The Enormous Crocodile - Lesson 4 - The Final Tricks!

This engaging and comprehensive reading lesson is the fourth and final lesson in a series exploring Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile. Aimed at Year 2 children, it develops retrieval, inference, summarising and sequencing skills whilst bringing the whole story together.

Through a beautifully illustrated slideshow, children explore the crocodile’s final two disguises and the dramatic ending. They retrieve key information, infer Trunky’s feelings and intentions, and consider how the animals protect the children and put an end to the crocodile’s plans.

The main activity focuses on summarising and sequencing the whole text. Children learn to select the most important events, put them in logical order and retell them briefly in their own words. They then create an eight-box storyboard, combining drawings with short captions to show the story from beginning to end.

The lesson includes:

• A retrieval starter revisiting the first two tricks, with answers;
• Vocabulary activities with animated definitions;
• A reading focus question;
• Six retrieval questions with answers;
• An inference task exploring Trunky’s feelings, with a model response;
• Explicit teaching of summarising and sequencing;
• A model caption showing which details to keep and which to leave out;
• A sequencing activity ordering the four tricks;
• A scaffolded eight-event outline of the whole story;
• A matching eight-box storyboard template with drawing space and caption lines;
• A deeper-thinking question exploring why the animals’ actions matter;
• A final learning review with self-assessment and a three-sentence summary challenge.

Original illustrations feature throughout, with answers, suggested responses and teaching guidance provided in the slideshow notes.

Ideal for whole-class or guided reading in Year 2, with opportunities for paired discussion, oral rehearsal and independent work. Children will need access to the text and familiarity with the earlier parts of the story.