Opposites Stories

When Everything Was the Wrong Way Round opposites story

Instructions for teachers and parents

The story is given in two versions: a big version for reading together, and a smaller one for reading in small groups and/ or for photocopying to keep.

As you read the story together, the kid(s) can guess what is going to happen on the next day, specifically whether the next day will be stranger or if things will be back to normal. After you read the part of the next day that says the level of strangeness, they can brainstorm examples of things with that level of strangeness. Then as you introduce each specific topic (e.g. “cereal”), they can guess what might be wrong with that thing. On the very last page, they can guess how Tom feels about everything being back to normal, maybe with opposites pairs like “happy”/ “sad” and “relieved”/ “disappointed”.

When they finish reading the story, they can be tested on the opposites, test each other on the opposites, draw (some) pictures for the story, write more examples of things on each day of this story, and/ or write similar stories.

 

One-page version

When Everything was the Wrong Way Round

When Tom woke up on Monday morning everything seemed a little strange.

 

His door was shut and locked and his curtains were open. His bedroom was neat and tidy and his parents’ bedroom was messy. And when he went down for breakfast

 

the cornflakes were hot and the coffee was cold. On the way to school

 

the bicycles were noisy and the cars were quiet. In school

 

soccer was hard but maths was easy, and at lunchtime

 

there were a few pieces of spaghetti and many pieces of chicken. On Monday evening Tom was happy to get back to bed, but on Tuesday morning, everything seemed stranger.

 

The carpet was on his bed and the pillow was under. In the bathroom

 

the water came up out of the plughole and went up into the taps. At breakfast

 

his brother took cereal out of his mouth and put it into his bowl. At school

 

the year one pupils were tall, the oldest kids were short, and the teachers were so short that they couldn’t write on the whiteboard or sit on their chairs. On Wednesday morning

 

everything was completely the wrong way round. But soon it seemed normal that

 

there were rough sheets and smooth carpets, huge ants and tiny buses, curtains behind the windows and a whiteboard in front of the teacher. It even seemed normal that

 

the students gave lunch and the school chefs took it. So on Thursday Tom wasn’t surprised that

 

the table was soft and his food was hard, the ground was up and the sky was down, the sun was near but his front gate was far far away, and the corridors were wide but the classrooms were narrow. But on Friday morning everything seemed to have changed again. When he woke up

 

the bathroom was tidy and his hair was messy. His parents were nice and his brother was nasty. The cornflakes were soft and the toast was hard and crunchy. On the way to school

 

the kids looked tired and sleepy, not energetic like the little old ladies. At lunch

 

the food looked disgusting but actually was yummy. And while Tom was eating that tasty but revolting looking meal, he realised

 

that everything was back to normal. THE END

 

When Everything was the Wrong Way Round

 

An opposites story by Alex Case

 

 

 

When Tom woke up on Monday morning everything seemed a little strange.

 

 

His door was shut and locked and his curtains were open. His bedroom was neat and tidy and his parents’ bedroom was messy.

 

And when he went down for breakfast

 

 

the cornflakes were hot and the coffee was cold.

 

On the way to school

 

 

the bicycles were noisy and the cars were quiet.

 

In school

 

 

soccer was hard but maths was easy, and at lunchtime

 

 

there were a few pieces of spaghetti and many pieces of chicken.

 

On Monday evening Tom was happy to get back to bed, but

 

 

on Tuesday morning, everything seemed stranger.

 

 

 

The carpet was on his bed and the pillow was under.

 

In the bathroom

 

 

the water came up out of the plughole and went up into the taps.

 

At breakfast

 

 

his brother took cereal out of his mouth and put it into his bowl. 

 

At school

 

 

the year one pupils were tall, the oldest kids were short, and the teachers were so short that they couldn’t write on the whiteboard or sit on their chairs.

 

On Wednesday morning

 

everything was completely the wrong way round.

 

But soon it seemed normal that

 

 

there were rough sheets and smooth carpets, huge ants and tiny buses, curtains behind the windows and a whiteboard in front of the teacher. It even seemed normal that

 

 

 

the students gave lunch and the school chefs took it.

 

So on Thursday Tom wasn’t surprised that

 

 

the table was soft and his food was hard, the ground was up and the sky was down, the sun was near but his front gate was far far away, and the corridors were wide but the classrooms were narrow.

 

 

But on Friday morning everything seemed to have changed again. When he woke up

 

 

the bathroom was tidy and his hair was messy. His parents were nice and his brother was nasty. The cornflakes were soft and the toast was hard and crunchy.

 

On the way to school

 

 

the kids looked tired and sleepy, not energetic like the little old ladies.

 

At lunch

 

 

the food looked disgusting but actually was yummy. And while Tom was eating that tasty but revolting looking meal, he realised

 

 

 

that everything was back to normal.

 

THE END

 

 

Opposites presentation

Without looking above, write opposites of the words below. Other words may be possible.

• shut/ closed
• neat/ tidy
• hot
• noisy
• hard/ difficult
• few/ a few
• on/ above
• out
• tall
• rough
• huge
• behind
• give/ gave
• soft
• up
• near/ close
• wide
• nice
• tired/ sleepy
• disgusting/ revolting

Use the words below to fold to help.

-----------------------------------------fold, cover or cut------------------------------------

• cold
• down
• easy
• energetic
• far
• hard
• in
• in front of
• many
• messy
• narrow
• nasty
• open
• quiet
• short
• smooth
• take/ took
• tiny
• under/ below
• yummy/ delicious/ tasty