Original short story with activity ideas and PowerPoint
KS2
Years 3-6
Help your class to write at greater depth with Pie Corbett’s greater depth writing Year 6 resource. It features a touching tale of two girls flung into unfamiliar surroundings.
This download includes Pie’s original short story ‘Coral Ocean’, as well as activities he has created to accompany it.
There is a PDF of the story and the activities, plus we’ve included the text of the story as both a PowerPoint and a PDF to share with your class.
Taking reading into writing
When you look at genuine greater depth writing, it soon becomes obvious that these are children who read an enormous amount of quality literature. Constant reading builds their imaginative world so that they have more possibilities to draw upon when writing.
It also strengthens vocabulary. The more children read, the more they internalise accurate use of punctuation, spelling patterns and flow of narrative. Indeed, you can tell what a child reads as you’ll see it echoed in their story writing.
If reading is one key factor in determining writing, we need to ensure that we are working from high-quality books. Your reading spine should identify the backbone of must-have read-aloud texts that every child will experience. The choice should be clear – do we read Captain Underpants or Tom’s Midnight Garden to the class?
Schools with high attainment – despite serving challenging areas – have a strong commitment to increasing both the amount children read and introducing them to a range of high-quality literature and authors.
They have a curriculum map that identifies which texts they’ll use, ensuring a balance of poetry, story and non-fiction. Many have half-class sets of the core books so that children can read along. They also use these texts for comprehension work, drama, and writing-in-role – as well as providing a model for writing.
More greater depth writing Year 6 resources
Download our Pie Corbett Ultimate KS2 Fiction Collection and get more than 20 fictional stories, alongside activity ideas.
You can also read more here about greater depth writing – including what counts and how to teach it.
Pie Corbett is an English educational trainer, writer, author and poet who has written over 200 books. He is also known for promoting creative approaches in the classroom and has experience as a teacher, headteacher and Ofsted inspector. Follow him on Twitter at @PieCorbett.
