Reading – BFG

The Witching Hour

Sophie couldn’t sleep.

A brilliant moonbeam was slanting through a gap in the curtains. It was shining

right on to her pillow.

The other children in the dormitory had been asleep for hours.

Sophie closed her eyes and lay quite still. She tried very hard to doze off.

It was not good. The moonbeam was like a silver blade slicing through the

room on to her face.

The house was absolutely silent. No voices came up from downstairs. There

were no footsteps on the floor above either.

The window behind the curtain was wide open, but nobody was walking on the

pavement outside. No cars went by on the street. Not the tiniest sound could

be heard anywhere. Sophie had never known such a silence.

Read this extract with fluency: see tips below

Tips:

• Read out loud at the same pace as you speak

• Slow down if you need to for tricky words

• Take a small pause for commas

• Take a pause and a breath for full stops

• Use voices for different characters

• Read with expression (so you don’t sound like a

robot)

Reading with fluency at year 3 – 100wpm.

Time yourself – can you get past the 100th word in a minute?

Perhaps, she told herself, this was what they called the witching hour.

The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special

moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was

in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the

world to themselves.

The moonbeam was brighter than ever on Sophie’s pillow. She decided to get

out of bed and close the gap in the curtains.

You got punished if you were caught out of bed after lights-ou. Even if you said

you had to go to the lavatory, that was not accepted as an excuse and they

punished you just the same. But there was no one about now, Sophie was sure

of that. She reached out for her glasses that lay on the chair beside her bed.

They had steel rims and very thick lenses, and she could hardly see a thing

without them. She put them on, then she slipped out of bed and tip-toped

over to the window.

When she reached the curtains, Sophie hesitated. She longed to duck

underneath them and lean out the window to see what the world looked like

now that the witching hour was at hand.

She listened again. Everywhere it was deathly still.

The longing to look out became so strong she couldn’t resist it. Quickly, she

ducked under the curtains and leaned out of the window.

In the silvery moonlight, the village street she knew so well seemed completely

different. The houses looked bent and crooked, like houses in a fairy tale.

Everything was pale and ghostly and milky-white.

Across the road, she could see Mrs Rance’s shop, where you bought buttons

and wool and bits of elastic. It didn’t look real. There was something dim and

misty about that too.

Sophie allowed her eye to travel further and further down the street.

Suddenly she froze. There was something coming up the street on the opposite

side.

It was something black…

Something tall and black …

Something very tall and very black and very thin.

New Vocabulary

1 Fill in the table

2 Tick the sentences where the words have been used accurately and precisely.

Peter knew exactly what to do, so he hesitated

Anna had a longing for some chocolate

Peter hesitated, he was unsure what to do

Sam resisted his urge to fall asleep by closing his eyes

3 Write your own sentences with the 3 new words – hesitate, longing, resist

1) _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

2) _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

3) _______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Sequencing & Summarising

1. Read Chapter 1. ’The Witching Hour’. Number the sentences 1,2,3,4 to show the correct order.

Sophie wonders if it is witching hour

Sophie decided to close the gap in the curtains

The other children have been asleep for hours

Sophie cannot get to sleep

2. Describe what has happened in Chapter 1, in two full sentences

1)

2)

3. Which word below is most appropriate to describe Chapter 1? Circle it:

Spurts Mysterious Carefully

Explain why you chose this one word:

Word Short definition

(in the context of the extract)

Synonyms (words with similar meanings)

– use dictionary

hesitate When you pause because you are not able

to make a decision

longing An urge or a desire to do something

resist Stop yourself from doing something that

you want to do

Literal Questions

Read the new extract below from Chapter 2: ‘Who?’. Answer the questions below.

1. Tick the statements which are TRUE. Cross the statements that are FALSE.

The ‘person’ Sophie was looking at is seven times as tall as a human

The ‘person’ was using shadows to hide in

Sophie could see the ‘person’ more clearly when it was closer to her

Sophie screamed when she saw the ‘person’

2. Describe how the tall black figure moved as it came nearer and nearer.

______________________________________________________________________

3. Which word tells you that the tall black figure was looking in windows?

spurts peer shadowy carefully

Challenge

4. Could the tall black figure look into the upstairs windows when it was stood up straight?

Underline the sentence in the extract that tells you the answer and circle the answer below.

YES NO

Who?

It wasn’t a human. It couldn’t be. It was four times as tall as the tallest human. It was so tall

its head was higher than the upstairs windows of the houses. Sophie opened her mouth to

scream, but no sound came out. Her throat, like her whole body, was frozen with fright.

This was the witching hour all right.

The tall black figure was coming her way. It was keeping very close to the houses across the

street, hiding in the shadowy places where there was no moonlight.

On and on it came, nearer and nearer. But it was moving in spurts. It would not stop, then it

would move on, then it would stop again.

But what on earth was it doing?

Ah-ha! Sophie could see now what it was up to. It was stopping in front of each house. It

would stop and peer into the upstairs window of each house in the street. It actually had to

bend down to peer into the upstairs windows. That’s how tall it was.

It would stop and peer in. Then it would slide on to the next house and stop again, and peer

in, and so on all along the street.

It was much closer now and Sophie could see it more clearly.

Looking at it carefully, she decided it had to be some kind of PERSON. Obviously it was not a

human. But it was definitely a PERSON.

A GIANT PERSON, perhaps.

Tips:

• Look for the key words from the question in the text

• Skim and scan the text to find the information

Inferential Questions

Read the new extract below from Chapter 2: ‘Who?’. Answer the questions below.

1. ‘Sophie watched, trembling’. Based on this sentence, how do you think Sophie feels? How can

you tell that she feels that way?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

2. ‘No noise came out.’ Is the Giant carrying a normal musical trumpet? How do you know?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Challenge

3. Mr Mercier says: ‘The Giant is wearing a black cloak to help him hide in the shadows.’ Do you

agree/disagree with him? Why do you think that?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Tips:

• Look for the key words from the question in the text

• Skim and scan the text to find the information

• Use things you already know to help you think of answers

Sophie stared hard across the misty moonlit street. The Giant (if that was what he was) was wearing a long

BLACK CLOAK.

In one hand he was holding what looked like a VERY LONG, THIN TRUMPET.

In the other hand, he held a LARGE SUITCASE.

The Giant had stopped now right in front of Mr and Mrs Goochey’s house. The Goocheys had a

greengrocer’s shop in the middle of the High Street, and the family lived above the shop. The two Goochey

children slept in the upstairs front room, Sophie knew that.

The Giant was peering through the window into the room where Michael and Jane Goochey were sleeping.

From across the street, Sophie watched and held her breath.

She saw the Giant step back a pace and put the suitcase down on the pavement. He bent over and opened

the suitcase. He took something out of it. It looked like a glass jar, one of those square ones with a screw

top. He unscrewed the top of the jar and poured what was in it into the end of the long trumpet thing.

Sophie watched, trembling.

She saw the Giant straighten up again and she saw him poke the trumpet in through the open upstairs

window of the room where the Goochey children were sleeping. She saw the Giant take a deep breath and

whoof, he blew through the trumpet.

No noise came out, but it was obvious to Sophie that whatever had been in the jar had now been blown

through the trumpet into the Goochey children’s bedroom.

What could it be?

Character profile

Finish reading Chapter 2 ‘Who?’’ below.

1. Draw a picture in the box below of the Giant. Check the word bank to remind yourself of

how the author has described the Giant.

2. Do you think that the Giant is good or bad? Why do you think that?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

3. What do you think the Giant will do next?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

As the Giant withdrew the trumpet from the window and bent down to pick up the suitcase he happened

to turn his head and glance across the street.

In the moonlight, Sophie caught a glimpse of an enormous long pale wrinkly face with the most enormous

ears. The nose was as sharp as a knife, and above the nose there were two bright flashing eyes, and the

eyes were staring straight at Sophie. There was a fierce and devilish look about them.

Sophie gave a yelp and pulled back from the window. She flew across the dormitory and jumped into her

bed and hid under the blanket.

And there she crouched, still as a mouse, and tingling all over.

Word bank

Tall as 4 ½ people

Large suitcase

Long, black coat

Long, thin trumpet

Pale, wrinkly face

Enormous ears

Bright eyes

Sharp nose

Fierce look

MATHS

Recap of previous learning

Calculate the perimeter of the following shapes:

Perimeter

*Add the lengths

of all sides

together*

8) A square has a total

perimeter of 16cm. How

long is each side of the

square?

9) A rectangle has a

perimeter of 26cm. What

could the lengths of each

side be?

10) Michael has worked out

the perimeter of an

equilateral triangle to be

17cm. Why is Michael

incorrect?

Challenge

Draw a shape with a

perimeter of 18cm.

Remember to label all sides

accurately.

Write the following times:

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Identify the fraction of the shape that is shaded:

1) 2) 3)

Addition and subtraction

No regrouping

Regrouping

25) 315 people visited Brighton

beach on Monday. An extra 132

people visited on Tuesday. How

many people went altogether on

Monday and Tuesday?

26) A fruit shop sold 145 apples on

Saturday. They also sold 423

bananas. How much fruit was sold

altogether?

27) Gary travelled 216 miles from

London to Manchester before

taking a break. An hour later he

travelled a further 151 miles. How

far had he travelled altogether?

28) 695 children attend a school.

134 of those children went on a

school trip. How many were left at

school?

25) On Wednesday 317 people

were at a holiday resort in

Crete. On Friday 164 more

people arrived for their

holiday. How many people

were now at the resort?

26) I have 632cm of string. I

cut 94cm of string off to use.

How much string is left?

Challenge

At the fabric shop I brought

238 metres of orange fabric,

100m of yellow fabric and

267m of purple fabric.

I have used 15m of the orange

fabric, 25m of yellow fabric

and 7m of purple fabric. How

many metres of fabric do I

have left in total?

Number sense`

LO - To explore addition and subtraction facts.

Fluency If I know…

50 + 25 = 75

Then I know…

25 + 50 = 75

75 – 50 = 25

75 – 25 = 50

If I know…

32 + 19 = 51

Then I know…

19 + 32 = 51

51 – 32 = 19

51 – 19 = 32

75

50

25

51

32 19

1)

2)

3)

Apply – Write the addition and subtraction sentences to match the diagram:

1) 2) 3)

100

60

40

65 34

?

110

70

?

Problem solving Reasoning

LO - To explore multiplication and division facts.

Fluency Apply Problem solving

1)

2)

Reasoning

3)

Multiplication and division challenges

\

1)

2)

3)

4)

Mollie had 28 flowers. She gave

one quarter of the flowers to her

nan. How many does she have

left?

LO - To solve multiplication and division word problems

Maths activities to do at home:

1. http://ictgames.com/funkyMummy/index.html - Funky mummy game

• Pupils can use their addition/subtraction, multiplication and number bond

knowledge in this fun interactive game.

2. https://nrich.maths.org/6499 - Countdown game

• Use each number once to create the top bigger number

• Use +, -, x and ÷ knowledge to get closest to the target number

• Add a challenge of a timer or another person to go against for some competitive fun

To multiply a 2-digit number by 3, 4 or 5.

No regrouping Regrouping

Example: 12 x 3

10 x 3 2 x 3

10 x 3 = 30 2 x 3 = 6

30 + 6 = 36

12 x 3 = 36

Do now

Partition these numbers into tens and ones. For example – 35

30 5

1) 27

2) 13

3) 34

4) 41

5) 58

Fluency

Work out the calculations

1. 12 x 4

2. 11 x 4

3. 32 x 3

4. 22 x 4

5. 23 x 3

Steps to success

- Partition the 2-digit number

- Times each part

- Put totals back together

Example: 14 x 5 =

10 x 5 4 x 5

10 x 5 = 50 4 x 5 = 20

50 + 20 = 70

14 x 5 = 70

Apply

Work out the calculations

1. 13 x 4 =

2. 25 x 3 =

3. 32 x 5 =

4. 16 x 3 =

5. 28 x 4 =

Problem solving

Work out the missing numbers

1. 13 x ____ = 39

2. ___ x 4 = 84

3. 17 x ____ = 68

4. 15 x ____ = 75

5. ____ x 3 = 48

Reasoning

Milly has calculated 34 x 4

What has Milly done wrong?

What should the answer be?

Challenge

WRITING - Instructions

The BFG by Roald Dahl

LO: To explore the key features of instructions

How to write instructions- https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/roi-au-l-53325-procedural-writing-powerpoint

What is an imperative verb?

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t2-e-5030-imperative-verbs-activity-powerpoint

Familiarise yourself with the key

features of instructions!

Lesson 1- Knowledge phase

LO: To identify the key features of instructions

Lesson 2- Skills phase

LO: To identify and use imperative verbs

What is an imperative verb?

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/t2-e-5030-

imperative-verbs-activity-powerpoint

Lesson 3- Skills phase

LO: To identify different types of adverbs and their

purpose in instructions

An adverb tells you where, why or how something is done. e.g.

Camilla crossed the road safely. Saffie’s horse bravely jumped over the

hurdle. The Moroccan man rode his camel everywhere.

Sort the adverbs and add your own examples

We need to include two types of

adverbs when we are writing

instructions.

Time ordering adverbs-

First, next, then, later

Adverbs that tell us how to do an

action-

Quickly, slowly, carefully

Find the adverbs in the

following text →

Lesson 4- Authorial stage

LO: To write my instructions

Read this extract from our Summer term book, the BFG by Roald Dahl. We are going to write

instructions for how to catch a dream! Use your checklist to underline what equipment you will need

and the steps to catching a

dream.

Use the features checklist

and this template to help you

write your instructions.

Clip of the scene from the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nxya6WjjJI

Method

SCIENCE

LO: To identify objects which are transparent, translucent and opaque.

Do now

New learning:

An object that is transparent allows all

light to pass through. For example, a

glass window.

An object that is transparent allows

some light to pass through. For example,

a plastic carton.

An object that is opaque allows no light

to pass through. For example, a brick.

Can you think of any other examples for each

category?

Activity 1

Match the key vocabulary to

the correct image:

Transparent

Opaque

Translucent

Activity 2

Write your name on some paper.

Hold objects from your house over the writing and identify

whether the object is transparent, translucent or opaque.

Transparent – You can see your whole name clearly

Translucent – You can partly see your name but not clearly

Opaque – You cannot see your name at all

Fill in the table with the objects you used

Transparent Translucent Opaque

Miss Allen

Develop learning:

When light hits an opaque object, the light cannot pass

through and therefore a shadow is created:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z8vfb9q

Shadows can vary in size depending on how close the

light source is. You may notice your shadow changes

depending on the time of day.

Activity 3

Use a light source in

your home: Lamp, the sun outside

/through a window, a torch

Create some shadows

using your

hands/objects.

You could even

draw around

shadows of

different things.

PSHE/LIFE SKILLS

LO: To understand what an emergency is and what to do.

New learning:

An emergency is a situation which causes a risk to

someone’s health or welfare and cannot be dealt

with using normal available resources.

Sort the scenarios into the Venn diagram for

emergency and non-emergency.

The middle section is for situations that could turn

into an emergency.

To sort:

Fell and cut knee

Cat stuck in tree

Stranger in the playground

Fire in your kitchen

Car breaks down

Parent not waking up

Can you add anymore?

For the non-emergencies,

how could you solve those

problems? Develop learning:

When in an emergency situation, it is important to make yourself as safe as possible.

1) Find a safe space – this may be inside or outside

2) Listen to appropriate adults if available

3) Call 999 if you need urgent help from professionals. Non-emergency

- Police

- Fire service

- Ambulance You will need to know your full address and the reason for calling.

Emergency Non-emergency

When to call 999

https://videopress.com/v/TOg

x8yM0

Remember – only use 999 in

an emergency

Activity

Create a poster to help others know

what an emergency is and what to do if

you ever find yourself in an emergency.

Remember to use:

-Facts

-Important information

-Images for those who cannot read

Geography

Earlier in Year 3, we learnt about Europe. Let’s see what you can remember!

Next to the numbers write down the countries to match the flags.

Any that you can’t remember, carry out some research online.

Challenge 1 – Next to the letters (a-i) write down the capital city of each country (use the internet or an

ATLAS).

Challenge 2 – Find another European flag online and draw a picture of it. Send it to your teacher on DOJO

messenger and see if they can figure out which country it belongs to! Alternatively, test an adult in your

house.