Hello Year 4!

I hope your Big Write went well last week. What features did you use in it? Did you include some speech? Did you read it through to check your sentences made sense and you used capital letters and full stops?

I will start this pack with the answers to last week’s grammar, and then there will be 4 lessons culminating in another Big Write on the alien landing from last week, with a twist…

Happy writing!

Mild Spicy Hot

Lesson 1- Revision of SpeechMarks

Use the rules of speech marks you wrote in your books the first week to complete today’s work.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Lesson 2- Setting Description

We will be rewriting the Alien Story again on Friday with a few differences. The first difference is the setting, which is what we will be focusing on this lesson.

First, reread the Alien Story to remind yourself…

The sun slipped behind the distant hills, painting the mountains red and black. Shadowslengthened, deepening the darkness. Wind whispered through the grass as if praying. Wearily, Tom and Jez picked up their fishing gear. It was late and they knew that theywould be in trouble. But holidays only came once a year and they were just a mile fromthe cottage where they were staying. “Come on,” mumbled Jez, picking up his rod and turning to go.

At that moment, the boys froze. From somewhere overhead they heard a low whirringsound. Half a mile away a glowing light appeared. It streaked towards the forest and then hovered, casting beams of brilliant light down into the dark trees. The boys turnedto stare at each other. They were both thinking the same thing… aliens! Tugging themdeeper and deeper into the forest, the strange lights shone down like silvery ropes. Without warning, there was a rush of roaring wind that tore at the trees. Then the lightsbegan to flicker in a mesmerising pattern.

Half stumbling, Tom and Jez staggered through the thicket, drawn towards the light. As they drew closer, they could see that it was an enormous spaceship. Crouching behind a bush, hearts thumping, they waited and watched. The ship was larger than a bus and circular. It hovered just above the ground. Lights shimmered and a door opened. Out of the dark interior, a shadow began to move…

It was twenty-four hours later that Tom woke with a start, though at that point he didn’t realisehow much time had passed. He was cold and at first couldn’t remember where he was or whathad happened. Beside him, Jez lay curled up. Fast asleep with his thumb stuck in his mouth. Tom stared around him. They were still in the forest and the bushes and grass had been flatteneddown. Trees were scorched. Of course, the spaceship!

No one believed them and what was worse they couldn’t remember what had happened afterthe ship’s door had opened. The doctor said that it was amnesia brought on by shock. They bothknew that the space ship had landed and an alien had begun to appear but after that, the next24 hours were a complete blank. In the end, the police went away muttering about time wasters- and left them to get on with the rest of their holiday.

It was only when he went to bed that night that Tom found it. In his pocket there was a jet blackpebble. It was shiny and comforting to hold. He rubbed the smooth surface and as he did so, itbegan to warm and then it glowed. Weirdly, Jez had also found a stone in his pocket. A presentperhaps – a present from another world. But what were the stones for? Tom wasn’t toosure if he wanted to know.

This is my example of a setting I might

use… I have picked a rainforest.

Charlie looked around him. The jungle is a hot and steamy world where enormous trees loom up to the sky, lush vegetation, ferns and fungi thrust up from the forest floor, and vines and lianas curl around the tall trunks, reaching eagerly towards the high canopy. Buttress and stilt roots sprawl across the shallow soil. Orchids burst into incredible swirls of colourand form, frogs and butterflies flaunt vibrant hues, emerald snakes glisten, parrots soar in a blaze of orange, scarlet, blue and green while hummingbirds probe exotic flowers for nectar. Toucans and birds of paradise add to this amazing colourspectrum. A myriad of plants and animals find their own special niche in this kaleidoscope of life and energy.

First, I looked at pictures of rainforests and made

a long list of words that I think of when I look at

them. I used a thesaurus to come up with exciting vocabulary.

Word bank

Hot, steamy, enormous, trees, vegetation, ferns, fungi, vines, curl, tall trunks, orchids, colour, butterflies, colour, life

Next, I took the words from my word bank and made them into sentences.

Word bank

Hot, steamy, enormous, trees, vegetation, ferns, fungi, vines, curl, tall trunks, orchids, colour, butterflies, colour, life

Orchids burst into incredible swirls of colour and form, frogs and butterflies flaunt vibrant hues, emerald snakes glisten, parrots soar in a blaze of orange, scarlet, blue and green while hummingbirds probe exotic flowers for nectar.

Toucans and birds of paradise add to this amazing colour spectrum.

A myriad of plants and animals find their own special niche in this kaleidoscope of life and energy.

Your task:

1. Come up with a setting for your story to be set this week. It can be anything! You can use Miss Hill’s idea of a rainforest.

Other ideas might be… • A desert• The top of a mountain• A park• The school• Under the sea • A tree house• A fairground

2. Look up pictures on google images of the place you havedecided to set your story in. Write a word bank of words that come to mind when you look at the pictures. Can you use adverbs as well as adjectives? Challenge: use a thesaurus to uplevel yourvocabulary.

3. Create 2 or 3 sentences that you could use in your Big Write to describe the setting.