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Year 4

Engaging with the plot of 'The Happy Prince'

I can read ‘The Happy Prince’ and summarise the key events.

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New
New
Year 4

Engaging with the plot of 'The Happy Prince'

I can read ‘The Happy Prince’ and summarise the key events.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. 'The Happy Prince' is a story originally written in 1888 by Oscar Wilde, which has been adapted into different versions.
  2. The story tells of a statue of a prince witnessing great poverty and sadness in a city.
  3. Together with a swallow, the prince performs selfless acts of kindness to help the poor people of the city.
  4. The moral of the story in ‘The Happy Prince’ is to be compassionate and to help those who are suffering.
  5. Summarising the key events in a story helps us to build our understanding of the text and the meaning behind it.

Common misconception

Pupils may be confused by how the statue can speak and used to be a living person.

'The Happy Prince' is a fictional text so the characters act in ways that are not usual for humans.

Keywords

  • Plot - the sequence of events that make up the narrative

  • Moral - a lesson that can be learnt from a story or experience

  • Summarise - to pull out the key events and ideas from a text

  • Classic text - a piece of literature that has stood the test of time

There are many different versions, both in books and as videos, of 'The Happy Prince.' Pupils' understanding of the text could be consolidated by engaging in a different version.
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).

Video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the correct description of a fiction book?
a book that gives factual information
a book with lots of poems
Correct answer: a book about a made-up story
Q2.
Match the word to the correct definition.
Correct Answer:biography,an information text about a real person's life

an information text about a real person's life

Correct Answer:information text,a text that provides real facts or information

a text that provides real facts or information

Correct Answer:poem,a type of writing that can evoke emotion and can rhyme

a type of writing that can evoke emotion and can rhyme

Correct Answer:fictional story,a story that is written about imaginary characters and events

a story that is written about imaginary characters and events

Q3.
What is an author?
a person who writes poems
Correct answer: a person who writes stories or other texts
a person who writes music
a person who draws illustrations
Q4.
What is a character?
Correct answer: a person or animal in a story that action happens to
where the story takes place
the person who writes the story
the person who reads the story
Q5.
What is a setting?
the people or animals in the story
where the author wrote the story
Correct answer: where the story takes place
where a book is bought from
Q6.
What is the moral of a story?
the ending of the story
Correct answer: the lesson that can be learned from the story
the opening of the story
the most exciting moment of the story

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Who was the original author of ‘The Happy Prince’?
Correct Answer: Oscar Wilde, oscar wilde
Q2.
Who are the main characters in 'The Happy Prince'?
the sick boy
Correct answer: the statue of the prince
the sad seamstress
Correct answer: the bird
Q3.
True or false? 'The prince was able to give the ruby to the seamstress himself.'
Correct Answer: false, False
Q4.
What happened to the statue when he realised that the bird was dying?
He tried to rescue the bird
Correct answer: His heart broke into two pieces
He began to cry
He gasped in shock
Q5.
True or false? This is the moral of 'The Happy Prince': always share your belongings with others.
Correct Answer: false, False
Q6.
Order these key moments from 'The Happy Prince' in chronological order.
1 - The statue was upset by all the suffering in the city
2 - The bird and the statue helped the people who were suffering
3 - The bird became frailer and weaker in the cold winter
4 - The bird and the prince died
5 - God asked the bird and the prince to look after the city's people.

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