'The Borrowers': narrative writing and reading
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Why this why now
This unit builds on the narrative writing skills developed in 'The Firework Maker's Daughter' by helping pupils further refine their use of descriptive language and complex sentence structures. By analysing the setting and characters in The Borrowers and writing descriptive and narrative sections, pupils develop their ability to create engaging stories. This focus develops pupils' narrative skills, preparing them for the next unit on 'A Christmas Carol', where they will apply and extend these skills by writing further sections of a narrative.
Prior knowledge requirements
- A narrative can be structured as an opening, build-up, climax and ending.
- Each part of a story has a specific purpose and intended effect on the reader.
- The intended effect on the reader is achieved through careful vocabulary choices.
- Adjectives describe nouns and adverbials modify verbs.
- There are three main types of sentence structures: simple, compound and complex.
- Sentences must be punctuated accurately with a full stop, capital letter and a comma where needed.
- An adverbial complex sentence consists of a main clause and an adverbial subordinate clause.
- Speech first in a sentence must be punctuated with inverted commas (with a comma, question or exclamation mark before the closing inverted commas).
Threads
Why this why now
This unit builds on the narrative writing skills developed in 'The Firework Maker's Daughter' by helping pupils further refine their use of descriptive language and complex sentence structures. By analysing the setting and characters in The Borrowers and writing descriptive and narrative sections, pupils develop their ability to create engaging stories. This focus develops pupils' narrative skills, preparing them for the next unit on 'A Christmas Carol', where they will apply and extend these skills by writing further sections of a narrative.
Prior knowledge requirements
- A narrative can be structured as an opening, build-up, climax and ending.
- Each part of a story has a specific purpose and intended effect on the reader.
- The intended effect on the reader is achieved through careful vocabulary choices.
- Adjectives describe nouns and adverbials modify verbs.
- There are three main types of sentence structures: simple, compound and complex.
- Sentences must be punctuated accurately with a full stop, capital letter and a comma where needed.
- An adverbial complex sentence consists of a main clause and an adverbial subordinate clause.
- Speech first in a sentence must be punctuated with inverted commas (with a comma, question or exclamation mark before the closing inverted commas).
Reading, writing & oracy
'The Borrowers': narrative writing and reading
In this unit, pupils explore 'The Borrowers' through reading and writing activities. They sequence key events, analyse the setting and characters and write a descriptive setting piece. Pupils also plan, write, and edit sections of the build-up, developing their narrative writing skills.
11 lessons in unit
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