Stories & Imagination

Language & Literacy Story structure & Letters Y–Z
Mathematics Word problems
Science & Discovery Life cycles
Social-Emotional Learning Voice & expression

At a Glance

This Month

May is the literacy celebration month. The child becomes an author — writing, illustrating, and sharing their own book. All the reading and letter work leads to this creative milestone.

This Week Stories & Structure

Story mapping turns reading comprehension into an active process — identifying character, setting, and problem in a familiar book prepares the child to build the same structure in their own.

  • 💭 Why do you think every story needs a problem — what would happen to a story without one?
  • 💭 What is the most powerful story you've ever heard, and why do you think it stayed with you?
  • 💭 Why do you think humans have been telling stories for thousands and thousands of years?
  • 💭 If you could step inside any book and live in that world for a day, which would you choose?
Today

Pick any activity from Core Experiences or Skill Builders below.

Month Overview

May is the literacy celebration month. The child becomes an author — writing, illustrating, and sharing their own book. All the reading and letter work leads to this creative milestone.

Key Language & Literacy

Letter Y–Z review, story structure, authorship

This month the child doesn't just read stories — they write and illustrate one. Beginning, middle, end. Character. Problem. Solution.

Key Mathematics

Story problems, number sentences to 20, addition and subtraction

Maths lives inside stories: 'There were 7 birds. 3 flew away. How many are left?' This curriculum month makes maths narrative.

Key Social-Emotional Learning + Creative Arts

Finding your voice, illustration as storytelling, sharing creative work

Publishing a book — even a stapled, hand-drawn one — is one of the most empowering experiences in early childhood.

May is the literacy payoff month. Everything built so far — the name recognition, the letters, the phonemic awareness — comes together here. The book doesn't have to be long or perfect. It has to be theirs.

This month's 20 experiences are designed for 3–5 learning sessions per week over 4 weeks. Adjust pacing based on your child's engagement and your family schedule.

↓ Setup & Planning — readiness, materials, zones & daily rhythm

Weekly Plan

Week 1 Stories & Structure

Story mapping turns reading comprehension into an active process — identifying character, setting, and problem in a familiar book prepares the child to build the same structure in their own.

What to gather

Choose 1–2 familiar picture books for the story map activity; find letter Y materials; prepare a blank story map template (beginning, middle, end boxes); gather sorting materials for story elements.

Weekend extension

Retell a familiar story at bedtime from memory; ask 'How does the story begin? How does it end?'

  • Re-read a favourite picture book together, pausing to point out the character, setting, and problem.
  • Draw the main character from a story and describe what they look like, sound like, and what they like to do.
  • Act out the beginning of a story using just movements and sounds — no words — and see if the child can guess which book it is.
  • 💭 Why do you think every story needs a problem — what would happen to a story without one?
  • 💭 What is the most powerful story you've ever heard, and why do you think it stayed with you?
  • 💭 Why do you think humans have been telling stories for thousands and thousands of years?
  • 💭 If you could step inside any book and live in that world for a day, which would you choose?

If your child is beginning to notice story structure in books you didn't plan — identifying the problem, wondering about the ending — their comprehension is sophisticated and growing.

Skill Builders

Short, low-prep activities that reinforce what your child is learning this month. Slot them in between core experiences or use them on lighter days.

Week 1 4 activities

Letter Y Literacy

Explore Letter Y through tracing, songs, and spotting the letter in familiar words and objects.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy
Story Maths Maths

Use a simple story to set up addition and subtraction problems — for example, 'there were 8 animals, then 3 walked away'. Solve using objects or drawings.

Connects to: Key Mathematics
Story Elements Sort Literacy

Work on Story Elements Sort to practise putting ideas into words and building narrative structure.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy
Read Like a Writer Literacy

Share Read Like a Writer together, building vocabulary, comprehension, and a love of stories.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy

Week 2 3 activities

Letter Z Literacy

Explore Letter Z through tracing, songs, and spotting the letter in familiar words and objects.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy
Number Sentences Maths

Write addition and subtraction number sentences (equations) for problems up to 20, using numbers and symbols to record thinking.

Connects to: Key Mathematics
Read Draft Aloud Literacy

Share Read Draft Aloud together, building vocabulary, comprehension, and a love of stories.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy

Week 3 5 activities

Add and Subtract Maths

Practise addition and subtraction within 20 using objects, fingers, a number line, or drawings — building fluency and confidence with both operations.

Connects to: Key Mathematics
ABC Review Y–Z Literacy

Revisit letters Y and Z, with a quick catch-up round for W and X from the previous curriculum month. Use matching games and quick-fire review to reinforce the full W–Z range before the Final Alphabet Review.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy
Edit Together Literacy

Work on Edit Together to practise putting ideas into words and building narrative structure.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy
Add Detail Practice

Consolidate key skills through Add Detail, reinforcing learning from earlier in the month.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy
Cover Design Literacy

Design the cover for the class book, combining literacy and creative thinking.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy

Week 4 3 activities

Full Alphabet Review Literacy

Revisit the letters covered so far with Full Alphabet Review, using matching games and quick-fire review.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy
Library Display Literacy

Celebrate the year's writing by sharing Library Display — a proud moment connecting print to audience.

Connects to: Key Language & Literacy
Year Celebration

Mark the end of the learning period with Year Celebration — reflecting on growth and celebrating effort.

Connects to: Key Social-Emotional Learning + Creative Arts

Maths in Everyday Life

Number sense doesn't need a table — it lives in daily routines. Try a few of these this month:

  • Story maths: 'There were 5 birds in the tree. 2 flew away. How many are left?' Use the month's story characters.
  • Market Day: set prices (1p, 2p, 5p), count coins, make change — maths with real purpose.
  • Book making: how many pages? Number them. Count the words on each page — quantity in context.
  • Character counting: how many characters are in your story? Draw them and count.
  • Sequencing: lay out the story cards and count the events — ordinal language (first, second, last).
  • Bedtime story maths: 'How many pages is the book we read tonight? If we read 3 pages a night, how many nights would it take?'
  • Character counting: 'How many characters are in your story? What if 2 more joined — how many then?'
  • Market Day maths: 'If your book costs 5p and someone pays with 10p, how much change do they get?'
Setup & Planning

Readiness

Every child can make a book. The form adapts to every level.

Ages 3–4
  • Retells a familiar story in order
  • Dictates a sentence to a caregiver
  • Draws with intentional representation

Skill arc focus:

  • Recognises most letters A–X; learning Y and Z to complete the alphabet
  • Adds and subtracts small amounts using objects or fingers; beginning story maths
Ages 4–5
  • Retells a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end
  • Writes or copies simple words with support; creates illustrations that match a chosen story
Ages 5–6
  • Writes independently using phonetic spelling
  • Structures a simple story with beginning, middle, and end
  • Creates illustrations that extend the text

Skill arc focus:

  • Working toward full alphabet recognition and fluency; ready for alphabet review
  • Writes number sentences to 20 (e.g. 8 + 5 = 13); adds and subtracts within 20

Set the Stage

Learning Zones

Morning Circle

Begin each morning with a story problem: 'There were 6 rabbits. 2 hopped away. How many are left?' Math and literacy together.

Reading Nook

Add published books by authors the child has studied. Add the child's own finished books here too — they belong.

Creation Table

Set up a dedicated writing and illustration space with blank books, pencils, erasers, and art supplies.

Discovery Station

Create an 'author study' display: one author, several books, and a fact or photo about them.

Skill arc adjustments for your position:

  • Morning Circle: Complete the letter display with Y and Z cards — and consider displaying the full A–Z in sequence as a visual milestone. Add a story maths prompt card for the morning: write one simple problem (e.g. '5 birds + 3 birds = ?') to solve together before the day begins.
  • Creation Table: Place number sentence strips alongside the writing and illustration materials — maths lives inside stories this month. Children can write '8 – 3 = 5' as part of a story page rather than as a separate exercise.

🏠 Learning in a Small Space

  • The Story Map needs only one large sheet of paper — stick it to the floor if the table is too small.
  • Author's Chair is a single chair given a name — any chair in any room becomes the chair.
  • Market Day props can be whatever is already in the kitchen: tins, packets, a small basket.
  • My Own Book is four sheets of paper folded and stapled — stores flat in a folder when done.

Music Suggestions

  • May's authorship theme pairs beautifully with songs that have a strong narrative arc — folk songs, ballads, and story-songs all model how music and story intertwine
  • During writing and illustration sessions, play quiet instrumental music to support sustained creative focus
  • Publication Day (Author's Chair) deserves a special piece of music — let the child choose their own "author's theme" to play when they sit in the chair

Rabbit Trail

What story, character, or imaginary world is your child living in right now? May's entire theme is imagination — whatever they're obsessed with IS the curriculum.

  • If they're deep in a favourite book series or show, write a sequel, a prequel, or a new character into that world — My Own Book uses their existing story as the scaffold.
  • If they keep acting out a specific scenario (going to the shop, being a doctor, cooking dinner), that scenario is Market Day — set it up formally and let it run.
  • If they've invented a character or creature, give it a story map: where does it live, what does it want, what gets in its way? This is the Story Map experience built around their imagination.

Daily Rhythm

Match the session length to your day — everything else stays the same.

Full Day 75–90 min
  1. Morning Circle + Story Problem
  2. Writing/Illustration Work
  3. Read-Aloud (author study)
  4. Story Math Practice
  5. Author Sharing (Friday)
  6. Closing Ritual Reflect on the session, tidy up, celebrate one win
Short Session 30–40 min
  1. Story Problem
  2. Book Work (one page)
  3. Read-Aloud A picture book connected to the week's theme
Low-Energy Day 15 min

Pick one:

  1. Read one page of the book-in-progress aloud together. Add one detail to an illustration.
  2. Look at a favourite picture book together and describe what is happening in just the pictures — no words needed.
  3. Take turns making up one sentence of a story each. You start, they continue — see where it goes.
Just Life no schedule needed

These are not learning activities — and that is the point.

  • Meals & snacks together
  • Outdoor free play
  • Rest or nap time
  • Screen time (if used)
  • Errands, chores, and everyday life
Month Reflection

Progress Tracker & Reflection

This tracker is for your own quiet observation — not a report card. Mark what you notice. Three levels are available for each milestone: Exploring (just starting to engage), Growing (doing it with some support), and Flying (doing it confidently and independently). There is no wrong answer. Every child moves at their own pace.

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