Mystery Stories

A dance and literacy unit of work with Year 3 at Gloucester Primary SchoolWritten and delivered by Year 3 teachers and Philippa Beagley

Exploring scene setting by drawing in response to discussion, descriptive texts and film introductions

The learning wall:Key points for writing a mystery story

The mystery dance warm-up, taught to the whole class, using descriptive phrases as prompts

Note the sheets hanging on a line across he hall, ready for later use

Children work in small groups to remember the mystery dance warm-up

They perform the warm-up behind the sheets. The class explore descriptive vocabulary while

commenting on the shapes

They also look at the way the shadows change according to distance from the light source

The class responds to oral story-telling, using the text that they are studying

Phrases created after

the dance activities

Small group shared writing as a follow-up to the dance activity – children take it in turns to scribe, and have the opportunity to move and talk while

developing ideas.

Super sentences and hot tips for writing mystery stories are displayed across the classroom

A scene-setting paragraph

As I was walking down the bushes I saw the trees going to come alive in front of me. I was terrified. I could hear the wolves howling. It was scary. I felt horrified when I heard the crispy rustling leaves and woven branches of the trees, which looked like the knotted fingers of an old man. It was dark and spooky with a ghostly atmosphere.

Adam, Brandon, Sulayman

As I was walking through the bleakest forest I’ve ever seen there were twisted trees on the misty road. The reflection of the cold moon shimmered in the water of the lake.

AkiwaI glanced at the spooky branch of the trees looking

like the witches knotted fingers. Suddenly I heard wolves howling which made goosebumps pinch my arm. Moss covered stones and leaves on the floor felt like quick sand.

Sahid, Liban, Ope