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Contents of Short

Contents of Short!

Week 1 Monday Comprehension 1

Genre List- Adult Reference

Do not feel that you need to cover this exhaustively. Discuss genres which arise from discussion, ensuring that horror is included.

Genre

Features

Examples

Adventure

full of action, excitement and danger; often involves a journey; characters include clearly defined heroes and villains; may be set in challenging settings

Alex Rider Books; Artemis Fowl Series; Swallows and Amazons

Contemporary/realistic

set in everyday life with everyday characters and settings; often include themes around family, school, animals (realistic) and sport

Jacqueline Wilson books; Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series

Fable

traditional stories often passed on orally; a short story teaching a moral – animal characters

The Hare and the Tortoise

The Boy who Cried Wolf

Fairy-tale

simple plots often passed on orally with clear villains and heroes; often includes royalty, animal characters, magic and happy endings for the good characters

The Three Little Pigs

The Frog Prince

Cinderella

Fantasy

stories with magic, imaginary worlds and creatures; mythical and divine beings; magical objects;

The Hobbit; Harry Potter Series; Earthsea Series; Artemis Fowl Series; Narnia Books

Horror

intended to scare; use suspense to build up to moment of horror; often have danger, ghosts or spooky settings; often have twists or surprises; happy endings not guaranteed!

Any stories with ghosts, monsters

Legends

stories which have a basis in truth (historical characters & real places) but have been added to over years of retelling

Robin Hood

The Legends of King Arthur

Myths

traditional stories explaining why the world is how it is; often passed down orally

Pandora’s Box; creation myths;

Mystery/Detective

crime, puzzle or mystery to solve; detective or non-professional tasked with finding out; time pressure; villains and victims; suspects; clues; red herrings; story ends in solving of the mystery

Sherlock Holmes, Famous Five Series, Hacker, Alex Rider Books; Artemis Fowl Series;

Science fiction

stories which imagine new technology and worlds; creatures from other worlds; imaginary creatures/settings with a basis on science and technology (rather than magic)

The Iron Man; Star Wars; Doctor Who

This list is not definitive but gives a guide to recognising what genre a story might be categorised as.

Some stories will cross genres, although this is less likely with short stories due to their brevity.

Week 1 Monday Comprehension 1

Features of Horror Stories

These are stories which are intended to be a bit scary but still be fun.

Setting

- sometimes obviously spooky: haunted house, graveyard, old building, anywhere isolated

- sometimes everyday location which feels safe, then it all goes wrong: shops, home, party

Characters

- main character: vulnerable, often careless or curious, not able to get help easily

- scary characters: ghosts, monsters, witches, vampires, werewolves, 2-dimensional villains

Plot

- main character gets into danger and must escape or perish!

- main character experiences something strange and investigates…then must escape or perish!

- an everyday situation becomes increasingly scary until a danger is revealed and must be escaped

Structure

- Opening: character(s) introduced, hints at the problem (dialogue, action or description)

- Build up: problem/danger occurs; scary character reveals themselves or gets closer

- Climax: moment of greatest danger, secrets uncovered, battle or escape attempt

- Resolution: main character escapes or meets a sticky end (not too sticky!) – may be a final twist

Language Features

- descriptive language to build suspense (including relative clauses and adverbials of manner)

- short sentences for impact

- adverbials of time, place and number for cohesion

Week 1 Tuesday Comprehension 2

Room for One More

(from Short! By Kevin Crossley-Holland)

How difficult it was to sleep in that strange bed! She wrestled with the duvet and thumped the pillow; she turned her back on the flimsy curtains; she wished she had never come up to London.

At midnight she heard the grandfather clock whirr and strike; and then she heard the gravel in the driveway crunch. At once she jumped out of bed and crossed the room and just peeped between the curtains.

What she could see was a gleaming black hearse. But there was no coffin in it, and no flowers. No, the hearse was packed out with living people: a crush of talking, laughing, living people.

Then the driver of the hearse looked straight up at her, as she peeped between the curtains.

‘There’s room for one more.’ That’s what he said. She could hear his voice quite clearly. Then she tugged the curtains so they crossed over, and ran back across the room, and jumped into bed, and pulled the duvet up over the head. And when she woke up next morning, she really wasn’t sure whether it was all a dream or not.

What do you think happened next? Write your prediction here.

Week 1 Tuesday Comprehension 2

Word List

1. Choose a word from the list.

2. Identify the silent letter.

3. Find/think of 3 more words which have the same silent letter and write them down.

4. Use each new word to write a different sentence.

5. Now, choose a different word from the list and repeat steps 2 and 3.

Challenge: Can you find a pattern in any of the words with the same silent letter?

Display or print for chn to refer to

Week 1 Wednesday Transcription 1

Word Hunt

Scan down this table to find three more examples of words with the same silent letter

known

sword

ghastly

knowledge

wrinkle

thistle

nestle

debris

guide

half

rustle

psalm

listen

knife

wrestle

wrench

whistle

wrong

damn

honest

knight

castle

tongue

rhyme

would

guess

knee

guarantee

thumb

lamb

autumn

knuckle

guard

should

aisle

could

ghost

written

gnarled

knead

writer

knocked

gnash

ballet

design

rhythm

comb

subtle

hymn

resign

gnaw

doubt

sign

solemn

honour

isle


Spelling lists - Adult reference

kknow, knight, knife, knowledge, knee, knocked, knuckle, knead

wwrite, wrestle, wrinkle, wrong, sword, answer, two, wrench

ggnome, gnat, gnaw, gnarled, gnash, sign, foreign, resign, champagne, design

tthistle, whistle, castle, butcher, mortgage, listen, nestle, ballet, match

bdoubt, comb, lamb, thumb, plumber, debtor, subtle

nsolemn, autumn, damn, column, hymn

hghost, white, rhythm, hour, honest, honour, heir, gherkin, myrrh, rhyme

sisland, aisle, isle, viscount, debris

ltalk, half, calm, salmon, should, could, psalm

uguest, guess, guard, tongue, guitar, guarantee


Spelling lists in order of difficulty – Left to Right

knee

wrong

sign

castle

calm

autumn

ghost

isle

comb

guard

knuckle

answer

resign

whistle

salmon

hymn

honour

aisle

doubt

guitar

knead

wrench

foreign

mortgage

psalm

solemn

rhythm

viscount

debtor

guarantee

knee

wrong

sign

castle

calm

autumn

ghost

isle

comb

guard

knuckle

answer

resign

whistle

salmon

hymn

honour

aisle

doubt

guitar

knead

wrench

foreign

mortgage

psalm

solemn

rhythm

viscount

debtor

guarantee

knee

wrong

sign

castle

calm

autumn

ghost

isle

comb

guard

knuckle

answer

resign

whistle

salmon

hymn

honour

aisle

doubt

guitar

knead

wrench

foreign

mortgage

psalm

solemn

rhythm

viscount

debtor

guarantee


Adverbials 1

Add an adverbial to modify the verb in each sentence.

The adverbial can tell the reader when, where or in what order the verb happened.

For example, for

The city was empty.

you could choose one of these:

At dawn, the city was empty.

The city was empty where the wolves had taken over.

First, the city was empty.

The driver got out of his truck.

The lift in the big store dropped.

She went shopping.

The girl got ready to go to school.

Sam walked.

She opened her homework book.

The hook was swinging.

The butterflies flew.

Week 1 Thursday Grammar 1

Adverbials 2

With each sentence, extend it in three different ways using an adverbial.


Try placing the adverbial at the beginning or end to achieve the best effect.

For example,

The city was empty.






She went shopping.


Sam jumped up and walked.




Week 1 Thursday Grammar 1/Composition 1

Adverbials 3

Extend each sentence three different ways by adding an adverbial (word, phrase or clause to modify the verb.


Try placing the adverbial at the beginning or end to achieve the best effect.

For example,

The city was empty.






She went shopping.


Sam jumped up and walked.




Week 1 Thursday Grammar 1/Composition 1

Hunted

He was running and running, crashing through the branches and tripping over the tree roots. The mice and the shrews were rushing out of his way, the heavy footfalls warning them, scuttling under cover amongst the dead leaves and moss of the forest floor. A badger, lolloping slowly along the edge of the trees, turned sharply to hide in the ditch at the far end of the meadow adjoining the wood. And an owl, swooping and soaring low over the bracken, wheeled around and screeched a warning to the other animals, “Skee-at, skee-at.”

The man’s breath was coming in short sharps bursts. He was bending over as he ran, almost crouching and keeping his head down, clutching his side. He cared not at all as the brambles scratched his coat, legs and face, and the low-lying branches of the smaller trees slapped him as he passed. He was running blindly, dashing hither and thither through the forest. But he was also searching, desperately seeking something, a sign, a small indication.

And then, suddenly, the reason for the man’s panic became apparent to the watching stoats and weasels, sitting on their hind-legs, front paws in the air, ready to run if need be. Behind the trees, marching down across the meadow and heading rapidly towards the wood, were five soldiers. They were jogging, holding their guns, great grey coats flapping around their dark boots, chains clinking at their waists. The badger, too frightened to move, crouching stock-still in the ditch between the meadow and the wood, could still hear the crashing sounds of the man’s wild, erratic race through the trees.

One of the soldiers gave a quick shout, “Hoy!” He jumped smartly over the ditch, and the others followed, leaping after him, narrowly missing the badger’s broad, grey, striped back. At the sound of the soldier’s bark, the running sounds in the forest ceased abruptly. The soldiers halted at the edge of the trees. They listened. There was silence. A soft scurrying sound told the stoats and weasels that the badger had gone to earth. An owl passed screeching overhead. The branches of the trees creaked gently, and the leaves whispered amongst themselves, as they painted the night sky an ever darker velvet blue. The moon had long since set, and a few stars were twinkling overhead. It was the hour before dawn, the dead time of the night, when only the hunted and the hunter are awake.

The man stood, poised for flight, beside a large oak tree. He tried to control his gasping breaths, holding his mouth open and drawing in the air in great silent gulps. His heart was pounding so loudly he thought it affected the entire forest, creating a deep thumping beat, which seemed to vibrate through the trees. As he stood, frozen in time and space, it seemed to him that all the animals were similarly petrified. Nothing moved. Not even a mouse stirred on the leaf-strewn floor. A fox stood at the edge of the clearing, a dead rabbit at its feet, and a deer paused, head lowered, eyes wide, as it listened for danger.

Suddenly the soldiers moved. “This way!” the captain called, and he pushed the bracken aside and started running in great bounding steps towards the centre of the wood. At the same moment, the man saw it. There it was. The sign for which he had been searching. He ran forward, past the petrified deer, and to the side of the clearing. There was a glint of metal, a gleam of gold beneath the leaves. The hunted man scrambled and pulled. A trap door sprang open and, in the nick of time, he slithered inside and pulled it shut behind him. There was a soft click, and the leaves stirred.

The soldiers came crashing into the clearing. Just as they skidded to a halt, right beside the oak tree where the hunted man had stood not a minute earlier, the deer shifted. Quietly, and with slow steps, it turned and moved, coming to stand right over the trap door, and completely covering the flat golden handle once more with leaves and earth. The deer stood there. The soldiers stared at it. They peered around the clearing and then shone torches into all the dark corners. Finally, holding their torches high, they turned and started searching further along the other side of the trees.

The deer quivered. Hunter or hunted. It knew the score. It took a side. After a while, it turned and leapt effortlessly away, out of the trees and across the meadow. It had saved a man’s life.

Week 1 Friday Comprehension 3/Spoken Language 2

Questions about ‘Hunted’

1. What sort of opening does the story have? Dialogue, action or description?

2. After the second paragraph pause & take it in turns to predict what you think the man is looking for.

3. Find and note one or more examples of alliteration that the writer has used for effect.

4. Underline any adverbials that you identify. Use one colour for those at the start of a paragraph or sentence and another colour for those placed elsewhere in the sentence.

5. What do you notice about the length of the sentences? When does the writer use long sentences? Short sentences?

6. Give a reason why the writer began a new paragraph on each occasion.

7. What does petrified mean?

8. List the verbs that the writer used when the man or the animals moved.


Story Pegs

Hunted

1. Man running through the forest where there was a badger & owl

2. The way man is running & looking

3. Soldiers appear in nearby field – badger frightened

4. Soldiers reach edge of forest – only sounds are owl & badger

5. Man by oak tree & deer (mouse & fox)

6. Soldiers move - man spots sign & hides under door

7. Soldiers reach clearing - deer stands on handle


Useful Adverbials

Indicate time, place, number

Later Early next morning Next day During the night

In the following week Two hours later Later that evening

The following day

At dawn Suddenly Then

Afterwards Before As soon as Earlier

At the weekend Every other day Yesterday At last

In the cupboard Under the bed On top of the shelves

In the middle of town Beside the bookcase Along the road

In the vase By the telephone In front of the bank

Firstly Secondly Thirdly Finally

Once Twice Lastly

Week 2 Monday Grammar 2

Two paragraphs from Room for One More

taken from Short! by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Opening paragraph

How difficult it was to sleep in that strange bed! She wrestled with the duvet and thumped the pillow; she turned her back on the flimsy curtains; she wished she had never come up to London.

Sixth paragraph

That day, she went shopping. In the big store, she did Levis Jeanswear on the fifth floor; she did Adidas Sportswear and that was on the sixth floor; and then she did cosmetics and that was on the seventh floor. Carrying two bags in each hand, she walked over to the lift. But when the bell pinged and the doors opened, she saw the lift was already jammed full with people.

Week 2 Thursday Grammar 4/Composition 4/Transcription 4

know

comb

half

island

write

thistle

column

gnome

talk

guest

© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. Y5 Spr F 1 Short Stories

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