History Focus Week - Leeds primary school, Year 5 .  The Vikings - February 201 6 Bu ilding on the children's work on the Vikings during their hi sto ry topic wee k, I decided to put the rich vocabular y they had been learning to good use with these fantastic word-art portrait s.  We discussed the meaning of Viking runes and the children matched a n appropriate symbol to a n image : s tr ength with a horse, protection with a helmet , fire with a drag on.  The children charcoal - transferred an image onto a strip of pape r (their first time!) and then used the vocabulary to fill in the lines. As a set they look very effective! Visit the gallery to see more examples of thi s great w ork !  

Sorry to wake you from your slumber, teachers, but before you close that heavy-lidded eye, roll over and drift back into holiday dreams, take a sneaky look at this week's bulletin with wonderful ideas for teaching creative fiction. This week's resources are for the fantastic picture book Wolves by Emily Gravett.  Consider your inspiration for your first literacy unit of the year well and truly ticked off. Well done you. Now back to sleep...   A  'Have You Tried?'  ideas sheet for Wolves can be found  here .  Wolves  by Emily Gravett This magical book is a great example of how fiction and non-fiction can be combined in a text. We follow the journey of rabbit's imagination as he immerses himself in a new book about a bunny's most feared predator, the wolf. As we consider where his reading and his imaginings meet, this book is the ideal launch pad for a discussion about the very nature of imagination. This might sound a bit on the compl...

This superb artwork was created by a group of 8 and 9 year olds at a primary school in Leeds. The artwork is the children's counter piece to their creative writing based on the book The Island by Armin Greder. This workshop ran over six weeks and taught children the skills required to be a creative and imaginative author and illustrator. All children who took part in the workshop increased their writing attainment by at least 1 sub-level. If you would like your school to take part in similar work, please click here  and ask for information on creative workshops.

These excellent drawings were completed in our final workshop today. Some of these snapshot images are aspects of the book's main illustrations whilst some are taken from various doodles that are scattered throughout the pages. Using black ink, detail was added using the different shading techniques we have practised. Colour was applied later using watered acrylics. The children demonstrated not only their progress as artists but also their confidence in selecting shading patterns. Great work!

In this workshop, I am using art as a means of developing a sense of character perspective. Our artwork looks at 'the people' and how they might react to the intruder. The art and writing are different accounts of the same event. W hen used in the right way, art can enhance great writing even further. Creating art that speaks to writing Week 5 "If an illustration only repeats what the text is already saying then either the text or the illustration is superfluous... The pictures carry the story on their own."  Armin Greder, The Great Bear (1999) It is always warming to hear an enthusiastic teacher describe a great book as a 'goldmine'. I find it comforting to imagine them burrowing through the themes, vocabulary and ideas to take their classes to the heart of a book. Teaching that aims to dig below the surface can immerse children in new worlds and, almost inevitably, produces great writing.  Another rich vein of creative possibility for literacy...

This workshop was an excellent introduction to empathy in children's literature and a great way for children to explore the skills and processes used by real author-illustrators.   What a great way to end the week! Spending some creative time with some Year 4 children at their school in Leeds today! Today, we got our teeth into the curious tale of Little Beauty  by Anthony Browne. Not all is as it seems at this 'special' zoo - home to one lonely but talented primate. With a comfortable arm chair, flat screen TV and with tea and burgers on-demand, this gorilla might seem to have it all. But the one thing he is missing is a true friend. Enchanting! A brilliant charcoal drawing of gorilla with a very effective painted background! Comparing the lifestyle, diet and habitat of this special gorilla with the REAL mountain gorillas of Central Africa, the children produced some excellent writing. They even turned their hand to some mixed media artwork to give our gorilla...