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      Sequencing and making a story mountain: 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'

      Lesson details

      Learning outcome

      I can sequence a story and use it to retell.

      Key learning points

      1. Retelling a story helps us to remember main events in a story and use storytelling language, such as 'Once upon a time'.
      2. Story mountains sequence the beginning, middle and end of a story.
      3. Only the most important events in the story need to be on a story mountain.
      4. Using words such as 'First,' and 'The next day,' at the start of the sentence helps the reader follow the story.
      5. Story mountains can be used to retell the story aloud.

      Keywords

      • Story mountain - a way to sequence and order key events of a story to retell

      • Sequence - following the order in which a series of events happened

      • Main events - main parts of a story

      • Summary - an overview of a text’s main points and ideas; it tells readers the most important parts.

      Common misconception

      Pupils may find it difficult to identify the main events in a story and they may try and include too much on their story mountain.

      Explain that the main events are the most important moments in the story. Without these moments, the story would not flow. Pick out some elements of the text that are minor moments and share these as non-examples.

      Teacher tip

      For Task A, provide pupils with the six main events in the story in the wrong order. Ask them to cut and paste the events into the correct order on their story mountain.

      Licence

      This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0
      except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions
      (Collection 2).

      Lesson video

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      Prior knowledge starter quiz

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Which word is the adjective in this sentence: The goats lived in a dry meadow.

      goats
      lived
      Correct answer: dry
      meadow

      Q2.
      Match the word to the word class from this sentence: The troll fell into the cold river.

      Correct Answer:cold,adjective

      adjective

      Correct Answer:river,common noun

      common noun

      Correct Answer:fell,verb

      verb

      Q3.
      Stories that are made up or imagined are ...

      poems
      Correct answer: fiction
      non-fiction
      titles

      Q4.
      Which word completes this sentence so that it is in the past tense? The troll __________ at the little goat.

      shouts
      shouting
      Correct answer: shouted

      Q5.
      Complete this sentence: All stories include a beginning, middle and ...

      troll
      Correct answer: end
      song
      poem

      Q6.
      Which sentence is correctly written?

      it was old and rickety.
      It was old and rickety
      Correct answer: It was old and rickety.
      It was old. and rickety
      it was Old and Rickety.

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      What does 'sequencing' mean?

      A type of book.
      Correct answer: Putting things in order.
      Talking about features of a book.

      Q2.
      Which of these settings is at the beginning of 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'?

      bridge
      river
      green meadow
      Correct answer: brown meadow

      Q3.
      Which of these are sequencing words?

      Correct answer: First,
      Correct answer: After that,
      Who
      Correct answer: Finally,
      How

      Q4.
      Which part of the story is often where the characters face a big challenge or problem?

      beginning
      Correct answer: middle
      end

      Q5.
      Choose the best sequencing word to use at the end of the story. __________, the goats grazed happily on the sweet, green grass.

      First,
      Suddenly,
      Then,
      Correct answer: Finally,

      Q6.
      Order these events that take place in the story 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'.

      1 - The smallest billy goat approaches the bridge.
      2 - The middle billy goat approaches the bridge.
      3 - The largest billy goat approaches the bridge.

      To help you plan your 1 English lesson on: Sequencing and making a story mountain: 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...