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Year 3 - English

Writing part 2 of the build-up in 'The Firework Maker's Daughter'

'The Firework Maker's Daughter': reading and narrative writing

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils develop their ability to summarise key events from the text, exploring Lila's feelings in the build-up to these. Pupils plan and write both the build-up and the climax of the story, focusing on developing their use of complex sentences, precise vocabulary and speech.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to write a well-structured paragraph for part 2 of the build-up.

Key Notes

  • The purpose of a build-up is to move the main character's journey forward and build tension.
  • Precise and ambitious vocabulary shows and tells the reader what happened on her journey and how she was feeling.
  • Using a range of sentence types (simple, compound and complex) improves text flow for the reader.
  • An adverbial clause is joined with a main clause to form an adverbial complex sentence.
  • Rhetorical questions can be used as a narrative device to engage the reader.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • text flow: how a text is written to keep the reader engaged
  • adverbial complex sentence: a sentence formed of a main clause and an adverbial subordinate clause
  • rhetorical question: a question asked to the reader that does not expect an answer

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Children may struggle with developing an appropriate rhetorical question and writing it in the correct tense. E.g. 'Will she make it?'

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

The purpose of a build-up is to move the main character's journey forward and build tension. Precise and ambitious vocabulary shows and tells the reader what happened on her journey and how she was feeling.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'text flow'

how a text is written to keep the reader engaged.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: Children may struggle with developing an appropriate rhetorical question and writing it in the correct tense. E.g. 'Will she make it?'. Correction: Model appropriate examples in the past tense and highlight the ways in which it sounds like Lila is asking the question herself (despite the use of the 'she' pronoun). E.g. She decided to brave the heat. After all, wasn't she used to fire anyway?

More Lessons In This Unit

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