KS: R & KS1
Year Group: Year 2
Literary Theme: Bravery vs. Fear
Author(s): Roald Dahl
This is a three-session spelling seed for the book The Minpins by Roald Dahl. Below is the coverage from Appendix 1 of the National Curriculum 2014.
Spelling Seeds have been designed to complement Writing Roots by providing weekly, contextualised sequences of sessions for the teaching of spelling that include open-ended investigations and opportunities to practise and apply within meaningful and purposeful contexts, linked (where relevant) to other areas of the curriculum and a suggestion of how to extend the investigation into home learning.
There is a Spelling Seed session for every week of the associated Writing Root.
child, children, clothes, find, hold, Mr, Mrs, only, people, told
The /n/ sound spelt kn and (less often) gn at the beginning of words
The /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –le at the end of words
A Writing Root is available for The Minpins.
Danger posters, setting descriptions, character descriptions, information reports, postcards
Own version adventure narrative
15 sessions, 3 weeks
This is a three-week Writing Root for The Minpins by Roald Dahl in which children begin by engaging in the themes of the story by talking about danger and what they are allowed and not allowed to do, imagining gruesome consequences if they don’t follow instructions! They then go on to read and explore The Minpins and create character descriptions (for their own monsters and The Minpins themselves), retellings of key events, reports about The Minpins and eventually writing a new chapter.
Little Billy's mum says he must never go out through the garden gate and explore the dark forest beyond.
So, one day, that's exactly what he does.
There he meets the Minpins: miniature people who live int he hollow trees.
They soon warn Little Billy of the fearsome, galloping Gruncher, who has grunched thousands of Minpins. And it will gobble up Little Billy too - uness he can find a way to defeat the hungry beast, once and for all...
This was the last work of literature published by Roald Dahl and was published posthumously a year after his death. This novella is a fantastic introduction to the iconic author and is a great way to talk to children about overcoming their fears and helping others as well as exposing them to the language of a master storyteller at work.
Forests, monsters, adventures, overcoming fears, helping others
Date written: January 2016
View The Minpins Writing Root
