Writing Descriptions of Plasticine Models

At the moment my class are writing descriptions.  They modelled plasticine characters and used these to write their descriptions.

I've now started to read out some of the children's descriptions while they sketch the character.  I also do this on the whiteboard too.  Do we end up with the same picture?  What did the writer miss out on telling us?  What did we have to infer?  This is a useful way for children to check they've included enough details to create a picture in the reader's mind.  We've had a few giggles at how children have described the body shapes of their models and missed out physical features.

This process also lends itself to discuss the language they're using in their writing.  We talk about using good nouns and describing words.  For instance, what other nouns could we use instead of saying your character 'wears a top?'

Some plasticine characters

Children's sketches while the description is being read to them