The Magic Bed | Year 1 English Unit

A 3-week, fully resourced primary literacy unit based on The Magic Bed by John Burningham. KS1 Fiction. National-Curriculum-aligned grammar, WT/ARE/GD differentiation, and ready to teach.

What’s inside

This complete English unit gives you everything for three weeks of high-quality teaching, designed to match the standard of the National Curriculum for English at KS1 and KS2.

• 15 lesson PowerPoints — illustrated cover slides, success criteria, vocabulary previews, modelled writing, “big questions” (Bloom’s-laddered), differentiation tiers, plenary, and reflection.
• 15 differentiated resource sheets — Working Towards, Age-Related Expectations, and Greater Depth, with sentence frames, word banks, and writing frames.
• Complete teacher unit plan — unit overview, key themes, model texts, full session-by-session plans, key questions, assessment focus, and vocabulary focus.
• Child-friendly mark scheme — “I can…” success criteria for the final writing piece, ready for self- and peer-assessment.
• 3 weekly exit tickets — 5 multiple-choice questions per week, with teacher answer keys.

Final writing outcome

An extended story inspired by The Magic Bed where the child writes about their own imaginary adventure, using descriptive language and sequencing words to show a journey through an exciting place.

Grammar features (Year 1 NC-aligned)

• Subordination: ‘because’ to join ideas and explain reasons.
• Sequencing and time connectives: ‘then’, ‘next’, ‘after’, ‘when’ to link ideas across sentences.

Themes explored

Imagination and adventure, magical places and possibilities, courage and wonder, dreams becoming real, power of storytelling.

Key vocabulary

Magic, adventure, magical, journey, discover, mysterious, wonderful, imagine.

Format & compatibility