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Developing Literacy Skills

2 Stories
1) Handout copy of pictures (1 between 2). Ask pairs to write down 5 words
for the first picture and 5 for the second picture. They can be verbs, nouns,
adjectives. Feedback to board.
2) Pairs shuffle cut up sentences from and lay them face down on the table.
In a reading race the pairs pick up one sentence at a time, read it them put it
on the picture that it goes with. They continue through the sentences until
they have read all of them. The first team to finish shouts Bingo. Find out
how many sentences they have on each pile.
3) Then, pairs order each story, this is not a race.
4) Feedback.
Broken
story






1) Tell the story of the 3 little pigs encouraging group participation.
2) Explain to the pupils that the story got broken and you need their help to
put it back together again.
3) Divide the group into 2. One side of the room finishes handout A, the
other side handout B. Check.
4) The whole group reads the story in A and B parts.

Sentence
shapes






1) Putting words in shape groups according to parts of speech. Can you see a
triangle? What does it say? Can you see another word like this? Draw a
triangle around it.
2) Look at the patterns on the right and write a sentence (check 3
rd
person
s). Compare sentences.

Bubble
writing


1) This activity needs an even number of groups for feedback to work, so 3s
where necessary.
2) Each group looks at their A3 picture and discusses what the people are
thinking/saying. On their pieces if Post Its they write their speech/thought
bubbles and stick them at the bottom of the piece of paper. There is room for
a maximum of 6 bubbles.
3) 2 groups swap their posters and read all the bubbles. Then they stick the
bubbles next to the person it belongs to.
4) One group at a time checks the work of the other group and gives them
feedback.

Poetry
writing

1) Elicit some adjectives from the pupils and write them on the board.
Encourage the pupils to think about synonyms and opposites.
2) Together the class can choose the most appropriate adjectives for the
theme of your poem, e.g. a summer poem or the teacher can dictate the
chosen words.
3) The pupils write the adjectives in a list.
Hot __________
Cold _________
Yellow _______
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Blue _________
Happy ________
4) The pupils have to think of one word, connected with the theme of the
poem, to follow each adjective.
Hot weather
Cold ice-cream
Yellow sun
Blue sea
Happy faces

Alternatively for higher levels, you can give the pupils a list of adjectives
which they have to match to a topic. This will then be the basis for their own
poem.

School My pet Summer Food






busy hot windy delicious wet noisy soft crunchy
lazy difficult friendly funny horrible white cold


Bingo


1) Give each pair of pupils a bingo board or instruct and model how to fold a
piece of paper into 6 sections.
2) Give the pupils a topic and tell them to write one word in each box
connected with the topic.
3) Check all the boards quickly to see if the words are appropriate and jot
down some of the words.
4) The teacher is the bingo caller. When the pupils hear one of their words
they cross it off. When they have heard all their words they shout bingo.
5) The teacher checks that all the words were called (you must make a list). If
there is a mistake, continue playing until another pair shouts bingo.

As well as vocabulary sets this can be played with grammatical sets e.g.
verbs, adjectives, prepositions of place.


Mini
white-
boards

Here are some interesting ideas for using mini whiteboards with young
learners of English.
You can make mini whiteboards by laminating A4 or A3 card and then
providing learners with wipe clean markers or felt tip pens.
What comes next?
Begin with a song or rhyme. At a certain point in the repetition or sequence
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stop and tell the pupils to write the word that comes next.

Sound-word relationships
Tell the pupils to write down all the words they know with the same sound.
E.g. make, take, break, cake, lake.

Pick the word
Teacher writes a list of similar words on the board and then reads out one of
them aloud to the group, pupils must write down the word they hear on their
whiteboard. Alternatively, teacher reads out the whole list and then repeats
the one that the pupils must write down on their whiteboard. Pupils write
down the word they think is the correct one. E.g. cheap, cheat, cheek, steep,
cheers, chest.

Short story
Teacher reads out a short story to the class and then reads out a sentence
from the story and writes it on the board. The sentence is written with a
gap/word missing. The pupils discuss in their groups/pairs and write down
the word they think best goes in the gap on their whiteboards then they show
to the class and compare each others words.

Category letters
Teacher gives a category and then a letter and then pupils are instructed to
write down as many words as they can related to this category and beginning
with this letter on their whiteboards. They compare.

Sentence memory
Teacher writes a sentence on the board and pupils read to themselves for a
moment. Teacher erases the sentence and sticks up a piece of paper with the
words mixed up on the board. Then, in groups one student from each group
comes to the board to memorise a word and return to his/her
group and write the word down on the whiteboard. The next student goes to
read, memorise and dictates and so on until all of the words have been
written on the whiteboard. The pupils sit in their groups and try to
reconstruct the original sentence on their whiteboards.

Word boxes
The class is divided into 4/5 groups. The teacher has word cards in four
boxes: subject, object, verbs, connectors. A student picks out one card from
each box and they are stuck on the board for all to see. In their groups,
pupils must write a sentence on their whiteboards using all of the words.
They show their sentences to the class and they get a point for their sentence
with all the words and another point if they can say whether or not its a
sensible or nonsense sentence.
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(Version 2: pupils choose their own words from the boxes to work on in their
groups, and then they show the words and their whiteboard sentence to the
class).

Categories game
Teacher writes category columns on the board, such as animals, types of food
or colours. The teacher picks a letter and tells the pupils to write a word for
each category and they get one point for each word shown on their
whiteboard.

Guess the picture
Teacher draws a picture on the board and individually pupils write what they
think it is on their whiteboards and show it to the group. (Version 2: teacher
begins to draw a picture on the board, pupils write what they think it is on
their whiteboards, they show the group. Teacher adds a little more to the
picture, pupils write, they show the class and the teacher finishes the picture.

Unscramble the word
Teacher writes up a word on the board with all the letters mixed up. Pupils try
to write down the original word on their whiteboards, they show the class as
the teacher shows the original.

Scrabble
Pupils are given a number of letters on the board and they have to try to write
down the longest word they can think of on their whiteboards. They show the
class, teacher shows his/her attempt.

Anagram game
Teacher writes a word on the board and pupils write as many words as they
can on their whiteboards, they have a time limit. They show their collections
to the class. This is best done in groups. Teacher collects suggestions on the
board.

Order!
Teacher writes up a mixed up sentence on the board and pupils discuss in
groups, and decide a sentence with correct word order. They write it on their
whiteboards, they show the class, teacher shows correct version.

Odd one out
Teacher writes down a number of words on the blackboard and pupils have to
choose which one they think is the odd one out of the list. They write it on
their whiteboards, they show their words.
(It is useful to discuss why they choose the words they do as they may
suggest reasons not thought of by the teacher).
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Flashcards
Teacher sticks up picture cards on the board and pupils have to write which
one is the odd one out, they show their words to the class. Discussion.

Sentence drawing
Teacher prepares 3 boxes of words: adjectives, numbers, nouns and pupils
pick a word from each box and then they have to draw the object/s on their
whiteboards. They show the class and say the noun phrase.

Descriptions
A student describes another student in the class, the others have to write
down the name of the person they think is being described. They show the
class.

Version 2: teacher gives a description of an object, a place, a flower etc and
pupils have to write down what they think the object is on their whiteboards.
They show to the class and compare. Teacher shows original version.

Relationships
Step 1: teacher gives a word and pupils write down any related words they
can think of on their whiteboards in a limited time. They show the class.

Step 2: teacher gathers suggestions on the board and asks pupils to suggest
ways of organising the words, how they relate to each other. Pupils play with
the words on their whiteboards and suggest webs for organising the words.
They show to the class. Teacher may like to create
a gallery of suggestions.

Step 3: from brainstorm to concept map to sentence. Following on from the
two steps above, the pupils write one sentence based on one of the maps
suggested and describing the relationship between the core word (animals)
and a branch (fish) and sub branches (swim) =96, a fish is an
animal which can swim.

Picasso Dictation
Teacher gives prompts to pupils to draw something/s on their whiteboards
(draw 3 triangles, draw a house). They show their pictures to the class.
Teacher shows his/hers.

Silent Bingo
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Pupils can prepare a bingo card on their whiteboard and play bingo.
Alternatively, pupils prepare a bingo card and the teacher mouths words
without speaking and the pupils have to guess what it is and write the word
down on their whiteboard. They show and compare.

Alphabet Bingo
Pupils choose any ten-letter word and write it on their whiteboard. Teacher
picks letters from the alphabet and reads them out. Pupils cross off the letter
from their word if it is there. First word crossed off wins. Check spelling as in
normal bingo with numbers. In this way another child gets to spell out the
winning word so that you can check from the front as each letter is shouted
out.

Split in two
Split the class into two. Teacher reads out a definition, or makes up a
definition for items of vocabulary recently learned. Teams have to write down
the word for the item. First team to have the word written down on all of
their whiteboards wins a point.

Spelling quiz (non-competitive)
Teacher gives words for pupils to spell, they write, hide and then show their
word to compare with the teachers version.

Spelling quiz (competitive)
Again in teams, teacher gives words to spell. Pupils write, hide their word and
then on the teachers command, show their words together. Team with most
correct versions wins a point.

20 Qs
Pupils write a word down on their board from words recently learned and one
stands at the front hiding his/her word. The class has 20 questions to guess
what the word is. The student at the front is only allowed to say yes or
no. If the class doesnt guess, the student can do another word. If
guessed, the student giving the correct answer gets up to provide a new
hidden word for guessing.
Blankety Blank
The teacher reads out a sentence leaving a blank. The children have to guess
the missing word. Choose sentences with good collocations e.g. After eating
my breakfast I went to the bathroom and brushed my.

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Developing Literacy Skills
Whats the secret message?
A E I O U
P a g m s y
T b h n t z
G c i o u
S d j p v
M e k q w
B f l r x

TO TE MA / SE MA MO MA BE PO / PA BI MA / GE TI / PA / PO PI PA BE BE / BI MA SA /
TA PA PE / GE TI / PA /
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
MO TE GE TO MA / SO PA TI / GO TI SA MA BI / PA / TO BI MA MA / GE TI / TO TE MA /
GA PA BI / SI PA BI ME.
_________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

Is there anything you particularly like/dislike about this activity?







From: 500 Activities for the Primary Classroom by Carol Read. Macmillan
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Developing Literacy Skills










Its a windy day and team GBs washing has fallen off the
washing line. Could you help to put it back.
Read the information and draw the clothes on the washing line.

The person on the ground floor
plays football.
Joe and Sam Ingram wear a
white jacket and trousers for
their sport.
The person on the top floor is a
runner.
Heather Watson plays tennis.
The brothers live on the second
floor.
Wayne Rooney plays in a number
10 shirt for England.
Eleanor Simmonds sport is
swimming.
Heather Watson lives below Joe
and Sam Ingram.
Jessica Ennis flat is on the top
floor.
Eleanor Simmonds lives on the
third floor.

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Developing Literacy Skills

Adjective Poem
A summer poem A winter poem
Hot ___________
Cold ___________
Yellow___________
Blue ___________
Big ___________
Small ___________
Diamonte Poems
Noun
Adjective, Adjective
Verb, Verb, Verb
Noun, Noun, Noun, Noun
Verb, Verb, Verb
Adjective, Adjective
Noun
Monsters
Evil, Spooky
Howling, Shrieking, Wailing
Ghosts, Vampires, Goblins, Witches
Flying, Scaring, Terrifying
Creepy, Crawly
Creatures

Antonym Diamante
Cat
Gentle, __________
Purring, Meowing, __________
Whiskers, __________, Collar, __________
Barking, Licking, __________,
Playful, __________,
Dog



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Developing Literacy Skills

Number poems
In the garden
One lazy dog sleeping in the sun.
Two fat squirrels climbing trees.
Three happy children playing on the grass.
Four beautiful mums drinking cups of tea.
Five big fish swimming in the pond.

In the classroom
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Cinquain
1. Cinquains are five lines long.
2. They have 2 syllables in the first
line, 4 in the second, 6 in the
third, 8 in the fourth line, and
just 2 in the last line (24682).
3. Cinquains do not need to
rhyme, but you can include
rhymes if you want to.

Ice cream.
Cold and yummy.
I love its creamy taste
as it finds its way into my
tummy.

Witches.
Mean and scary.
Under my bed at night
I never go to sleep
without
a light.

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Tommy and Max were best friends.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
One Saturday morning they went to the park to play.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tommy climbed some trees while Max chased the birds.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Suddenly, it started to rain and Tommy fell out of a tree
and into the mud.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Max jumped on top of him and licked his face to see if
he was O.k.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
When Tommy got home his Mum was angry because his
clothes were all muddy.






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Meena lived in a big house with her Mum and Dad.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Outside there was a beautiful garden with lots of trees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
One tree was very special as it had a swing in it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Meena played on the swing for hours while she listened
to the birds.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
It was her favourite place in the whole garden.


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I have lots of seats and a driver.
I have wheels and a steering
wheel.
I can take people to work and
school.
What am I?




























I am made of glass.
I can be lots of different
shapes.
You can see yourself in me.
What am I?

I have hands and a face.
I sometimes have numbers on my
face.
I help you tell the time.
What am I?
I have a screen.
I have a mouse and keys.
You can play games or do work
using me.
What am I?

I can be lots of different colours.
I can be long or short; straight or
curly.
I grow on people's heads.
What am I?


I am made of plastic and metal.
You can put water and bubbles
in me.
I can help you wash.
What am I?

I have a trunk and branches.
I have leaves on my branches.
My leaves fall off in autumn.
What am I?

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Use the helpful phrases in the box to write your own riddles about the
pictures below.
I am made of .. I can .. You can use me ..
I can help you .. I have .. I am ..
Inside I am.. I feel .. You can find me ..
1. ___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
What am I?
2. ___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
What am I?
3. ___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
What am I?


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Use the helpful phrases in the box to write your own riddles about the
pictures below.
I am made of .. I can .. You can use me ..
I can help you .. I have .. I am ..
Inside I am.. I feel .. You can find me ..
1. ___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
What am I?
2. ___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
What am I?
3. ___________________________________
___________________________________
___________________________________
What am I?