Narrative Writing — Year 3 Lesson Plan
National Curriculum: English KS2 (Year 3-4) — Pupils should be taught to plan their writing by discussing and recording ideas; to draft and write by composing and rehearsing sentences orally; to organise paragraphs around a theme; to use the structure of a variety of text types.
Overview
This lesson introduces pupils to the key features of narrative writing using quality published texts as models. Pupils explore how authors create engaging story openings and build narrative tension through careful word choice, varied sentence structures and deliberate organisational decisions. By the end of the lesson, pupils will have a shared understanding of narrative structure and will have planned and begun drafting their own short narrative piece.
Learning Objectives
- Identify and discuss the key features of narrative texts including setting, character and plot structure
- Plan a narrative using an appropriate structure (e.g. story mountain) with orientation, build-up, climax and resolution
- Compose and rehearse sentences orally before writing
- Write a narrative opening that introduces a character and setting using descriptive language
Key Vocabulary
Suggested Lesson Structure
Read aloud the opening two pages of a high-quality picture book (e.g. The Iron Man by Ted Hughes or The Tiger Who Came to Tea). Ask pupils to close their eyes and visualise the scene. Take feedback: what do they see, hear and feel? Discuss what makes this opening effective. What do we learn about the setting and character? How does the author make us want to read on?
Introduce the story mountain structure on a large display: orientation, build-up, dilemma, climax and resolution. Model mapping the shared text onto the story mountain. Explain that great stories have a clear shape and that writers plan before they write. Show a second model narrative opening written by the teacher, thinking aloud about the choices made: vocabulary, sentence openers, use of description. Highlight specific features on the shared example: a sense of place, a character we want to know more about, a hint that something is about to happen.
Pupils work in pairs with a story prompt card (image or scenario). Together they orally rehearse the orientation of their story, answering: Who is the main character? Where and when is the story set? What is the mood? Circulate, listening to oral rehearsal and prompting with questions. Take feedback from two or three pairs, scribing some key phrases on the board. As a class, evaluate which vocabulary choices are most effective and why.
Pupils plan their narrative individually using a story mountain template. They then begin writing their narrative opening, aiming to introduce the character and setting clearly and to create a mood. Encourage them to refer to their vocabulary choices from the guided practice. Some pupils may use a sentence starter bank; higher attaining pupils are challenged to write their opening without any scaffold and to include a narrative hook.
Ask two or three volunteers to read their narrative openings aloud. After each one, pupils give structured feedback using the sentence frames: I liked the part where... because... and One thing that could be even better is... End by recapping the key features of an effective narrative opening and previewing the next lesson where pupils will develop the build-up section.
Common Misconceptions
- Pupils often begin their story with too much back-story or with a character waking up, rather than starting close to the action; encourage starting with something happening or about to happen
- Pupils sometimes confuse narrative structure with a simple retelling of events without tension-building; emphasise that a good story creates a problem or dilemma that needs resolving
Prior Knowledge
Pupils should already be able to:
- Familiarity with a range of narrative texts as a reader
- Ability to write complete sentences with correct punctuation
- Understanding of adjectives, expanded noun phrases and simple conjunctions
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