Y1 Spring Fiction: Traditional Tales: Sharing and Retelling

Unit 1
Core: Sequence and discuss an oral story and a picture book story
Teacher Notes

Preparation:

 For Unit 1 Day 1 and Day 2, print and cut out the story-illustrations
(resources). Attach a washing line across the whiteboard, along with a
selection of clothes pegs, to suspend the illustrations.
 For Unit 1 Day 3, print enough photocopies of page 21-22 so each group has
their own.

Notes for Teaching:

 For Day 1, the children are introduced to the term traditional tale. Encourage
the children to share the stories they know. Sensitively acknowledge some of
them are social, some come from other cultures, and some are religious. Also
remind children that many traditional tales have been adapted to make it fun
for readers! Display a range of stories for the children to look through outside
of each lesson in preparation for Day 4.
 For Day 4, the children will select their favourite traditional tale. They may
select from Dragon Dinosaur or The House that Jack Built or they may select
one of their own from those on display in the classroom, library or that they
are familiar with at home.

Essential texts:

This is the House that Jack Built by Simms Taback

Hamilton Storytelling Video: Dragon Dinosaur:

https://player.hamilton-trust.org.uk/story_telling_display.php?cid=197

SCROLL DOWN FOR TEACHING AND ACTIVITIES

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 Y1 Spring Fiction: Traditional Tales: Sharing and Retelling
Unit 1 Day 1
Discuss and sequence a story

Teaching

 Introduce Dragon Dinosaur. Say it is a traditional tale set in China. Explain that
traditional tales are stories that have been told for many generations.
 Share the story, enjoying the humour. Notice it is an oral story, i.e. one that is
learnt and then told and not read from a book.
 Identify and discuss the characters, both human and animal, e.g. Mr Chow
manages the candle shop and discovers the dinosaur, Mayor runs the town and
tries to stop the dinosaur, the dinosaur scares the people in the town.
 Briefly discuss the plot, i.e. what happens at the beginning, middle and end.
 Display story-illustrations (resources) along a washing line suspended in the
classroom. Order the illustrations and use them to retell the story. Edit the
sequence if necessary.

Activity: Sequence a traditional tale.

Objectives:
Spoken Language Listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
Comprehension Participate in discussion, taking turns and listening to what others say
You will need: Dragon Dinosaur Hamilton Oral Story; Dragon Dinosaur story-illustrations
(resources); string suspended across the whiteboard; clothes pegs
Children work in mixed ability pairs
Activity
 All: Children sequence and retell the story.
 Provide each pair with at least 8 sticky-notes. Together the children draw a picture
on each sticky-note to indicate the sequence of the story.
 Children use their illustrations to orally rehearse the story, adding description and
detail. Encourage them to repeat this several times, to improving the fluency.
 Easier: Children look at, discuss and sequence the story-illustrations (resources).
Plenary
Ask each pair of children to join together to form a group a four. Each pair takes it in turn to
orally retell the story. Encourage the children to retell the story from memory. The pair of
children who are listening ensure the story is correctly sequenced.
Outcomes
 I can identify characters in a story.
 I can sequence a story.
 I can retell a traditional tale.

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. sharing_F012TT1_teach-activs
 Y1 Spring Fiction: Traditional Tales: Sharing and Retelling
Unit 1 Day 2
Use descriptive vocabulary when discussing characters

Teaching

 Display and briefly discuss the Dragon Dinosaur story-illustrations (resources) on a

washing line suspended across the classroom. Sequence them correctly.
 Remind children why the animals were sent to scare the dinosaur, i.e. to stop it from
scaring the people of the town. List the animals. Think of effective words or phrases
to describe each animal, e.g. A lion has strong powerful jaws, slippery soft yellow
and orange fur and can make a terrifying roar.
 Consider alternative animals which could be sent to fight the dinosaur and use
because to provide a reason why they would be suitable. Remind children lots of
animals are intimidating whilst not being big, e.g. scorpion, red back spider, cobra.
 Model writing a selection of sentences, reminding children of correct punctuation.

Activity: Write a correctly punctuated sentence that includes description.

Objectives:
Spoken Language Give well-structured descriptions
Composition Compose a sentence orally before writing it
Grammar Leave spaces between words; Begin to punctuate sentences using a capital letter and full
stop.
You will need: Dragon Dinosaur story-illustrations (resources); string suspended across the
whiteboard; clothes pegs
Children work individually
Activity
 All: Children think of an animal that would scare the dinosaur.
 Children orally rehearse a sentence to describe the animal, and write it using
appropriate punctuation.
 Ensure children re-read the sentence and edit it, if necessary, to ensure it makes
sense.
 Harder: Children use because to provide a reason why the animal they have chosen
is scary, e.g. I would send a scorpion. A scorpion is terribly scary because of the
poisonous venom it has in its powerful tail.
Plenary
Say that the Headteacher has heard a dinosaur bigger than a T-Rex may come to attack the
school; a spinosaurus! Explain they want to send the 5 most menacing animals to scare it
away. Each child reads their sentence aloud and together the class select the 5 most
terrifying animals.
Outcomes
 I can use accurate description to discuss my thoughts and ideas.
 I can write a correctly punctuated sentence.
 I can give reasons for my opinions.

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. sharing_F012TT1_teach-activs
 Y1 Spring Fiction: Traditional Tales: Sharing and Retelling
Unit 1 Day 3
Compare and contrast an oral and written story

Teaching

 Think about how the storyteller in Dragon Dinosaur was able to effectively perform
the story, e.g. vary the pitch and tone of his voice, voices for different characters,
actions, sound effects, looking directly at the audience. List ideas on the w/board.
 Read The House that Jack Built with expression. Afterwards, compare and contrast
an oral and written story, i.e. discuss what is the same and what is different.
 Say you will convert a written story to an oral performance. Display pages 21- 22
from The House that Jack Built. Look at it and discuss how to perform it effectively.
Repeat this several times, until the children are confident.
 Rehearse the performance, improving and refining the confidence, fluency and
expression.

Activity: Work collaboratively to perform a traditional tale.

Objectives:
Spoken Language Participate in performances; Gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener;
Select and use appropriate registers for effective communication
Comprehension Draw on what they already know; Become very familiar with key stories
You will need: This is the House That Jack Built; a copy of page 21-22 for each group
Children work in small groups
Activity
 All: Children work in mixed ability groups. Give each group a photocopy of page 21 –
22 from The House that Jack Built
 The children work together to prepare an oral retelling of the story. Help the
children to use the statements written in the Input to edit and refine their
performance.
 Encourage the children to practise continually and refine their performance,
ensuring that it is engaging and exciting.
 Easier: Some children may benefit from working under the guidance of an adult to
ensure everyone in the group is included and contributes.
Plenary
Combine two groups and invite the children to perform to each other. The audience uses the
statements from the Input to identify the positive features of each performance, e.g. you
used different voices for different characters OR you included different hand actions.
Outcomes
 I can compare and contrast an oral and written story.
 I can work collaboratively to orally retell a story.
 I can perform in front of an audience.

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. sharing_F012TT1_teach-activs
 Y1 Spring Fiction: Traditional Tales: Sharing and Retelling
Unit 1 Day 4
Providing reasons for opinions and ideas

Teaching

 Remind the children of the two traditional tales they have been looking at: Dragon
Dinosaur and The House that Jack Built. Compare and contrast each story, i.e. What
is the same and what is different about each one?
 Display because mnemonic (resources) and explain how the children will use it to
remember the spelling.
 Identify one of the stories as your favourite and use because to provide a reason for
the opinion, e.g. I like the style of illustrations in The House that Jack Built because
they are bright and colourful OR I like Dragon Dinosaur because the performer
pretends to be each character.
 Model writing a selection of sentences on the w/board. Remember to highlight
appropriate punctuation and the correct spelling of because.

Activity: Write a correctly punctuated sentence to explain an opinion.

Objectives:
Spoken Language Articulate and justify answers
Composition Say out loud what they are going to write about; Re-read what they have written to
check that it makes sense; Read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the
teacher
You will need: This is the House That Jack Built; ‘because’ (resources); pencils; slips of paper;
copies of other traditional tales that chn might want to discuss and write about.
Children work in small groups
Activity
 All: Children select their favourite traditional tale. (This can be one of the essential
texts or another favourite). Group children together based on their choice. Allow
children to briefly share/retell/read the story.
 Children identify what they like about it, using because to justify the opinion.
 Each child selects their favourite idea and records it as a complete sentence, using
correct punctuation.
 Encourage children to re-read their writing to check it makes sense and edit it if
necessary.
 Easier: Children complete a writing-frame (resources).
Plenary
Sit the children in a circle, with each child taking it in turn to say ‘I went to the library and
read…’ Children finish the sentence with the reason they have chosen, e.g. I went to the
library and read The House that Jack Built because… Display a range of sentences next to a
copy of each text in the class book-corner or school library.
Outcomes
 I can identify my favourite features of a story.
 I can justify my opinions and ideas.
 I can work as part of a team.
 I can write a correctly punctuated sentence.

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. sharing_F012TT1_teach-activs
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© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. sharing_F012TT1_teach-activs