Rewriting Tiddalick’s Adventure

Overview

Year group: 4
Duration: 60 minutes
Class size: 30 students
Unit: Tiddalick’s Tale: A Rewrite (Lesson 2 of 2)
Lesson title: Rewriting Tiddalick’s Adventure

---

National Curriculum Links (English - Writing)

• Develop positive attitudes towards and stamina for writing by:
  • Writing narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional) (NC p.29).
• Understand and use:
  • Expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely (Y4 programme of study for writing).
  • Fronted adverbials (e.g., later that day, I heard the bad news) with commas.
  • Use a range of sentences with more than one clause by using a variety of conjunctions (because, although, since, etc.).
  • Use paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme.
  • Use inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech.

These are informed by statutory requirements for writing narratives and applying grammatical features (National Curriculum for England, Key Stage 2 – Years 3 and 4).

---

Learning Objectives (WALT)

• WALT: Rewrite a story using narrative features.

---

Success Criteria

• I can use fronted adverbials and expanded noun phrases to add detail and interest.
• I can include powerful verbs and conjunctions to make my writing more dynamic.
• I can structure my story using paragraphs and include speech with correct punctuation.

---

Resources Needed

• Printed copies of the original "Tiddalick’s Tale" story (dyslexia-friendly font, e.g. OpenDyslexic)
• Word banks (powerful verbs, conjunctions, fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrase templates)
• Sentence starters sheets
• Lined exercise books or writing paper
• Whiteboard and markers
• Visual story map reminders from Lesson 1
• Example rewritten paragraph displayed on the board
• Peer review checklists
• Art supplies for cover illustration (extension activity)

---

Lesson Structure

1. Starter (10 minutes)

• Recap the original Tiddalick’s story briefly using storytelling and visual aids (story map).
• Discuss key narrative features used in the story: characters, setting, problem, resolution.
• Display and explain today’s WALT and success criteria.
• Quick warm-up: On mini-whiteboards, students write a fronted adverbial + expanded noun phrase about Tiddalick’s environment and share a few examples aloud.

Differentiation: Provide sentence frames such as:

• “Early in the morning, the giant frog ________.”
• “With shimmering scales, the sparkling pond ________.”

---

2. Main Activity (35 minutes)

• Task: Write their own version of Tiddalick’s adventure by rewriting the story following the narrative structure.

Step 1: Planning (5 minutes)

• Show a narrative framework grid reminding students to include:
  • Introduction with setting and characters
  • Problem caused by Tiddalick (using powerful verbs)
  • Dialogue using speech punctuation
  • Resolution and ending
• For advanced learners: Prompt to add a twist or new character to surprise the reader.

Step 2: Writing (30 minutes)

• Students write their story independently.
• Encourage the use of:
  • Fronted adverbials at the start of some sentences to vary sentence openings.
  • Expanded noun phrases to describe characters/settings.
  • Powerful verbs instead of ‘said’/‘walked’ (e.g. shouted, leapt).
  • A variety of conjunctions to join clauses (because, although, while).
  • Correct use of paragraphs to separate different parts.
  • Accurate speech punctuation throughout dialogue (inverted commas, commas, capital letters).

Differentiation:

• Struggling writers access sentence starters and word banks pinned on desks.
• Use dyslexia-friendly fonts and coloured overlays if requested.
• One-to-one TA support for those needing extra scaffolding.

---

3. Plenary (15 minutes)

• Pair up students for peer sharing and feedback, focusing on the success criteria.
• Use simple feedback prompts:
  • “Can you spot a fronted adverbial?”
  • “Is there a paragraph break when the scene changes?”
  • “Did your partner use powerful verbs?”
• Invite a few volunteers to read an excerpt aloud.

Extension:

• Students who finish early illustrate a new cover for their version of the story incorporating the characters/scenes they have written about.

---

Assessment Opportunities

• Formative assessment through observation during the main writing task.
• Review individual stories against the success criteria checklist: use of fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases, powerful verbs, conjunctions, paragraphs, and punctuation in speech.
• Peer feedback notes provide evidence of understanding and application.

---

Differentiation Summary

Learner Type	Support	Challenge/Extension
Struggling writers	Sentence starters, word banks, dyslexia-friendly reading materials, TA help	N/A
Average learners	Structured narrative grid, word banks, modelling examples	Prompt to add varied conjunctions and detailed noun phrases
Advanced learners	Encouraged to create a twist/new character, more complex vocabulary	Write independently with minimal prompts, share and explain narrative decisions

---

Dyslexia-Friendly Strategies

• Use dyslexia-friendly font printouts for story and resources.
• Break writing into manageable chunks with clear headings.
• Use coloured overlays or paper for students who benefit.
• Provide oral instructions alongside written.
• Allow word banks and sentence starters to reduce cognitive load.

---

Teacher Notes

• Before lesson, ensure visual story map and examples are visibly displayed.
• Circulate during independent writing to offer scaffolded prompts and praise specific successes.
• Encourage creativity but gently reinforce narrative coherence and structure.
• Consider recording exemplary student paragraphs to use as future models.

---

By carefully blending creativity with explicit teaching of narrative and grammatical features, this lesson will deepen students’ story-writing skills while engaging them through a familiar and culturally rich tale aligned with the National Curriculum.