How Story Writing is Assessed in the 7+ Entrance Examination
/7 plus story writing always a ‘hot’ topic for discussion! I have had countless conversations with many parents of students that I have taught with regards to story writing.
These are a few of the most common questions about 7 plus story writing I have heard:
Is it possible for a 6 year old to write an interesting, descriptive and structured story?
Can my 6 year old write a full story in 20-30 minutes?
Will my child need to include paragraphs?
Will my child need to have correct spelling and punctuation?
The answer to all of these questions is ‘Yes!’
I have been supporting children with story writing for over 10 years. It is very important to remember that each child will have different views and feelings when it comes to story writing.
I have supported children who absolutely love story writing and can’t get enough of it. I have also supported children who have told me that they never want to write a story ever again! Therefore it is very important that each child is dealt with in a unique way. It is important to find the correct balance and to never ever overwhelm a child. The process has to be fun. It has to be done in a way that will encourage the child to love writing in the long term.
A 6 year old can absolutely write a story in 20-30 minutes.
With plenty of practice of course.
Story writing is not something that can be forced on a child. The best stories I have read from my 7+ students are stories that are creative and imaginative and totally unique to the little author writing them! Yes, we can teach great adjectives and adverbs but ultimately it all comes down to the imagination of the child writing the story.
How do you ‘teach’ a child to become imaginative?
Read, read and read some more. Read from a variety of genres and get those creative juices flowing. As your child reads, encourage them to write down beautifully descriptive sentences from the books that they read. This sounds simple, however this is something that I rarely see children doing as they read. It is a skill that can be mastered, however. It needs to become a habit.
Create a bank of descriptive sentences that your child can dip into when writing their own stories.
You can organise your ‘Creative Book’ very simply.
Separate the book or folder the following way:
1. Wonderful adjectives
2. Superb adverbs
3. Excellent verbs
4. Beautiful sentences
5. Similes
6. Personification
7. Speech punctuation
As your child reads, remind them to be mindful of these sections. You can focus on one or two sections at a time. After several weeks, you will have created an extremely valuable resource that will support your child with their story writing.
What is the expectation of story writing for the 7+ entrance examination?
Each school will have their own expectations.
This is what I focus on when teaching story writing:
1. Three clear paragraphs (beginning, middle and ending)
2. Spellings – correct spellings used. Your child needs to know the 100 and 200 high frequency words and they will be expected to know spellings up to a year 4 standard.
3. Punctuation – Correct use of full stops and commas as well as a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence. Correct speech punctuation when using inverted commas.
4. Adjectives – Using a variety of adjectives to describe.
5. Verbs – Using verbs for effect
6. Sentence openers – Varying sentence openers for effect.
7. Similes – using a simile or two (if it is effective)
8. Personification – to add that wow factor!
This may seem overwhelming to many parents. But you will be surprised at how much the children absolutely adore writing stories.
Take your time with this and above all, make it fun!
Happy Creative Story Writing Everyone!
