task of tallying up the number of times they hear the "sound" involved, or ask them to think about the sequence of events which occur in the tale

• either discuss and answer the comprehension questions verbally or set the group the task of answering them individually on paper

• if the tale is fairly short, let the group re-read it aloud themselves (paragraph by paragraph) before tackling the next task (reading the tale after  "listening" means they can "remember" some of the more difficult words and thus gain confidence in their reading).

• Wordwalk:  the group should, individually or together, identify six words in the tale of which they were uncertain of the meaning, then, as a group, discuss the possible meanings, identify the proper meaning and identify two words which mean (more or less) the same.

• Instead of the Wordwalk, try a time-line of events (once again either individually or as a group exercise)

• the students should re-read or dip into the tale when completing the crossword

• the wordsearch is a fun exercise to finish the lesson

• the Cloze exercise can be used as a starter in the next lesson to recap.

• For spellings which need to be learned we use a Word Wall for each student.  When they can spell each word on their wall they can colour it in until the whole wall is finished.

Queries:

• Some of us have queried the use of longer words in the tales.  We take the view that just because a student may have difficulties with their reading/spelling does not mean they shouldn't learn the longer more complicated words along with the shorter words.  This increases their confidence.

Extensions:

• giving the students four or five of the words in the tale and asking them to put them into a sentence

• expanding this into more words into a paragraph (they may need some help with linking words for this activity)

• the students can then "tell" their tale (or paragraph) to the others in the group

Odds and Sods:

• think about sound effects which could be used in the tale

• choose a character and draw a picture

• brainstorm describing words for a character

• think of a different ending to the tale

• listen to suggestions for a different ending and identify the most appropriate

• add in games, puzzles etc to keep flagging interest buoyant!

• give students three or four words (may we suggest a noun, a verb, an adjective and an adverb) each (including the day's sound) and ask them to make up a sentence using those words.  If we are clever we could make sure each sentence follows on from the other to create a small tale (which can be published on this site as students' own work).