Unit of work for Beowulf - Morpurgo Y4

I have used this text and resources with Year 4 students many times and they have always been successful in getting even the most reluctant pupils to engage in creative writing.

This unit of work is designed to support the teaching and learning of Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo. It includes approximately 14 sessions worth of materials that provide pupils with the opportunity to practice and refine their writing skills through short writing exercises. The bundle contains PowerPoint presentations, differentiated worksheets, and other supporting materials.

The planning has been adapted from various sources and tailored to the way in which English is taught in my school. There is no Week 4 planning as it was assessment week, so it naturally follows onto Week 5. The following objectives are covered:

1. Write predictions about a character and text
2. Write a character description
3. Using expanded noun and prepositional phrases to describe a monster.
4. Describe the beast and his crimes in two paragraphs.
5. Write a character profile about Beowulf.
6. Identify adverbial phrases and use fronted adverbials in sentences
7. Write an effective and detailed character description
8. Image what it was like to be one of Beowulf’s soldiers.
9. Complete time-line of events using conjunctions and adverbial phrases.
10. Plan and discuss 3 paragraphs
11. Retell the story of Beowulf
12. Re-draft a retelling of Beowulf
13. Plan and draft own Beowulf adventure
14. Edit and re-draft own Beowulf story