Stone Cold - Shelter!

This engaging and informative lesson helps students to understand the character of the Shelter in ‘Stone Cold’ from his words and actions, and back up their ideas with reference to evidence from the text. Students also consider the Swindells’ language and purposes in the portrayal of his antagonist, before designing their very own villain.

The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through:
- Considering the connotations of the name ‘Shelter’, and how Swindells’ character contrasts with these meanings;
- Reading extracts from the narrative viewpoint of Shelter in ‘Stone Cold’ in Shelter’s character is introduced;
- Answering comprehension questions about the extracts, considering the writer’s use of language and retrieving textual information to back up their ideas;
- Becoming text detectives, and finding out more information about Shelter’s character through skimming and scanning the text;
- Considering Swindells’ purpose in his portrayal of Shelter;
- Analysing Swindells’ villain, before designing their own;
- Peer assessing each other’s learning attempts;

Included is:
- Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and comprehensive;
- ‘Text Detectives’ template (pdf and word);
- Selected extracts - Stone Cold - Shelter’s Introduction;
- ‘Create Your Own Villain’ worksheet (pdf and word);
- Comprehensive lesson plan.

There are also opportunities for group learning, speaking and listening, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. I originally used these resources with a year 8 class, however colleagues have used them for between years 5 and 9 with minimal adaptations.

All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.