11 Plus Exams Forum

Hello,

My DC is currently in year 2 and they have been working on recounts and adapting familiar stories to write their own.

I am a little worried, as I think they should have already started writing stories independently, using their own imaginations? Or am I mistaken - does that start in year 3 with setting work and character description paragraphs before moving on to whole stories.

Finally, any advice on what to work on to prepare for creative writing in year 3.

Thank you
Sleepyhead

How about going out and having lots of fun as a family? Creative writing needs to be based in experience.

It is also useful for children to play imaginative games - either in character themselves, or 'small world play' - e.g. playmobil, lego people etc. This not only encourages imagination, but helps children make sense of the world they are in, which is important for mental health. It also develops problem solving skills, and empathy for others. If this play happens with other children it also helps with negotiation skills and teamwork, which are both useful life skills.

Thankyou 2childmum, great advice

Could you not try to get him / her to write their own stories at home, if it's something you think they should be doing? Ours used to just make up their own stories when they were younger, neither pushed nor discouraged by us and completely unconnected to what they were doing at school. Does your DC actually show any interest in writing purely from his / her own imagination? They're likely to get more out of it if it's something they themselves want to do, I would think.

Hi Toadmum,

Thanks, would you suggest letting DS write about anything he wanted without trying to expand on character and setting? Perhaps at this stage it is more about encouraging writing than worrying about story structure and technique?

SleepyHead wrote:Hi Toadmum,

Thanks, would you suggest letting DS write about anything he wanted without trying to expand on character and setting? Perhaps at this stage it is more about encouraging writing than worrying about story structure and technique?

Well, apart from perhaps suggesting that a beginning, a middle and an end is usually a good place to start, so to speak, yes.

Do you have a particular goal in mind re creative writing in year 3? I mean, is the intention that he should be ahead of the game when the school starts 'doing' creative writing next year? Have you raised your concerns with your DS's teacher?

At this age we just used to have fun with verbal stories. Ds was never into imaginative play but on car journeys we would all take it in turns to start a story, the next person has one minute to add to it, then the next person takes over and so on. It was good fun and usually a laugh as the story became ever more outrageous! I also took my ds to the library practically every week to foster a love of reading and to the local theatre. I think they start more structured writing in Year 3 but if your child wants to do writing at home then encourage it without constraints.

thanks grgygirl, the verbal stories are fab. DS and I made one up in the car , and he loved it. Lots of silliness, trolls, a magic stone and an evil tree that captures little children!

At the moment I'm not correcting anything, just letting the ideas flow and asking him 'what the problem might be' and how the story might end.

Thanks for all your replies

We also did verbal stories when mine were younger.
Really helps to pass car journeys!
Have you seen the story cubes you can buy as well?
Think they look brilliant and would maybe be a good visual clue for writing stories later on.