Contents of Short!
Week 1 Monday Comprehension 1
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Possible Features of a Mystery Story
 Setting – where the mystery takes place
 Characters - detective (person trying to solve the mystery)
- suspect(s) (person/people who may have committed the
crime, caused the problem, etc.)
- witness(es) (person/people who saw the thing that
happened)
 Plot – usually includes one of the following:
- a problem that needs to be solved
- an event that cannot be explained
- a secret
- something that is lost or missing
- a crime that has been committed
 Clues – hints that can help the reader (and the detective) solve the
mystery (could be things people say or do, objects that are found, etc.)
 Red Herrings – distractions or false clues that lead the reader (or
detective) off track making it more difficult to solve the mystery
 Opening – character(s) are introduced and the reader finds out about
the problem (could be dialogue, action or description)
 Middle – attempts to solve the mystery, clues, red herrings, etc.
 Ending – the mystery is solved!
 Paragraphs
 Adverbials of time, place and number linking paragraphs
Week 1 Tuesday Comprehension 2
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Room for One More
(from Short! By Kevin Crossley-Holland)
How difficult it was to sleep in that strange bed! She wrestled with the
duvet and thumped the pillow; she turned her back on the flimsy curtains;
she wished she had never come up to London.
At midnight she heard the grandfather clock whirr and strike; and then she
heard the gravel in the driveway crunch. At once she jumped out of bed and
crossed the room and just peeped between the curtains.
What she could see was a gleaming black hearse. But there was no coffin in
it, and no flowers. No, the hearse was packed out with living people: a crush
of talking, laughing, living people.
Then the driver of the hearse looked straight up at her, as she peeped
between the curtains.
‘There’s room for one more.’ That’s what he said. She could hear his voice
quite clearly. Then she tugged the curtains so they crossed over, and ran
back across the room, and jumped into bed, and pulled the duvet up over
the head. And when she woke up next morning, she really wasn’t sure
whether it was all a dream or not.
What do you think happened next? Write your prediction here.
Week 1 Tuesday Comprehension 2
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Spelling lists
Some possible words:
k know, knight, knife, knowledge, knee, knocked, knuckle, knead
w write, wrestle, wrinkle, wrong, sword, answer, two, wrench
g gnome, gnat, gnaw, gnarled, gnash, sign, foreign, resign, champagne,
design
t thistle, whistle, castle, butcher, mortgage, listen, nestle, ballet, match
b doubt, comb, lamb, thumb, plumber, debtor, subtle
n solemn, autumn, damn, column, hymn
h ghost, white, rhythm, hour, honest, honour, heir, gherkin, myrrh, rhyme
s island, aisle, isle, viscount, debris
l talk, half, calm, salmon, should, could, psalm
u guest, guess, guard, tongue, guitar, guarantee
Week 1 Wednesday Transcription 1
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Spelling lists in order of difficulty:
knee
wrong
sign
castle
calm
autumn
ghost
isle
comb
guard
knuckle
answer
resign
whistle
salmon
hymn
honour
aisle
doubt
guitar
knead
wrench
foreign
mortgage
psalm
solemn
rhythm
viscount
debtor
guarantee
knee
wrong
sign
castle
calm
autumn
ghost
isle
comb
guard
knuckle
answer
resign
whistle
salmon
hymn
honour
aisle
doubt
guitar
knead
wrench
foreign
mortgage
psalm
solemn
rhythm
viscount
debtor
guarantee
knee
wrong
sign
castle
calm
autumn
ghost
isle
comb
guard
knuckle
answer
resign
whistle
salmon
hymn
honour
aisle
doubt
guitar
knead
wrench
foreign
mortgage
psalm
solemn
rhythm
viscount
debtor
guarantee
Week 1 Wednesday Transcription 1
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Adverbials
For each sentence, write 3 new sentences adding a different type of adverbial (word,
phrase or clause) each time to make it more interesting. If possible add them at the
front of the sentence. The first one has been done for you. The adverbial can tell the
reader when, where or how something happened
The city was empty.
Suddenly, the city was empty.
Early the next morning, the city was empty.
After all the excitement in the evening, the city was empty.
The driver got out of his truck.
The lift in the big store dropped.
She went shopping.
The girl got ready to go to school.
Sam jumped up and walked round the back of the car.
She opened her homework book.
The hook was swinging.
The butterflies flew.
Extension: Adverbials can be moved within a sentence without changing the meaning
of the sentence, though sometimes it changes the emphasis. Can you change the
position of the adverbial in five of your sentences without changing the meaning?
Week 1 Thursday Grammar 1
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Hunted
He was running and running, crashing through the branches and tripping
over the tree roots. The mice and the shrews were rushing out of his way,
the heavy footfalls warning them, scuttling under cover amongst the dead
leaves and moss of the forest floor. A badger, lolloping slowly along the
edge of the trees, turned sharply to hide in the ditch at the far end of the
meadow adjoining the wood. And an owl, swooping and soaring low over
the bracken, wheeled around and screeched a warning to the other
animals, “Skee-at, skee-at.”
The man’s breath was coming in short sharps bursts. He was bending over
as he ran, almost crouching and keeping his head down, clutching his side.
He cared not at all as the brambles scratched his coat, legs and face, and
the low-lying branches of the smaller trees slapped him as he passed. He
was running blindly, dashing hither and thither through the forest. But he
was also searching, desperately seeking something, a sign, a small
indication.
And then, suddenly, the reason for the man’s panic became apparent to the
watching stoats and weasels, sitting on their hind-legs, front paws in the air,
ready to run if need be. Behind the trees, marching down across the
meadow and heading rapidly towards the wood, were five soldiers. They
were jogging, holding their guns, great grey coats flapping around their dark
boots, chains clinking at their waists. The badger, too frightened to move,
crouching stock-still in the ditch between the meadow and the wood, could
still hear the crashing sounds of the man’s wild, erratic race through the
trees.
One of the soldiers gave a quick shout, “Hoy!” He jumped smartly over the
ditch, and the others followed, leaping after him, narrowly missing the
badger’s broad, grey, striped back. At the sound of the soldier’s bark, the
running sounds in the forest ceased abruptly. The soldiers halted at the
edge of the trees. They listened. There was silence. A soft scurrying sound
told the stoats and weasels that the badger had gone to earth. An owl
passed screeching overhead. The branches of the trees creaked gently, and
the leaves whispered amongst themselves, as they painted the night sky an
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
ever darker velvet blue. The moon had long since set, and a few stars were
twinkling overhead. It was the hour before dawn, the dead time of the
night, when only the hunted and the hunter are awake.
The man stood, poised for flight, beside a large oak tree. He tried to control
his gasping breaths, holding his mouth open and drawing in the air in great
silent gulps. His heart was pounding so loudly he thought it affected the
entire forest, creating a deep thumping beat, which seemed to vibrate
through the trees. As he stood, frozen in time and space, it seemed to him
that all the animals were similarly petrified. Nothing moved. Not even a
mouse stirred on the leaf-strewn floor. A fox stood at the edge of the
clearing, a dead rabbit at its feet, and a deer paused, head lowered, eyes
wide, as it listened for danger.
Suddenly the soldiers moved. “This way!” the captain called, and he pushed
the bracken aside and started running in great bounding steps towards the
centre of the wood. At the same moment, the man saw it. There it was. The
sign for which he had been searching. He ran forward, past the petrified
deer, and to the side of the clearing. There was a glint of metal, a gleam of
gold beneath the leaves. The hunted man scrambled and pulled. A trap door
sprang open and, in the nick of time, he slithered inside and pulled it shut
behind him. There was a soft click, and the leaves stirred.
The soldiers came crashing into the clearing. Just as they skidded to a halt,
right beside the oak tree where the hunted man had stood not a minute
earlier, the deer shifted. Quietly, and with slow steps, it turned and moved,
coming to stand right over the trap door, and completely covering the flat
golden handle once more with leaves and earth. The deer stood there. The
soldiers stared at it. They peered around the clearing and then shone
torches into all the dark corners. Finally, holding their torches high, they
turned and started searching further along the other side of the trees.
The deer quivered. Hunter or hunted. It knew the score. It took a side. After
a while, it turned and leapt effortlessly away, out of the trees and across the
meadow. It had saved a man’s life.
Week 1 Friday Comprehension 3
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Questions about ‘Hunted’
1. What sort of opening does the story have? Dialogue, action or
description?
2. After the second paragraph pause & take it in turns to predict what
you think the man is looking for.
3. Find and note one or more examples of alliteration that the writer has
used for effect.
4. Underline any adverbials that you identify. Use one colour for those at
the start of a paragraph or sentence and another colour for those
placed elsewhere in the sentence.
5. What do you notice about the length of the sentences? When does
the writer use long sentences? Short sentences?
6. Give a reason why the writer began a new paragraph on each
occasion.
7. What does petrified mean?
8. List the verbs that the writer used when the man or the animals
moved.
Week 1 Friday Comprehension 3
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Story Pegs
Hunted
1. Man running through the forest where there were
badger & owl
2. The way man was running & looking
3. Soldiers appear in nearby field, badger frightened
4. Soldiers reach edge of forest, owl hears badger
5. Man by oak tree & deer (mouse, & fox)
6. Soldiers move & man spots sign & moves
7. Soldiers reach clearing, deer moves
Week 1 Friday Comprehension 3
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Useful Adverbials
Answer: Where? When? (How? Why?)
Indicate time, place, number (manner, reason)
Later
Early next morning
In the following week
Next day
Two hours later
The following day
Before
Immediately
Therefore
At the weekend
In the cupboard
In the middle of town
Surprisingly
Under the bed
Once
Earlier
In a few minutes
Along the road
In front of the bank
Thirdly
Twice
At last
On top of the shelves
Beside the bookcase
Secondly
Then
Yesterday
By the telephone
Firstly
Suddenly
As soon as
Every other day
In the vase
Later that evening
In the meantime
Afterwards
During the night
Lastly
Week 2 Monday Grammar 2
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A
Finally
Two paragraphs from Room for One More
taken from Short! by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Opening paragraph
How difficult it was to sleep in that strange bed! She wrestled with
the duvet and thumped the pillow; she turned her back on the
flimsy curtains; she wished she had never come up to London.
Sixth paragraph
That day, she went shopping. In the big store, she did Levis
Jeanswear on the fifth floor; she did Adidas Sportswear and that
was on the sixth floor; and then she did cosmetics and that was on
the seventh floor. Carrying two bags in each hand, she walked over
to the lift. But when the bell pinged and the doors opened, she saw
the lift was already jammed full with people.
Week 2 Thursday Grammar 4
© Original plan copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users.
Y5/6 Spr F Plan 3A