Worked example: Choosing Keywords to Find Puffin Pictures

Name: Class: Date:

Our class is making a fact page on the computer: Puffins on Skomer. We need to search for pictures.

1. Steps to success

Put the steps in order. Write 1, 2 and 3.

type the keywords

choose the best picture

think of keywords

Look for: think 1, type 2, choose 3.

2. Which keyword is best?

Circle the best keyword. Then check on the search screens.

I want a picture of a puffin.	bird or puffin
I want a picture of a baby puffin.	baby or puffling
I want a puffin with fish in its beak.	puffin or puffin fish

The search bird found 1 puffin. The search puffin found 4 puffins.

Look for: puffin, puffling, puffin fish. A pupil who says “bird is too big a word, it finds every kind of bird” has understood why the exact word works better.

3. Sound it out

Say the word. Write one sound in each box. How many sounds?

picture	sounds	how many?
	f i sh	3
	e gg	2
	r o ck	3
	s ea	2

Look for: literacy evidence: f-i-sh (3), e-gg (2), r-o-ck (3), s-ea (2). The two letters sh, gg, ck and ea each make one sound, so they share one box. Writing “fis” or “rok” shows the pupil hears the sounds but does not yet know the spelling pattern.

4. Write your keywords

We need 3 more pictures. Write 2 keywords for each one.

	a puffin flying over the sea	puffin sea
	a puffin’s egg	puffin egg
	a puffin standing on a rock	puffin rock

Look for: literacy evidence: two short keywords each time, spelt from Parts 2 and 3: puffin sea, puffin egg, puffin rock. “puffin flying” is also a good answer for the first.

5. Plan the fact page

Write the title. Draw where the 3 pictures will go. Write a label under each one.

Title: Puffins on Skomer

puffin sea

puffin egg

puffin rock

Does my plan have:

✓ a title? ✓ 3 pictures? ✓ a label under each picture?

I can

put the steps for searching in order.
choose a keyword that finds the right picture.
sound out words to spell my keywords.
plan a page and check it against a list.