Year 4 · Reading and understanding

How writers make you feel something

Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning

20 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning

Key learning points

• Words carry feelings
• Comparing without saying 'like a…' every time
• Short sentences do a job
• How it looks matters too

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

languagestructurepresentationcontributemeaning

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

How writers make you feel something

Be a reading detective and work out the clues the words don't say.

In a nutshell

Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You can find information in a text and make simple inferences about characters.

Recap: y4-english-1

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

language: The words a writer picks.
structure: The order things come in, and how long the sentences are.
presentation: How it looks: headings, bold print, layout, pictures.
effect: What it makes the reader feel or notice.

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Word choices

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Words carry feelings

Compare 'The dog walked over' with 'The dog crept over'. Both tell you it moved. 'Crept' also tells you it was slow, low and maybe frightened. Writers pick verbs and adjectives for the feeling they carry. When you write about a text, name the word and then say what it makes you think: 'crept' makes the dog seem nervous.

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Comparing without saying 'like a…' every time

'The sea was a grey blanket' is a comparison with no 'like' in it — a metaphor. 'The sea rolled like a grey blanket' uses 'like' — a simile. Both help a reader picture something. Notice which one a writer chose: a metaphor sounds surer, as if the sea really is a blanket.

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Which word suggests the dog is nervous?

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

'The sea was a grey blanket' is a…

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.

Stop here for now

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Shape and layout

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Short sentences do a job

Read this: 'The corridor stretched on, past the empty lockers, past the taped-up window, past the door that never opened. Then it stopped.' The long sentence makes you travel; the short one stops you dead. That is structure. A writer who wants tension uses short sentences at the moment of shock.

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

How it looks matters too

A leaflet about recycling might use a big bold heading, bullet points, a photograph and a bright box for the phone number. Presentation guides your eye to what the writer thinks is most important. In a story, a new paragraph for each new speaker helps you follow who is talking. Layout is part of the meaning, not decoration.

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Why might a writer use a very short sentence?

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

Bullet points in a leaflet mainly help the reader to…

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

Naming a technique ('there is a simile') without saying what it makes you feel.
Thinking long sentences are always better writing.
Ignoring headings, bullets and pictures when asked about presentation.

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.

That is ____.

____ guides your eye to what the writer thinks is most important.

Layout is part of the ____, not decoration.

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

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 Luna

Do 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.

Extract

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
Reading
Read 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
Writing
Write your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.
250–350 words
Reading log
Reading
Note the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.
20 minutes' reading

Write your answer, notes or working here

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Photos of paper work, diagrams or working outHow many minutes did the written work take?

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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