This narrative writing KS2 WAGOLL pack includes an extract from The Pirate’s Dragon by Liz Flanagan, plus teaching notes and worksheets.
Use these resources to help you teach a narrative writing KS2 lesson on how to show important events through a character’s eyes.
Thoughts and feelings
Many of us will have experienced – or know someone who’s spoken of – an event that was so important that time seemed to slow, and sights and sounds stood out in pin-sharp detail.
When authors use such occasions in their stories, they frequently convey the life-altering nature of the moment through the perceptions, thoughts and feelings of a key character, and this puts us in that person’s place, experiencing the importance almost as if we were there.
We are helped to see things not as they really are, but as they appear through the filter of ultra-focus; we read of her/his fluttering stomach or shortness of breath – that outsiders know nothing of – and we get how they feel.
We learn of the yearning and fear, and the backstory that makes this person who they are, and we understand just how vital the unfolding event is.
This resource pack will help you guide KS2 children through the process of analysing a crucial scene from Liz Flanagan’s gripping novel The Pirate’s Dragon (the third book in her Legends of the Sky series), in which newly-hatched dragons choose a young human with whom to bond.
The resources will support the understanding of techniques children can then select, in order to create their own key event, described through a character’s eyes.
This process will enhance broader study of the whole novel, or simply increase enjoyment of it as a class story (it really is an exciting and rewarding read).
Alternatively, the extract may be used in isolation, as a means for teaching advanced authorial techniques – and it might even inspire children to read the novel – indeed, the trilogy – for themselves!
Narrative writing KS2 resources
This download contains:
- Worksheets
- Extract
- Poster
- Planning sheet and image ideas
- Working wall resources
- Teacher notes
What is The Pirate’s Dragon about?
The Pirate’s Dragon tells the story of two children who seem like opposites in almost every way. Serina is the daughter of the rulers of Arcosi. She’s just bonded with a fragile baby dragon, when pirates raid her island and steal the eggs – and her hatchling!
She doesn’t hesitate: she leaps on the pirate’s dragon and gets carried away to a strange new island where they do things very differently.
Meanwhile, Raff Sparrowhawk is waiting anxiously on Skull Island for his mother, the pirate queen, to return with the eggs. Why should the people of Arcosi have all the dragons, especially after what they did?
Author notes
I wanted to explore how two people can go from being enemies to being friends. Having two voices, with opposite points of view, made the story a challenge and a joy to write.
Serina is a confident, privileged person, who must learn to survive on Skull Island, keeping her identity hidden. But beneath all her good fortune, she’s actually lonely and isolated. As she and Raff care for their baby dragons, Serina makes her first true friend.
The children begin to trust and respect each other. This helps them both to question their side of the story, and Raff finds the courage to challenge his strong mother for the first time. But Serina is keeping secrets from Raff – and they all come to light in very dramatic ways! Will he still trust her, when he knows the truth?
It’s a dramatic adventure, with a cast of dragon-riders and pirates, but at the heart of the story is a question that’s been on my mind lately: how do we talk to people we disagree with and find a way of seeing through their eyes? How do we listen to each other, and how do we find common ground? Raff and Serina have to work together to defeat a shared threat, despite all their differences.
Liz Flanagan is an award-winning YA and children’s author. The Pirate’s Dragon (UCLan Publishing) is out now. Browse more story writing resources and more WAGOLL packs from real authors.
