TEACH READING & WRITING
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LET’SGETSTARTED
There aremany stories around the
world about gateways into other
worlds. This ‘portal’ story has awarning
at its core and is a great story for Year
3 and 4 children, though it can also be
usedwith older pupils. Children love
describing the newsetting, the little
people and themagical feast.
‘and’ in the lists, e.g.
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slices of chicken, bowls of salad, jars of fruit
and plates of sweet puddings.
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steaming pies, fresh strawberries and
glasses full of creamy drinks.
Underline the nouns in one colour and the
adjectives in another colour. Children love
writing descriptions of food so bring
in a tablecloth, plates and a tea set to create
a dining table. Make a list of favourite foods
and brainstormpossible adjectives before
creating newdescriptive lists, building up noun
phrases to describe food, e.g. on the table, he
could see chunks of cheese, tasty teacakes
and plates of buttery crumpets.
Bring in some items of clothing to stimulate
lists that describewhat the little peoplewear,
e.g. theywerewearingflat cloth caps, mauve
silk shirts and emerald green ribbons in their
hair. Note down items of clothing and possible
adjectives before getting started.
Improvewriting
withdrama
Use a ‘feelings graph’ to showhowBilly’s
emotions alter during the story, noting quotes
fromthe text tomark the ups and downs.
Push back the tables and create a space in the
classroom. Children should speak aloudwhat
they knowabout or think of Billy before he
had his adventure and afterwards. Howhas
he changed? Children then step into the space
and freeze to become an object in the great
hall. As the teachermoves round in role as
Billy, pupils say aloudwhat object they are and
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What does ‘curious’ mean?
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Whichwordsmake the door
sound different?
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Discuss the effect of thewords that
make the hall sound scary: Gently, he
turned it and the door creaked open. Inside,
was a huge, dark hall.
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Give two reasons to explainwhy Billy
picked up the apple.
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Whichwords suggest that the apple
was amazing?
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Howdowe knowhowBilly felt once
he had eaten the apple?
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Whywere the voices ‘mocking’?
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Explainwhy Billy shuddered.
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Howhas the adventure changedBilly?
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What dowe knowabout Billy’smother that
might suggest what happened?
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What does thefinal line suggest?
Exploregrammar
incontext
Use the story to teach several ‘grammar for
writing’ focuses. Notice the use of the comma
and how it doesn’t appear before theword
Get immersed
in thestory
Drawstorymaps and use actions to retell the
story. Let the childrenwork in groups. Weaker
writers benefit fromknowing a text word
for word as this helps themto internalise
sentence patterns and vocabulary. Stronger
writers can retell the tale in their ownwords,
embellishing. Make sure they performtheir
stories using expression.
Once the class are familiar with the story,
read it. Discuss any vocabulary and also the
following questions:
In association with
Illustrations Tom Knight
