Support young writers at every stage of the storytelling process with this comprehensive, cut-out-and-keep Storyteller’s Toolkit. Designed around the Talk 4 Writing approach developed by Pie Corbett, this resource scaffolds planning, drafting, vocabulary enrichment, and editing in one cohesive pack.

What’s Inside
A 36 page PDF (including cover and tabbed section dividers) containing the following:

1. Editing and Proofreading Checklist – A clear, student-facing checklist covering capital letters, punctuation, spacing, and spelling. Each checkpoint is illustrated with a visual prompt, making it accessible for younger or less confident writers to use independently during the editing stage.
2. Story Mountain Planner – A visual story structure template mapping the five key stages of a narrative: Opening, Build Up, Problem, Resolution, and Conclusion. Students use this to plan their stories at a glance before beginning to write.
3. Pie Corbett Talk 4 Writing Generic Story Plots – A reference page summarising ten classic narrative plot types drawn from the Talk 4 Writing tradition.
4. Ten Narrative Structure Guides – A dedicated planning card for each of the ten story types listed above, breaking each narrative into its five stages with guiding prompts at every step.
5. Story Opening Ideas – A reference card presenting five engaging ways to begin a narrative, each with an illustrated example sentence.
6. Alternative Verbs Banks – Visual word-web pages presenting alternatives to common overused verbs.
7. Adjective Banks – Word-web pages providing thematically grouped adjectives to describe time, objects, feelings (positive and negative), size, royalty characters (princess and prince), monsters, and villains.
8. Personal Dictionary Pages (A–Z) – Thirteen lined dictionary pages organised alphabetically (A–B through to W–Z), giving students their own space to record new or tricky words as they encounter them throughout a writing unit.

How to Use
This toolkit is designed to be printed, cut out, and assembled by teachers or parents into a tabbed reference booklet that students can keep at their desks throughout a writing unit. Individual sections can be used in isolation — for example, the Narrative Structure Guides work well during whole-class teaching of a specific story type, while the vocabulary banks and checklist are ideal for supporting independent drafting and editing. The toolkit suits a range of settings including literacy lessons, creative writing clubs, home learning, and one-to-one tutoring.

Grade Levels: KS1 and KS2

File Format: PDF (printable)

Note: This is a digital download only.