Building understanding

Comprehension: Scrooge from Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'

Secondary

Communication and language

﻿Hello there everybody, my name's Rae, and just a quick message for the grownups before we begin, I'd like to outline the purposes and the aims of today's lesson before I introduce it for the students. So today we'll be reading a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in an adapted form. And we'll be focusing on the words which describe his feelings or emotional state at three parts of the story. So we're focusing on the key words and emotions and matching up the emotions from the symbols and the signs with the pictures from the story. And we'll also do some sequencing later on. If you have got the option to download the resources, they will be useful for today's lesson, however, not necessary. So, let's introduce the story. Hello there everybody. My name is Rae, and it's good to see you all. Do you know that song that I played on the violin. That is "A Christmas Carol". And today we're going to listen to a story called the Christmas Carol by a man called Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens, and he even talked about that song in his book. So before we begin, let's take a look at what we might need with this lesson. Okay, for this lesson, you will need not very much really. It might be nice to have a copy of the text, "A Christmas Carol", by Charles Dickens, so that you can turn the pages together and maybe read some more of it. The relevant symbols and signs all to do with Scrooge and his feelings. So we're focusing on mean, which is perhaps an effect more than a feeling, happy and scared. And we'll be asking, what does Scrooge feel or how does he feel? If you've also got some props and maybe puppets or other elements which you think are appropriate, by all means, bring them in. And let's next take a look at how to get the room ready. Getting the room ready for learning. I would recommend reducing distractions within the room, that might mean closing the curtains so that we can't see the street outside. It may mean turning off a fan. It may mean turning off an overhead light or the television, but as well as preparing the room, we must prepare the children to be ready for learning as well. Some children will require a run around outside first to exercise their hands maybe to begin. Perhaps a snack, perhaps an opportunity to change position, to take splints off, whatever is the best position for them to be learning, you will lay that best. Really important to create some interest, that curiosity and anticipation for the child, by sharing the resources that you've gathered together. Talking about what might happen, show the excitement. If you model how excited you are to begin, then that will be infectious. And the child will be really interested in the lesson coming up. So press pause while you get the room ready, make sure that you take the opportunity to prepare yourself as well. And we'll begin very shortly. Meet Scrooge. Well, he looks mean. He was a tight fisted hand at the grindstone Scrooge, a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner. Hard and sharp as flint from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire. Secret, self-contained and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features. Nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheeks, stiffened his gait, made his eyes red and his thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rhyme was on his head and on his eyebrows and on his wire reaching. He carried his own low temperature always about with him. And he iced his office in the dog days and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas. Yes, he seems mean. Once upon a time, there was a man called Scrooge and he was mean and had no friends. Look at his face. Doesn't he look mean? Can you do a mean face? We'll do it together. Ready, one, two, three. Very good, next. A ghost, a ghost came to see Scrooge and pointed his finger and Scrooge felt scared. Can you show me a scared face? We'll do it together. Ready, one, two, three. Very good, next. The ghost said to Scrooge, if you are kind and good, you'll have friends. If you are kind, you can have friends. Next, Scrooge listened. Scrooge listened to the ghost and he was kind and good. Look, look at Scrooge. How is he feeling? How was he feeling? Big smile. I think he's happy. Look, big smile, happy. Can you do a happy face? We'll do it together. Ready, one, two, three. Very good, what's next? Oh look, Scrooge was kind and good. And so he feels happy. The end. Our first activity looks at how Scrooge is feeling at three points in our story. First, let's look at Scrooge's face here at the end of the story. How does he feel? Can you do that face? How does he feel? Yes, he feels happy. Happy, in this activity, we will match the symbol and or the sign and or the word for the feeling to the face that Scrooge is making in the story. This is sequenced so that we have the beginning of the story, the middle of the story, and the end of the story. Begin with one symbol, for example. Which is happy, which is happy? There Scrooge is happy. Next, mean, which is mean? let's look, Scrooge is mean. Next, scared, which is scared? There Scrooge is scared. As a challenge you might ask, why is Scrooge scared? Because the ghost came to see him. Next, could you do them all at the same time? If you present the child with all three, can the child match all three rather than doing one at a time, let's take a look. Mean, scared, happy. Now this is already in sequence. So at the beginning of the story, Scrooge is mean, and then he is scared because the ghost comes to see him and scares him into being kinder to people so he has friends. And then at the end, he is happy. So the next activity that we do, we'll sequence the story. Good to do this one first, where it's already sequenced to embed the understanding of the emotions. And then later on, when it comes to sequencing, what happens first? What happens in the middle and what happens at the end? We've already primed that learning. So let's take a look. Activity two looks at sequencing the story. So I have an example here of a three box panel, which represents the beginning, the middle and the end of the story. This is available in the downloadable resources. And I have the images from the story of Scrooge from the beginning, the middle and the end. Now I've sequenced it here for the child to see already. This is how the story goes. I might use these three panels to then retell the story. In the beginning, Scrooge was mean. In the middle, Scrooge was scared because the ghost came to see him. The ghost tells him if he is kind, he can have friends. At the end, he has friends and so he is happy. You might also sequence the story with the symbols as well. If your child is a word reader and can read the words mean, scared and happy, then by all means, use the words. So in the beginning, Scrooge was mean, he has no friends. Look, he's scared. The ghost tells him, if he is kind, he can have friends and be happy. Scrooge listens to the ghost and at the end, he is happy. These are different ways of lining it up. Here I've got box one, two, three, if your child has an understanding of the sequential nature of numbers and the understanding of one, two, three, that might be a useful template to use. On this one, I've drawn some arrows. Children who are familiar with now and next words or sequenced timetables, that might be useful for them. In order to make it slightly easier, repeat the story over and over again, use exactly the same words and keep the language simple. We want to see big drama, big emotions, big facial expressions, and really encourage the child to make the faces that go along with the emotions. And perhaps even look in the mirror. If you're matching things up, perhaps just begin by matching one and one and then maybe one to two, so that the child has options from two. If you're creating more of a challenge, then keep those questions open ended. So rather than saying, how does Scrooge feel? Is he happy or scared? Just keep it at an open-ended, so say, how does Scrooge feel? And see if the child can fill in the answer, add in a why question, why is he scared? And really encourage the child to verbalise those keywords as well. If you would like some more ideas, of course, read more of A Christmas Carol, read more Dickens, read more of that era, have a look at movies and films from that era or that represent that era. Maybe even use what and who questions as you're reading through more of The Christmas Carol, there's many simplified versions for different learners out there. So I really hope you've enjoyed this and thank you very much for being part of it with me. Thank you very much for joining me for this lesson. I hope that it's been useful and enjoyable for you. Please do take a look at the other recommended activities and ways to extend and stretch the learning for this. And I hope that you enjoy reading more of the book. So thank you and from me for now, goodbye. If you would like to share photos and videos of your child's work with us, then please share them via Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and tag us @OakNational and #LearnWithOak.

Comprehension: Scrooge from Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'

Comprehension: Scrooge from Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'

These resources will be removed by the end of the Spring Term 2026.

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