1

Skellig

By David Almond
Year 8 (Top sets)

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Skellig – By David Almond

Year 8 (top sets)
Aims:
® Select information and compare and synthesise information drawn from different texts.
® Write in a range of forms.
® Use writing for thinking and learning.
® Take notes from written and oral sources, summarising carefully and reporting accurately.
® Respond both imaginatively and intellectually to the substance of what they read.
® Analyse and engage with ideas.
® Extract meaning beyond the literal.
® Develop their ability to write narrative by drawing on their experience of good writing.

Objectives:
Word
® Spelling: review, consolidate and secure spelling conventions
® Investigate lexical patterns in new vocabulary
® Review and develop their ability to recognise links between words related by word families
and roots.
® Understand and use key terms that help to describe language.
® Extend the range of prepositions and connectives used to indicate purpose.
® Appreciate the impact of figurative language on texts.
® recognise how the degree of formality influence word choice.
Sentence
® Combine clauses into complex sentences.
® Explore the impact of a variety of sentence structures.
® Adapt the stylistic conventions of the main non-fiction text types to fit different
audiences and purposes.
Text
® Combine information from various sources into one coherent document.
® Undertake independent research using a range of reading strategies.
® Make notes in different ways.
® Review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a
range of reading strategies.
® Trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts.
® Investigate the different ways familiar themes are explored and presented by different
writers.
® Read a substantial text.
® Identify links between literary heritage texts and their times.
® Recognise how texts refer to and reflect the culture in which they were produced.
® Plan, draft and present.
® Write to imagine, explore and entertain.
® Write to inform, explain and describe.
® Write to review and comment.
® Group discussion
® Make a formal presentation/ ask questions to clarify understanding and refine ideas.

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Key Assignments for Assessment

® Character Study on Skellig (lesson 11)
® Debate on Education (Lesson 15)
® Book Review (Lesson 18)

Duration: 18 lessons (approx) 6 t0 7 weeks.

LESSON ONE
Introduction
® Explain that research is going to be done in the library.
® Pool ideas as to where and how information can be found.
® Work is going to be done on Greek Mythology, so discuss where they could
look.

Group work (20 minutes)

® Put classes into groups. Explain that at the end of their research, one
person is going to sum up what they have found and explain it to the class.
One person should also be responsible for making notes.
® Subjects are as follows:
• What was Archaeopteryx? Why is it important?
• What is evolution and who is associated with it?
• Who was Peresphone and why did she eat pomegranates?
• Who was William Blake and what did he think about school?
• What are angels?
• What is arthritis/ what are owl pellets?
• Why can’t humans fly? Who was Icarus?
® Once the groups have found their information they should sit in their groups
and make sure everyone in that group has a copy of what has been found.

Class activity (20 minutes)

® The speaker from the group is going to move to each group and explain what
they have discovered. All members of the groups must make notes.

Plenary
® Discuss what links are there between each of the questions? Homework
should be to find connections and be prepared to talk about them to the
class.

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LESSON TWO
Resources: William Blake’s poetry (pupils should stick these in their books
for use later on in the scheme)
Introduction
® Discuss links found from their research in the library.
® Focus on William Blake and what is known about him.
® Explain the focus of the lesson will be on William Blake’s poetry about
childhood.

Group /Class work

® Read the four poems together as a class and talk briefly about each one.
® Discuss which one is liked the most.
® Explain that the poems guide the reader through Skellig. In pairs, pupils
work out an outline of the story.
® Feedback their opinions.

Class work
® Look closely at The Schoolboy.
® What impression is given of school in the poem.
® Recap on metaphors. What metaphors do they notice in the poem? List them
on the board.

Plenary
® What have they learnt about William Blake’s attitude to school and how has
he expressed it?

Homework: Pupils do one illustration from the poem and write the lines that go
with it underneath.

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LESSON THREE.
Resource: Information on Skellig Michael (OHT)
Copy of Opening Chapter
The Garage - worksheet

Introduction
® Brainstorm any ideas they might have of the meaning of Skellig. Look at
worksheet and discuss what a book might be about that takes that name.
® Discuss what makes a successful opening chapter.
® Write list on board and introduce pupils to the term ‘exposition’.

Class/group activity
® Read the opening chapter together.
® Focus on the opening sentence. What questions are raised by it? Are they
answered by the paragraph that follows? What is unusual about him?
® Look closely at the description of the house. Get pupil reaction to it.
® Focus on language in the second last paragraph. There is a good opportunity
to revise adjectives here and other parts of speech that they will need to
know.

Individual work
® Give pupils sheet of The Garage. From the list of words, they have to
produce a poem of 14 lines, 2 stanzas. Each line must have between 6 and 8
syllables.
® This can be finished for homework.

Plenary
® Recap on the importance of the opening of a book. Discuss how they could
relate that to their own writing.

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LESSON FOUR
Resources: The text.

Introduction
® Recap on what has been learnt about Michael and his life so far. What
impression have they got of him as a character?

Shared Reading (20 minutes)

® Read from chapter 2 to the end of chapter 6, discussing and commenting on
whatever is interesting. Check for understanding and talk about Michael’s
character.
® Focus on the last paragraph of chapter 6 and discuss what methods have
been used to create tension. Start with plot, move onto setting, then look at
sentence structure and language.

Class work/Individual work (20 minutes)

® Write on the board: ‘How does the author create tension before Michael
sees the man in the Garage for a second time?’
® Explain how pupils will justify their opinions. Model a few examples for
them.
® Pupils write a paragraph on each of the areas discussed earlier and provide
one quote to prove what they say.
® Pupils give their work for someone else to read. Ask for volunteers to read
out work and comment on what is successful in their writing.

Plenary
® Pupils will be writing their own extract of dramatic writing. Ask pupils to
explain what they need to do to make it sound exciting and tense.

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LESSON FIVE
Resource: Last paragraph, chapter 6 (pupil sheet and oht)
Introduction
® Discuss the different methods used to create tension in Skellig. Explain
that this is good writing and it is useful for them to adopt it in their own
writing.
® Set the following scenario: A young boy/girl is returning to a house where
she/he thinks he saw a ghost. They are to write one paragraph only to
describe him/her entering the house and beginning to walk up the stairs.

Group Work/ Shared Reading (10-15 minutes)

® Give pupils a copy of the last paragraph of chapter 6. Have a copy on the
OHT. Do a close, detailed analysis of the paragraph. Break down the
sentences and look at images/descriptions that conjure up mood.
® Pupils are to use this as a framework for their own writing.

Individual work
® Pupils write their own paragraph.
® Once finished, they pass it to the person sitting next to them to check for
accuracy. Remind the class of key trouble spots: punctuation, capital letters
etc.
® When the paragraph is returned, they write it out neatly and analyse what
they have done to create tension, marking their work in the same way David
Almond’s work has been marked/annotated.
® This should be handed in.

Plenary
® Class discussion on what pupils have learnt, what has been easy and what has
been difficult.

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LESSON SIX
Resource Comprehension worksheet
The Text
Introduction
® Explain they are going to be reading chapters 7 and 8, answering questions
on their own. The questions get harder and they most take notice of the
amount of marks available for each question. This will guide how much they
write.
® Remind them that certain questions demand proof of what they say. Look
out for key words like ‘How….?’ , ‘Explain….’ ‘What impression do you get…?’

Individual work
® Pupils will not be allowed to ask any questions or talk once the task is begun.
If they finish early, they must continue reading the story. (Books will be
issued for one night only to do their homework.)

Plenary
® Remind pupils that in exams, one of the key skills is identifying the kind of
response needed from certain questions. There are words that they must
look out for.

Homework: Read to end of page 26

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LESSON SEVEN
Resource Activity sheet

Introduction
® Recap on what pupils have read for homework.
® Explain the focus of the lesson is going to be on descriptive writing. If the
unit on descriptive writing has been done already, elicit from the pupils ways
that a writer can create vivid characters.

Class Activity/ Individual work

® Give out sheet for pupils to work through. Remind of different parts of
speech and put definitions (given by the class) on the board.
® Pupils should be given about 15 minutes to complete the sheet. Feedback
answers or collect in.

Class Activity
® Prepare pupils for a piece of descriptive writing. Brainstorm the following
ideas
Face
Body
Clothes
Eating Habits
Speech
Pupils should then write a paragraph describing the character to someone
who has never seen it. It should be carefully re-drafted and illustrated.
They could begin I thought he/she was dead but…

Homework: Pupils should finish this work.

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LESSON EIGHT
Resource: Skellig
Introduction
® Recap on story so far and expectations.

Class Activity
® Shared reading of chapters 11 and 12. Make sure you pick up the connection
with angels. Where the first idea comes from and how it is developed
through the chapters. Why do they think this is being done by the writer.
Is there a character they can relate it to?

Individual/pair work
® Pupils make notes on angels through the text so far. This should be done in
the form of a flow diagram. ( Icarus, page 11; Skellig pg 25; conversation
with mum pg 31 & 32.

Plenary
® Discuss the term theme. Ask pupils to imagine what the theme of the book
might be. A starting point might be to compare Michael and the man in the
garage’s life at present. Are there any similarities or differences?

LESSON NINE
Resource: Skellig
You can’t just sit there like you’re waiting to die OHT

Introduction
® Remind of the term theme and brainstorm the ideas they brought up in the
previous lesson.

Class Activity/ pair work

® Read chapter 13 and 14 together.
® Close reading of an extract from chapter 14. Encourage pupils to make
notes on it, underlining powerful verbs, interesting sentence construction
and ideas that connect. Allow pupils to do most of the work here. They
should relate what they recognise in the extract to the rest of the text.
® Feedback.

Plenary
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® Discuss subtext. What is really going on behind Michael’s plea to the man to
live. Why does he seem so desperate for the man to live?

Homework: Read Chapter 15 and 16

LESSON TEN
Resource: Skellig

Introduction
® Recap on what has been read for homework. Discuss the man’s character,
brainstorming it on the board.

Class Activity
® Prepare class to write a character analysis on the man in the garage. Ellicit
from the class what they should write in each paragraph.
® For each paragraph they should consider writing a topic sentence followed
by exemplification and development. They should also be encouraged to
connect the paragraphs carefully.

Pair work
® For each paragraph, they should find suitable quotes from the text and
consider how they illustrate the points they are making. Once they have
found the quotes they should begin to develop commenting on the quotation.
It might be worth modelling a couple of their examples for them.

Individual work
® Using the quotes and the plan, pupils should write their character study in
rough first.

Homework: Pupils should redraft the character study.

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LESSON ELEVEN
Resource: Skellig
Dictionaries

Introduction (10 minutes)

® The focus of the lesson will be on word endings using two or three words
taken from the text. From these, pupils will work out the rules of adding
suffixes to certain endings.
® Brainstorm the meaning of the word suffix. Give the word Develop. Ask
for a definition first. Then ask pupils to add as many suffixes as they can.
For each one they should think about what has changed (tense/meaning)

Class Activity
® Read chapter Seventeen.
® Discuss the differences between Michael’s schooling and Mina’s. What
argument has been presented for Mina’s home tuition versus Michael going
to school. Which do they agree with?

Pair work
® Give pupils four words from the text: evolution, adapt, anatomy, enable.
Using dictionaries they should find the root word or say whether it is the
root word. They should write down a definition and then add suffixes.
® Those who finish early should start looking for any other words that are
made up partly from the root word: eg devolve, revolve etc.
® Feedback.

Class work
® Look closely at the word endings: what changes are there? Pupils should
then consider writing rules to guide them in word endings that change when
a suffix is added. eg: enable – enabling etc.

Plenary
® Write up the rules for word endings on the board. These should go in the
back of their exercise books.
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LESSON TWELVE

Starter Activity (10 minutes)

® Give pupils seven words (below). Pupils then have to hold up a cross or a tick
if they think there is a word ending change. For example, enable – enabling
would have a tick. Ask one pupil who has got it write to explain the rule.
Words: imagine squeak dress draw
believe bone skeleton.
Suffixes: -ing -s/es -ed -ment

Introduction
® Recap on the story so far. Prediction exercise: will Michael tell Mina about
the man in the garage? Why?

Class Activity
® Shared reading. Chapter 18 – 21
® Discuss what makes Mina extraordinary. Brainstorm different adjectives to
describe her and then find proof in the text to back up what is said.
® Remind class of the different sentence structures they can use to explain
their impression of Mina. For example: I think Mina is extraordinary
because….; Mina’s behaviour is special as she ….; As well as being very clever,
Mina is…. etc.
® Write down any strong structures use by the pupils. They should make a
note of these in the back of their books.

Plenary
® Discuss the importance of the correct tone when explaining ideas. Pupils
should offer advice on how to write to explain, inform and describe.

Homework: Read to the end of Chapter 24

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LESSON THIRTEEN/ LESSON FOURTEEN

Resources Skellig, Worksheet of useful words.

Introduction
® Discuss what has been read for homework. Ask pupils what Skellig meant
about wanting to go home. Where do they think home is? Explain about the
Archangel Michael and his role as a protector of good over evil. Could this
fit into the character in the book?

Class activity/Shared Reading (10 - 15 minutes)

® Read Chapter 25. Who does the old lady mean about the friend? What does
she mean she’s going home soon and why does she connect that to her
friend? What do they know about ‘Lord of the Dance’? Who is the Lord of
the Dance?
® Read Chapters 26 to 29.

Pair Work (10 minutes)

® Pupils work in pairs to list the arguments for and against school, as opposed
to being educated at home. They should find examples from the text and
think what the writer is trying to get across. They should also look back at
the poems they studied from William Blake for information.
® Feedback to the class.

Class Activity
® Discuss the purpose of debates. Get some idea on the board as to what a
debate is and how it is set up. Introduce the idea of opposing ideas,
statements and questions.
® Ask the class to divide into for, against and maybe. Out of the maybes,
choose a chairman and the rest are to be question askers. Look for
volunteers among the other groups for speakers.
® Give out work sheet and then, in groups of 6, pupils prepare statements
which express and prove their point of view. They should use examples from
the book as well as their own ideas.
® Remind the class of the importance of language and tone.
® Those who have no opinion, should explain why.

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Plenary
® Elicit from the pupils the purpose of debates etc. Recap! Ask if there have
been any problems with preparations.
® Homework should be to prepare for the debate. Give one lesson over for the
debate. Make sure time is left over for self-assessment.

LESSON FIFTEEN
Resources: The Text
OHT of opening paragraph of Chapter 31
Worksheet - Words that can help you write complex sentences

Introduction
® Re-cap on what has been read before and what pupils imagine will happen
next.

Shared Reading
® Read Chapters 30 and 31. It might be an idea to discuss what his happening
to Skellig, why he seems to be coming back to life.
® Put up OHT of the opening paragraph of Chapter 31.
® Look at the sentence structure: it is predominantly short, simple sentences.
® Ask pupils to suggest different kinds of sentences that could be used that
would be longer. What could they add?

Class Activity
® Explain they are going to make the first three sentences into one complex
sentence. Give out the worksheet. Model how to begin the complex
sentence with ‘although’ as the beginning word.
® Ask pupils to look at the list of words and see if they can do the same with
another word on the list.
® Look at the next to sentences and model how to begin the sentence with a
verb. e.g. ‘Blundering through the dark, we held hands and stretched out our
free hands out in front of us.’
® Ask them to begin the ‘new’ sentence with a different verb from the
original.
® There is useful opportunity here to discuss subordinate clauses, commas and
other helpful punctuation.

Individual work
® Pupils re-write the opening paragraph, focusing on using complex sentence
structures. They can alter the order of the sentences and add similes,
metaphors and imagery as they wish.

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® Feedback.

Plenary
® Discuss the importance of varying sentence structure and the different
qualities of simple and complex sentences.
Homework: Pupils write out their extract on a piece of paper for display.

LESSON SIXTEEN
Resource Skellig
William Blake’s The Angel and on OHT

Introduction
® Recap on the story so far and discuss Skellig’s improvements. Elicit from
the pupils what they remember about what improvements and what had
happened to Michael and Mina in the last chapter.

Shared Reading
® Read chapters 32 – 24.
® Give out copies of The Angel. They should remember it from last time.
® Go through a close reading of a poem and annotate on the OHT with them.
Pupils should be encouraged to look for the theme of the poem. They should
also focus on the tone/mood of the poem

Plenary
® Recap on what they have learnt from the poem.

Homework: Read chapters 35 to 38.

LESSON SEVENTEEN
Resource: Skellig

Introduction
® Recap on what was read for homework or do a quick comprehension test on
it.

Shared Reading
® Put class into groups. Explain that in their groups they are going to read the
next three chapters (39,40,41) and find out what happened to the baby.
When they finish they must be prepared to talk to the class about it.
® Those who finish first should consider the incident from Skellig’s
perspective. They can work in groups or on their own.
® Feedback to the class.

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Individual Work
® Pupils write the incident from Skellig’s perspective.

Plenary
® Hear what pupils have written so far and highlight good ideas for the class.

Homework: Finish work in neat.

LESSON EIGHTEEN
Resource: Skellig
Book Review

Introduction
® Brainstorm what’s going to happen in the last few chapters. What do they
think will happen to Skellig and to Michael?

Class Activity/Shared Reading

® Finish reading the book.
® At the end discuss who they think Skellig was and where he’s going.

Class Activity
® Brainstorm what they know about book reviews. What kind of problems are
faced when writing book reviews? What is the purpose of a book review.
® Read the example of writing a book review. (From Buddy)
® Ask pupils to say what they think is good about it, Pupils should use the
review as a plan for their own writing. They should work out what each
number illustrates in the review and consider whether they should use the
same/similar information in their own review.

Individual work
® Pupils begin planning their own review of Skellig.

The final lesson should be used for finishing and illustrating the book review.

Copyright © 2000 - 2002 FRET Limited. (www.english-teaching.co.uk) Permission granted to reproduce for
your own non-commercial individual teaching and learning purposes only.