As part of our new literacy curriculum with "Literacy Tree", we have been lucky to
enjoy a range of books this year and also welcome some great authors and today, was no exception, where we have had a very inspirational
and uplifting day with Chrissie Sains, the author of such books as ‘Alien in
the Jam factory’, ‘Slugs in Jam’ and
others. The children heard about
Chrissie's first attempt at writing, which she shared and was proud of as it
went on the classroom wall!! She spoke honestly
and openly about her struggles with writing as a child. She also shared that “Alien in the jam
factory” was inspired by her god-daughter who had Downs Syndrome and so she
helped Chrissie write this first novel.
After this introduction, year 3 and year 4 were invited to create their own ‘creature’
using a variety of ideas from her “Treasure chest of ideas”. See the picture below which the children helped to draw and was designed
by voting for each part from a choice of features. Reception and nursery enjoyed singing a song
all about strawberry, banana, orange and apple jam with actions. Year 1 and year 2 designed their own jam:- “Strawberry
jam with chocolate sprinkles, pink icing
and flying dust” all voted for by the children from certain features. They then each designed
their own jam. Year 5 and year 6 – see separate blog post.
Some of the comments from the children:- “she was so good – I’m going to go home and write my own story”; “I loved listening to her and loved the magic that came out of treasure box”; "I loved designing my own beast” and “It was so good – I can’t wait to start drawing”. Some of the teachers were also in awe of her inspirational box of ideas! It was such a lovely day.
Thank you to “The Friends” who kindly supported this event and thank you to Chrissie for being so inspiring to us all!
