About 3 years ago, my fantastic Deputy gave every teacher this book - Descriptosaurus. Written by Alison Wilcox, Descriptosaurus is fantastic for creative writing that is a thematic expansion of a dictionary and a thesaurus. It provides children with a comprehensive resource with which to expand their descriptive vocabulary, experiment with language and sentence structure and build up narratives based around the following areas: Settings - landscapes, settlements and atmosphere, Characters - appearance, emotions and personality, and Creatures - appearance, abilities and habitats.
When it comes to writing, teachers can find it tricky to generate effective descriptive language during shared or guided writing sessions. I have been lucky enough to attend training by Alan Peat and Pie Corbett. Both sessions were fantastic and made it look so easy to generate effective vocabulary to tell a good story. They are geniuses and experts in the field. When faced with a class of 30, being put on the spot, you can have a complete mental block. However, with the descriptosaurus to hand, you will always be able to find a word, phrase or whole sentence to use.
From the competition, this book helps areas of children's writing that needed development, such as action scenes. There is a bigger focus on the character's reactions and interactions. This is something I feel is often missing from children's writing.
The books are also available electronically through the Kindle store.
Here is a sample from the Amazon preview of the Descriptosaurus:
So if you are stuck for a present to buy a teacher or even treat your child to help with their writing, I would highly recommend these books!
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