Engaging with 'The Moon Dragons'
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can read and summarise the story of 'The Moon Dragons'.
Key learning points
- ‘The Moon Dragons’ is a picture book and narrative fiction text that belongs to the genre of fantasy.
- The plot of the story is based around the search for mythical creatures called moon dragons.
- Summarising the key events in a story helps us to build our understanding of the text and the meaning behind it.
- The King offers a room filled with gold to anyone who can retrieve a moon dragon but nobody succeeds.
- Alina finds the moon dragons but keeps her discovery a secret in order to protect them.
Keywords
Fantasy - a genre of fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and inspired by mythology or folklore
Plot - what happens in a story
Summarising - to pull out the key events and ideas from the text
Common misconception
Children may have questions about the genre that the story belongs to and be unsure of what constitutes mythology. Children may also notice elements within the story that are similar to fairytales.
Explore examples of myths that the children have been previously exposed to and ask them to identify any commonalities within 'The Moon Dragons'. Explore which features of the story are reminiscent of fairy tales.
Teacher tip
Use illustrations from the book as visual aids while telling the story and provide them as prompts for the children's task of retelling the story.
Equipment
You will need a copy of the 2015 Andersen Press Ltd. edition of ‘The Moon Dragons’ written by Dyan Sheldon and illustrated by Gary Blythe for this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What type of text is a fantasy text?
Q2.Match the following terms to their definitions.
a person or animal in the story
where the story takes place
what happens in the story
Q3.What type of characters might you find in a fantasy story? Select three.
Q4.Which of the following are examples of mythical creatures?
Q5.Why would somebody choose to read a fantasy story?
Q6.Which of these would you be likely to find in a fantasy text?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the keywords to the correct definitions.
a genre of fiction involving magical elements
what happens in a story
to pull out the key events and ideas from the text
Q2.Who is the author of 'The Moon Dragons'?
Q3.What makes ‘The Moon Dragons’ a fantasy story?
Q4.Which two things were the moon dragons known for?
Q5.True or false? Alina felt a physical connection to the moon dragons when she found them.
Q6.Order the following events to show the chronology of the story.
To help you plan your 3 English lesson on: Engaging with 'The Moon Dragons', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 3 English lesson on: Engaging with 'The Moon Dragons', 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 Moon Dragons': reading unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.