New
New
Year 4

Engaging with the plot of 'Into the Forest'

I can retell the plot of 'Into the Forest'.

New
New
Year 4

Engaging with the plot of 'Into the Forest'

I can retell the plot of 'Into the Forest'.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. ‘Into the Forest’ is a narrative fiction text written and illustrated by the author Anthony Browne.
  2. The story is about a little boy who goes on a journey through a forest to visit his grandma and find his dad.
  3. On the journey through the forest, the boy encounters characters from familiar fairy tales.
  4. The plot of a story is retold in chronological order using expression to convey greater meaning.
  5. Summarising the key events in a story helps us to build our understanding of the text and the meaning behind it.

Keywords

  • Narrative fiction - a story that features made-up characters, places and adventures that did not happen in real life

  • Journey - an act of travelling from one place to another

  • Fairy tale - a children’s story about magical and imaginary beings and lands

  • Plot - what happens in the story

  • Summarising - pulling out the key events and ideas from the text

Common misconception

Children may struggle to identify which familiar fairy tale characters the boy encounters in the forest.

Ask questions to prompt children, e.g. 'Which fairy tale character do you know who sold a cow?' Also encourage children to look for further clues in the illustrations, e.g. There is a beanstalk in the illustration on page 10.

Spend time exploring the illustrations in greater detail, finding more hidden messages and discussing possible meaning, e.g. There are clues linking to more classic fairy tales on page 16.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You need a copy of the 2022 Puffin Books edition of ‘Into the Forest’ by Anthony Browne for this lesson.

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.
What is a narrative?
writing that is made up or imagined
Correct answer: writing that tells a story
writing that always gives true information
Q2.
What is a fairy tale?
a story that only has animal characters
a short story
Correct answer: a children's story about magical and imaginary beings and lands
Q3.
Which of the following are examples of genre?
recipe
Correct answer: fiction
thesaurus
Correct answer: adventure
Correct answer: fantasy
Q4.
Who is the author of 'Into the Forest'?
Correct answer: Anthony Browne
Amelia Browne
Ant Brown
Q5.
What is a protagonist in a story?
the narrator of the story
Correct answer: the main character in a story and the one whom the plot revolves around
the person who wrote the story
Q6.
Match each word to its definition.
Correct Answer:terrible,extremely bad or serious

extremely bad or serious

Correct Answer:poorly,unwell

unwell

Correct Answer:huddling,crowding together or nestling closely

crowding together or nestling closely

6 Questions

Q1.
True or false? All the meaning of ‘Into the Forest’ can be found in the words.
Correct Answer: False, false
Q2.
How is the boy woken up in the opening of the story?
by his mother
Correct answer: by a “terrible” noise
by the sunlight
Q3.
Why were the boy and his mother sad in the morning?
They were hungry, but they didn't have any food.
Correct answer: The boy’s father was not there and they missed him.
They were terribly cold and had no heating.
Q4.
True or false? The boy listened to his mother's instruction to take the long route in order to avoid going through the forest.
Correct Answer: False, false
Q5.
Who does the boy encounter on his journey through the forest?
his family members
his friends
Correct answer: familiar characters from traditional fairy tales
Q6.
Why does the boy become scared?
Correct answer: He feels like someone is following him.
He falls over and hurts himself.
Correct answer: He is worried that it isn't his grandma who is in the house.
He thinks his mum will be angry at him.