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Bringing reading to life through class texts and dramatic inquiry

If you follow my blog or Facebook page, you will know that in 2023 I moved away from grouping my children for reading and started using whole class texts.

The Rationale Behind Whole Class Texts

These whole class texts were born out of my learning around the role of repeated reading, the importance of fluency, and sentence-level comprehension.

Our Reading Routine

Over the last three years, these texts—while they have changed in content—have followed a set routine. Each day, we read, a new part is added, while the part we have already read is retained. Once there are three parts to the text, a new one is begun, keeping the last part read and making it the beginning.

I have written before about our reading routine with these texts, so I won't go into this again in great detail, only to say we use echo reading, choral reading, fill-the-gap reading, partner reading, and independent reading. We explore unknown vocabulary and decode new words together before reading.

The Characters and Setting

The little stories are very basic on the surface. This year, there are three main characters: Ned the cat, Bob the pig, and Cleo the kāhu, with a supporting role from Pearl the possum (our class puppet). These characters live on a big farm close to an old forest, which is also inhabited by a wise magic tree.

Bringing Stories to Life

However basic they may seem, the stories bring reading to life for the children. Through discussion, we build up the backstory—so much is known by the children that is not written on the page. Children also add their own ideas for the stories and see these come to life in what we read.

We can bring the adventures that these characters have to life. Right now, our friend Pearl has discovered part of a letter, with only the words "house", "road", "tree" left visible. She also spotted a man in a high-vis jacket looking through her forest and making notes. She is terrified that her tree and forest will be cut down to create a road and has sought the help of Ned, Bob, and Cleo to find out more.

The friends have gone investigating and have now discovered a copy of the letter in the farmer's study. At this point, we have left them preparing to visit the wise magic tree on the farm to read the letter and get some advice.


Building Comprehension and Engagement

Each read, we write a gist to go with the new information in the story.

Ultimately, as a class, we will leap in and help the friends to stop the road being built through the forest, discovering that many protected species of animals live there. Along the way, we will learn all about these animals.

The world within the story, will spill over into our world, we will become part of the story.

Classroom Tools and Puppets

In the world of Ned, Bob, and Cleo, Pearl lives in the big old tree. We have a wise tree puppet that will bring the story to life alongside Pearl, our possum puppet.

The Impact of Class Stories

These class stories have been a fantastic addition to our class. We can focus on the 'decoding' of the reading, build vocabulary, and develop comprehension, while also bringing the story to life in a way that delights and excites. Not only that, but it can also be easily linked to our knowledge-building and spills over into our writing, giving children something to write about.

While for some, many of the words are out of reach for decoding on their own, with the support of myself and the rest of the class, they can access what has been written and be reading exactly what the rest of the class is.

How cute is this picture.  Each read, we write a gist to go with the new information in the story.


The world of Ned, Bob and Cleo.  Pearl lives in the big old tree.  We have a wise tree puppet that will bring the story to life with Pearl our possum puppet.


The next to instalments of our story...












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