AQA English Language Paper 1, Question 4 – “The Lovely Bones” Full Lesson + Scaffold Bookmark

Ideal for GCSE / Upper KS3 | Evaluation Skills | Sadness & Hope

This fully planned and ready-to-teach lesson helps students confidently tackle AQA Language Paper 1, Question 4, using an extract from The Lovely Bones (lines 42–49). The resource develops students’ ability to evaluate how a writer presents emotion, perspective, and reader impact, while offering clear differentiation, modelling, and scaffolding.

This download also includes a structured PEEZE scaffold bookmark, enabling students to write a high-quality, well-organised answer by breaking the task into four manageable paragraphs: sadness, hope, both combined, and a final judgement.

What’s Included
Complete PowerPoint Lesson

(From: ‘Lovely Bones’ Lesson 2.pptx

‘Lovely Bones’ lesson 2)

AQA-aligned learning objectives and clear success criteria

Contextual comprehension questions with model answers

Quote-finding task focusing on sadness, hope, and mixed emotions
No text dute to copyright but I use the end of the text from lines: ‘You don’t notice the dead leaving when they really choose to leave you.’ to ‘We have fun.’

Colour-coded key for students to identify structural features in the model

Guided writing prompts

Independent writing task: 3-paragraph response (sadness / hope / mix)

Reflection activity where pupils highlight and label their own paragraph elements

✔ Scaffold Bookmark for Students

(From: Paragraph 1–4 Scaffold PDF

Paragraph 1 – Focus on Sadness …)
A clear, printable strip designed to sit next to student workbooks, guiding them through each paragraph:

Paragraph 1 – Sadness

Sentence starters

Evidence prompts

Zoom-in prompts with word class terminology

Reader response + author intent lines

Paragraph 2 – Hope

Point prompts

Quote selection space

Zoom + subject terminology support

Clear explanation and impact prompts

Paragraph 3 – A Mix of Sadness and Hope

Evaluative sentence starters

Language analysis scaffolding

Guidance for explaining dual emotions

Paragraph 4 – Summary & Judgement

Final judgement sentences

Linking back to the question

Evaluative conclusion supports

This bookmark greatly improves structure, consistency, and independence in extended evaluative writing.

Skills Developed

Confident evaluation (AQA Q4)

Selecting and embedding textual evidence

Zooming in on key words using word class terminology

Analysing writer’s intention and reader response

Balancing interpretations

Structuring multi-paragraph analytical writing

Perfect For

GCSE English Language Paper 1

High-ability KS3

Revision sessions

Intervention groups

Modelling strong Q4 responses

Teaching evaluative writing in a clear, structured way

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