Strategies for reading comprehension #2

MICROSKILL #2

"Recognize the communicative functions of written texts, according to form and purpose"

(To develop this feature, I would like students to create a story using their imagination and their experiences and adventures. In this way, teach them to understand the importance of written texts from a broader perspective.) 

Note: I'm going to use a method Created by Mark Warner - Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers - http://www.teachingideas.co.uk

This resource can be used to help children who may lack ideas during creative writing lessons. It consists of four charts, which contain 81 characters, 81 places, 81 situations and 81 objects. WARNING - some of them are a little gruesome!

• Tools:

- Pencil, paper

-The "Characters" chart 

-The "Places" chart 

-The "Situations" chart

- The "Objects" . You will need one copy of each chart.

This should be enough for even the most unimaginative child to create at least one or two stories!

How to use the charts.

1) Write down any two figure number (example: 58)

2) Using the first chart (Characters), find the square which is 5 across and 8 down, and write down the word/phrase in this square (example: the prince of the Gypsies).

3) Choose two figure numbers for the other three charts, and find the appropriate squares (example: "an attic in an old house", "a death trap", and "a tape recording").

4) Weave a story around those four ingredients.

Variations:

1) Write down two numbers and use these forwards and backwards, e.g. 25 and 52, 81 and 18.

2) Use the same two digit number on each chart.

3) Take pot luck on each chart by closing your eyes and pointing to a square. Whichever square you have your finger on is the one you use.

Characters

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	tiger	headmaster with a secret	a man who lives forever	a small monkey	a child who is always grumbling	a giant snake	a girl with X-ray eyes	an enormous werewolf	a blind beggar
2	an abandoned baby	an injured bird	the last of the pirates	children from the future	a living statue	a screaming ghost	a flying worm	a living shadow	the oldest woman in the world
3	the cheerful puppet	monster in the swimming pool	giant spiders	a secret agent	a mad professor	a swarm of bees	a wounded shark	the abominable snowman	an Egyptian mummy
4	the artist who painted the future	the best fisherman in the world	a knight in shining armour	an octopus	a security guard	a police inspector	a truly remarkable grandfather	the driver of a train	the owner of a huge ship
5	a team of mountain climbers	the richest man in the world	a dwarf	a cat burglar	an amazing animal trainer	a school bully	a mysterious newcomer	a slave	a computer nerd
6	a gold prospector	a very lonely child	a powerful black witch	a great inventor	a man on the run	a war hero	a boy who liked to dream	a lighthouse keeper	a creepy reporter
7	a surgeon with an iron hand	a robot	a castaway	a very small man	a miser	an airline hijacker	a top security prisoner	a drunk	a newspaper reporter
8	a talking cat	a shapeless creature of the dark	the enthusiastic salesman	a mind traveller	the prince of the gypsies	two terrified lions	a tribe of Eskimos	Thundermen from Mars	a circus clown
9	burglars	a giant baby	a one-armed teacher	a mounted policeman	the strongest man in the world	a slime monster	a master of disguise	a top class stuntman	the man who held the world to ransom

Places

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	hall of mirrors	a ghost town	a mysterious lighthouse	the stone circle	land of fire	a very deep well	the haunted house	a monster fun-fair	an underground city
2	a deserted beach	the lost submarine	the back of a sea monster	a rocky underground passage	the desert	the middle of a maze	a bridge over a waterfall	the lost island	a prison cell
3	where everyone is weightless	the wall of ooze	a burning building	the house of no escape	a secret panel	an attic in a big old house	a creepy church	a tunnel	a time warp
4	behind a waterfall	a chair lift over a glacier	a poisonous river	at a cross-roads	down a mine	a prehistoric sea bed	inside a pyramid	in the middle of nowhere	a ruined monastery
5	outer space	a damp dungeon	the throne room of a great palace	the main sewer	the parachute bay of a war plane	the bottom of a ravine	the den of a polar bear	an underground defence network	a rocket launcher
6	moon base	optics room of a secret telescope	a minefield	a cryogenic chamber	the belly of a whale	the Tower of London	an old gas works	inside a huge deep freeze	a rugged mountain pass
7	a medieval castle	flight of uneven steps	a clay pit	enemy territory	an air raid shelter	deep in the woods	a crypt	a secret garden	a space station
8	an Egyptian tomb	a wildlife park	in a monorail train	in a joke shop	a circus	a junk yard	the second hand shop	across the border	a holiday camp
9	an amusement arcade	a snake pit	the top of a tall building	long stretch of golden sand	the biggest school in the world	a famous landmark	an operating theatre	a chapel of rest	a gypsy caravan

Situations

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	all war must stop	a bath	turning into another creature	in a school that vanished	a wedding	the last train home	a lost ship	fireballs from space	a warning
2	trapped at the bottom of the earth	the genie's visit	bomb sent to destroy Earth	a mummy comes to life	a hurricane	Battle of the Gods	a fifty fifty chance	entombed	a car race through flames
3	a strange light shining	a last hope	a ship wreck	becoming a member of a club	two more days to live	pictures come to life	encounter with a shark	a plague of flies	invasions of the earth
4	a creature rolling downstairs	a door that leads to the future	alone on a strange planet	having plastic surgery	a trap	a runaway train	a vague red mist	discovery in the woods	a terrible nightmare
5	a man jumping off the Empire State building	turning into a grown up	the curse	someone screaming for help	the erupting volcano	a fight for your life	glowing eyes with no body	sinking	REVENGE
6	we have to amputate	becoming huge	trapped in quick sand	the day the world began	a stampeding elephant	the wedding of a ghost	trapped with the waters rising	finding buried treasure	finding a secret passage
7	animals against humans	lost in a thick fog	a lost tribe	face to face with a monster	ESCAPE!	tracking down a thief	having to prove yourself	journey into the unknown	KIDNAPPED!
8	deserted by your friends	finding a flying saucer	going where you're not allowed	doing what you shouldn't	being a favourite	crossing an ocean	caught in the act	losing your identity	finding treasure
9	ordeal of hunger and thirst	becoming very tiny	sharing the blame	passing through a mirror	BETRAYED	losing your memory	a case of body snatching	looking exactly like someone else	organising a jail break

  

Places

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	hall of mirrors	a ghost town	a mysterious lighthouse	the stone circle	land of fire	a very deep well	the haunted house	a monster fun-fair	an underground city
2	a deserted beach	the lost submarine	the back of a sea monster	a rocky underground passage	the desert	the middle of a maze	a bridge over a waterfall	the lost island	a prison cell
3	where everyone is weightless	the wall of ooze	a burning building	the house of no escape	a secret panel	an attic in a big old house	a creepy church	a tunnel	a time warp
4	behind a waterfall	a chair lift over a glacier	a poisonous river	at a cross-roads	down a mine	a prehistoric sea bed	inside a pyramid	in the middle of nowhere	a ruined monastery
5	outer space	a damp dungeon	the throne room of a great palace	the main sewer	the parachute bay of a war plane	the bottom of a ravine	the den of a polar bear	an underground defence network	a rocket launcher
6	moon base	optics room of a secret telescope	a minefield	a cryogenic chamber	the belly of a whale	the Tower of London	an old gas works	inside a huge deep freeze	a rugged mountain pass
7	a medieval castle	flight of uneven steps	a clay pit	enemy territory	an air raid shelter	deep in the woods	a crypt	a secret garden	a space station
8	an Egyptian tomb	a wildlife park	in a monorail train	in a joke shop	a circus	a junk yard	the second hand shop	across the border	a holiday camp
9	an amusement arcade	a snake pit	the top of a tall building	long stretch of golden sand	the biggest school in the world	a famous landmark	an operating theatre	a chapel of rest	a gypsy caravan

Objects

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	a cat's eye	the steel claw	a hand print in the paint	the golden amulet	a tape recording	an ivory tusk	a totem pole	a diamond eye	the wheels of fun
2	a doll's house	a silver door	trees that talk	a delicious dinner	a pretty doll	a comfy chair	the silver vulture	a mighty weed	a bread knife
3	a time bomb	a secret microfilm	an antelope's horns	a monkey in a hanging basket	X ray	a harpoon	a massive raincloud	a floating body	a great whirlwind
4	a long ladder	a bag of Rubies	skeleton of a dinosaur	a glowing mirror	the golden hammer	an unidentified flying object	an old stream train	a broken stained glass window	phosphorescant slime
5	a bottle with a message in it	a bucket of custard	a teddy bear's paw	a boomerang	a two edged sword	forest of stalagmites	a giant laser	a submarine	a particular bunch of keys
6	a secret weapon	the figure head of an old ship	a pyramid	the alarm system of a building	a poison capsule	a rusty knife	a CD	a frogman suit	a brown parcel
7	foot prints	an electronic man	a lasso	an umbrella	a glowing light	an exploding mine	a tin of beans	a catapult	a giant laser
8	a box	an invisible ray	a huge standing stone	abandoned cars	invisible ink	a mouse mat	a secret formula	a rope bridge	grinning snowmen
9	the crown jewels	a speed boat	a stone	a booby trap	a rowing boat	a very expensive cake	a set of false teeth	a giant snowball	a television camera

 When

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	At last	On saturday	Once upon a time	Every day	soon	During the night	On holiday	After breakfast	During the winter
2	On a dark night	When I was 5	Soon after I got up	While shopping	In a few days time	Long long ago	Just after midnight	In 2000	Recently
3	It was getting dark	On my birthday	When the holiday came	Many years ago	In January	Just as the Train stopped	When the clock showed midnight	Every time it snowed	Before school
4	On monday	At Christmas time	When it snowed	Mostly during the day	When I’m tired	Fortnightly	In a few weeks	While I’m here	Shortly
5	As the car drove off	Three weeks after the storm	Annually	Four days ago	At Christmas	Next year	When we were in France	Just before 10 o’clock	In the meantime
6	When you go to work	Monthly	In December	While I was going up the hill	When I say go	After a while	Before you decide	In a few days time	Before he goes on holiday
7	A few days ago	When he went to bed	After they came back	Later on	During the meal	At last	now	Whenever  they are sad	During the holidays
8	never	In a while	A moment ago	Never on a Sunday	When the TV is on	After the  match	At 5 o’clock	Soon after  the party	In a few years time
9	A moment ago	Every  fortnight	Frequently at bedtime	Nearly a month ago	Almost every day	After the war was over	Next week	In the Victorian age	Before he started the job