Overview

This teaching sequence is based on files from the multimodal writing kit Little Red Riding Hood, which includes:

• a written story: The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood
• a multimodal version of The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood
• an alternative multimodal story, Little Red Riding Hood and the Vegetarian Wolf, presented as screens with words only that can be matched to images from The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood or can have classroom-generated images inserted
• IWB files 'Little Red Riding Hood character' and 'Little Red Riding Hood veg wolf'
• photograph files.

The two stories, The True Story of Little Red Riding Hood and Little Red Riding Hood and the Vegetarian Wolf, reverse the roles of the main characters in order to subvert the traditional tale and create an alternative version. Whereas in the traditional story of Little Red Riding Hood the main character is portrayed as sweet and innocent and the Wolf as mean, hungry and scheming, in these versions the roles are changed so that Little Red Riding Hood becomes devious and the Wolf is kind and polite.

The kit suggests ways of writing stories and composing multimodal texts on the computer, combining still images, sound effects and printed words.

Multimodal texts combine elements of::

• gesture or movement
• images (moving and still)
• sound (spoken words, sound effects and music)
• writing

When composing multimodal texts, children need to be clear about:

• what the words contribute to communicating meaning
• what the images contribute
• what the sound effects or spoken words contribute.

The text is used as a basis for discussing the roles of sound, image, gesture and written text in creating a narrative. It is adapted by using the template or by removing elements of the original presentation. Innovation includes creating a new story based on another traditional tale. A traditional story has been chosen because it is likely to be familiar to the children, so they concentrate on how they tell the story rather than what the story contains.

The audience for the story could be Year 1 or Foundation Stage children in school. The narratives could be stored on the school network for future access by staff and children.The outcome could be a written extended narrative based on an alternative version of a traditional story (phases 1 and 2) or a multimodal extended narrative based on a traditional story (phases 1, 2 and 3).

Phases 1 and 2 make up a 2-week teaching sequence.If you wish, you can follow all three phases as a 3-week or 4-week sequence. Note: Children working significantly above or below age-related expectations will need differentiated support, which may include tracking forward or back in terms of learning objectives. EAL learners should be expected to work within the overall expectations for their year group. For further advice see the progression strands and hyperlinks to useful sources of practical support.