Mini Sagas 2-week Unit based on the book 'Atlas of Monsters' (Year 3/4 whole unit of planning)

This is a great 2-week unit where pupils write a mini saga about a mythical creature. This requires them to really edit and refine their work as they are only allowed to use 50 words to tell the story with. I base this unit around the fantastic book; ‘The Atlas of Monsters’ by Stuart Hill & Sandra Lawrence which shows where mythical monsters come from around the world. Pupils will choose one of these mythical beasts and research them then write their myth in a challenging mini saga. This unit makes pupils in my class really consider their word choices and how best to write an engaging and effective story in such few words.

I have listed the learning objectives for all of the lessons below. Also, I have included all of the worksheets, PowerPoints, links and resources you will need to teach this unit straight away.

Stage 1 - Stimulate and generate- Learning outcomes
• To evaluate how engaging a mythical story is
• To gather information in note form
• To summarise facts about a given subject
• To retrieve and record information from text
• To discuss words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination

Stage 2 - Capture, Sift and Sort- Learning outcomes
• To evaluate and edit by assessing the effectiveness of other people’s writing and suggest improvements
• To identify the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph and summarise these
• To write expanded noun phrases

Stage 3 - Create refine evaluate- Learning outcomes
• To plan and organise my ideas to effectively support my writing
• To plan and organise my ideas to effectively support my writing
• To publish a mini sage

Stimulate and generate = This usually starts with a hook to interest the class where the class realise who they are going to write for so they have a clear purpose and audience. Activities can include reading excellent model texts, drama or researching more about the author or the content of the book.

Capture, sift and sort = This is the part of the unit where pupils look at key features, practise skills they will need in order to complete the final piece or new learning for objectives they have not learnt yet.

Create, refine, evaluate = This is where you bring all you have learnt together and plan the final piece before you write it and then edit it to improve the piece. This can include self, peer or teacher led reviewing.