Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare Rewrite Year 6 English Literacy Planning

Couple of weeks planning.

sample;
Genre: Narrative Unit 4 ‘Older Literature’
Focus Texts: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare. (Adapted for children by Andrew Matthews and Tony Ross – Orchard classics).
Begin by introducing the new topic and the learning outcome. We will be studying ‘older’ literature. Explain that older literature is defined as anything written before 1914 but we are going to look at much older than this!
Show a picture of William Shakespeare: children to TTYP –
Who is this man?
What is he famous for?
Can you name any of his works?

Come back together and elicit that William Shakespeare was an author – not of stories but of plays and sonnets (poems). Talk about some of his more famous work and explain that he wrote 38 plays and over 160 sonnets.
Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. He produced most of his work between 1589 and 1613 – why do you think he wrote mostly plays rather than stories? Elicit that he was an actor so he loved the stage and he intended his works to be acted out rather than just read and also because of the times. TV and film were not entertainment options and the majority of people couldn’t read so going to the theatre or watching an outside performance was very popular.
Explain that Shakespeare’s plays can be broadly split into tragedies and comedies. TTYP – what does this mean?
Show a list including some of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies and tragedies.
Talk about our recent history topic – who would have been on the throne when Shakespeare was writing (Elizabeth I until 1603 and then James I start of the Stuart dynasty). Talk briefly about the context to Shakespeare’s plays – Elizabeth I ruled over a very successful empire, England was starting to explore and find new shores and arts & culture were becoming more important and sought after. Link to previous unit.
Children to take a whole page in their literacy books to design an advert/poster to be put up around a Tudor town. It should advertise an exciting new play by William Shakespeare (give children a few to choose from).
Talk about the different language used for a comedy or a tragedy.

CN with target group.
CS with JD group. Start to read the children’s adapted version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
Success Criteria:

• I recognise William Shakespeare and I know what he did for a living.
• I can start to understand what England was like when Shakespeare was writing.