Narrative Writing: Peril in Pompeii

A Roman slave witnesses the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Will he escape in time?

A short narrative (2+ pages) which could be used for guided or shared reading or as a modelled text to teach a variety of objectives (see Teaching Points below). The story has dialogue which conveys character and advances the action of the story and includes informal contractions -key objectives for Year 6 pupils to meet ‘at expected’.

Teaching Points
GRAMMAR: past tenses; fronted adverbials; adjectives and adverbs for descriptive detail; connectives (contrast and time); relative clauses; 3rd person narration
PUNCTUATION: commas around clauses; exclamation and question marks; speech marks
STRUCTURE: chronological; paragraphing (opening, build-up, events, resolution); balance of action, dialogue and setting
CONTENT & THEME: build up of suspense; historical fiction; character; figurative language (simile, metaphor, alliteration)