This Colourful Semantics resource supports pupils in building clear, structured sentences using the well-known story The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson.

Using the colour-coded approach (Who? Doing? What? Where? Describing?), pupils can construct and expand sentences based on key events from the story — from the tiny snail writing her message on the rock, to the whale becoming stranded, and the children rescuing him.

Includes:

Colour-coded sentence building grids

Structured sentence frames

Key verbs from the story (e.g. wrote, swam, crawled, saved)

Vocabulary for setting and description (e.g. across the ocean, on the sand, grey-blue, stranded)

Printable, classroom-ready PDF resources

Ideal for:

EYFS and KS1

Speech and language groups

SEND and EAL learners

Pupils working below age-related expectations

Designed to strengthen sentence structure, vocabulary development and confidence in spoken and written language using a familiar classroom text.