Kindergarten new-animal versions of Handa's Surprise in Book Creator, read aloud on every page

Kindergarten (Year 1, age 5 to 6) · 120 min · 1 tablet per student

After reading Eileen Browne's Handa's Surprise, Year 1 make their own versions over two lessons, keeping the story's pattern but choosing new animals and new fruits. Each child writes one sentence per page with adult support and their phonics mats, such as 'The hippo took the melon', and draws the animal with Book Creator's pen tool. They then record themselves reading each page aloud, play the recording back while following their words with a finger, and re-record or fix the sentence when they hear a word they left out. The teacher combines the finished books into one class book in the school's Book Creator library, which is set to school login only, and children listen to each other's pages in the reading corner the following week.

Why this is Creative Amplify

Each child writes and illustrates their own version of the story, which is an original piece of writing. Compared with a folded booklet of the same story, Book Creator adds a recorded reading on every page: children play it back to catch missing words, and classmates who cannot yet read the text can hear it.

Compared with

A folded four-page booklet of the same story, written and drawn by each child.

Watch out

If children record a retelling of Eileen Browne's original rather than writing their own version, they are not producing an original piece and the lesson belongs in the Interactive row.

Tools: Book Creator Nine ideas for your own version in Generate

This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and grade. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.

Kindergarten new-animal versions of Handa's Surprise in Book Creator, read aloud on every page.

Nine ideas for your own version.

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Nine ideas for your own version.