Year 6 'When the Sky Falls': narrative and journalistic report writing worksheet

“Finding the shape of a story” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 6 English unit “'When the Sky Falls': narrative and journalistic report writing”, for children aged 10 to 11, and takes about 20 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 32 of the year, 10 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Finding the shape of a story

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 6 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can find the parts of a story and explain why its climax matters.

A Look back3 min

1.
Which word shows the feeling closest to stormy on the scale? Circle your answer.
calmworriedterrifiedhappy
2.
Which step is missing from the empty box in the cycle? Circle your answer.
checkplanshare
3.
Which word shows that the bone belongs to one dog? Circle your answer.
dogsdog'sdogs'

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ruby lives with her dad by a river. One wet morning the water starts to rise, and his boat drifts away from the bank. Ruby jumps into a rowing boat and rows through the rushing water after it. At last they sit on the step, dry and safe.

Watch me

Ruby lives with her dad by the river. That is the opening.

The water rises and the boat drifts away. That is the build-up.

Ruby rows through the rushing water to reach it. That is the climax, the peak of the tension.

They sit safe on the step. That is the resolution.

Now you

1.
Mia’s team is level with one minute left. She runs the length of the pitch and scores the winning goal. Which stage is this? Circle your answer.
openingbuild-upclimaxresolution

C Your turn8 min

Read each short text. Circle the stage it belongs to. Each text is part of the same story about Ola and her gran.

A small flat above a bakery on a quiet street at dusk, with no people

1.
Ola and her gran move into a flat above a bakery. Circle your answer.
openingbuild-upclimaxresolution
2.
Every night the pipes bang louder, and the landlord says the rent is going up. Circle your answer.
openingbuild-upclimaxresolution
3.
The water bursts through the ceiling just as Ola reaches the top of the stairs. Circle your answer.
openingbuild-upclimaxresolution
4.
The landlord fixes the pipes, though Gran still has to move to a smaller room. Circle your answer.
openingbuild-upclimaxresolution

Say it out loud: Which words in the text told you the stage? Say them out loud to your grown-up.

D Spot the mistake3 min

Sam says: “In every story the climax is always the last thing that happens.”

1.
Explain why Sam is wrong. Write one or two sentences.

E Think deeper4 min

A city street under a stormy night sky with rain, with no people

1.
Think of a story you know well. Where is its climax, and how does the resolution end the tension? Write two or three lines.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Finding the shape of a story · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. terrified If they chose worried, ask which word is stronger than worried. The stormy end of the scale shows the strongest feeling.

2. check If they chose share, ask what a writer does straight after finishing a draft and before sharing it.

3. dog's If they chose dogs, they wrote a plural, not an owner. Ask: does one dog own the bone, or lots of dogs?

B

1. climax If they chose build-up, ask: does this moment raise the tension, or is it the highest point? Build-up is the rising tension before this moment.

C

1. opening If they chose build-up, ask whether the text shows a problem yet. A new home introduces the characters and setting, which is the opening.

2. build-up If they chose climax, ask whether the problem has reached its highest point yet. The pipes are getting worse, but nothing has burst.

3. climax If they chose build-up, ask which moment is the most dramatic and tense so far. The burst is the point where everything comes together.

4. resolution If they chose climax, ask whether the tension is still rising here. The problem is sorted out, even though it does not end happily for everyone.

D

1. Look for: says the resolution comes after the climax, so the climax is not always the last thing, and that the climax is the highest tension If they say Sam is right, ask: what happens after the highest tension in a story? Point to the resolution on the chain.

E

1. Look for: names a climax as the highest tension point and explains how the resolution ends the tension, even if the ending is not happy

Words to use

Say“Where was the highest tension? What is still unresolved at the end?”

Instead of“Tell them the climax is always the ending, so the last scene must be the climax.”

After the sheet

Line up three objects, such as a cup, a book and a spoon, as opening, build-up and climax, then add a fourth for the resolution. Tell a short story about them together.

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

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

Building a tense climax(with a plan)
Planning with short notes(with a plan)
Building tension in a climax(with a plan)
Braiding action and feeling(with a plan)
Facts and views(with a plan)
Planning a news report(with a plan)
Formal words and linking words(with a plan)
Finishing the news report(with a plan)
Three Passes to Edit(with a plan)

Every Year 6 English worksheet

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