WICKED, the award-winning West End musical that tells the incredible untold story of the witches of Oz, together with the National Literacy Trust celebrates its eighth year of the prestigious WICKED YOUNG WRITER AWARDS. As in previous years, entrants can enter one of five different age categories; 5-7, 8-10, 11-14, 15-17, 18-25. In addition, the 2018 Awards see the third year of the FOR GOOD Award for Non-Fiction, encouraging 15-25 year olds to write essays or articles that recognise the positive impact that people can have on each other, their communities and the world we live in. The WICKED FOR GOOD programme supports the charitable causes at the heart of the stage musical.

There is a 750-word limit (not including the title words) on any theme. In the fiction categories, any creative writing will be accepted, a story, play or poem, it can be something written at school or home that has not be entered into a competition before. If you prefer to write non-fiction, you may like to enter the Wicked: For Good Award for Non-Fiction and write an article, essay, biography, review or letter, to name a few! A shortlist of 120 entrants from across the UK will see their work published in the WICKED YOUNG WRITER AWARDS Anthology. They are also invited to an exclusive ceremony at London’s Apollo Victoria, home to the hit musical since 2006, where judges and members of the WICKED cast will read the winning stories and poems and announce who has won in each category. For T&C’s and full prize fund structure please see Wicked Young Writer Awards website. www.wickedyoungwriterawards.com
 
Here are the rules:
·         Entrants must be aged between 5-25 years old when entering the Wicked Young Writer Awards
·         Entries can be hand-written or typed
·         Writing must be original and your own ideas
·         Judges criteria: originality, narrative, descriptive language, characterisation.
·         Ensure that all students include their name, surname and age on the entry form
·         Open to UK residents only

All winners:
·         Win four tickets to see the London production of WICKED at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. 
·         Meet cast members after the show along with an exclusive backstage tour.
·         £50 worth of books/eBooks tokens to spend.

Other prizes for each category:

5-7 also win:
·         A creative writing workshop for your class
·         £100 worth of books for the winners' school library donated by Hachette Children's Books. 

8-10 and 11-14 also win:
·         An annual subscription to First News
·         £100 worth of books for the winners' school library donated by Hachette Children's Books.

15-17 also win: 
·         A writing masterclass with a professional author

18-25 also win:
·         A self-publishing package from Spiderwize, to publish your very own work.

 Award for Non-Fiction also win:
·         Work experience at First News newspaper, shadowing the editor Nicky Cox, MBE.
·         The 3 schools that submit the most entries also win creative writing workshops.
·         All finalists’ entries get printed in the Wicked Young Writer Awards anthology.

A flamboyance of flamingos

​http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosz/1955192221/

​Collective Nouns
 
This week I came across a collective noun that I had not heard before, ‘A flamboyance of flamingos’ and this reminded me of some of others which I already knew: a business of ferrets, a murder of crows and a parliament of owls.
 
I then started to share them each day on twitter using the hashtag #collectivenouns and sharing the most unusual examples that I could find, such as a dazzle of zebras.
 
The posts garnered lots of interest, so I began to think about how I would use the collective nouns in writing. Many of the words are incredibly descriptive and could be used when writing setting descriptions in order to help convey a mood.
 
For example, when creating a peaceful mood, perhaps to describe a quiet country walk, the following examples could be used:
 
As I crossed the dew-kissed meadow, the sun rose above the distant hills and a wisp of snipe took flight from the long reeds.
 
The word  ‘wisp’ used here adds to the peaceful mood whereas an example such as a ‘pandemonium of parrots’ or ‘a band of plovers,’ or even a ‘parliament of owls’ would shatter the peace.
 
It isn’t only birds that can lead us to imagine a peaceful moment.  Barely a sound could be heard, except the gentle ruffling of the breeze-blown leaves in the trees and a prickle of hedgehogs snuffling for worms.
 
As well as peace, they could help children to include some atmospheric language in their writing:
 
A murder of crows nestled on the black, skeletal branches above, almost invisible now as the darkness descended.
 
The word murder will have connotations for the reader as will the word skulk in the following example:  A skulk of foxes prowled through the town, silently illuminated only by the weak moonlight.
 

 
 
 

​To take it further, collective noun can be used as similes – see the examples below:
 
The gang prowled the estate like an ambush of tigers. 
The snowy mountains nestled together on the horizon like a giant aurora of polar bears.
The models took to the catwalk like an flamboyance of flamingos; tall, thin and colourful. 
The children alighted the bus like a troop of monkeys 
 
Another interesting activity would be to ask children to create their own collective nouns.  We asked on social media for a collective noun for teachers and amongst my favourites were:

• An exhaustion of teachers,
• A patience of teachers,
• A reward of teachers,
• An exaltation of teachers… the list went on and on – please add your own in the comments section.

 ​

As always thanks for reading!  Please share!

Thanks

​Rob 

This is the second list of Primary focussed teachers that I have produced.  These are people that I have interacted with and followed rather than a list of people that I have looked up.  Apologies if you haven't made the list but I am sure there will be a further list very soon.  The first 50 can be found here.   

 @AllanaG13 - Secondary Leader in Primary Ed - #BAMEed Founder
@Brogan_Mr - #WhatItaughttoday Deputy Head
@cazzash - Deputy head and children's book fan
@ChrisChivers2 - Francophile and all round knowledgeable guy
@Claresealy - Primary Head Teacher in that there London
@DaisyMay29 - Teacher, Reader, Writer, Dreamer
@Darynsimon - Teacher often at the heart of the debate 
@etaknipsa - Curiosity hasn't killed this primary teacher... yet!  
@ey_inspiration1 - Early years duet
@GalwayMr - Part of the amazing Herts for Learning team
@gareth_metcalfe - He sees maths! 
@geordiecat2012 - Cat lady teacher
@hengehall  ICT Master Wizard
@HeyMissPrice - Always sharing great Literacy ideas
@HopeStreetBlues - Member of the optimistic SLT society
@isright - I wouldn't want to walk a week in his shoes he runs too far! 
@JulesDaulby Literacy, SEND and a penguin
@librarymice - School Librarian sharing great books
@Libwithattitude - with attitude like this the books are never late back
@lobroo - My oldest Antipodean twitter pal!
@macfin76 - Y1 teacher who likes a ramble
@Marygtroche Almost legendary critical thinking bookworm 
@MaryMyatt - Hopeful about schools
@Mr_P_hillips - Friend, Teacher, Entertainer (in that order) 
@MrBKing1988 - A thoroughly entertaining twitter feed
@MrBReading - One of my 'go to' book peeps
@MrBoothY6 - Computing lead who loves books even more than computers!
@MrEFinch - Generally irritated except when on a reading spree
@MrGPrimary - his bio says incompetent but I can't believe that! 
@MrMarchayes - holder of multiple learning powers
@nancygedge - SEND legend!
@NikkiGamble - Off exploring children's literature
@OldPrimaryHead1 - <--Does what it says on the tin! 
@Parky_teaches - Love of books, StarWars and Night Zoos
@pickleholic - Headteacher of Hogwarts
@pivotalpaul - Teacher wrangler
@primarypercival - Genius behind the Ladybird book of Edutwitter 
@rachelrossiter - SENDco checking your ladder is against the right wall 
@RobertsNiomi - Laminating Queen ;) 
@Sarah_Jayne1982 - Teaching the next generation 
@Sarah_Wright1 - Enthusiastic Senior Primary Edu Lecturer 
@Skippity_doo - Another awesome librarian sharing awesome books 
@Thatboycanteach - Positive teacher knocking out some great blogs
@theprimaryhead - the definite article
@trainingtoteach - filled with positivity for the job - will he change his twitter handle soon?
@Vocabularyninja - Creeps up behind you and shares words of the day

(PS I know there are only 45 but I have left some space for when people inform me who I have missed out)  As always I welcome your comments. 

Plus follow the new subject specific Primary Rocks threads for themed ideas and discussions. #primaryrocks (more coming soon too) 

I have been thinking about and researching how to improve comprehension skills using a range of high quality texts, images, picture books and of course film. 
After a number of sessions with children in schools using the new content domains, which can be found on the gov.uk website, I found that all of the key comprehension skills were being covered through the domains. As some of you who follow this blog will know, I like a mnemonic.  So I set about thinking about a mnemonic that could be used by teachers, other adults who read with children and also the children themselves.  My first attempt - MR SIP TEA was not the catchiest so we have come up with Reading Vipers.  Vipers cover the key comprehension skills in line with the 'new' content domains. 

At Literacy Shed the minions are now busy making a whole host of resources that will link to Reading Vipers.  There are now 30+ Film VIPERS on www.literacyshedplus.com

We are also creating a range of comprehension materials based on extracts from classic texts such as Black Beauty, The Time Machine, Robinson Crusoe and many more which will soon be available here. www.literacyshedplus.com   Until then you can download The Time Machine sample (as seen below) by clicking here. =

The same key viper skills can be rehearsed effectively using single images or picture books.

Take a look at this example using the picture book 'Return' by Aaron Becker. 

There are over 30 sets of VIPERS questions for the Literacy Shed films now on www.literacyshedplus.com

The question stem documents can be downloaded by click on the relevant image below. 

As always comments are welcome! 
Click the text below for further reading.