Jack Trelawny School Author Blog: Ideas for kids - London Marathon 2012 News story

Jack Trelawny's Story House - London Marathon 2012 - A 'News' or 'Reporting' type of story

A golfing friend of mine has a grown-up daughter who is a teacher. She is running in the London Marathon today to raise money for charity. Things like this, happenings and experiences (see the second floor of the Story House) in your own life, can give you ideas for stories. In this case, it's a chance to do a News or Reporting type of story - like a journalist.

For all types of story, whether they're about real people and events or pretend things, I use the Story House to remind me of the elements (parts) that might need to be included in the story.

Jack Trelawny's Story House - click image to enlarge

It's a real story about real people and events, so I need to find out some real facts (see the second floor of the Story House).

Who (see top floor) - I made a list of the 'characters' who might be included in the story...
1. Who is the oldest runner?
2. Who is the youngest runner?
3. How many people are taking part?
4. Are there any unusual or newsworthy characters taking part?

Where (see top floor) - I started asking where or 'place' questions...
1. Where would the runners run? In other words, what is the route of the marathon?
2. Where are the different starting places for different types of runners - fast athletes, amateurs, disabled?
2. Where in the world (that is, which countries) do the competitors come from?

When (see top floor) - 'time' questions...
1. What date will the marathon take place?
2. When is the exact start time?

Other questions...
There are lots of other questions I would ask and lots more facts I would find out about before I started my news report story. In this type of story, it's important that anything you write down as a fact is actually true and real, so be careful to make sure you find out your facts and other information from good sources.

Some of the things I found out for my News Report story...

1. The oldest runner starting the London 2012 Marathon race was Mr Fauja Singh.

Fauja Singh - 101 years old

Some people writing about this story wondered whether (see third floor) Mr Singh was actually 101 years old. He did get a telegram from the Queen for his 100th birthday last year so he may indeed be that age.

2. More than 35,000 people were going to run the race.

3. Lots of runners were running to support a good cause, such as the disabled children's charity KIDS.

4. Some people dressed up in fancy dress to run the race.

5. Lots of celebrities took part, including singer, Will Young.

6. Member of Parliament, Ed Balls, ran to raise funds for the charities Whizz-Kidz and Action for Stammering Children.

7. One of the the contestants, wheelchair athlete David Weir, won for the sixth time.

8. The man and woman who won the men's and women's races were both from Kenya.

9. Prince Harry was there to congratulate the winners.

IDEA: Someone very wise once said that 'practice makes perfect'. In other words, if you want to become very good at something, you need to practice, practice, practice. You could practice writing a News Report story about the London Marathon 2012 by starting with some of the ideas and information above. When you've had a go yourself, you could show it to your teacher so they can tell you how you have done.

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See you next time in the Story House.

Happy writing... and reading!

Jack

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