The National curriculum states that the children should:
‘… participate in a wide range of drama activities … create, adapt and sustain different roles, individually and in groups’
This book would be ideal for promoting this as it has many characters and a lot of speech in it. It would help children gain confidence in talking and reading aloud and as it is easy to read most children would find little difficulty in doing so. This allows for all children to take part in the reading without just the better readers being dominant. Taking on the part of any of the characters leads to a better understanding of the characters feelings and point of view which would lead to better discussion. Children could predict what could happen next and perhaps act it out. This is a requirement as set out by the national curriculum:
‘use character, action and narrative to convey story, themes, emotions, ideas in plays they devise and script.’
It gives the children a chance to do ‘planning, predicting, exploring’ (N.C. 1999) which aids the understanding of the characters and the style of writing. A lot of the adventures in the book could also trigger discussion on some social issues, for example in one of the stories a child strays and gets caught by the snow monster this could start a discussion of why it is not a good thing to stray off on your own. Speaking and listening in the form of discussion gives the children the basis for a written piece. It gives the class a chance to share ideas and give support which helps them to think about the task or piece of work they are to do next.
I would use this book on year five in their first term and would start by telling the children a little about the characters and the enchanted wood and then read a chapter as shared reading. Each child would be given a photocopy of the text I would begin reading the story and then ask children to take on the role of the characters until I was just a narrator. I would then go into discussion about their adventure and get the class thinking about what other worlds could be up the faraway tree giving some examples from the book to help their imagination. As a class I would get them to think of what could happen next in the story and using ideas from the class member’s start writing on the board a beginning to the next chapter. The children would then be split into groups and asked to devise their own scene following on from the beginning devised by the class.
Following lessons would then involve the reading of another chapter as the shared reading followed by the children individually developing their own ideas for their story, which they will be working towards writing a fully redrafted written piece in the style of Enid Blyton. This fulfils the writing composition strategy number fifteen in the fiction section for year five term one. It would also fulfil number three in the sentence level work for the same year and term.
Differentiation for children with lower ability could be done in either the amount of support the children receive or possibly the use of IT, particularly for children who have problems with spelling and grammar. It would be a chance for these children to gain confidence in their skills to produce work as they would have a well presented piece of work which they will not get back with comments on their spelling. If a child has problems spelling they will be aware of it and could make them feel a failure. This would give them an opportunity to regain some confidence.
‘The Enchanted Wood’ is an excellent book for children and could be used in a variety of ways in the classroom which fit both the National curriculum and the National Literacy Strategy. Children will find it exciting and gripping and enjoying work based on the book. It will promote speaking and listening along with reading and writing skills in children of all abilities which is good classroom practice.
Bibliography
Blyton, E. (1939) ‘The Enchanted Wood’ Great Britain:Newnes
Blunkett, D. and Stubbs, W. (1999) ‘The National Curriculum’ London : Department for Education and Employment and Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
