Writing a character description of Paddington
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use adjectives to describe Paddington's personality and appearance.
Key learning points
- An adjective describes a noun
- A character can feel different emotions at different points of a story
- Including a range of adjectives to describe the same feeling stops repetition and makes writing more interesting
- Two descriptions can be joined together to form one sentence using "and"
- An adverb describes or adds detail to a verb
Keywords
Character - a person or animal in a story
Description - using words to help someone imagine what something is like
Adjective - a word that describes a noun
Adverb - a word that describes a verb
Joining word - a word that joins words or ideas
Common misconception
Pupils may struggle to apply their knowledge of adverbs.
Adapt outcomes or increase the scaffolds where necessary. Word banks should assist in generating the vocabulary, but if necessary, remove the expectation of adverb use, such as "Paddington is a kind, friendly bear." to describe his personality.
Teacher tip
Referring back to vocabulary from earlier in the unit and prior units helps children to produce richer descriptions. You could make use of other iterations of Paddington to develop descriptions and understanding of his personality further, such as the films, TV series or other books.
Equipment
You will need a copy of the 2014 Harper Collins Children's Books edition of 'Paddington' by Michael Bond, illustrated by R. W. Alley for this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.In the story 'Paddington', Paddington is the main ...
Q2.Which of these can be described in a character description?
Q3.What is the verb in the following sentence? 'Paddington slipped on the soap.'
Q4.What are the nouns in the following sentence? 'Paddington wears a red, floppy hat.'
Q5.What are the adjectives in the following sentence? 'Paddington wears a red, floppy hat.'
Q6.Which of these sentences is correctly punctuated?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match each term to the correct definition.
a person or animal in a story
what someone is like on the inside
what someone or something looks like
Q2.Which of these expanded noun phrases might describe someone's appearance?
Q3.Which of these expanded noun phrases might describe someone's personality?
Q4.Which of these words can replace 'Paddington Bear' to show you are talking about him?
Q5.When you use the joining word 'and', what does 'and' replace?
Q6.Which of these sentences is punctuated correctly?
To help you plan your 1 English lesson on: Writing a character description of Paddington, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 1 English lesson on: Writing a character description of Paddington, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 English lessons from the 'Paddington': reading and writing unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.