Fairy Tales

This Unit uses a picture book, Billy Monster's Daymare by Alan Durant and Ross Collins, and a traditional version of Beauty and the Beast by Gill Howell to explore traditional (i.e. fairy) tales, looking at plot, setting, characters and the power of transformation and change.

Reading

The children will:

• explore the power of fairy tales by reading Billy Monster's Daymare and a traditional retelling of Beauty and the Beast

• recognise Special phrases used in fairy tales, e.g. Once upon a time..., ...happily ever after

 • identify the most important moments in the story

 • explore how characters change.

Writing

The children will:

Write a new fairy tale!

The new fairy tale will ..

• have a beginning, a middle and an end

• include traditional fairy tale phrases, e.g. Once upon a time..., ... happily ever after

• use adjectives to build effective descriptions of the characters and setting.

Grammar:

• include conjunctions to link ideas.

Billy Monster can't sleep. There are chinks of scary light creeping into his bedroom and he has woken up twice after horrible daymares about boys and girls. Although Daddy Monster has tried howling a lullaby and making a soothing cup of cold slime, Billy is still worried. Just how will Daddy Monster reassure Billy and help him to sleep soundly through the day? Set in a topsy-turvy world where monsters are scared of children, this warm and funny story is perfect for raising a smile and chasing away bedtime fears.

A prince cursed to spend his days as a hideous monster sets out to regain his humanity by earning a young woman's love. Having lived a life in selfishness, young Prince Adam is cursed by a mysterious enchantress to having the appearance of a monstrous beast.

Non-Fiction

The non-fiction week will be linked by the theme of transformation, and we will look at instruction texts.

Where appropriate, the children will be encouraged to develop an awareness of audience and purpose in relation to the fiction and non-fiction texts they are reading and writing.

Writing

The instructions for making a thaumatrope will:

• give information about how to make a thaumatrope

• are in a clear order to make them easy for the reader to follow.

Grammar:

• include clear and complete sentences that begin with adverbs of time

• use adverbs of manner to clearly show the reader how to make a thaumatrope, e.g. carefully, gently.