Unit 1: Story planning Overview English curriculum objectives
Treasure House resources
Year 6 pupils should be taught to: • plan their writing by considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed • draft and write by describing settings, characters and atmosphere and integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action.
• Composition Skills Pupil Book 6, Unit 1, pages 4–7 • Collins Connect Treasure House Composition Year 6, Unit 1 • Photocopiable Unit 1, Resource 1: Planning my story, page 64 • Photocopiable Unit 1, Resource 2: Introducing the issue, page 65
Building towards Children will plan a story containing issues or injustices and write a scene taken from this.
Introduction Teaching overview Unit 1 focuses on the how planning can help us with writing narrative fiction. It uses Charles Dickens’ popular second novel, Oliver Twist (1837–9), as the basis for a discussion of planning fiction. Dickens wrote his novel both to entertain and expose the conditions in which many children lived in early 19th-century London. He originally wrote the novel in monthly parts for a literature magazine Bentley’s Miscellany, with cliffhangers at the end of each. The unit asks children to model a piece of their own fiction writing on Dickens’s issue-driven story.
Introduce the concept Ask the children to discuss and share any time they have had to plan for anything – a holiday, a party, a piece of homework... Ask: ‘Why is it important to plan? Does anyone know of anytime where something was not planned properly and it all went wrong?’
Move on to discuss how writers plan their stories, too, and how and why they might do this. They plan by writing notes on: • Settings – where is the story set? • Characters – who are the main characters? Are there secondary characters? • Audience – who are the intended readers (young children, teenagers, adults; boys or girls, or both; and so on)? • Purpose – is the story meant to educate or is it meant to entertain as well? • Strategy – how will the writer achieve their goals? For example, will there be a cliff hanger at the end of a chapter to keep readers in suspense? Asking children whether they think the need to know the end of a story before starting to write it may make for a lively debate.
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Unit 1: Story planning
Pupil practice Get started
Pupil Book pages 4–7
In this activity, children discuss with a partner story chapters and television programmes that end in a cliffhanger and the effect of this.
8. H e did this to ensure that people bought the next copy. [1 mark] 9. He is taught to steal. He is abducted by Bill Sikes. [2 marks]
Try these
Now try these
Children read and answer the questions about the possible ‘plan’ for Oliver Twist to help them in their understanding of how a narrative plan works. Suggested answers: 1. Mr Brownlow, Jack Dawkins [2 marks] 2. Mr Bumble, Mrs Sowerberry, Bill Sikes, Fagin [4 marks] 3. Workhouse, Orphanage, Undertaker’s shop, Fagin’s house, Mr Brownlow’s house [5 marks] 4. When writing a story, writers should consider the topic, settings, characters, plot, audience and purpose. [1 mark] 5. R eaders of Bentley’s Miscellany [1 mark] 6. It has been organised into different sections – settings, characters, plot, audience, purpose, strategy. [1 mark] 7. He wrote to entertain and excite readers. He also wrote to show readers how the poor lived. He wanted to inspire readers to help the poor. [3 marks]
1. Children begin to plan a story based on an injustice or around a particular issue they feel strongly about. If they cannot think of an idea, they choose one of the three given. 2. They research the subject and write an episode from it. Suggested answers: 1. Look for plans that combine plot, character, setting and the issue the children wish to raise. Look for evidence that the children have thought about how to engage the reader in the story. 2. Look for specific details about the issue that the children have researched and added. Accept scenes from the story that attempt to use plot to highlight an issue. You may wish to use the activities and photocopiables in Support and Embed to give differentiated support with these activities.
Support, embed & challenge Support Steer these children towards a more straightforward issue for their story, such as saving the rainforest. Unit 1 Resource 1: Planning my story provides a writing frame to support the story plan for Now try these question 1. After they have filled it in, support them as they carry out further research and add this to their plan. Encourage them to tell part of their story – perhaps the opening – before they write it.
the issue to plan the story in more detail. Tell them to consider where and when they will introduce the issue or injustice – perhaps highlighting the sections to remind themselves. When they are ready, ask them to write an episode from the story.
Challenge Children research an issue or injustice that is not on the initial list and plan a story based around this. Challenge them to write the whole story.
Embed Once the children have carried out their initial planning in Now try these question 1 and have added more detail to the story following research (question 2), ask the children to use Unit 1 Resource 2: Introducing
Homework / Additional activities What happens in your home? Ask children to plan a short story based on a local issue in their town or village.
Collins Connect: Unit 1 Ask children to complete Unit 1 (see Teach → Year 6 → Composition → Unit 1).
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Unit 2: Summaries Overview English curriculum objectives
Treasure House resources
• Reading: Pupils should be taught to understand what they read by summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas. • Writing: Pupils should be taught to draft and write by précising longer passages.
• Composition Skills Pupil Book 6, Unit 2, pages 8–11 • Collins Connect Treasure House Composition Year 6, Unit 2 • Photocopiable Unit 2, Resource 1: My ‘Peter Pan’ summary, page 66 • Photocopiable Unit 2, Resource 2: My draft and final summary, page 67
Building towards Children will write a summary of a longer text.
Introduction Teaching overview Unit 2 focuses on writing summaries (précis) and uses the children’s novel Peter and Wendy (1922) by the Scottish writer J.M. Barrie (1860–1937) as a way of developing children’s understanding of this skill. There was also an earlier stage version of the story (Peter Pan, or The Little Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow up, 1904), but children are most likely to be familiar with pantomime-like adaptations of the play or with film versions (including an animated Disney film from 1953).
Introduce the concept Ask the children to summarise a day in their life. Point out that in a summary, we do not add every detail but only the main ideas or events. Discuss why it can be useful to have summaries (because the listener may want to know about something but hasn’t got the time or expertise to go through the whole thing). Ask: ‘What other things do we or could we summarise and why?’ Discuss things like novels and films (for example, for reviews and blurbs – though
a review should avoid giving away the ending!); a football match (for people who weren’t at the match); scientific research (for non-experts), and so on. Next, discuss with children the main features of a summary: • a minimum of description • often uses the present tense • avoids use of whole sentences from the original (for example, avoids direct speech) but does use occasional short quotations • writers use their own words – you might like to introduce the concept of ‘paraphrasing’. A summary, above all, should be much shorter and simpler than the original text. As an introductory activity, you could ask children to work in pairs and summarise, in a set number of words, the plot of a book they have recently read. Read the extract in the Pupil’s Book together. Discuss the difference between the two versions and ask the children to tell you what has been lost in the summary (drama, suspense, atmosphere, and so on).
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Unit 2: Summaries
Pupil practice Get started 1. The children summarise film plots in pairs, discussing what they have left out. 2. The children discuss what a summary is and what it is for, drawing on information in the extract. 3. The children write their film summaries.
Try these Children answer questions about writing summaries and practise writing further summaries of the full extract. When the children have finished, ask them to compare their summaries with the summary in the extract. Suggested answers: 1. Don’t include unnecessary descriptive details; if you use exact text from the story, put it in quotation marks; present tense is useful for summaries; do not copy out whole sentences; paraphrase for the most efficient language. [5 marks] 2. a) She sat down because they were all safe. b) Mrs Darling screamed as Nana entered. c) His shadow snapped off in the window. [3 marks] 3. Direct speech is the actual words spoken by a character. Reported speech is when the third person ‘reports’ what the character has said. [2 marks]
Pupil Book pages 8–11 4. T he children were asleep. Mrs Darling fell asleep. She dreamt that a creature had broken through from Neverland. Mrs Darling was woken by a strange light. She saw Peter Pan. Nana returned and chased the boy out of the window. Mrs Darling ran outside looking for the boy, but only saw what she thought was a shooting star. [7 marks] 5. List of events: The children asleep. Mrs Darling asleep. Dreamt of a creature from Neverland. Mrs Darling woken by a light. Saw Peter Pan. Nana chased the boy out of the window. Mrs Darling ran outside. Saw shooting star. Further summarised: Peter Pan came. He escaped. Mrs Darling chased him.
Now try these Children write a summary of another passage from the story then create a blurb for a book they know well. 1. Possible answer: Another light shone in the bedroom; it was Tinker Bell. She was looking for Peter’s shadow. Peter flew in and looked for her. Tinker Bell was in a jug. Peter asked her if she knew where they had put his shadow. 2. Accept any attempts to summarise the drama at the beginning of the book to create a successful blurb. You may wish to use the activities and photocopiables in Support and Embed to give differentiated support with these activities.
Support, embed & challenge Support Unit 2 Resource 1: My ‘Peter Pan’ summary provides a writing frame to support the children as they complete Now try these question 1. It prompts them to focus on the key points and use reported speech. Ask them to carry out question 2 in pairs, working together to create a dramatic summary of the opening of a book they know well.
Embed Ask the children to use Unit 2 Resource 2: My draft and final summary as a framework for Now try these
question 1. It offers a checklist and space for draft and final summaries. Afterwards, ask them to carry out question 2. When they have finished, ask them to share their completed blurbs with other children in the class. Ask the children if they have been inspired by a classmate to read a particular book.
Challenge After writing their book ‘blurb’, children choose another book from the class library and write a further ‘blurb’ for this book.
Homework / Additional activities Interesting activities Ask children to write a summary of a recent visit they made to a place of interest, checking that they have included relevant information (location, how to get there, admission prices). This may take the form of a tourist attraction leaflet.
Collins Connect: Unit 2 Ask children to complete Unit 2 (see Teach → Year 6 → Composition → Unit 2).
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Unit 3: Adapting stories for plays Overview English curriculum objectives Year 6 pupils should be taught to: • plan their writing by considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed • draft and write by describing settings, characters, atmosphere and stage directions.
Building towards Children will write a playscript by adapting a book they know.
Treasure House resources • Composition Skills Pupil Book 6, Unit 3, pages 12–15
• Collins Connect Treasure House Composition Year 6, Unit 3 • Photocopiable Unit 3, Resource 1: Making notes, page 68 • Photocopiable Unit 3, Resource 2: Planning a playscript, page 69
Additional resources • A selection of short stories or longer books that could be adapted into playscripts • Example adaptations (film scripts, playscripts, and so on, based on novels) • A film version of the scene from Jane Eyre discussed in this unit (for example, the 2011 version, directed by Cary Fukunaga)
Introduction Teaching overview Unit 3 looks at the main features of a playscript and how to adapt a book into a playscript. It uses the classic Victorian novel, Jane Eyre (1847), by English writer Charlotte Brontë (1816–1955), as a way into talking about play and film adaptations. This iconic novel is one of the most adapted in English literature, with some 15 film versions alone, some set in different countries and cultures (there are, for example, at least two Hindi versions).
Introduce the concept Ask: ‘Have you ever seen a play, film or TV drama that was originally a book?’ For example, they may have seen the stage show Matilda the Musical, based on the Roald Dahl novel (1988) and adapted by Dennis Kelly. You could discuss why adaptations are made and how successful they are (for example, did the children prefer the book or play/film of Matilda? Why?). Read together the fiction and the playscript extracts from Jane Eyre in the Pupil Book.
Discuss the ways in which a book and film/playscript differ. You could draw the children’s ideas up in a table: Book (for example, novel)
Script (for example, film script)
Lots of description
Mostly dialogue
Direct speech in quotes; use of phrases like ‘he said’, ‘she said’
Name of character, followed by what they say – not in quotes
Description of settings
Stage settings (minimal)
Description of actions
Stage directions (minimal)
Sometimes uses first person (‘I’)
No one point of view
Can reveal a character’s thoughts, via a phrase like ‘he thought’
Not generally given the characters’ thoughts (except via a monologue in old plays like Shakespeare’s)
To close the lesson, you might like to show a suitable film/TV version of the scene from Jane Eyre discussed in the unit, and then invite children’s comments.
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Unit 3: Adapting stories for plays
Pupil practice Get started In this activity, children work with a partner as they discuss the aspects of a novel that are transferrable to a playscript. Suggested answers: 1. Says, does, thinks [3 marks] 2. They have been written as stage directions in brackets. [1 mark] 3. “ usual seat”; “What a face he had ...” [2 marks] 4. T hese may have been left out because they were comments made by the character in first person. [1 mark]
Try these Children practise adapting lines from a book into lines from a playscript including stage directions. Encourage the children, when writing their playscript to try to capture what they think the audience should see and hear.
Pupil Book pages 12–15 Suggested answers: 1. Fiona: (staring at him) Did you eat the biscuits?; Grandad: (scratching his chin and musing) That is a problem. A dreadful problem.; Penny: (screaming and kicking the fence) I won’t say sorry, I won’t. [3 marks] 2. (Sobbing); (Trying not to laugh); (Shaking); (Concentrating) [4 marks] 3. (Laughs as she throws the note in the bin and walks off to school.); (Looking bored, sees if there is anything on TV and realises he’s played all his games.) [2 marks]
Now try these Children select a scene from a book of their choice and make notes on setting, characters and stage directions they will need. They then write the playscript. You may wish to use the activities and photocopiables in Support and Embed to give differentiated support with these activities.
Support, embed & challenge Support Unit 3 Resource 1: Making notes provides structured support for the planning stage of Now try these. The template encourages the children to think about the different aspects of the playscript. Support the children as they use their notes to write their playscript, using the extract as a model.
Embed Ask the children to make notes for their scene onto Unit 3 Resource 2: Planning a playscript, which
provides a template with a checklist (with less support than Resource 1). When they have finished planning, ask them to draft and then write their playscript, using the extract in the Pupil Book as a model for how to set out their playscript.
Challenge After writing their playscripts, children practise performing them and then do so in front of the whole class. Take feedback from the rest of the class.
Homework / Additional activities Writing plays Ask children to reverse the process: to take a playscript and write the story or narrative of the play.
Collins Connect: Unit 3 Ask children to complete Unit 3 (see Teach → Year 6 → Composition → Unit 3).
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