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Kensuke’s Kingdom
The butterfly Lion
Fantastic Mr Fox
The Wind in the Willows -
Summary for Lesson 1
In today’s lesson we began our study of Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help with the homework. The powerpoint contains our work on immersing ourselves in the world of the novel, thinking about the deep descriptive detail which Morpurgo includes and how the students could emulate that in their own work. They wrote some beautiful descriptive passages, imagining themselves in Michael’s shoes and using the language of the book to aid them in their writing, and also wrote some fantastic unique and original metaphors comparing the sea to unusual objects of their choice. They grasped the idea of avoiding cliché in writing beautifully and I was really impressed by how they were able to create interesting ‘collisions’ through their figurative language. They also completed some comprehension questions wonderfully, thinking about the effect of Morpurgo’s use of literary techniques in great detail, and expressed some fantastic opinions in reviewing the book, discussing elements ranging from characterisation to plot to writing style. Amazing work everyone- I really enjoyed hearing your writing and discussion of the novel. Keep up the wonderful ideas and I’ll see you next week! 🙂
Here is the link to the video we watched about creating unusual metaphors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wrq6AnYuxI
Homework
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Beautiful work Grace- well done! I love your use of the opening quotation to set the tone of the blurb and introduce the reader into Michael’s world. You have also used short snappy sentences to create suspense wonderfully and I love your idea of using rhetorical questions to reel the reader in and make them want to know more. You reveal lots of really intriguing details (i.e., the red bananas and killer men) but also keep all the mystery alive by never revealing too much which is perfect for a blurb. I also really like how you end the blurb with an imperative call to the reader to ‘join the adventure’ which makes them feel really involved in the novel. Just be careful with your tense- when you’re talking about what might happen next in the book it should be in future tense (as it hasn’t happened in the reader’s mind yet) so it would say ‘what adventures will Michael and Kensuke have?’. Overall fantastic work- well done! 🙂
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Dear Beth,
Thank you for the lovely lesson it was great. Here is my homework
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fkXR6hqsMG3O926Tjra-5Hf76CLf0MJvN23auq3asj0/edit?usp=sharing
thank you veedemoodo
sanya 🙂-
Amazing work Sanya- well done! I love the artwork you have created for the front cover, and how the vast expanse of blue emphasises how lost Michael and Stella Artois are and gives the reader clues as to what the book is about without ever giving too much away- fantastic! I really love the poetic tone of your blurb and that you have written it from Michael’s perspective- almost as if the blurb is a ‘message in a bottle’ to the reader, which fits the themes of the book perfectly. Lovely and unusual use of structure, with each line of the blurb running on to the next, demonstrating Michael’s thoughts spinning out of control. I love that you end the blurb with his thoughts on what might happen to him, leaving the reader in loads of suspense and making them want to read on. The reference to being saved also foreshadows his friendship with Kensuke beautifully- the only correction is just to make sure your rhetorical questions have question marks after them i.e., ‘am I going to drown?’ Overall excellent and creative work, well done! 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 2
In today’s lesson we continued our study of Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the letters assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our work on the characterisation of the novel, considering deeply the surprising friendship that lies at its heart and the nuances of the characters in the book. The class discussed this wonderfully, thinking about how Kensuke and Michael’s relationship changes over time and noting some of their similarities and differences. We then focused in on Kensuke’s character, thinking about his life story and how we can draw a better understanding of him through learning about events such as the dropping of the atomic bomb. We watched a video about the effect that this event had, and also looked at some real life examples of Japanese soliders hiding out on islands for sixty years after the end of the war, just like Kensuke! Finally, we considered the end of the book, thinking about Kensuke’s decision not to return home and whether we liked the post-script that revealed his family were still alive. Fab work from the class today and lots of lively discussion and debate, including very thoughtful and deep ideas about how Kensuke’s past affects him in the book. Well done everyone- keep up the great work and I’ll see you next week 🙂
Here’s the link about the soldiers hiding in the Philippines: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/may/28/secondworldwar.japan
Here is the CBBC video on Hiroshima and Nagasaki we watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya3et3mhdWw
Homework
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Hi Beth
Here is my homework,Dear Michiya,
I hope you’re doing well. It has been a long time since we saw each other and I am missing you dearly.I am writing this letter to tell you what has happened since you weren’t there with me. I have been looking for you for all these years but before long I couldn’t find you so I gave up.
When WW2 came, I came looking for you because I wanted you to be saved but I haven’t found you since those days .During the war, I thought I would die because of all the flames and fire and bombs but luckily I survived .I was wondering if you survived to but sadly I couldn’t find you .I went back to the land we lived in and went back to the memories .One day I saw a boy drowning in the sea so I went to save him. After all of that we became close friends .The boy was very friendly and kind hearted .His name was Michael. He made me dig even deeper in your respectful, beautiful heart.I told him all about you and we had a brilliant time together. I taught him how to draw and paint and I have to say he was a brilliant listener just like you.
I can’t wait to see you again and your beautiful face. and I bet you will be thinking the same as me. You have always been in my heart and you will never leave it.
Kind regards,
KensukeI hope you like it veeedemmood
sanya-
Fantastic work Sanya- well done! This is a beautifully written, expressive and emotive letter that reflects the tone of the novel wonderfully. I love your vision of Kensuke’s caring and loving relationship with Michiya and I think your use of language here- with phrases such as “made me dig even deeper in your respectful, beautiful heart”- is a wonderful show of your understanding of Kensuke’s character. The final lines of your letter are so heartfelt & touching and you have used the entire letter format perfectly. Well done for thinking about all the different things Kensuke would want Michiya to know about- such as what he did during and after the war- and I absolutely adore the line “You have always been in my heart and you will never leave it”- gorgeous writing! To make this even better, could you add some literary techniques such as similes and metaphors in? Overall, exceptional writing Sanya, well done 🙂
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Outstanding work Grace- well done! Your tone and writing here is so sophisticated and works beautifully for the emotions and thoughts Kensuke expresses throughout this letter. I love that you have thought carefully about the guilt Kensuke may feel in not going back to Japan to search for his son, and how his joy and shock at learning they are alive would be mixed with a sense of sadness for all the years lost. I love the use of rhetorical questions throughout that really emphasise how much Kensuke loves his son- and the explanation of how he came to the island is beautifully written and so vivid. The final lines of your letter are gorgeous and wonderfully illustrate his sense of being overwhelmed by this revelation & you have used letter structure perfectly too. I’d love to see you experiment with some punctuation such as semi-colons and colons! Overall, really touching and beautifully expressed writing with a fab understanding of Kensuke as a character- well done! 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 3
In today’s lesson we completed our study of Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the newspaper articles assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains all of our thoughts on treating the novel creatively, which the class absolutely excelled at today! We looked at using our imagination and creativity to re-configure the perspective of the novel, thinking about following Michael’s parents on their search for him, re-writing the first line of the novel whilst also using foreshadowing, and completing a free-writing exercise based on the inspirational prompts of ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ by Hokusai and ‘La Mer’ by Debussy. Using their creativity to play with Morpurgo’s language and themes, and they also analysed a passage from the text through the lens of foreshadowing. They also engaged in a game of “Fortunately, Unfortunately” beautifully, showcasing their argumentative skills. Everyone worked wonderfully today and it was a pleasure to hear all their thoughts and ideas about the novel- especially when thinking about what they had learnt from it. Well done everyone, keep up the great work and I’ll see you for The Butterfly Lion next week! 🙂
P.S. I’ve attached a couple of newspaper templates below if you would like to use either of them, but you can also make your own on your computer or hand-draw one- it’s completely up to you!
Homework
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Brilliant work Grace- well done! I love your headline about how you use the alliteration of ‘missing miracle-boy’ and think your understanding of newspaper structure is perfect- really excellent use of the upside-down pyramid structure where the most important information comes first and the rest is split into clear, concise paragraphs that get more and more detailed! You have used the tone of a newspaper article beautifully, and I love that you have interviewed Michael’s father in order to create deeper credibility to the story. Your piece is super professional and perfect for newspaper writing- could you even add a picture to make it feel even more newspaper-like? Overall really excellent work, I am really impressed- well done 😊
Spellings:
*Michael
*miracle-boy
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hi beth,
here is my homework
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aSCmOL-P0ECOAIGLC5UwGXGu0GJ5aXUkWWklnpWa9RM/edit?usp=sharing
thank you veedemoodoo 😛
sanya-
Lovely work Sanya- well done! I love your eye-catching headline and how you’ve started the newspaper article with a tabloid-like exclamation of OMG! You have given the history of Michael’s disappearance in a wonderful story and have thought about all the details a reader might want to know about how his parents came to find him. I really like your use of a picture to illustrate what the world was like at the time and I love the details about WW2- just remember that Kensuke was the one who lived through WW2, not Michael. Could you add some dates and time-words in to make it even more detailed? i.e., “Michael was found last night at 10pm” or “Michael had been missing since 18th January”. Overall fab work- well done! 😊
Spellings:
* really tired, they went back home
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Vanished boy found and brought safely home
A twelve-year-old boy named Michel was found lost when sailing with his family.
Michel had said he had fell of the boat and when he woke up, he was in an island with his dog, then he met a strange man that he didn’t understand and hated. Michel had told us that the man was Japan and went to this island for almost all of his life. It all started at WW2. The man was a soldier and had his family but one day Japan was defeated for the first time, and he ran away to this island. Let’s talk more about Michels family so when Michels family found that their son had disappeared they stopped their sailing and went back to England, to search for their son. How did they find their son? Well Michel appeared to find a Coca-Cola bottle on the island and wrote to his family.
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Fab work Emily- well done! You have told this story really well, focusing on the most important details and thinking about what people would want to know about Michael and his disappearance. I love your use of a headline, which frames the piece really nicely and lets the reader know what to expect from the article. I also really like your rhetorical questions which intrigue the reader and make them want to know more . Could you add some dates and time-words in to make it even more detailed? i.e., “Michael was found last night at 10pm” or “Michael had been missing since 18th January”. Overall great work- well done! 😊
Spellings:
*Michael
*fell off the boat
*the man was Japanese
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This is my homework for last week.
Dear Michiya
I was so worried when I ran away from Japan, I thought you and you mother will die but I had no other choice.
When I got your letter, I suddenly felt happy joyful and safe.
Please forgive me for running away from you two.
I’ve hid in this island and stayed and stayed I always want to come back but I was scared that the War was still going.
I’ve been stuck on this island for so many years and finally human visited my island He was a boy.
The boy was called Michel and was twelve years old he was much like you, and he had a dog.
His dog was a girl, and she likes me, Michel didn’t like me for the first place, but we started to like each other.
I hope you are doing great in Japan Michiya
Is the war over yet?
If it is I will build a boat to sail to Japan.
How are you doing in Japan?
Love your dear father Kensuke.
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Beautiful work Emily- well done! I love how emotive your writing is, and how Kensuke speaks so openly about his feelings in response to Michiya’s letter. I really like that Kensuke talks about how he thought Michael was similar to Michiya and I love the way in which he asks for forgiveness and shows so much love and care for his family. The questions about the war and whether it is still ongoing are fantastic and I love that he says he will build a boat and sail there, showing how devoted he is. You’ve used the structure of a letter beautifully, and I really enjoyed how his emotions changed over the course of the letter, from feeling guilt to feeling excitement to feeling love for his son. Really excellent writing- well done! 🙂
Spellings:
* I thought you and your mother would die
* Finallly a human visited my island.
* Michael
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Gorgeous work Melanie- well done! You have written a really emotive and well-structured letter, showing the reader Kensuke’s feelings towards Michael and Michiya and expressing these feelings beautifully. I really like your description of the island and that you personify it in the line “if this island would be lucky enough you could be here too.” You’ve used the format of a letter perfectly, and I love that Kensuke signs off with telling his son he loves him. Just be a little careful with making sure that your grammar is correct, if there are words you are unsure about you can check them in a dictionary! Overall, lovely work- well done 😊
Spellings and grammar:
* Michael goes to an English school
* I am well and alive
* when I met Michael everything changed
* If you want to see Michael it might not be a problem.
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Summary for Lesson 4
In today’s lesson we began our study of The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the letters assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our thoughts and ideas two key concepts: the historical context of the novel and the themes. It also contains some information on what themes are, our analysis of a passage from the book about trench warfare, a Horrible Histories video on the First World War, and the students’ ideas of the one sentence summaries and words they associate with the book. Everyone worked brilliantly today, the class were really engaged and came up with some wonderful ideas throughout. I was really impressed by their work summarising the core ideas of the book, and their analysis of the effect of Morpurgo’s language in the trench warfare scene. Really well done everyone, keep up the great work and I’ll see you next week! 🙂
Horrible Histories video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEvuMhP2CuA
Homework
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WW1 factfile to help with your homework: https://www.ducksters.com/history/world_war_i/trench_warfare.php
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Dear Beth,
Here is my homework for week 4:
Prepare a letter from Bertie, thinking about how to describe his life in the trenches and how he might express his experiences there. Remember to write it in the 1st person. Try to include literary techniques .
Dear Mummy,
I am explaining how my life is .It is horrible.You won’t believe it .
It all started when I got chosen to be part of the trenches. They stunk as bad as blue cheese .I haven’t had a shower for days but I don’t really think it is me .I think it is that I was too close to one of those serious men who start shooting like mad.
It was so gross there .The only options that we had to eat was bully beef,canned corn beef, bread and biscuits.I chose the biscuits because it has been a long time since I ate fast food. But it was only then when I noticed that that would be the only food I can eat for a month (or a fortnight.) Can you believe that ? It’s like being punished and then you have to stay in your bedroom having to food at all for a very long time.
That was the story of my life though. We did win .I have to say ( don’t tell anyone this but) the other country was very weakened and rotten.
Lots of love
Bertiethank you vedeemoodo 😉
Sanya-
Lovely work Sanya- well done! I love your use of original literary techniques, like the line about the trench stinking “as bad as blue cheese”- such a fab simile- and the rhetorical questions he asks! You have included loads of great historical facts such as the food soldiers ate, and have thought beautifully about what he might say about the way in which the war was won. You’ve used loads of fantastic emotive language throughout, have followed the structure of a letter ideally and your tone is spot on for a soldier writing back to his mum. I’d love to see you experiment with some advanced vocab, which you can do if you look up synonyms for words that you think you could up-level i.e., the word “horrible” could be changed to “ghastly”. Really fantastic work overall- well done 🙂
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Really powerful work Grace- well done! Your emotive language throughout is exceptional- with details such the fact he wants to be forgotten so that his death will not hurt those he loves really bringing his character to life. You’ve used beautiful literary techniques throughout such as the onomatopoeia of ratatat and the simile about the bowling pins- lovely original work! The way Bertie signs his letter off is really heart-rending; it plays on the reader’s heart strings, reflecting the fear and longing of war in a fantastically vivid way and giving us an insight into Bertie’s state of mind. I’d love to see you experiment now with some advanced punctuation- such as semi-colons and hyphens- to bring even more sparkle to your work. Overall, brilliant work- well done 😊
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Dear Dad
I am going to tell you all about my life in the trenches.
So, first inside the trenches was our food and the trenches isn’t like any normal house or tent it’s made by sticks and digging.
So, you wonder how I sleep well I sleep on the floor in the trenches it’s so bad because when its night-time wild animals come out in the trenches like rats, lice, and frogs. My middle finger was once bitten by a rat in the night and the rats ate our food.
The food in the trenches were bully beef canned corn beef bread and cookies. I didn’t like any of them, but I had to pick one or I’ll starve so at last I chose bully meat because I can’t live without meat you already know right?
When I went to fight, I was almost shot by a bullet it was that I crouched before the bullet got to me.
P.S in case you are worried about me I ran away from the trenches when it was night-time I jump over the pit and almost got caught by the enemy and my leader.
From: Bertie
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Wonderful work Emily- well done! You have described the difficulty and horror of living in the trenches fantastically- particularly the gruesome image of Bertie being bitten by a rat. You have also used some great historical facts to back up your description- for example, the meats that they had to eat in the trenches. You’ve used the structure of a letter really well and have used lots of suspense in the image of Bertie running away from the trenches and nearly being caught which leaves the reader on a cliff-hanger. I’d love to see you use some literary techniques, such as metaphor, personification and simile, in order to make this even more vivid! Overall, fantastic letter writing- well done 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 5
In today’s lesson we continued our study of The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the letters assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains all our work on author intent in this book, thinking about why Michael Morpurgo might have chosen to write the story the way he did, and how we can understand the way he constructed the novel by inferring his authorial choices. We did an hot-seating exercise where the class interviewed another student playing Morpurgo which they all did fantastically, and also watched an interview with the author himself and discussed what surprised us about his influences and inspirations behind the novel. Finally, we spoke about persuasive writing in preparation for the homework, and the class were particularly brilliant in playing a game of fortunately, unfortunately that focused on argument and counter-argument, playing around with the key ideas of the book. They also identified some example of persuasive techniques beautifully, and our ideas on this and also letter writing can be found on the powerpoint. Fantastic work today class- keep up the great ideas and I’ll see you next week! 🙂
Homework
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Dear Beth,
here is my homework i hope you like it XD
Dear daddy,
I am writing this letter to persuade you to let me keep the pet cub.I promise it won’t make a damage in the house . In fact it won’t make any harm at all .They are really cute and are. In fact it is not bad to keep a cub at all !I will stay patient and calm .I really don’t care how long it takes you but the cub is all I will wish for for the rest of my whole i life.I know you are really mature and responsible but all I know is that if I have that cub .I’ll look after it,Il feed it,I’ll clean its poops up and me. telling you all of this is hopefully begging you that i am responsible enough to keep a pet .If not you can even ask Jamie to borrow her cub for a few days but all I want is just to get a cub. And how dare you just send her of to a circus because you never know what can happen to her .You know those hula hoops with fire in them and that she is just a baby??What if she gets caught in one of them .She can easily die .
I hope that has made you think that I am fine to get the cub back( to where it belongs)
lots of of love
Bertie xxxthank you vedeemodoo
Sanya 😉-
Excellent work Sanya- well done! You have used persuasive techniques beautifully here, ranging from flattery (“I know you are really mature and responsible”) to guilt-tripping (“how dare you just send her off”) to bargaining (“you can even ask Jamie to borrow her cub”). I love that you give loads of different reasons for wanting the cub and think carefully about different ways in which to reason with Bertie’s dad. You have used the structure of a letter perfectly, including lots of fantasic emotive language. To make this even better, be careful with your grammar- full stops, for example, should have a space after them instead of before them: i.e., calm. instead of calm . Overall fantastic persuasive writing- well done! 🙂
Grammar and spellings:
*I promise it won’t do any damage in the house
*do any harm at all
*They are really cute and are- this is an unfinished sentence
*All of this is hopefully persuading you- instead of begging
*Send her off to a circus
*Lots of love- there should only be one ‘of’ here
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Beautiful work Grace- well done! I love your use of vocabulary here, which is really sophisticated and uses some excellent word choices to communicate the tone of the letter- I love the use of the word “beseech” and the simile “like a guard dog”. You’ve used lots of different emotional tactics- from guilt (“it was us who killed his mother”) to sadness (“I shall be heartbroken and die”) to showing the father the benefits of keeping the cub (“protecting our cattle”). I also love the idea that the cub was like a brother to Bertie and you’ve used letter structure perfectly. I’d love to see even more persuasive techniques i.e., rule of three, rhetorical questions, undermining opposing arguments, to make this even more fantastic! Overall, wonderful work- well done 😊
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Dear dad
I am writing this letter to you to beseech you to let me keep the lion cub.
I promise I will do anything to keep the lion cub, really anything for the whole year if you let me keep the cub and the cub won’t do any harm to anyone or anything.
I can show you pictures about peoples and their lion cubs they are cute and harmless.
Please let me keep the lion cub if you still don’t want I will cry and be heartbroken for my whole life and the cub can protect us if the wars start’s again.
Please don’t send the lion to that circus you know it hates elephants and it’s to dangerous to let him do all those thing it has 60% chance he would fall and everyone will laugh at it.
If you don’t let me keep the lion cub I will be super sad and super angry I will cry and I will be mad at you for the rest of my life. I will repeat myself I will cry and I will be mad at you for the rest of my life
Lots of love
From: Bertie
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Lovely writing Emily- well done! I love that you use lots of different persuasive techniques to try to convince him to let you keep it- from pleading to giving anecdotal examples of other people’s experiences, to even using statistics to make him change his mind- fab! I love your use of repetition in the final few lines and the emotive language you use is very powerful too and gives the clear intention of making the reader feel guilty. You have used letter structure very well and have used an appropriate tone throughout. To make this even better, make sure you are breaking some of the longer sentences up with puncutation- for example: “Please let me keep the lion cub- if you still don’t, I will cry and be heartbroken for my whole life. The cub can protect us if the wars start again.” or “Please don’t send the lion to that circus, you know it hates elephants and it’s too dangerous to let him do all those things. It has 60% chance he would fall and everyone will laugh at it.” Overall fab work and persuasive writing- well done 🙂
Corrections:
* Pictures about people– no ‘s’ needed on the end of people
*If you still don’t, I will cry- no ‘want’ after don’t
*If the wars start again- no ‘s’ needed after start
*It’s too dangerous
*All those things
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Summary for Lesson 6
In today’s lesson we completed our study of The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the stories assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains all our work on analysing a scene from the book and thinking about how to use narrative perspective to reimagine the book from another character’s point of view. The students also did some fab work on thinking about what the book had taught them, and what the moral of the story was. I was really impressed with everyone’s work today, particularly their debating of the messages in the story and their work thinking of interesting sentences using advanced vocab. Really well done everyone, you shared fantastic ideas on loads of different topics! See you in a couple week 🙂
Video of the lions from today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugl9lt7w5dI&feature=emb_logo
Homework
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hi beth
here is my homework i hope you like it
Write a story adding lots of detail to the speech “all my life I will think of you,I promise I will I won’t ever forget you”.“All my life I will think of you ,I promise I will and I won’t ever forget you’’ cried Bertie. As cold as a stone, he sadly walked away from Bertie. Bertie sighed a loud sigh and walked away the opposite direction back to back. Bertie glanced at his watch and it was 11:11. In the morning. Back at home, Berties parents announced that the butterfly lion had to (instead of going to a circus)it had to go to a pop dance .Bertie laughed out loud and said “OK fine but only after one condition.
thank you veedemoodoo
Sanya ;(-
Good work Sanya- well done! I love your use of literary techniques, such as the simile ‘as cold as a stone’ and think your use of emotive language gives this piece a wonderful sense of the bittersweet emotions Bertie is going through. You have used the inspiration line really well and have included some lovely conversational phrases i.e. ‘only after one condition’. You have also used time connectives really well to demonstrate the passing of time and structure the plot of your story. Just be careful to make sure you are following the prompt closely- for this it was to write your own story with your own characters just borrowing that one line “All my life I will think of you, I promise I will and I won’t ever forget you’’. Also just make sure you are concluding your story with a resolution so that we aren’t left not knowing what Bertie’s condition is (unless you make it a big cliffhanger i.e., “only after one condition”. Bertie’s parents held their breath, in shock, as he began to outline his idea…”). Overall lovely work- well done 🙂
<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Corrections: </span>
*He sadly walked away from Bertie– don’t you mean from the lion cub?
*Bertie’s parents- needs an apostrophe
*the butterfly lion had to (instead of going to a circus) go to a pop dance
*only after one condition”– remember to close the speech marks
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Wonderful work Grace- well done! This story is told in a wonderful and sophisticated way, weaving its way around the characters and plot and telling a very touching story with a strong moral of friendship and kindness. You have used the opening line beautifully to set the scene and have used Morpurgo’s style brilliantly. I love the use of the semi-colon in paragraph four, and you have used sentence structure in a fantastically varied way throughout. I love the ending of the story and how you have built up the reader’s investment in the relationship between Bacon and Mollie- great characterisation, especially when you give anecdotal evidence of Bacon being the kind of cat who sat in the house all day! I would love to see you including a few more literary techniques to make this piece even better, i.e., maybe some metaphors, personification or similes. Overall, excellent writing- well done 😊
Corrections:
*Set off bravely
*most of the time- no ‘at’ needed before the word most
*Leave their homes and go to the shelter
*Bacon had never seen anything like this
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Lovely work Melanie- well done! I love your headline- it is short, snappy and illustrates the story wonderfully- and you’ve told the story in an emotive way thinking about the emotions of both Michael and his family. You have told the key points of the story well and I really like the last line that emphasizes the happy future they have ahead of them. Fab use of a picture to illustrate your article and I love that you’ve put your name below the headline juts like in a real newspaper (that part is called the byline!). Just remember that newspapers are usually written assuming the reader doesn’t know anything about the people involved, and sums up the story in the first few lines- i.e., A young boy named Michael was found yesterday morning after having been stuck on an island for almost a year. Overall, good work- well done 😊
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“All my life I’ll think of you I will never forget you,I promise I will. I won’t ever forget you”. Said Millie loudly.
It all started when Millie found a lion and brought it home. Millie was a nice girl and her parents loved her the best until one day she brought back a lion cub. Her dad told her to never bring back anything but this time he said “ That lion was the son of the white lion I killed”. Millie said “Then it must be lonely can I keep it?” Millie’s dad moaned and said “ Ok but just keep it for a few days then let it go ok?” “Ok fine” Millie announced. After that Millie was on a walk than a boy bumped right into her.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Millie whispered quietly. The boy answered “ Oh hi my name is Bertie Sorry for rushing into you I have a very important thing so goodbye.” Bertie said. “Stop, where did you come from?!” Said Mild loudly
“I came from a boarding school. I actually ran away be cause it’s boring “ “ok I’ll let you go but remember you must return to your parents.” Millie said. As Bertie was going to run again he noticed the lion Millie found and asked “who’s that?” Millie answered “ my lion.” “Ok bye .“ announced Bertie
As Bertie ran he found a hole and walked into it. He released that the hole was a trench. When he was about to run He got caught by a shout “Hey where are you going? Come join us for fighting.”
It was a soldier. Bertie had no choice because he was 19. When Millie noticed that she joined to as a nurse.
Few years later Bertie became a skilled soldier and Millie became a talented nurse and the lion… It’s now by itself but don’t worry it is safe. After Millie let go of the lion she said “All my life I’ll think of you I will never forget you,I promise I will. I won’t ever forget you”.-
Fab work Emily- well done! This story follows on beautifully from the story of The Butterfly Lion and unfolds in a very exciting way. You have used dialogue really well to keep the pace of the story flowing, and the characters jump off the page at the reader as you have captured their emotions and personalities wonderfully. I really like how you have kept some of the details of the story the same and then changed others, thinking about how that would affect the plot. Also- I love the direct address to the reader in the line ‘it’s now by itself, but don’t worry, it is safe’ which creates a lovely bond between writer and reader- you’ve also used ellipsis (…) which is fab! To make this even better, could you have a look at some words you could uplevel to more sophisticated words i.e., said and walked could become shrieked and scuttled. Also remember that when a new person speaks it needs to go on the next line
i.e.,
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Millie whispered quietly.
The boy answered “Oh hi my name is Bertie”
Overall fantastic work- well done 😊
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Summary for Lesson 7
In today’s class we began our work on Fantastic Mr Fox, thinking about our feelings on the novel and the author behind the books, Roald Dahl. We began with thinking about what the class liked and disliked in this novel, before moving on to a discussion of the kind of writer Roald Dahl is- the themes he writes on, the tone of his novels and the other books the class had read of his. We then watched a clip of a documentary about how he became a writer, thought about the message he might have been sending by writing Fantastic Mr Fox and played a game of three truths and a lie, trying to identify which fact was a lie about Roald Dahl’s life and which were true! Amazing and passionate work from the class today- I am super impressed by their energy and all their fab ideas. Well done everyone- see you next week! 🙂
Homework
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Hi Beth!
Here is my homework :Write a letter to a friend explaining why you wrote Fantastic Mr Fox !
I wrote this book because it was full of imagination and interest. It is an adventurous and fascinating book. It is a good story of the ugliness of greed from the three gluttonous farmers and the cunning and trickery of the fox, as well as the friendliness and unselfishness of Mr Fox. I chose to write this book because when I was three years old my father and sister died and left me with my mum. That gave me a start of being an author of exciting and thrilled books to cheer me up. As I grew up my mum sended me to a boarding school and I was very happy. Since I was 74 years old I started to become an Author and then in total I have won at least 27 awards and I am very proud of myself !
Thanks alot! 😉
Sanya-
Excellent work Sanya- well done! I absolutely love your summary of the book as being about the ‘ugliness of greed’ and think you have summed up the tone and feeling of the novel beautifully. You have come up with a fantastic backstory for why Roald Dahl may have been inspired to write this novel, and thought carefully about how his childhood emotions may play into the kind of childrens’ books he wrote in later life. I love that you have used alliteration such as “imagination and interests” and “greed” and “gluttonous” and think your range of adjectives is fantastic. To make this even better, could you put it into letter form and think about who Roald Dahl might be writing to here? Overall, wonderful work- well done Sanya 🙂
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Dear Friend
I wrote Fantastic Mr Fox Because…
It all started on a Sunny Sunday morning, I was having a walk and on the way I saw 9 trees so I went over to the trees looked at 8 trees and when I went to the ninth tree I saw a mystery small hole. I was super curious what was in that whole or what animal was in that hole, just then I saw three farms. I went over to the very first farm and peeked in I saw chickens so I knew the first farm was a chicken farm. Next I went to the second farm I saw lots of ducks and goose then I realised that there was thousands of them. Then I went to the final and last farm when I peeked in I saw turkeys and trees full of apple’s.
Then I saw… a mysterious door I crept in and was surprised by thousands and thousands of apple cider’s when I finally climbed back up I was again surprised. The tree were I saw the hole beside was a fox’s tail and three farmers, one fat, one short and one lean all holding a gun. And finally I was super mad and so I wrote this book because to tell them or the readers that is to respect animals.
From: Roald Dahl-
Wonderful work Emily- well done! Your story-telling here is brilliant and I love that you have fleshed out an entire background to why Roald Dahl wrote this book. You have created suspense fantastically here with the use of ellipsis (…) and repetition (“thousands and thousands”) and I love your idea that the moral of the story is for readers to respect animals more. Your theory that Roald Dahl based his characters on real farmers and animals that he came across works really well and I love your use of alliteration in ‘sunny Sunday’. To make this even better, could you put it into letter form with dear at the top and think about who Roald Dahl might be writing to here and why he is sending them this letter? Overall, excellent work- well done! 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 8
In today’s class we continued our work on Fantastic Mr Fox, working on some character analysis and thinking about some philosophical questions. We began by thinking about who our favourite characters were and why, before learning about the underdog effect and applying this to our reader’s pyschology when reading this novel. We discussed who the underdog was in the novel and who the powerful people were, and then thought in depth about Boggis, Bunce and Bean. The students discussed their names, coming up with alternative ones that retained the same villanous effect. We then discussed Mr Fox’s stealing from a philosophical viewpoint, before conducting a mock trial of Mr Fox from this perspective, thinking about the moral implications of the story. They played the parts of defense, prosecution, Mr Fox and the judge beautifully and came up with some excellent arguments. I was super impressed by the class today- they debated and discussed with huge amounts of intellect and sophistication. Exceptional work everyone- well done and I look forward to our lesson next week! 🙂
Homework
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<p style=”text-align: center;”></p>
Boggis Bunce and Bean are the same in a very criminal way, but they are also very particular. Boggis is very fat because he eats a lot of chicken. He eats them at every meal, smothered with dumplings.Bunce was a duck and goose farmer. He kept thousands of ducks and geese. He was short and had a beastly temper. It was because he ate goose livers mashed into a disgusting paste and then stuffed it into doughnuts.
Bean was a turkey and apple farmer. He kept thousands of apples in an orchard full of apples. He never ate any food. Instead, he drank strong cider made from apples; therefore, he was very tall and thin as a pencil.
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Fantastic work! This is a great answer that uses the text beautifully to back up your points, thinking carefully about how the three farmers are distinguished within the novel. You have opened with a very punchy first sentence, demonstrating their key similarity (their criminality) and then used some great examples of their physical and behavioural differences to round out your point. Your use of evidence from the novel is excellent and I love that you have structured this into three clear paragraphs, each dealing with one farmer. To make this even better, just remember to put quotations from the book in quotation marks i.e., “thin as a pencil”. Overall, wonderful work- well done 🙂
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Hi Beth
Here is my homework for lesson 8Compare Boggis, Bunce and Bean. How are they similar and different ?
Similarities
Boggis, Bunce and Bean are all villains in the book and they are all cold-blooded. They are all very disgusting and if you look at their names. Before you ever find out who they are, you can tell that they are all on the bad side.Differences
The differences are that they each have a different number of farmers in their farms.
Bean’s name was actually Michael Gambon,as an actor .Bean – Turkey and cider farmer (which is why he is as thin as a stick because her only drinks and doesn’t eat)
Boggis – Chicken farmer he also smelt of dry chicken skin(very disgusting)
Bunce – Duck and goose farmer (He is very small so I guess that he doesn’t sleep very much
Thank you, vedemoodoo
Sanya-
Excellent work- well done! I love that you have structured this under headings to make it really clear for the reader and you have used some excellent vocab (i.e., cold-blooded) to describe the farmers in your own words- fab! I really like your point that their names give away that they are on the villainous side of the novel from the very beginning and you’ve included some fantastic fun facts i.e., about Michael Gambon. Also, lovely use of parentheses to include your thoughts about each farmer, where you’ve added some notes in brackets about how their lifestyle affects them. To make this even better, could you include some quotations from the book to back up your points? Overall gorgeous work Sanya- well done 🙂
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Similarities
They all have a farm.They all are farmers. They all want to kill Mr Fox.
They are all on the bad side or evil side. They all have bad habits.
All of there names have a B at the front.
Differences
They have different shapes and sizes like Boggis is fat.
Bunce is small and tiny.
Bean is very skinny and tall.
In fact Bean is smartest of them all and he never ever goes to take a bath.
Boggis is a chicken farmer. He is fat because he eats chicken with dumplings all day and night
Bunce is a duck and goose farmer. He eats a disgusting past stuffed in doughnuts and goose!
Bean is apple cider and turkey farmer. He is skinny because he never eats anything he only drinks his homemade apple cider.
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Wonderful work- well done! I love how you have clearly structured the similarities and differences under two headings and think that you have used the book beautifully to inspire your answer. I love your point about them all being on the evil side of the story and think your idea about the alliteration in their names (they all start with B) is a fab one! You have used the text really nicely to back up your points and have covered every farmer in detail, with lots of varied and interesting points. Also, love your point about all the farmers having bad and disgusting habits- that’s definitely true! To make this even better, just remember to put quotations from the book in quotation marks i.e., “disgusting paste”. Overall, fantastic work Emily- well done 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 9
In today’s class we finished our work on Fantastic Mr Fox, thinking aboout the key features of the writing style in the book and taking a creative approach to the novel. We began by discussing what anthropomorphism means, thinking about how this relates to the book before the class came up with their own anthropomorphic protagonists based on Roald Dahl’s work. We then moved on to learning about Dahl’s writing process, watching an interview with him, before the students shared their own processes for writing. Finally the class thought about the inspiration they can draw from Roald Dahl using some fab and dramatic hot-seating and thought about what might happen after the end of the book which they did wonderfully creatively. Excellent work everyone- well done and I look forward to seeing you for The Wind in the Willows next week 🙂
Homework
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<p style=”text-align: center;”>Hi Beth, here’s my work.</p>
Roald Dahl makes Mr Fox fantastic by describing him as sly and clever. He also makes him fantastic by saying how he can smell them a mile away.-
A really good start Ian- well done! You’ve identified some great qualities which make Mr Fox special such as his superior sense of smell and his sly and intelligent personality, thinking about how these contribute to our understanding of Mr Fox as fantastic. To make this even better, could you think about including some quotations from the book to back up your answer, or pointing to particular scenes where you think Mr Fox is particularly fantastic as a character. Great work so far- well done 🙂
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Hi Beth,
Here is my homework for lesson 9 :What morals of the environment does Dahl include in Fantastic Mr Fox ?
The moral’s that he uses could be water because it says in this book that only Bean drinks cider and it did not say that Boggis or Bunce have drank cider or any liquid in this book.That shows that it is either that they don’t like liquid or they just don’t drink it in this case (witch is impossible because you can only live up to 3 days without drinking and the book definitely takes over 3 days).
Another moral is the loss of biodiversity because lots of animals have gotten extinct in the last few years. This includes Tapanuli Orangutans, the Sunda Island Tiger, the vaquita (which has only 1 left in the world), the Yangtze Finless Porpoise and the black rhino’s .
Thank you
Sanya 🥴-
Some fab work Sanya- well done! You have come up with two interesting points about the presentation of the environment in this book and have used excellent evidence from the book to back up your points. You have added loads of your own information- i.e., the facts about biodiversity being under threat and people only being able to survive three days without water- and have used these facts to support your opinions of the book- lovely work! Just make sure that you are answering the question a little more closely- for example, the point about them not drinking water is probably less about the environment and more about their lifestyles being unhealthy. Maybe have a think about what Roald Dahl is saying about the farmers’ treatment of animals and the destruction of the environment by humans in the book. Overall really great work- well done 🙂
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Roald Dahl make fantastic Mr Fox appear fantastic in his crimes by saying in the book that…
He steals from the three farmers because they want to kill Mr Fox and his family.
Mr Fox is doing it for family and friends when they have no food.Mr Fox also went to all the farmer’s farm’s by digging and always land’s in the correct place in the farms
Mr Fox made the three farmer’s sit outside his hole for to shoot him because they thought he would starve but he already got in there farm’s and stole their food.
Mr Fox ran a dinner and invited all the animals underground the food was from the three farmer’s farm’s that he stole when the farmers were sitting outside his hole.
Mr Fox was doing this mischief and crimes because he just want to save the animals underground.
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Outstanding work Emily- well done! You have made lots of really interesting and insightful points about the ways in which Roald Dahl makes us feel Mr Fox is a fascinating and fantastic character. I love your point about how Mr Fox is stealing to save his friends and family and how you have thought about the comic image at the end with the farmers waiting to kill him without knowing he’s already gotten away with stealing all their food. You have thought about Mr Fox’s motivations and how they affect the way we see his crimes beautifully here and have used some fab vocab to paint this picture i.e., mischief. Just remember that with apostrophes you only need them to show possession- i.e., the farmer’s farms- or to show that a letter has been missed out- i.e., I’m instead of I am or don’t instead of do not. Overall excellent work- well done 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 10
In today’s lesson we began our study of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the letters assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains all our work on the themes, core ideas and key messages within the novel, which we discussed as a class in order to get to the heart of what The Wind in the Willows is all about. It also contains all our thoughts on the narrative perspective of the novel, tips on letter writing to help with the homework, our thoughts on the character arc of Mole and the synonyms the class came up with in order to track Mole’ development throughout the story, and the students’ discussion concerning the moral of the story. Today’s class worked fantastically this lesson; they came up with some particularly exciting examples of high-level vocabulary and were able to use a thesaurus very adeptly in order to find powerful ways of describing characters. They also showcased their inference skills beautifully through the hot-seating exercise, where they acted both as interviewer and interviewee in order to dig within the text and come up with interesting insights into both the characters, the themes and the plot. Excellent and energetic work today class- I’ll see you next week 🙂
Here is the link for the online thesaurus: https://www.thesaurus.com/
Homework
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Imagine you are Mole at the end of the story writing a letter to his younger self.What kind of advice would he give his younger self if he could? What has he learnt through the course of the story that he would like his younger self to know ?
Little Toad
39 Woods creek roadEngland
DI306DD
Wednesday the 8th of November 1864Dear Little toad,
I am writing this letter to explain that you need to be much more mature than you are yourself. This year you have been more silly than ever and you really need to make a change.You have done many things that you didn’t really have to do like throwing and smashing all the cars.You might have lost your temper but that will not make you happy.
This is really not making me happier at all because all you’ve done is actually throw all the cars for nothing . Does that make you feel better ? Probably not. I know you are better than this and you can act more significant and calm. If you looked carefully you would have seen that Ratty, Mole, Badger, Toad of toad hall, Otter and a few other animals were actually staring and they saw everything that you have done for no reason whatsoever. Yes I know I might be losing my temper already but you should look at all what you have done.
I hope you understand my point.
From big toad
Hope you like my homework thank you much
sanya🤓-
Really fantastic work Sanya- well done! This is a really witty and fun letter that uses tone beautifully to convey Toad’s message to his younger self. You have used some excellent literary techniques such as rhetorical questions and have used excellent emotive writing to dig under the despair that Big Toad is feeling towards his younger self. You have used the structure of a letter really well and I love that you’ve thought carefully about the date the letter was sent- fab attention to detail! I love how exasperated Big Toad is with Little Toad and how he even loses his temper during the course of writing the letter- really funny detail! To make this even better, could you use a thesaurus to uplevel some vocab words and add in some advanced vocabulary? Overall gorgeous and very funny work- well done 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 11
In today’s lesson we continued our study of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the paragraphs assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our work on inference, thinking about how to recreate one of the climatic scenes of the novel, where Toad is on trial for stealing motorcars. It also contains the class’s ideas about argumentative writing, thinking about how to use persuasive techniques and language to act as either the defence or prosecution in Toad’s case. The students conducted a mock trial of Toad fantastically, offering some really compelling arguments both for and against Toad’s imprisonment, using lots of argumentative devices to argue their case. They used their inferences skills to draw from the text lots of different ideas about Toad’s thoughts, feelings and motivations. We also had a really interesting discussion about the story arc of the novel, thinking about how to characterise the climax of the book, and the students offered some really interesting character analysis of Toad, using thoughts from the book to inform their ideas. Wonderful work today everyone- well done 🙂
Wind in the Willows full film: https://archive.org/details/the-wind-in-the-willows_202110
Video we watched on persuasion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ7u30OG7yk&t=51s
Homework
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This is my homework from last week.
Young mole
29Mole End
England
WCM9106Friday the 19th of 1910
Dear Young mole,
I am writing this letter to encourage you to trust in yourself and friends and be brave anywhere never feel scared or afraid.Everyone’s life is perfect when you be brave and trust in yourself.
Even when toad is crazy it is not your fault and he will change I know because I am from the future.
Badger and Rat are very trustworthy friends so don’t be scared of them.
Never be scared of weasels or foxes or any animals in the dark forest.
Toad is very untrustworthy to let him near motorbikes so don’t ever let him near them ok? So then you will be very safe and calm.
Don’t worry if toad is in prison for 90 years I know in fact he somehow got out or should I say escaped.So when you feel afraid or don’t trust in yourself just remember this letter and don’t be afraid or trust in yourself and your friends.
From: Future Mole
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Gorgeous work Emily- really well done! The list of different pieces of advice you give Young Mole here are fantastic- focusing on some really key themes such as friendship, overcoming your fears and putting faith in people’s ability to grow and mature. I love that you foreshadow events from the novel (i.e., Toad and the motorbikes and his escape from prison) and think your use of rhetorical question is fantastic here! You have used the structure of a letter beautifully- beginning with telling Young Mole why you are writing and ending with a gorgeous piece of advice- to remember this letter and trust in yourself and your friends. You have used the story brilliantly to come up with some excellent life lessons for Young Mole and your tone throughout is spot on- really impressive work Emily! To make this even better, could you include some more literary techniques such as similes or metaphors? Overall outstanding work- well done 🙂
Spelling:
* Everyone’s life is perfect when you <b>are </b>brave and trust in yourself
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Summary for Lesson 12
In today’s lesson we concluded our study of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the scenes assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our work on language analysis, focusing particularly on using word attack strategies to use and define the advanced vocabulary used in the novel. We also discussed the figurative language used in the book, and the class all acted as editors for one of the passages from the novel, adding some amazing literary techniques and up-levelling some of the less descriptive words used. Finally, we had a really good discussion about genre, with the students all coming up with what they thought the genre of The Wind in the Willows was and why, then moulding one of the scenes from the novel in order to fit different genre conventions. Lovely work today class and for the past twelve weeks- you should all be super proud of your enthusiasm, ideas and contributions. It was a pleasure to teach you all and hear all your wonderful thoughts. Well done everyone and I hope to see you all in our next reading course! 🙂
Homework
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Hello, Beth,
Sorry for the late submission. Here is the homework for lesson 10.
Thank you very much.
Grace
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Mole speedily thrown on his coat and noiselessly bolted out when Rat was snoozing on his armchair.
Mole was hastily scampering of towards the Wild Woods.
There was nothing to stop the thrilled Mole now.
When Mole stepped in the Wild woods twigs creaked. He tripped and fell all the way in the Wild woods he saw a bunch of weasels in different tunnels watching him. When he stood up he fell again this time Mole saw tree holes shaped like strange faces looking at him creepily. So Mole just tripped and ran, tripped and ran all across the wild woods until he heard a strange noise…
At first Mole thought he was dreaming but later he realized it was real. Suddenly Mole’s scarf got stuck in a weird looking tree branch. Mole tried to get it free but another sound scared him.
Then one, two,three,four,five and six weasels was chasing Mole!
Suddenly,from a creepy hole pranced out a rabbit it fell on the floor of the forest then leaped up and warned “Run quick”
Mole ran and ran until he saw another horrifying face on a tree then Mole tripped again.
He landed in a pile of leaves in the horrifying hole.
In the hole Mole called out “Help me Ratty.”-
Beautiful writing Emily- well done! You have used some excellent vocab (I love the phrase ‘the thrilled Mole’ and the word ‘pranced’) and have thought carefully about how to create a sense of danger and suspense. I love your use of techniques such as listing (one, two, three, four, five and six weasels) and alliteration (horrifying hole) and think your description here is excellent. You have used the motif of the faces in the tree to a terrifying effect and think your pacing is really quick and exciting, helped by your use of repetition i.e., “triped and ran, triped and ran”. To make this even better, could you vary some of the words you use a little more i.e., instead of using the word strange several times, use the words strange, odd and uncanny. Overall lovely work- well done and congratulations on all your excellent work over the past course! 🙂
Here is a thesaurus which could help you vary your vocab: https://www.thesaurus.com/
Grammar:
*speedily threw on his coat
*scampering off towards the Wild Woods
*weasels were chasing Mole
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