Sherlock Holmes: short stories
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Why this why now
This unit uses and builds on pupils' reading and initial exploration of Sherlock Holmes in the primary curriculum. In primary, pupils explored retellings of Sherlock stories, but they now read Arthur Conan Doyle's original language in full and complete more analysis of his stories. They also start to learn about the Victorian context in which he was writing, which prepares them for later study of Victorian literature. This unit particulary prepares pupils for the unit 'A Monster Within', where they will read increasingly challenging nineteenth century literature and learn about the Gothic.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils can use reading skills to decode texts
- Pupils can use evidence from a text to support their argument
- Pupils can expand explanations, to show a clear understanding of a text
- Pupils can identify different word classes in a text
- Pupils have a range of adjectives they can use to describe atmosphere
- Pupils can use the phrase 'the reader' to provide personal responses to a text
- Pupils can use single paragraph outlines to plan their writing
- Pupils can understand the conventions of a newspaper
- Pupils can use capital letters, apostrophes, commas and full stops
- Pupils can use compound and complex sentences, to vary their writing
Why this why now
This unit uses and builds on pupils' reading and initial exploration of Sherlock Holmes in the primary curriculum. In primary, pupils explored retellings of Sherlock stories, but they now read Arthur Conan Doyle's original language in full and complete more analysis of his stories. They also start to learn about the Victorian context in which he was writing, which prepares them for later study of Victorian literature. This unit particulary prepares pupils for the unit 'A Monster Within', where they will read increasingly challenging nineteenth century literature and learn about the Gothic.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils can use reading skills to decode texts
- Pupils can use evidence from a text to support their argument
- Pupils can expand explanations, to show a clear understanding of a text
- Pupils can identify different word classes in a text
- Pupils have a range of adjectives they can use to describe atmosphere
- Pupils can use the phrase 'the reader' to provide personal responses to a text
- Pupils can use single paragraph outlines to plan their writing
- Pupils can understand the conventions of a newspaper
- Pupils can use capital letters, apostrophes, commas and full stops
- Pupils can use compound and complex sentences, to vary their writing
Sherlock Holmes: short stories
In this unit, pupils read and explore two famous Sherlock Holmes stories. They start by reading and analysing 'The Speckled Band' before using it as inspiration to write a newspaper article. They then read and analyse 'The Boscombe Valley Murder' before writing a comparison of the two stories.
22 lessons in unit
slide decks, worksheet PDFs, quizzes and lesson overviews. You can select individual lessons from the Sherlock Holmes: short stories unit and download the resources you need, or download the entire unit now. See every unit listed in our secondary english curriculum and discover more of our teaching resources for secondary english programmes.