English

Spring 1

🌸 The Selfish Giant

The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde is a traditional tale that explores kindness, selfishness, and change.

A Giant owns a beautiful garden 🌷 where local children love to play. When the Giant returns home, he becomes angry and selfish, chasing the children away and building a high wall 🚧 to keep them out.

Without the children, the garden is trapped in winter ❄️. There is no spring, no growth, and no life. The Giant does not realise that his unkind actions have caused this.

One day, the children return, and spring 🌼 begins to appear. The Giant notices a small child struggling to climb a tree. When he helps the child, the Giant feels remorse and understands the importance of sharing and kindness. He knocks down the wall and welcomes the children back.

The garden becomes full of joy, colour, and happiness again 🌈. The story ends with a powerful message about love, forgiveness, and how people can change for the better.

⭐ Key Messages

• Selfishness can lead to loneliness

• Kindness brings happiness and growth

• Actions have consequences

• It is never too late to change and do the right thing

Our Writing Outcome: To write a version of the Selfish Giant narrative.

Mastery Keys are the key skills and learning objectives children work towards in our Pathways to Write scheme. They outline the specific writing skills—such as grammar, vocabulary, structure and creativity—that pupils need to master in each unit. The Mastery Keys listed below show the exact skills your child will be developing and help you understand what they are working towards in their writing.

Mastery Keys:

• Distinguish between the language of speech and writing
• Recognise vocabularly and structured for formal speech and writing, including subjunctive forms
• Use passive verbs
• Use semi-colons to mark boundaries between independent clauses

Our class read:

The Nowhere Emporium by Ross Mackenzie

When the mysterious Nowhere Emporium arrives in Glasgow, orphan Daniel Holmes stumbles upon a world beyond imagination. Behind its glittering doors lie countless wonders — rooms filled with magic, dreams, and secrets created from pure imagination. But the Emporium is no ordinary shop; it only appears to those who truly need it, and it hides a dark mystery within its walls.

As Daniel is drawn deeper into its spellbinding world, he discovers that the Emporium is in danger — and that he might be the only one who can save it.

Full of adventure, wonder, and heart, The Nowhere Emporium is a story about the power of imagination, courage, and finding your place in the world. Perfect for anyone who’s ever wished they could step into a world of magic!