Charlie’s Shared Wall

Reading together

Reading age 7–8 describes the audience for this adult-led Shared Reading book, not an independent reading-level assessment. This is a read-aloud story for Year 3 children aged 7–8, not an independent reading-level text. Read at the child’s pace. Children can listen, point, gesture, sign or join in with familiar words. Joining in is optional.

Before reading

Look at the title and cover. Introduce the characters and setting. Explore these five words with pictures, actions and familiar examples: mural, neighbourhood, pavement, welcoming, section. Invite a prediction about what might happen.

During reading

Use Talk Together for a prompt on each page. Talk about the marks, colours, sounds, space, movement and materials the characters explore. Notice their choices and how the artwork or performance changes. Compare what the characters expected with what they noticed. Invite children to join in with repeated words or gestures.

After reading

Plan a shared place with different contributors. Try loose shapes before fixing them down. Pause to view the whole work, ask how the parts connect and agree changes respectfully. Describe what the characters noticed and how their ideas changed. Invite different experiences and respect a child’s choice not to share.

Explore and play

Arts idea

Make a shared neighbourhood mural

Beginning

Charlie, Ada and Finn have a long sheet of paper for a mural beside the school garden. They agree on a picture of their neighbourhood. Charlie draws a tall tree on his sketch. Ada draws the corner shop, and Finn plans the playground.

Problem or question

Their separate parts do not form one connected place

Exploration

They plan a pavement and test a shared meeting space

Review and response

Each child changes part of their own work after stepping back

Try together

Plan a shared place with different contributors. Try loose shapes before fixing them down. Pause to view the whole work, ask how the parts connect and agree changes respectfully.

Adult support

Prepare suitable materials and a comfortable space. Invite observations, comparisons and different interpretations. Children may talk, sign, gesture, draw, move or observe. Participation is optional.

Activities with an adult

The eleven separate question cards include recall, word meaning, observation, “why”, inference and evidence questions and discussion. Read the questions and choices aloud and offer picture support. Explore five vocabulary words, build them from movable letters and order three story pictures. Model a vocabulary word for the child to copy; letter recognition and independent decoding are not required. Mouse dragging, finger dragging, tap controls and keyboard controls are available. Use the light green and red feedback as a chance to look at the story again.

Choose a few activities that suit the child’s interest. Offer pictures, drawings, gestures or spoken answers, and model word building when useful. Activities are optional.