We have been asked a number of times to create an editable DADWAVERS planning sheet that is printer friendly and without the diagonal lines.   So here you go - click on the images below to download an editable template.  Just add your own image to the empty box. 

With exclamation and onomatopoeia 

After posting some images of Y6 Sam's work last week these DADWAVERS planning sheets have been proving very popular.   There are over 120 of these planning sheets on www.literacyshedplus.com but some teachers would like to also make their own. 

To see a sample of the 120 planning sheets which are sorted into three categories - Characters, creatures and settings please click here

At Literacy Shed we get sent examples of children's writing every day through via email and across social media.  This writing was sent to us by a teacher from Coastlands School.  They have been reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children as a class and had a go at rewriting the opening of Chapter 5.  They also used DADWAVERS as a scaffold.

This is Jorja's rewrite.  We have identified the DADWAVERS sentences used.  In the second half of the writing some of the sentences fitted into more than one of the criteria so we have gone with the best fit. 

Here are some other examples from children in the same class.  A big well done to all... 

The DADWAVERS APP can be found in the iTunes store here itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dadwavers-a-literacy-shed-app/id1163722797?mt=8
Not got an apple phone or iPad - no worries Android/Google play store here: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ditosoftware.literacyshed 

The Literacy Shed DADWAVERS app is a tool that can be used by teachers and students to help with their writing.
The app provides a word bank, over 70 model sentences and a model text for each of the following genres: Adventure, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Ghostly, Mystery, Myths and Legends and Sci Fi.

The model sentences are broken down into 8 sections: 
-Description
-Action 
-Dialogue
-Where
-Adverb
-Verb
-Estimation of time
-Rhetorical Questions
-Simile or Metaphors
DADWAVERS - helps us remember these.

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It costs £2.49 and can be found in the iTunes store here itunes.apple.com/gb/app/dadwavers-a-literacy-shed-app/id1163722797?mt=8
Not got an apple phone or iPad - no worries Android/Google play store here: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ditosoftware.literacyshed 

This is the completed paragraph made up of 10 DADWAVERS! prompts.  One of each but not following any order.   See if you can spot them.

Creeping through the black trees a mist wrapped everything in silence.  Tall, ancient trees stood still in uniformed lines, a broken limestone path on the ground between them formed a bridge across the rotting and decaying leaves that had fallen during the winter.  A light broke the gloom, illuminating the forest around it, disturbed bats flew skittishly from their roosts and irritable owls hooted their displeasure.  In the distance through the trees, the weary traveller could see an old cabin which had previously gone unnoticed in the darkness.  For a few moments the wander watched the cabin for movement - of which there was none.   "Should I try and to shelter there for the night?" He whispered to himself.  Nervously, the young lad put on a brave face and clenching the straps on his rucksack, so tightly his knuckles whitened, made his way along the path through the trees to the cabin.  The mist enveloped him like a shroud making it almost impossible to see the cabin in the gloom, but the light shone from the porch like a lighthouse in a storm.  "Hello?" he called as he got closer, "Is anybody there?" his voice cracked with fear."
"How nice of you to call!" came a voice from beside the hut, who it belonged to the wanderer wasn't sure.

How many did you spot?

Verb: Creeping through the black trees a mist wrapped everything in silence. Verb starter creeping shows how the main character is moving through the forest and shows he is nervous or trying to be quiet.

Description:  Tall, ancient trees stood still in uniformed lines, a broken limestone path on the ground between them formed a bridge across the rotting and decaying leaves that had fallen during the winter.  A general description of the forest setting, some vocabulary nods to the genre.

Action:  A light broke the gloom, illuminating the forest around it, disturbed bats flew skittishly from their roosts and irritable owls hooted their displeasure. Things are moving here, a light comes on, bats fly about and owls hoot. Use of verbs show the movement.

Where:  In the distance through the trees, the weary traveller could see an old cabin which had previously gone unnoticed in the darkness. Fronted adverbial of place shows the reader where the character is looking.

Estimation of time:  For a few moments the wanderer watched the cabin for movement - of which there was none.  For a few moments, tells us how long the boy weighed up his options.

Rhetorical Question:  "Should I try and to shelter there for the night?" He whispered to himself.  The question needs no answer, but involves the reader, who will probably answer for him.

Adverb:  Nervously, the young lad put on a brave face and clenching the straps on his rucksack, so tightly his knuckles whitened, made his way along the path through the trees to the cabin. 

Simile:  The mist enveloped him like a shroud making it almost impossible to see the cabin in the gloom, but the light shone from the porch like a lighthouse in a storm.  The adverb shows how the character is feeling.

Dialogue:  "Hello?" he called as he got closer, "Is anybody there?" his voice cracked with fear. Some speech being spoken into the darkness.  Not dialogue yet as it just one person speaking, but the response does come.

Exclamation:  "How nice of you to call!" came a shrill, malevolent voice from beside the hut, who it belonged to the wanderer wasn't sure.  The exclamation is loaded with malice.

Allowing students the chance to choose the order that the DADWAVERS come takes away the stiff structure but still makes them think about every sentence that they are writing.  It also allows them to show off some key skills.

Comments welcome.  

This is a paragraph retelling the events from the opening scene.  
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Bright trees stood silently all around looking down on flowers and shrubs coloured with autumnal shades   as the sun cut through the branches like shards of broken, golden glass.  It woke up – slowly uncurling and looking around before padding to the edge of his towering home. “She is back at last,” he whispered to himself so she didn’t hear him.  High above the treetops, he sat admiring her as she flitted from plant to plant.  Gently she grabbed each flower between he slender fingers.  Breathing life into everything she touched she made the forest come to life.  Minutes passed as he watched her admiringly, whilst resting his head on his hands.  Had anything ever been so beautiful as she was?  “She is as delicate as a flower, an elegant paper flower, fragile and brittle to the touch.  Stop! Oh No Stop! He tried to call out but only silence emanated from his stony maw.

​Description:   Bright trees stood silently all around looking down on flowers and shrubs coloured with autumnal shades   as the sun cut through the branches like shards of broken, golden glass.

Action:  It woke up – slowly uncurling and looking around before padding to the edge of his towering home.

Dialogue:   “She is back at last,” he whispered to himself so she didn’t hear him.

Where:  High above the treetops, he sat admiring her as she flitted from plant to plant.

Adverb:  Gently she grabbed each flower between he slender fingers.

Verb:  Breathing life into everything she touched she made the forest come to life.

Estimation of time:  Minutes passed as he watched her admiringly, whilst resting his head on his hands.

Rhetorical Question:  Had anything ever been so beautiful as she was?

Similes:   “She is as delicate as a flower, an elegant paper flower, fragile and brittle to the touch.

Exclamation:   Stop! Oh No Stop! He tried to call out but only silence emanated from his stony maw.

This is an example where DADWAVERS have been done in order but remember once children are confident let them choose the order and the number of each sentence type that they use. 

As teachers we are constantly on the lookout for improving pupils’ writing.  One technique that we have been using successfully at Literacy Shed for years is DADWAVERS!  It is a mnemonic which stands for:
Description
Action
Dialogue
Where
Adverb
Verb
Estimation of time
Rhetorical Question
Simile or Metaphor
! Exclamation or onomatopoeia

Each of these are sentence starters, changing the sentence opening often alters the whole sentence structure. We try and get those prompts above at the beginning or as close to the beginning of the sentence as possible. 

To be able to use these appropriately we introduce them in stages.

DAD

DADWAV

DADWAVERS

The children use the starters in order.  Once they are secure they use them out of order but making sure they use them all before using one for a second time.  Following this the teacher then sets targets similar to ‘slow writing’ depending on writing type.  For example – 2 x De, 1 x A, 3 x Di etc

Here is an example from a child in Year 5 writing the opening to ‘Swing of Change’ from The Literacy Shed.  This example stops at R but you can see how when these are put together it makes for an interesting paragraph with varied sentences.

Description - Regimental music echoed around the dusty shop, drab black and white photographs looked down from the walls upon a battered, worn trumpet of a decrepit gramophone.

Action - Scrraaatch… scraping back and forth the metal razor moved, handled deftly in the grip of an expert.

Dialogue - “Blast, the gramophone has broken, what will I do?” asked the Barber before receiving a reassuring pat from one of his best customers. “I’ll fix that for you.” he said.

Where - From outside on the cracked sidewalk, came a noise; a despicable racket – jazz music!

Adverb - Angrily with clenched fists, the barber stormed outside and confronted the musician who suddenly disappeared.

Verb - Walking back into the shop puzzled the barber placed the trumpet onto the polished counter. 

Estimation of time - Minutes later the barber stood gazing out of the window, waiting for a customer and remembering his days as a bugle player.

Rhetorical Question - Do I still have it? He wondered to himself before picking up the shining instrument.

This example is from a higher ability Level 6 pupil based on The Catch film from ‘The Other Cultures Shed’ on The Literacy Shed.

The small pool shimmered alluringly and appeared to promise a wealth of fish, as Mhanje pulled on his fishing line with a glimmer of hope in his eye. SPLOSH! Tumbling backwards with an almighty bump, his eager eyes caught sight of the single meagre fish, and with a heavy heart he set it down in the middle of his waiting basket. “It simply can’t be,” he muttered to himself, turning to look at huts of the villagers, whom he had promised to provide the supper for.  

From somewhere beyond the bushes a strange noise alerted him to the fact he was not alone and, creeping nearer, he came to realise that it was a small fox attempting to free himself from one of the tribesmen’s traps. Cautiously, Mhanje approached the timid creature, whist at the same time, reaching for his knife. Cowering in fear, the fox was certain that the boy was about to strike, and shut his eyes to await his end. Seconds later, he was free! But how could he repay him? As quick as a flash the fox disappeared…

As you can see some of the 'Dialogue' sentences are more than one sentence or are a thought or monologue, but we discuss that with the pupils.  It may be appropriate, depending on the text type to miss this out altogether.

If you have any questions please ask in the comments or drop me an email [email protected]

Welcome any comments and would love to see any examples too!

Thanks

Rob

You can find other examples here:
https://lendmeyourliteracy.com/overmonnow-primary-la-luna-descriptive-writing/

 and here http://howletchblog.weebly.com/mrs-brucex27s-homework-page/dadwaver