Time upon a once
You’ll need
- A4 paper
- Coloured pens or pencils
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found on our safety pages.
- Give your reading list a twist by turning the titles of the six books you’ve read into a story of their own. You’ll need some paper and colouring pencils, and a large dollop of creativity.
- You could print out 'My reading log' to keep track of the books you read and use the 'Twisted list' sheet to transform these titles into short stories.
Give your list a twist
- Create a word bank by randomly writing out all of the words from the six book titles across a sheet of paper.
- Use the words to form a very short story, around two or three sentences in length. You might need to add in some words, such as ‘and’ or ‘then’, to help your sentences make sense.
- Write out your story on another sheet of paper. You could hint at the book titles by choosing six colours to use for the different words from each title, or you could decorate the page with doodles or illustrations.
- Share your short story with someone, and see if they can work out which six books you have read.
Reflection
This activity was all about building your literacy skills, enabling you to become a more confident reader. While you make your list with a twist, think about which books you enjoyed the most, and why.
Did you learn any new words, phrases or facts from the books you chose? How did you use the non-fiction book(s) you read, and in which ways did (or didn't) it help you explore a topic in more depth?
Books are also a way of learning about lives that differ from our own. Were there any characters you identified with, or have had similar experiences to? Did you read any stories that led you in unexpected directions, or one that you wish had ended in a different way?
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
Make it accessible
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
Put your anagramming skills to the test by rearranging the letters from all six book titles into a short story. Can you use all of, and only, those letters to create sentences which make sense?