Over the next few weeks, Year 4 will be writing setting descriptions based on a creepy, abandoned house. Our audience will be an illustrator so we’ll be so descriptive that an illustrator could use our writing to draw the setting for their book.
Today, we read a WAGOLL (what a good one looks like) and pulled out all the description that allowed us to picture the setting in our heads.
Deep in the middle of nowhere stood the Murkmire Forest — a dark, tangled, and silent place. The trees loomed like tall, twisted statues, their branches reaching out like bony fingers. Even during the day, a mist lay low to the ground, curling around roots and rocks like it didn’t want to let go.
The air inside the forest was heavy and still, as if it had been holding its breath for years. Leaves crunched softly underfoot, though no animals ever seemed to stir. Every now and then, the wind would blow suddenly, whispering through the trees like it had something to say — like a ghost trying to reach out.
Even the sunlight seemed afraid to enter, slipping weakly through the thick canopy above. Shadows moved where nothing else did, and the deeper you walked, the more the path behind you seemed to fade. Some say if you stay too long, the forest remembers your footsteps… and follows them.
Using this description, your children then drew what they imagined the forest to look like. This was a great way for them to see how important rich description is for the reader.
Help at home: when your children are out and about, ask them to use their 5 senses to describe what they’re experiencing.
- What can you smell?
- What can you see?
- What can you hear?
- What can you feel?
- What can you taste?