New
New
Year 6

Planning the build-up of ‘Beowulf and the dragon’

I can plan the structure and content of the build-up of 'Beowulf and the dragon'.

New
New
Year 6

Planning the build-up of ‘Beowulf and the dragon’

I can plan the structure and content of the build-up of 'Beowulf and the dragon'.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Writing is most successful when it is planned and rehearsed.
  2. When we plan, we can use our text map as our basis, breaking it down into key scenes.
  3. For each scene, we make notes about the actions, descriptions, dialogue and emotion we might include (where relevant).
  4. We also plan to include the rich vocabulary that we have generated in previous lessons.

Keywords

  • Build-up - the part of a story where problems are introduced and tension rises

  • Text map - a visual representation of a series of events, where pictures represent events

  • Rich vocabulary - words chosen intentionally to convey a certain impression to the reader of a place, person or thing

  • Narrative elements - the content of a narrative, often including action, description, dialogue and emotions

Common misconception

Pupils may believe that they can **only** include the narrative elements in their writing.

There are other things we can write about - for instance, thoughts the characters have - but the narrative elements are a helpful structure we can use to generate ideas. There is no need to limit pupils to just these categories.

Make sure that the rich vocabulary learned in the previous lesson is readily available to pupils. As they plan, encourage pupils to continually refer back to their text map for ideas. You may want pupils to circle sections of the text map to show the four paragraphs.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the events below is part of the build-up in 'Beowulf and the dragon'?
Beowulf kills the dragon
Wiglaf stabs the dragon
Beowulf's sword is stuck in the dragon's head
Correct answer: the dragon burns the stronghold
Q2.
Which characters feature in the build-up of 'Beowulf and the dragon'?
Correct answer: the dragon
Correct answer: Beowulf
Correct answer: Wiglaf
Hrothgar
Q3.
Which word means 'completely burned to nothing'?
ablaze
Correct answer: incinerated
blackened
smouldering
Q4.
Which word means 'headland'?
barren
windswept
sheer
Correct answer: promontory
Q5.
Which word means 'long and flexible'?
barbed
iridescent
Correct answer: sinuous
mighty
Q6.
Which adjectives could be added to the following noun phrase to describe the dragon effectively? 'the __________ worm'.
Correct answer: vile
Correct answer: monstrous
delicious
Correct answer: colossal
tame

6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these examples of rich vocabulary could be used to describe the stronghold in 'Beowulf and the dragon'?
Correct answer: incinerated
barren
Correct answer: charred
sheer
Q2.
Which of these examples of rich vocabulary could be used to describe parts of the dragon in 'Beowulf and the dragon'?
Correct answer: sinuous
Correct answer: gaping
bleak
wind-whipped
Q3.
Which event below is not part of the build-up to 'Beowulf and the dragon'?
the dragon burned the stronghold
Beowulf summoned a meeting
the warriors went to Eagleness
Correct answer: the dragon grabbed Beowulf in its jaws
Q4.
Which of the following should we include in a plan for our writing?
Correct answer: the structure of our writing
Correct answer: the content of our writing
how we will start every sentence in our writing
Correct answer: rich vocabulary we want to include in our writing
Q5.
Which of the following are narrative elements we can use to help us plan the content of our writing?
Correct answer: action
Correct answer: emotion
Correct answer: description
beliefs
Correct answer: dialogue
Q6.
Which narrative element is used here? 'Its sinuous neck was iridescent in the moonlight.'
action
Correct answer: description
emotion
dialogue