Writing

Activity 8: Through the eyes of a character

One of the things I love exploring when I’m writing is what must be going on in
a character’s mind. Whenever I read great portal stories, I always try to put
myself into the shoes of the character, to try to imagine how they must be
feeling as they discover this passageway to a new world. How must Alice have
been feeling as she fell through the never-ending tunnel into Wonderland?
First, think of your character – it’s easier if you base this on someone you
know.
• What are they called?
• What do they look like?
• What sort of a person are they (miserable/friendly/kind/aggressive)?
• What do they say?
• What do they do?
• How do they treat other people?
• How do other people treat them?

Now compose a short piece of descriptive writing based on seeing a
mysterious door through the eyes of your character.

To do this, we will use simple opener to drop the reader straight into the action:

Samantha stared. …
Ali hesitated. …

We will also try to use some of the tools we explored in The Snow Walker’s
Son. Look at this example:

Samantha stared. There, rising out of the cliff, was an unfamiliar
door; its metallic panels were tarnished in rust. Paint flaked off the
brittle walls that made up its frame and the door handle rattled in
the bitter breeze. Slowly, Samantha gazed all around her, took a
deep breath and stepped forward.

★ Now Imagine your main character is walking
along the road when they come across a mysterious
doorway. Describe this through their eyes. Use my
model above to help you.

Arithmetic

Answers to Mental maths Quiz 6:7

https://www.math-salamanders.com/image-files/printable-mental-maths-year-6-7ans.gif

Today’s task: Mental Maths Quiz 6:8 first nine questions.

https://www.math-salamanders.com/image-files/year-6-mental-maths-8.gif

Maths No Problem

Answers to Chapter 12 review: 

Today’s Task: Chapter 14 Lesson 1. Read and answer the In Focus section carefully on page 214 of the textbook. Then read through the Let’s Learn section on pages 215-217. Reread it if you don’t fully understand. Use your maths revision book to name the three types of averages described by the children on page 217 (they all begin with the letter m).  Next, complete the Guided Practice section on page 217 and 218 but use at least two of the children’s methods to answer each question (in other words you should have at least two answers for each question not just one as the textbook asks). 

What other averages can you work out? For instance, what’s the ‘mean’ age of your family members?

Log into TT Rock Stars and test yourself five times. What is your mean score?

Topic

The Ancient Maya

Use the link below to continue your information text about the ancient Maya civilisation using the following subheadings:

What remains of the ancient Maya?

What happened to the Mayas?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zq6svcw

Can you use other information sources to add more detail to the paragraphs you have written?

Reading

For those of you that enjoy reading with your children during relaxation time, you may be aware of a free book that will be available from today:

The Book of Hopes: Words and Pictures to Comfort, Inspire and Entertain Children in Lockdown

Edited by Katherine Rundell, with contributions from more than 100 children’s writers and illustrators. Completely free for all children and families, the extraordinary collection of short stories, poems, essays and pictures has contributions from more than 110 children’s writers and illustrators, including Lauren Child, Anthony Horowitz, Greg James and Chris Smith, Michael Morpurgo, Liz Pichon, Axel Scheffler, Francesca Simon, Jacqueline Wilson – and Katherine herself. The collection, published by Bloomsbury, is dedicated to the doctors, nurses, carers, porters, cleaners and everyone currently working in hospitals.

The book can be read here for free from Monday 27th April …

/https://literacytrust.org.uk/family-zone/9-12/book-hopes/