Literacy – Years 5-6
(ages 9-11)
School Closure Learning Programme
3 of 10 days
Sherlock Holmes and The Red-Headed
Gang - A Victorian mystery
Activity 1
Introduction
Today’s work will focus on reading more of the story and looking at the main character,
Sherlock Holmes.
What to do
http://stories2.lgfl.org.uk/
Carry on with the story until you reach this page...
Spend time investigating the three areas of the story by clicking on the three different
pictures.
Add anything you find that is interesting to your detective notebook that you started
yesterday.
Questions you could ask:
What has happened so far?
What further clues have you discovered?
Who is acting suspiciously?
Activity 2
Introduction
The Main Character – The Detective
A good detective story has an interesting main character like Sherlock Holmes.
What to do
As part of your planning for your own mystery story you are going to have to think about who
the main character is.
You will need to invent your own detective character.
Draw a picture of him or her and use notes and labels to annotate the picture with
information about them.
Write a paragraph or two to describe your detective.
Questions you could ask
What is his or hers name?
How is your detective dressed?
How does your detective behave?
Where does your detective live?
Extension Activity
Introduction
Many detectives in stories have an assistant to help them with their work. Sherlock Holmes
had an assistant called Doctor Watson. Doctor Watson had different skills to Sherlock
Holmes that enabled him to be a great help to Sherlock in his investigations.
What to do
Invent an assistant for your detective. Write a paragraph to describe your assistant.
Re-read some of the story and look at how it is written. Look at how the author makes use of
language for description. Try to write your description in the same style as Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle
Questions you could ask:
What different skills does your assistant have that could be useful?
What language skills did you use to write your description in the style of Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle?
What words have you used that show that the story was set i Victorian times?