Engaging with the plot of 'The Happy Prince'
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can read ‘The Happy Prince’ and summarise the key events.
Key learning points
- 'The Happy Prince' is a story originally written in 1888 by Oscar Wilde, which has been adapted into different versions.
- The story tells of a statue of a prince witnessing great poverty and sadness in a city.
- Together with a swallow, the prince performs selfless acts of kindness to help the poor people of the city.
- The moral of the story in ‘The Happy Prince’ is to be compassionate and to help those who are suffering.
- Summarising the key events in a story helps us to build our understanding of the text and the meaning behind it.
Keywords
Plot - the sequence of events that make up the narrative
Moral - a lesson that can be learnt from a story or experience
Summarise - to pull out the key events and ideas from a text
Classic text - a piece of literature that has stood the test of time
Common misconception
Pupils may be confused by how the statue can speak and used to be a living person.
'The Happy Prince' is a fictional text so the characters act in ways that are not usual for humans.
Teacher tip
There are many different versions, both in books and as videos, of 'The Happy Prince.' Pupils' understanding of the text could be consolidated by engaging in a different version.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is the correct description of a fiction book?
Q2.Match the word to the correct definition.
Q3.What is an author?
Q4.What is a character?
Q5.What is a setting?
Q6.What is the moral of a story?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Who was the original author of ‘The Happy Prince’?
Q2.Who are the main characters in 'The Happy Prince'?
Q3.True or false? 'The prince was able to give the ruby to the seamstress himself.'
Q4.What happened to the statue when he realised that the bird was dying?
Q5.True or false? This is the moral of 'The Happy Prince': always share your belongings with others.
Q6.Order these key moments from 'The Happy Prince' in chronological order.
To help you plan your 4 English lesson on: Engaging with the plot of 'The Happy Prince', 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 plot of 'The Happy Prince', 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 Happy Prince': narrative writing and reading unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.