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Year 3 - English

Planning the build-up of 'The Iron Man'

'The Iron Man': narrative writing

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils write their own complete narrative version of 'The Iron Man', based on their understanding and exploration of the original text by Ted Hughes from the accompanying reading unit. Pupils write the full narrative arc from opening to build-up, climax and resolution.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to plan two paragraphs for the build-up of 'The Iron Man'.

Key Notes

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

Vocabulary To Learn

  • 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 Mistakes To Avoid

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

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

The purpose of the build-up is to build up suspense and excitement before the climax. The build-up of 'The Iron Man' describes humanity's response to the Iron Man.

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

when you are feeling anxious or excited about what may happen.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

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

More Lessons In This Unit

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