Friday 27th March

Sentence Challenge

A determiner specifies a noun as known or unknown.

Can you identify the determiner(s) in the sentence below?

There wasn’t much time left before the crow would fly away, so she took a step forward.

Question Time

What do you think the key is for? Why do you think the girl is so desperate to have it?

Why do you think the crow has taken the key?

How did the clock get there? Is it significant in the story?

What do you think the crow is thinking?

Where have all the leaves on the ground come from?

Story Starter

She had been chasing it all day. Now, the crow had it.

Time was ticking. Time was running out. She tiptoed towards the creature, seeing the precious key it held precariously in its sharp, cruel beak. It let out an irritating, throaty cackle, its soot-black wings ruffling gently as it manoeuvred itself on top of the clock; it was ready to take flight.

Knowing she might only have a few seconds before her opportunity disappeared, she took another cautious step forward. Time seemed to slow, her body tingled in excitement and her heart thudded in her chest. It was now or never…

Can you continue the story?

Thursday 26th March

The Rather Interesting Octopus

Credit: Matt Dawson

• Why has Matt Dawson presented the facts in this way? What is the effect of the layout on the reader?
• Who is the intended audience?
• Why is the fact about camouflage written in a different coloured font?
• Write an information page about The Rather Interesting Octopus. Consider the layout and use organisational features to help the reader. This should include Headings, sub-headings and bullet points - remember how to set them out consistently! I have included a link for further octopus-related information. 
• When you have done this, choose a different creature and present the information in an interesting layout, like the octopus.

Wednesday 25th March

The Secret Passage

• What can you see? What do you think? What do you wonder? 
• How could you describe this setting? Consider the following:
  • What materials can you see?
  • The texture of each brick
  • The carvings, shapes and patterns
  • The level of cleanliness and the condition of objects
  • The light and shadows
• Where does the secret passage lead?
• Why is it lined with books?
• Why is one book (in the foreground) burning?
• What is the man doing? Who is he?
• Who else knows about the secret passage?
• Why does it need to be secret?
• What is the key for (hanging on the wall on the right)?
• Why do the clocks show different times?
• What do you think is on the front of the secret door? What would people see when it was closed?
• Use this setting, and this character, to write a recount of a trip  down the passage way. 

Tuesday 24th March

The Dark Side

Story Starter

The figures, which had been painstakingly sculpted out of snow, loomed down over the rest of the park. Passers-by would often comment on the statues’ size and intricate detail. That was all they were though, statues.

One evening, however, when the park was complete deserted, and all that could be heard was the chit-chattering of the birds in the trees, it happened…

Buzz…Buzz…Buzz…

A faint red glow emitted from one of the buttons on the dial in the centre of his chest.

It couldn’t possibly be happening, could it?

The impossible seemed to be happening: his head began to turn…

Can you continue the story about the statues coming to life? Was this a one off, or did it happen frequently?

Sentence Challenge

Can you use subordination in a sentence, using a main clause and a subordinate clause?

Can you separate the clauses using a comma?

Can you use one of the following conjunctions to link your clauses: but, or, yet, so?

e.g. It had seemed like an ordinary evening, but something mysterious was happening in the park.

Monday 23rd March

The Time Machine

• Is this what you thought a time machine would look like? Why/why not?
• How does it work?
• How long did it take them to build it?
• Why are there so many people in the image? What are their roles?
• Is this the first time machine?
• How does the man inside the time machine feel? Has he had special training? How was he selected for this job?
• When (in time) is he going to travel to? Why?
• If you could use a time machine, which period in history would you most like to travel to and why?
• If you could use a time machine to change an historical event, which would you change and why?
• If you could use a time machine to meet a person from the past, who would you like to meet? What would you ask them?