WRITING NEWS STORIES (ages 7-9) By Huw Thomas

TEACHING PERSUASIVE WRITING (ages 9-11). By Chris Lutrario

Scholastic pound;10.50 Tel: 01926 887799 www.scholastic.co.uk

Michael Thorn reviews materials that develop primary writing and reading skills

These three booklets come with Scholastic’s “photocopiable” branding, but if that leads you to expect quick-fix one-off activities, think again. Each guide presents a four-part development of a particular aspect of non-fiction writing, and as such will be really useful.

Chris Lutrario’s Activities for Teaching Persuasive Writing are likely to be pounced on first, by Years 5 and 6 teachers keen to sharpen non-narrative writing in the lead-up to tests.

The booklet has four sections. The first offers some models of persuasive writing, the second gives practice in the key skills of presenting an argument, the third gets children producing some full-length persuasive writing, and a final section gives them useful prompts for self-assessment.

The KS1 title, though labelled for ages 5-7, is realistically only applicable to Year 2. Another caveat - not all children will need the photocopiable writing frames.

Michael Thorn is deputy head of Hawkes Farm Primary School, Hailsham, East Sussex