Christmas story unit · KS1 (Reception to Year 2)
The Toy That Lost Its Twinkle
Learning objective: Sequence the events of a story and talk about how characters show kindness.
Suggested story settings: Genre: Friendship · Length: 3 chapters · Time: 10–15 minutes · Story world: Snowglobe Christmas Village
Talk questions
- How did the little robin get its twinkle back?
- What kind thing could you do for someone this Christmas time?
Writing task
Draw the toy robin. Write one sentence about a kind thing: 'I can be kind by ___.'
Word bank
- twinkle
- to shine with tiny flashes of light, like a star or a fairy light
- workshop
- a room where people make or mend things
- kind
- gentle, friendly and helpful to others
- share
- to let someone else have or use some of what you have
- snowy
- covered in snow, or with snow falling
Success criteria (adventure story)
Reception to Year 2: I can write a beginning, a middle and an end. I can use describing words. I can use capital letters and full stops.
National Curriculum statements
- “discussing the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related” (Year 2, Reading – comprehension (statutory))
- “making inferences on the basis of what is being said and done” (Year 1, Reading – comprehension (statutory))
- “sequencing sentences to form short narratives” (Year 1, Writing – composition (statutory))
Sample opening (written for litsee.com, to read aloud)
In the Snowglobe Christmas Village, the toy workshop was busy, busy, busy. Tap, tap went the little hammers. Swish, swish went the paintbrushes.
On the top shelf sat a wooden robin. The toys around him were shiny and bright. But the little robin did not twinkle at all.
“Look high, look low, where did my twinkle go?” he sang in a small, sad voice.
Ava climbed up the step stool and held out her hand. “Let’s find it together,” she said. So off they went, out of the workshop and into the snowy street, where the baker was waving from her door.
Notes
Christmas story unit · KS2 (Years 3 to 6)
The Village That Saved Christmas Eve
Learning objective: Explore how authors build tension towards a climax and resolve it.
Suggested story settings: Genre: Friendship · Length: 3 chapters · Time: 10–15 minutes · Story world: Snowglobe Christmas Village
Talk questions
- How did the author build tension before the celebration? Where was the climax?
- Who did the villagers make sure was included? Why does that matter at Christmas time?
Writing task
Write a new ending scene for the story from the point of view of a lonely neighbour who was invited to the celebration.
Word bank
- generosity
- being happy to give your time, help or things to other people
- community
- the people who live in a place and look out for each other
- tension
- the feeling of waiting to find out what happens, which keeps a reader reading
- climax
- the most exciting or important moment of a story, usually near the end
- festive
- cheerful and full of celebration, especially at a holiday time
Success criteria (adventure story)
Years 3 and 4: I can set the scene in my opening. I can build up to a problem and solve it. I can use paragraphs. I can punctuate speech.
Years 5 and 6: I can hook the reader in my opening. I can build tension towards a turning point. I can use dialogue to move the action on. I can show the setting through the senses.
National Curriculum statements
- “identifying how language, structure, and presentation contribute to meaning” (Years 3 and 4, Reading – comprehension (statutory))
- “drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence” (Years 5 and 6, Reading – comprehension (statutory))
- “in narratives, describing settings, characters and atmosphere and integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action” (Years 5 and 6, Writing – composition (statutory))
Sample opening (written for litsee.com, to read aloud)
The van was meant to arrive at four o’clock. By five, the only thing arriving in the Snowglobe Christmas Village was more snow. It fell in thick, silent flakes, filling the lane to the valley road until the signpost was a white stump.
In the square, the great fir tree stood dark and bare.
“The road’s closed until the day after tomorrow,” said Mr Okafor from the bakery, stamping snow off his boots. “No lights this year.”
Tomorrow evening was the celebration. Every year the whole village gathered under the tree, the lights blinked on all at once, and everyone gasped, even the grown-ups. Leo looked at the dark branches, then at the windows around the square: a jam jar on a sill, a paper star, a lantern by the bookshop door.
An idea began to glow. “We don’t need a van,” Leo said slowly. “We’ve got a whole village.”
Notes
