Engaging with 'The Borrowers'
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can order the key events of ‘The Borrowers’.
Key learning points
- ‘The Borrowers’ is a fantasy fiction text written by Mary Norton in 1952.
- ‘The Borrowers’ is about miniature people, who secretly live under the floorboards of an English house.
- The protagonist in ‘The Borrowers’ is Arrietty, who is the daughter of Pod and Homily.
- It is important for stories to have a clear structure so that readers can understand and enjoy them.
Keywords
Fantasy fiction - a story which is made up or imagined and involves magical elements
Summarise - to pull out the key events and ideas from the text
Structure - the order of events within a narrative that gives it a coherent and engaging flow
Common misconception
Pupils may have different ideas about which parts of 'The Borrowers' constitute the opening, build-up, climax and resolution.
Ensure that pupils know that the way one person summarises may be different to another person's summary. If possible, print the story staircase on A3 sized paper to make Task B more accessible.
Teacher tip
You may wish to read the whole text aloud as a class book before starting this unit, so the pupils are familiar with the story. Pupils could also watch the film, 'The Borrowers' which is suitable for the age group.
Equipment
You need a copy of the 2014 Puffin Books edition of ‘The Borrowers’ by Mary Norton for this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is a narrative?
Q2.What is a protagonist in a story?
Q3.Complete the sentence: An __________ is a person who writes books.
Q4.Which of the following are examples of genre?
Q5.Select the correct definition for the genre of 'fantasy'.
Q6.What is the correct definition of to 'borrow'?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What type of text is ‘The Borrowers’?
Q2.Who is the author of ‘The Borrowers’?
Q3.When was ‘The Borrowers’ first published?
Q4.True or false? 'The Borrowers' is a story about giant people who live in an English house.
Q5.What is the Clock's family home made from?
Q6.Order these key events from the story.
To help you plan your 4 English lesson on: Engaging with 'The Borrowers', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 4 English lesson on: Engaging with 'The Borrowers', 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 2 English lessons from the 'The Borrowers': narrative writing and reading unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.