About Things I Do

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View books by Penny King, Ruth Thomson.

A great book for introducing non-fiction styles of writing. - Rated
Each double page features a particular sort of non-fiction writing, eg instructions, recipes, newspaper reports. Each page contains an example and then an activity for the children to complete. Although book is sold as 'non fiction' writing, most of the activities are based on fictional stories or characters, eg the newspaper report asks the children to write an account of an event from a fairy tale, eg the Queen's tarts being stolen; the recipe shows a snack for giants and asks the children to create a meal for a dragon. This means that it is strictly speaking not non-fiction writing, although I found it incredibly useful to introduce the structures of examples of information writing in a fun way- this meant that when we moved on to write true non-fiction the children had clear notions of the layout and appropriate language needed for each style. The children in my class were extremely interested and keen to continue with their independent task after the shared reading and discussion of the given example. Lots of fun illustrations and tips for writing to aid independent writers. It aided my teaching so much I've bought the rest of the series!