Joanna McNeilly

Narrative writing - settings

25-8-13

LESSON SUMMARY Narrative writing - setting

Day & date: Tuesday the 27th
of August, Wednesday the
28th.

Class: Grade 4
Supervising teacher: Mrs Rundle

Topic:

Context:

Understanding setting.

The students have begun the

writing style narrative. So far they
have covered character and have
been learning how to describe
things using sentences.

Aims/Outcomes:

AusVELS

At the end of this lesson

students will .
Have the skills to describe a
setting.
Key Vocabulary

Monitoring and assessment

Setting, location, view, smells,

sounds, colour, time frame,
country, people etc.
Materials, Resources and
Equipment

References/Sources

Joanna McNeilly
Narrative writing - settings

Start
time

25-8-13

DETAILED PLAN
Teacher activity
Student activity
INTRODUCTION
Connecting, Engaging and Modelling
I will show the students the
first few minutes of the
movie, How to train your
dragon. With their help, I
will write a description of
the setting on the board,
using dot points.
Asking what they saw, and
to remember as much detail
as possible.
We will watch it again, see if
they remember anything
else.

Transitio
n time

I will then read out what the

script says (script can be
found below)
MAIN BODY
Guiding Inquiry or Practise
Activities Worksheet on
story settings. This sheet
asks the students to write
what the main character can
see, taste, touch, smell and
hear. I will read the story to
the students then send them
off to do their work.
One change to the sheet
though, instead of drawing
the scene on the back of the
book, they will draw it on the
next page in their workbook.
Extension activity There is a
new student coming into
your classroom. Describe the
setting for them, where can
they find our class, is it
messy, who is the leader?
Are they a king or a queen, or
simply master and
2

Joanna McNeilly
Narrative writing - settings

Transitio
n time

25-8-13

apprentice? What does our

classroom look like? What are
the people like?
CONCLUSION
Sharing, Explaining and Reviewing Learning
We will show off some of their
pictures at the end of class.

How to Train Your Dragon Script

EXT. NORTH SEA/VILLAGE - NIGHT
We skim above a dark, wild ocean. The camera turns toward a
lone island, Berk. It is a gigantic shard of rock jutting
straight out of the water.
HICCUP (V.O.)
This, is Berk. It's twelve days
North of hopeless, and a few
degrees South of freezing to death.
It's located solidly on the
meridian of misery.
The camera drifts over rolling hills to reveal a small
village nestled on an outcropping of sea mounts.
HICCUP (V.O.) (CONT'D)
My village. In a word, sturdy.
And it's been here for seven
generations, but every single
building is new.
The camera drifts closer, circling.
HICCUP (V.O.) (CONT'D)
We have fishing, hunting, and a
charming view of the sunsets. The
only problems are the pests. You
see, most places have mice or
mosquitos. We have...
Sheep graze peacefully on a hillside. Suddenly one is
snatched.
CUT TO:
INT. STOICK'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
A door is pulled open... as a DRAGON swoops directly toward
it, BLASTING FIRE. The door is SLAMMED. The fire shoots
through the slats of wood, illuminating HICCUP, a gangly
teenage Viking.
HICCUP
...dragons.

Joanna McNeilly
Narrative writing - settings

25-8-13

Student Teacher Reflection

Very happy with how todays lesson went. Some of their drawings were
beautiful, so much detail!

Supervising Teacher Reflection

A superb narrative setting lesson. Once again a great introduction using
a setting from the movie How to train your Dragon. I have not seen this
movie before but I am now very keen too. The language to describe the
scene/setting was excellent and the students grasped this vocabulary
and used it when explaining their impression/s of the setting.
I am pleased you recapped last weeks lessons about seed ideas on
character descriptions. It is always good to revisit the prior lesson before
moving forward.
This lesson I was pleased to see that you remembered to read out the
setting on the worksheet and briefly discuss it.
Once the students had started their drawings of the setting you may like
to stop them after 10mins to remind them to re-read and revisit the text
even highlight details so their drawings can be detailed.
The end product was excellent many creative settings.
Well done Jo

Joanna McNeilly
Narrative writing - settings

25-8-13

LESSON SUMMARY Narrative writing - setting

Day & date: Tuesday the 27th
of August, Wednesday the
28th.

Class: Grade 4
Supervising teacher: Mrs Rundle

Topic:

Context:

Understanding setting.

The students have begun the

writing style narrative. So far they
have covered character and have
been learning how to describe
things using sentences.

Aims/Outcomes:

AusVELS

At the end of this lesson

students will .
Have the skills to describe a
setting.
Key Vocabulary

Monitoring and assessment

Setting, location, view, smells,

sounds, colour, time frame,
country, people etc.
Materials, Resources and
Equipment

References/Sources

Joanna McNeilly
Narrative writing - settings

25-8-13

Joanna McNeilly
Narrative writing - settings

Start
time

25-8-13

DETAILED PLAN
Teacher activity
Student activity
INTRODUCTION
Connecting, Engaging and Modelling
Look around the room, I
want each person to choose
three things about our
classrooms that they would
use to describe the setting.

Transitio
n time

Using these details we as a

class will write a paragraph
describing the setting of our
classroom.
MAIN BODY
Guiding Inquiry or Practise
The students will then be
given a sheet that has three
pictures at the top showing
very different settings. In
their books here is what they
need to do.
1. Create a list of things
they notice about the
picture and therefore
story.

Transitio
n time

2. Write their paragraph.

CONCLUSION
Sharing, Explaining and Reviewing Learning
I will select two students to
read their paragraph to the
class.

Student Teacher Reflection

Supervising Teacher Reflection

Joanna McNeilly
Narrative writing - settings

25-8-13