Improving Literacy with Short Stories for Years 7 and 8

Seven original short stories and activities written specifically to improve literacy skills for year 7 and 8 students. All stories have been carefully crafted to engage these year groups and to demonstrate genre, narrative and literary techniques.

Having pre-written activities and ideas is very useful for the busy teacher

P Town, English Teacher & Peer Reviewer

The ready-to-use worksheets use the stories as springboards to focus on developing reading and writing skills but also incorporate dramatic skills and cross-curricular links to stretch your students further.

Places creative writing at the forefront...

...Shows students how enjoyable creative writing can be but also empowers them to be critics and editors without intimidating them

P Town, English Teacher & Peer Reviewer
Reading:
  • Vocab building
  • Comprehension questions
  • Close reading
Drama:
  • Hot seating
  • Freeze frames
Writing:
  • Descriptive
  • Diary entries
  • Reporting
  • Letters
  • Creative

Includes answers to all reading activities!

What do teachers say about this resource? (5501)

An interesting idea and something which is very useful in creative writing work... having pre-written activities and ideas is very useful for the busy teacher... I liked the variety of story topics... I also liked the variety of activities... the stories, although accessible, present elements of challenge for more able students as well... places creative writing at the forefront, something which I do not think is done enough, even at KS3. It shows students how enjoyable creative writing can be but also empowers them to be critics and editors without intimidating them

P Town, English Teacher & Peer Reviewer

I liked it! It's an area that students often struggle with so it's a good way to approach writing tasks... the range of stories included and the types of writing attached offers a good starting point for both GCSE and A Level... I particularly liked the idea of starting small; focusing on vocabulary and comprehension before moving on to transforming the piece into something new. I liked the range of genres and approaches provided. The tasks are open enough to be easily adapted for different groups... The resource matches many of the points made for writing in the 2014 English curriculum documents... allows the teacher freedom in their approach.

F Marshall, English Teacher & Peer Reviewer

Very useful... The main educational value is to improve KS3 learners' literary understanding by providing concise short stories that can be delivered in a single lesson....The short story format also doesn't switch boys off from reading.

J Selwood, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

There is a good range of cross curricular activities for students to complete for each text

K Greaves, Teacher and Peer Reviewer