Finny had a go at retelling Jack and the Beanstalk orally. He collected together all his props, then talked me through the story.

Resources

  • Jack and the Beanstalk story book
  • Magnatiles
  • Toys to represent characters
  • Jelly beans
  • Building blocks
  • Life cycle of a bean plant models
  • Castle
  • Circus scarves

Method

First of all, Finny read the story to his teddies.

Then he built Jack’s house out of Magnatiles. I was intrigued to see how he would build the roof, but as always, he had an idea.

He told the story of Jack selling the cow for some magic beans.

Jack’s Mummy wasn’t happy, so threw the beans away. The picture of Jack throwing the beans away, below, took Finny about 50 attempts!

Whilst Jack and his Mummy slept…

I love how he started this next video. Jack bravely climbed the beanstalk.

Jack discovered what was at the top of the beanstalk.

I accidentally stopped the video above, after the word “Jack”. Finny insisted the following video didn’t need to start with “Jack” because he’d already said it!

Finny insisted on showing every time Jack climbed the beanstalk. This was him climbing up and seeing the hen. There was a big debate between Ioan and Finny about what should be at the top of the beanstalk this time. Having read a few different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk, we found that some stories have a golden goose and some a hen. Finny decided to stick to the longer version he had read, which has a hen.

Jack climbed the beanstalk one last time.

In our story book, Jack’s house doesn’t get flattened. Finny improvised the ending in the previous video, making sure to include the accident.

He then asked to have a go at writing some of the story.

DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)

Communication and language

ELG 03 – Speaking:

Children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs. They use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future. They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

Literacy

ELG 09 – Reading:

Children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.