To celebrate the date of Shakespeare's birth and death on 23rd April, we are sharing some tips from our book to help teachers get to grips with Shakespeare in the primary classroom.  In this video, Stefan explains how to read Shakespeare with primary school children.  

Buy my creative literacy resources for free by using the discount code JUNE-OFFERS at my shop on TES online. Sale ends 30 June 2017! Visit my shop at www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/articulate_education or click here and follow the link.  Small print... - voucher is worth £3 ($3.97) as are most of my resources - first time buyers only - see www.tes.com for full details

I am delighted to announce a new training course for primary teaching assistants. Supporting Creative Writers is specially designed to help staff engage and guide children through the writing process. The full-day course is on Friday 11th November 2016 at Bowery Cafe and Visual Arts Centre , Headingley, Leeds. See the poster below for details! To book a place or for more information, please email me . 

Course title: Becoming a DIY Writer by Stefan Kucharczyk Venue: Pudsey Lowtown Primary School, Leeds Monday 5th September 2016 Forget the back-to-school, doom and gloom Facebook memes, the start of a new term is a chance to bounce around new ideas and get back to being creative (even if it doesn't seem like that at 7am in the morning).  What better way to get started than spending time discussing ideas for writing with the wonderful staff at Pudsey Lowtown Primary in Leeds. I was asked to deliver a teacher training session focused on embedding the writing process, especially how to get children in a position to write and how to help them edit and redraft their work afterwards. The school are embarking on a new direction with their literacy planning this half term, using picture books as inspiration for getting children acting, talking and writing. To prepare them, we looked at ways to unlock the mysteries of Armin Greder's chilling tale, The Island.  ...

Macbeth Creative writing workshop, KS2 Macbeth is a blood-drenched, gory and spooky tale. To o gruesome for little ones? Apparently not! The Year 4 and 5 children I have been working with this half term have become completely immersed in the Scott ish play.  As well as getting the children to write short playscripts, developing the climactic s howdown between Macbeth and Macduff (more on this at a later date), my groups ha ve designed some concept posters for the play. The children chose a colou r and symbol that represented some aspect of the play (bloody red, royal purple, a black cat for the wi tches, a chess p iece for the king) and overlayed it with words that help tell the story. We used emulsion paint and big worn-out brushes (the ones at the back of the cu pboard that nobody uses...) to achieve a battle-worn, scratchy effect. Gory blood sp latters w ent dow n a treat to o! Here are some fine examples! Royal Shakespeare Company, take note! ...

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 !  

Turn your most wayward apprentices from scruffy-lookin’ nerf herders into Jedi Masters with this creative writing and illustration workshop. Creative writing workshop -- six sessions -- fiction EPISODE I I - T HE PROCESS BEGINS! Darth Vader illu stration by Vict o r in ink, charcoal a nd wat ercolou r Picking up this tale from where we left off, six boys who find writing challenging were chosen to join a creative writing workshop using Star Wars graphic novels as their inspiration. After having time to watch snippets of Episode IV and freely pore over various graphic novels, their enthusiasm for Star Wars had been well and truly tapped into. It was time to start the process of producing a piece of writing. My basic ethos with writing is not revolutionary. Guiding children through a detailed and immersive process rather than springing a writing assessment on them might seem like an obviously, preferable route. It is, however, surprising how seldom this approach is really f...

ARTiculate Bulletin wc 22.2.16 Have you tried Flotsam by David Wiesner Buy this book! Image copyright by the owners.  This is a strange book; the good kind of strange. The sort of book that will keep you and the children puzzling and poring over it in the hunt for hidden meaning and the intricate details you almost certainly missed the first ten times you read it. Almost completely wordless, children of any age or ability will find this a stimulating and thought-provoking starting point.  If you try any of the ideas I'd love to see the work your children produce. A  'Have You Tried?'  ideas sheet for  Flotsam  can be found  here .  To request this in pdf format, please join the mailing list by clicking  here  and sending me your details.

George Lucas (yes mom, the guy who directed Star Wars) talks here about how the school system in America is obsessed with teaching the 'grammar' of communication and how the arts, drama, cinema and music are labelled as 'creative fun'. He's spot on. ARTiculate workshops help children understand how ideas can be communicated in ways additional to writing. Click here to see the creative literacy workshops I offer.     

Inspired by a visit to the cinema, this week's bulletin features creative ideas for Shakespeare's epic Macbeth by Leon Garfield. This is taken from a collection called Shakespeare Stories and is a book I remember knocking around our house when I was a little boy! It's brilliant though and easily my favourite retelling of the classic plays. If you try any of the ideas I'd love to see the work your children produce. A  'Have You Tried?'  ideas sheet for Macbeth can be found  here .  To request this in pdf format, please join the mailing list by clicking  here  and sending me your details. ------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------------------- Book a FREE taster workshop for your school   ------ ------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- This half term I am offering FREE creative literacy taster workshops to primary schools in Leeds. If you ...

This week's bulletin features creative ideas for Black Dog by Levi Pinfold. This spooky tale has lots of unnerving qualities: Victorian sepia photos, objects that seem to move around from picture to picture and , oh yeah, a huge slathering hound on the prowl. Perfect for murky autumnal weather. If you try any of the ideas I'd love to see the work your children produce. To request this in pdf format, please join the mailing list by clicking  here  and sending me your details. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Black Dog by Levi Pinfold -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sinister, murky tone of this book is ideal for gloomy, autumnal weather.  Buried deep in the snowy forest, a large beast is prowling around the house giving the Hope family the scare of their lives. But all is not as it seems in this spooky tale. Is it really a really a giant be...

Hello! World Literacy Day returns on 13th October as part of the World Education Games where children across the world will be celebrating language and literature. If your school is not ready for this global event, look no further. ARTiculate’s creative literacy workshops have had a proven impact on developing children’s writing. Using drama, discussion and art to stimulate exciting thinking, learners big and small have been amazed by the outstanding artwork and superb progress in writing my workshops can deliver. No gimmicks – just innovative ideas taught well by a qualified and experienced primary school teacher. For World Literacy Day , I have two exciting and engaging workshops to offer that include building birdcages, drawing with words and developing original ideas for writing that will get the children raring to go! Workshop 1: The Birdman - poetry and birdcage building ​ Workshop 2: The Arrival - fiction and creative drawing ​ To request these worksho...

Get your new year off to a flyer with Anthony Browne's excellent The Shape Game . The perfect starting point for short, simple activities to get your class talking, discussing, drawing and working together. A  'Have You Tried?'  ideas sheet for The Shape Game can be found  here .  The Shape Game  by Anthony Browne The Shape Game is all you really need in order to understand the magic of Anthony Browne. On a family trip to the Tate Britain art gallery in London,  Anthony Browne gives us insight into his love of art and his childhood discovery of visual jokes and lends us a launch pad from which to analyse paintings, decode symbols and interpret art. In brief: Have you tried?  Ideas for talking and thinking : Interpret and discuss meaning in art and look for symbols in paintings. Ideas for writing : Collaborative written interpretations of famous artworks.  Ideas for art : Play the shape game like Anthony Browne ...

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!

This week's bulletin is inspired by a wonderful, charity shop chance-find picture book: The Whale Song by Dyan Sheldon. Here are some great ideas for you to use with this text. A  'Have You Tried?'  ideas sheet for The Whale's Song can be found  here .  The Whale's Song  by Dyan Sheldon and Gary Blythe This modest little book might not look like much on first glance, but it is a treasure trove of starting points for English and art. Lily, a little girl living with two elderly relatives, hears a tale about the whales that visit their shore. Infused with dreams and memories, the story explores the girl's imaginings and the hazy illustrations give the book a detached, ethereal quality.    In brief: Have you tried?  Ideas for talking and thinking : explore the characters' perspectives on the whales through drama and discussion. Are they magical beasts or an economic resource? Included this week are resources for character d...

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...

"Raised pupil's writing by at least 1 sub-level - developed their ability to apply knowledge. Hopefully we will see ARTiculate in our school again!" A Howdle, Literacy Coordinator You're entering the final stretch now, everybody! Well done! But before you hang your whistle up for the summer, there is a way to get a head start on next year by guaranteeing your children's writing will get off to a creative flyer. ARTiculate is launching a new creative literacy workshop that includes discussion and debate, drama, writing and art: a dead cert to get your new class buzzing! Our new workshop 'Human Zoo' is based on the book Zoo by Anthony Browne. Turning the world on its head in true Anthony Browne style, we ask how would the animals see the strange behaviour of the human visitors? Indeed, who really belong in the cage? Not only does this workshop meet the National Curriculum objectives for literacy, it fulfills the art ones too. Pretty nifty, eh? By ...

Text analysis is key to helping less confident writers build a framework to hang their ideas on. I t is the solid foundation that supports the imaginative flourishes of a quality finished piece.   A good author is a good reader! Week 3 "I love books. I love that moment when you open one and sink into it, you can escape from the world into a story that's way more interesting than yours will ever be." Elizabeth Scott   Do we at ARTiculate have a catchy slogan? If we did, it would probably be the best slogan in the world. But, if I was going to adopt one here and now it might be: "Read. Then go for it!"  The importance of reading for an author is difficult to overstate. How can you write convincingly if you've never read a convincing book? Drawing on other people's ideas, being inspired by another's use of language, seeing how a text is structured - all essentials  for a budding writer. When you're working on a short, picture bo...

An artist creates emotion and atmosphere by using the right colours. Week 2 Pastel seascapes. Continuing from our experimentation with colour in last week's workshop, this time the children were challenged to create the right atmosphere with a stormy seascape. We agreed on a colour palette (from a paint chart), choosing colours to give the viewer feelings of cold, power, mystery and danger. These pastel seascapes were inspired by Armin Greder's illustrations. The children showed real mastery of pastels and chalks to create these brooding, vivid images, blending layers of colours to add depth. They are the perfect backdrop for our writing work next week. Check out the rest of the images in the gallery below.

Week 2: A good author gets into the mind of his characters. The man who arrives on the island is a nobody. We don't where he is from, or how he came to be on the mysterious island. We don't even know his name. The information gaps in this story are seemingly waiting to be filled and drama and imaginative discussion are the key ways to deepen and shape a child's understanding of the man and his situation. This week's workshop explored the man's origins . How has he come to arrive on this island on his flimsy little raft? He's an escaped prisoner! A castaway! A fisherman swept out to see! A man on a secret mission! He is a refugee from a war-torn land! He was sent away like Moses in a basket! He is simply searching for a new, better life! We then used hot-seating and interviews to develop these ideas with the children playing the exhausted, weary man just after his arrival. One question leads to another... Where did the raft come from? What ...