English / Year 3 / Literature / Creating literature

Curriculum content descriptions

Create imaginative texts based on characters, settings and events from students’ own and other cultures using visual features, for example perspective, distance and angle (ACELT1601)

Elaborations
  • drawing on literary texts read, viewed and listened to for inspiration and ideas, appropriating language to create mood and characterisation
  • innovating on texts read, viewed and listened to by changing the point of view, revising an ending or creating a sequel
General capabilities
  • Literacy Literacy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
  • Intercultural understanding Intercultural understanding
ScOT terms

Creating texts,  Imaginative texts,  Illustration,  Settings (Narratives)

Video

Creating character 'trade marks'

Leigh Hobbs says that his character Old Tom's black eye, fish bone and comb are visual devices - Tom's trade marks. What do you think he means by this? Can you think of other fictional characters with trade marks or something that encapsulates who they are?

Video

Writing what you know with Leigh Hobbs video

When you write a story, do you sometimes base characters, events or settings on your own experiences? Leigh Hobbs, author and illustrator of The Big Book of Old Tom, claims there's always a little bit of himself in everything he writes. Is this true for you too?

Video

How to Build Stories, Ch 1: What is a story?

Stories are all around us and they're happening all the time. But what exactly is a story? Stories teach and explain things, create emotion and entertain us. Watch this wonderful video and find out more.

Video

Tony Wilson's advice for new writers

What does author Tony Wilson think the hardest thing for new writers is? What does he say is the best way to get better at writing? Tony mentions an Australian author called Sonya Hartnett. Do some research and find out how old Sonya was when she wrote her first book. If writing is something you have fun doing, perhaps ...

Interactive

Syllabus bites: Visual literacy

A resource with information, study guides and resources on visual literacy to support the English K-10 Australian Curriculum in English. It provides a series of activities, guidelines and tasks about visual texts from a variety of sources. Contains writing scaffolds, templates and proformas for responding and composing ...

Interactive

Syllabus bites – responding to literature

A web page with information, teacher guides and resources on responding to texts. This resource supports the NSW English K-10 syllabus.

Online

Create a board game that uses an Ozobot

Create a game board where the player is provided with a number of decisions. Using Scratch and Makey Makey, students add multimodal elements to the story. These elements are activated using an Ozobot.

Interactive

Big battles!

Students explore music and dance through body percussion and singing as they learn the story of the unicorn and lion's big battle. They create a collage artwork using images of lions and unicorns that they can find.

Text

Character Sketches

What techniques do storytellers use to create characters? In this lesson, students will analyse how a character's personality traits, actions and motives influence the plot of a story. They will use their senses to create character sketches, then dramatize the character for an audience.

Text

Mountain Creation

In this lesson, students will dramatize the ways a mountain can be formed. They will analyse poems about mountain creation from the perspective of the Tohono O’odham indigenous people of Arizona and Mexico. Students will compare the poems to science-based descriptions of mountain formation.

Text

Work sample Year 3 English: My favourite thing to do

This work sample demonstrates evidence of student learning in relation to aspects of the achievement standards for Year 3 English . The primary purpose for the work sample is to demonstrate the standard, so the focus is on what is evident in the sample not how it was created. The sample is an authentic representation of ...

Video

Young authors' creative writing advice

When you write, is there a particular piece of writing advice you keep in the back of your mind - something that helps you to write a better story? Watch these two students talk about the advice given to them that helps them to write better stories.

Interactive

Finish the story: bushfire

Edit a comic book story to make it more exciting and complete. Look closely at a narrative about an adventure where a couple driving home are trapped by a bushfire. Choose an ending. Improve the story by adding adverbs, choosing verbs and changing nouns to pronouns. Choose a title and image for the cover.

Interactive

Finish the story: boat disaster

Edit a comic book story about an adventure where a couple spend a day fishing from a boat, but then get stranded. Look closely at the narrative and make it more exciting and complete. Choose an ending. Improve the story by adding adjectives, choosing verbs and linking sentences using text connectives. Choose a title and ...

Interactive

Super stories: The Abandoned House: nouns and adjectives

Help a publishing director create a bestselling horror story. Read the story. Choose effective nouns and adjectives to increase the impact of the story and make it scarier. Select illustrations that highlight the horror of the events. This learning object is one in a series of four objects.

Video

Feathers, Fur and Fins: A song about koalas

Some people mistakenly call a koala a bear, but it's not. Listen to this fun song by Don Spencer to find out how a koala might feel about being called a bear.

Video

A school's history of sustainability

Discover the history of sustainability at a local primary school as two generations of past students reflect on their time at the school. View this clip called 'The past of our present', created by young reporters from North Fitzroy Primary School, Victoria. The clip was developed as part of the ABC Splash Live 'Making ...

Video

Sustainability of a historic community garden

Discover the history of a local community garden and find out about some of its new sustainable features. View this clip called 'Sustainability in Edinburgh', created by young reporters from North Fitzroy Primary School, Victoria. The clip was developed as part of the ABC Splash Live 'Making the news!' project, which featured ...

Video

To plan or not to plan

Different writers approach writing in different ways. Some just dive in with nothing but an idea, while others like Morris Gleitzman like to spend some time planning their story before writing. What's your writing style like? Discuss the pros and cons of both styles.

Video

Changing ideas and discovering themes in stories

Have you ever started out with an idea for a story and later realised you wanted to change it? You're not the only one! In fact, changing your mind is all part of the process of writing. Listen as author Tony Wilson explains how the idea for his book 'The Cow Tripped over the Moon' changed over time. What was his initial ...