New
New
Year 3

Planning the opening of 'The BFG' (part one)

I can plan the first part of an opening of a narrative based on ‘The BFG’.

New
New
Year 3

Planning the opening of 'The BFG' (part one)

I can plan the first part of an opening of a narrative based on ‘The BFG’.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The purpose of the opening is to engage the reader and introduce the setting and characters.
  2. Precise and ambitious vocabulary is logged on a plan for future use.
  3. Notes should not be written in full sentences and bullet points can be used to make notes clear.
  4. Fronted adverbials of time, place and manner indicate when, where and how action takes place.
  5. Ambitious and precise adverbs, adjectives and verbs are used to create a vivid picture for the reader.

Common misconception

Pupils may think that all words are ambitious vocabulary.

Teach pupils that there can be many options when selecting vocabulary and they need to carefully choose the most precise words for each part of their writing.

Keywords

  • Plan - a framework that writers create before they write a section or whole text

  • Notes - written out of full sentences

  • Ambitious vocabulary - high-level language in writing that meets the text purpose

  • Fronted adverbial - a sentence starter followed by a comma

You may wish to use the Year 1 Grammar unit 'Word class' to ensure that all pupils are confident with word classes before generating vocabulary in this lesson. You can up-level the Year 1 content to suit Year 3 pupils' ability.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You will need access to the 1989 film version of 'The BFG' 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).

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6 Questions

Q1.
Put the sections of a narrative in chronological order.
1 - opening
2 - build-up
3 - climax
4 - resolution
Q2.
The main characters in 'The BFG' are the BFG and .
Correct Answer: Sophie, sophie
Q3.
Which of these punctuation marks is a fronted adverbial followed by?
full stop
exclamation mark
Correct answer: comma
question mark
Q4.
What does a full sentence need to include?
a comma
Correct answer: a capital letter
Correct answer: a verb
Correct answer: a full stop (or other closing punctuation)
Q5.
Match the word classes to their definitions.
Correct Answer:adjective,a word that describes a noun

a word that describes a noun

Correct Answer:noun,a person, place or thing

a person, place or thing

Correct Answer:adverb ,a word that describes a verb

a word that describes a verb

Correct Answer:verb,a doing, being or having word

a doing, being or having word

Q6.
Match each word class to the correct example.
Correct Answer:adjective,brave

brave

Correct Answer:noun,owl

owl

Correct Answer:adverb ,nervously

nervously

Correct Answer:verb,stared

stared

6 Questions

Q1.
What are the purposes of the opening of a narrative?
to build up tension
Correct answer: to engage the reader so that they carry on reading or watching
to entertain the reader with characters' spoken words
Correct answer: to introduce the setting and characters
Q2.
A fronted adverbial of __________ tells the reader when the action in the main clause takes place.
Correct answer: time
place
manner
Q3.
Put the three key moments of part one of the opening in chronological order.
1 - Sophie awoke and she sat up.
2 - Sophie looked at the owl.
3 - Sophie got out of bed.
Q4.
Choose an appropriate fronted adverbial to start this sentence: '__________ Sophie put on her tattered shoes.'
As a result,
Interestingly,
In the night sky,
Correct answer: Cautiously,
Q5.
What is included in a plan?
Correct answer: notes that can be written in bullet points
full sentences
Correct answer: ambitious vocabulary
paragraphs
Q6.
Which word is the verb in the following sentence? 'Nervously, Sophie stared at the brown owl.'
nervously
Sophie
Correct answer: stared
brown