Year 5 Shakespeare's 'Macbeth': narrative and soliloquy writing worksheet

“Context for Macbeth” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 5 English unit “Shakespeare's 'Macbeth': narrative and soliloquy writing”, for children aged 9 to 10, and takes about 22 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 30 to 33 of the year, 17 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Context for Macbeth

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 5 · English · about 22 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can use a timeline to explain when Shakespeare wrote 'Macbeth' and why it has witches.

A Look back3 min

1.
Draw a line from each word to its word type.
cloudsprintgentle
adjectivenounverb
2.
Circle the sentence with the speech marks in the right places.
“Come here,” said Mia.“Come here said Mia.”Come here, said Mia.
3.
Circle the word that fills the gap and gives a reason: Ali was late ___ the bus broke down.
becauseyellowquickly

B Watch me, then you4 min

Shakespeare wrote 'Macbeth' in 1606. Use the timeline to find out who was king at that time.

An empty open-air wooden playhouse with a round yard and a thatched roof in daylight

Watch me

Shakespeare wrote 'Macbeth' in 1606.

Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, so a new king took the throne.

That new king was James I, so he was on the throne in 1606.

Now you

1.
Who was on the throne when the Globe Theatre was built in 1599? Circle one.
Mary IElizabeth IHenry VIII

C Your turn8 min

Use the timelines and the facts on this page to answer each question.

The River Thames at dusk with old wooden boats and a bridge in the distance

1.
Shakespeare was born in 1564. Who was on the throne then? Circle one.
Mary IElizabeth I
2.
Shakespeare died in 1616. Who was on the throne then? Circle the ruler.
Elizabeth IKing James I
3.
Which came first, the Globe Theatre or 'Macbeth'? Circle one.
The Globe TheatreMacbeth
4.
King James I was very interested in witches. In 1597, while he was king of Scotland, he wrote a book about them. Why might Shakespeare have put three witches into 'Macbeth'? Write one sentence.

Say it out loud: Which clue on the timeline helped you most? Tell your grown-up in your own words.

D Spot the mistake3 min

An open-air wooden playhouse with a round yard and a stage, ready for a performance

Kit says: “Macbeth is too old and too hard, so nobody can understand it now.”

1.
What would you tell Kit? Write one or two sentences.

E Think deeper4 min

1.
In 'Macbeth', a soldier wants to be king so badly that he does a terrible thing to get the crown. Afterwards he cannot rest. Why is the play still performed today, over 400 years later? Write two sentences.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Context for Macbeth · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. cloud → noun; sprint → verb; gentle → adjective

2. “Come here,” said Mia.

3. because

B

1. Elizabeth I your child picked a ruler who was not on the throne in 1599. Ask which ruler's reign ended in 1603, after the Globe was built.

C

1. Elizabeth I your child picked Mary I. Point to 1559 on the timeline, when Elizabeth I was crowned, then ask who was queen in 1564.

2. King James I your child picked Elizabeth I. Point to 1603 on the timeline, when her reign ended, then ask who was king from 1603 until 1625.

3. The Globe Theatre your child picked 'Macbeth' because it is the play they know best. Ask which date on the timeline is earlier.

4. Look for: says James I was interested in witches, so including witches might interest or please the king If your child only says the witches are scary, reread the first sentence. Ask how the king might feel about a play with witches in it.

D

1. Look for: says Kit is wrong: people still understand and enjoy Macbeth, its feelings are familiar, and context helps If your child agrees with Kit, ask what audiences long ago and today have in common. Read one line aloud together and talk about what it means.

E

1. Look for: mentions feelings or themes such as ambition, guilt or fear that people still recognise today

Words to use

Say“Which year was it written, and who was on the throne then? How do you know from the timeline?”

Instead of“Don't worry, the language is too hard for them, so skip the play.”

After the sheet

Ask them to draw a timeline of three dates from their own life, such as the day they were born and the day they started school, and write one sentence about each.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

16 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Themes, characters and plot(with a plan)
Reading the Opening Scene(with a plan)
Building a heath word bank(with a plan)
Planning the wild heath(with a plan)
Storm on the heath(with a plan)
Planning the witches(with a plan)
Starting with fronted adverbials(with a plan)
Editing my Macbeth opening(with a plan)
Macbeth's inner struggle(with a plan)
Inside Macbeth's mind(with a plan)
Features of a soliloquy(with a plan)
Macbeth's reasons to hold back(with a plan)
Writing the 'for' reasons(with a plan)
Closing thoughts of a soliloquy(with a plan)
Editing in three passes(with a plan)
Performing Macbeth's soliloquy(with a plan)

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