Descriptosaurus: A Language Toolkit and Support for Creative Writing Ages 9 to 12

by Alison Wilcox

Now in its fully updated fourth edition, the bestselling Descriptosaurus is the first book for creative writing that is a thematic expansion of a dictionary and a thesaurus; it provides children with a language toolkit with which to expand their descriptive vocabulary, experiment with language and sentence structure and build up narratives based around settings, characters and creatures. Descriptosaurus positions the word, zooms in on it to examine the meaning, expands it into phrases, and then provides alternatives in words, phrases and sentences; the model was created and refined over a number of years as a result of feedback from children inside and outside the classroom as to the resources they required to inspire and assist them with their writing. For reluctant writers or those faced with blank page syndrome, it provides essential starting points to encourage putting pen to paper, not only inspiring children, but also building their confidence, encouraging them to use, apply and create using the correct grammatical structures, and adding colour to their writing through evaluation and experimentation. New features for this expanded edition - Updated to include vocabulary and sentences, guidance, tips and resources to support continued development in writing, including non-fiction - Additional chapters to cover the breadth of topics covered at primary and secondary level, including rainforests, volcanoes and cold climates - Sentences in each chapter have been expanded and reworked to provide modelled sentences for DFI (Detail, Flow and Impact) - Numerous examples provided demonstrating many different options for constructing, combining and ordering an individual sentence Accompanied by Instructor and Student Resources containing all the games, planning sheets and vocabulary builders from the book, this is an ideal resource to dramatically improve children’s creative writing for all primary and secondary English teachers, literacy coordinators and parents. It would also make an excellent classroom book for PGCE students, particularly Primary PGCE with English specialism.

358 pages, Hardcover

Published December 22, 2023