New
New
Year 3

Planning the build-up of 'The Iron Man'

I can plan two paragraphs for the build-up of ‘The Iron Man’.

New
New
Year 3

Planning the build-up of 'The Iron Man'

I can plan two paragraphs for the build-up of ‘The Iron Man’.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The purpose of the build-up is to build up suspense and excitement before the climax.
  2. The build-up of 'The Iron Man' describes humanity’s response to the Iron Man.
  3. When we plan, we log precise and ambitious vocabulary to help paint vivid pictures for our reader.
  4. A plan includes notes, a sequence of events and ambitious vocabulary.
  5. ‘Show-and-tell’ language shows a character’s feelings by describing their actions, body language and facial expressions.

Keywords

  • Suspense - when you are feeling anxious or excited about what may happen

  • 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

  • 'show and tell' - a writing technique for showing a character’s feelings with description of their actions and expressions

Common misconception

Children may find it difficult to generate a range of precise and ambitious vocabulary in order to avoid repetition in the build up.

Model the use of a thesaurus for uplevelling vocabulary. E.g. Instead of 'ran', when describing the movements of Hogarth and his father, show other examples like 'raced', 'sped', 'sprinted', 'hurried', 'darted'.

Include a teaching point on how language choice conveys the gradual building of suspense. Highlight how a peaceful scene is first created while Hogarth is fishing and then the language conveys a gradual increase in fear across both 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.
Put the following in order to show the structure of a narrative.
1 - opening
2 - build-up
3 - climax
4 - resolution
Q2.
How did the opening of 'The Iron Man' end?
The Iron Man stood on the edge of a cliff.
Correct answer: The Iron Man walked into the ocean and disappeared.
The Iron Man fell off the cliff and broke into pieces.
The Iron Man reassembled his body.
Q3.
What is the purpose of the build-up?
to resolve the problem in the story
Correct answer: to develop the plot and build suspense
to set the scene and introduce the protagonist
Q4.
What problem is encountered in the build-up of 'The Iron Man'?
The Iron Man cannot swim to shore.
The Iron Man feels lonely.
Correct answer: The Iron Man eats the farmers' machinery.
Q5.
How does humanity respond to the Iron Man?
kindly
Correct answer: angrily
happily
Q6.
True or false? Everyone is happy after the Iron Man is buried.
Correct Answer: False, false

6 Questions

Q1.
What is the definition of suspense?
Correct answer: feeling anxious or excited about what may happen
feeling certain about what is to come
feeling sad about what has already happened
Q2.
Put the events in the build-up of the story in the correct order.
1 - Hogarth spotted the Iron Man and told his parents. His father went in search.
2 - Hogarth's father told the other farmers and made a close escape from the giant.
3 - The following morning, the farmers' machinery was found missing and half-eaten.
4 - The farmers dug a hole to trap and bury the Iron Man, but he never came.
5 - The overjoyed farmers buried the Iron Man. Then Hogarth felt sorrow and guilt.
Q3.
Which linguistic devices can writers use to build suspense?
conjunctions
Correct answer: 'show and tell' language
Correct answer: short, snappy sentences
commas
Q4.
Match each word type to the correct definition.
Correct Answer:nouns,people, places and things

people, places and things

Correct Answer:adjectives,describe nouns

describe nouns

Correct Answer:verbs,doing, being or having words

doing, being or having words

Correct Answer:adverbs,describe verbs

describe verbs

Q5.
What is ambitious vocabulary?
simple, everyday language
Correct answer: high-level language in writing that meets the text purpose
words that are easy to read
Q6.
How do you record your notes in a plan?
Correct answer: as notes in the form of bullet points
as full sentences
as questions