Year 4 · Writing stories and reports
Planning a story that actually goes somewhere
Organise paragraphs around a theme, and in narratives create settings, characters and plot
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Organise paragraphs around a theme, and in narratives create settings, characters and plot
Key learning points
- • Five boxes, then write
- • Show the setting
- • Make the character want something
- • Proof-reading properly
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 19 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- No marked quiz yet
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 19
Watch first
Planning a story that actually goes somewhere
Follow the steps that turn an idea into a finished story.
In a nutshell
Organise paragraphs around a theme, and in narratives create settings, characters and plot
What you already know
Part 2 of 19
Before we start
What you already know
You can write several sentences about one idea.
Key words
Part 3 of 19
Key words
Words you'll need today
- setting
- Where and when the story happens.
- paragraph
- A block of sentences about one idea or moment.
- proof-read
- Reading back to catch mistakes and improve words.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 19
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 — Planning
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 19
Learn
Five boxes, then write
Plan in five quick boxes: opening (setting), build-up, problem, solution, ending. Just a few words in each. Alex's plan might read: rainy bus stop / finds a lost dog / no collar, storm coming / follows a muddy lead to a house / dog reunited. That is a whole story in twenty words.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 19
Learn
Show the setting
Instead of 'it was rainy', give the reader two details they can sense: 'Rain drummed on the shelter roof and puddles swallowed her shoes.' Two strong details beat five weak ones. Then start a new paragraph whenever the time, place or speaker changes.
Quick check
Part 7 of 19
Quick check
What belongs in the opening box of the plan?
Quick check
Part 8 of 19
Quick check
When should you start a new paragraph?
Reset break
Part 9 of 19
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 19
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 — Improving
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 19
Learn
Make the character want something
A character with a want is interesting; a character who just walks around is not. What does yours want, and what is in the way? In the plan above Alex wants to get the dog home, and the storm is in the way. Every paragraph should push towards or away from that want.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 19
Learn
Proof-reading properly
Read your writing out loud — your ear catches missing words your eye skips. Check three things: full stops and capitals, spellings you were unsure of, and any word you used twice in one sentence. Swapping one dull word ('big') for a precise one ('towering') lifts a whole paragraph.
Quick check
Part 13 of 19
Quick check
Which is the stronger setting sentence?
Quick check
Part 14 of 19
Quick check
Best proof-reading first step?
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 19
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Writing one enormous paragraph with no breaks.
- Describing the setting for so long the story never starts.
- Checking spellings but forgetting full stops and capitals.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 19
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 17 of 19
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
A character with a want is interesting; a character who just walks ____ is not.
Mastery quiz
Part 18 of 19
No quiz for this one
This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.
Lesson round-up
Part 19 of 19
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The last bus
The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.
She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.
Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.
Original extract written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
- How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
- Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.
Reading response
ReadingRead the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
WritingWrite your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.
250–350 words
Reading log
ReadingNote the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.
20 minutes' reading
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover