Powerful Verbs and Adverbs

Powerful verbs

Every evening, soon after dark, the warning sirens wailed. Then came the awful droning of enemy aircraft overhead, and fire-bombs and explosives whined and whistled out of the sky.

Lenny Levi and his mum huddled together under the stairs. Lenny clutched the badge that his dad had given him before he went away. It was made of solid brass; a lion and a unicorn up on their hind legs, fighting each other. Lenny kept it in his pocket always where he could feel it.

Week 1

Powerful verbs and adverbs

Cautiously he pushed the door. It creaked open.

They looked at Lenny blankly as though he wasn’t there.

Lenny spent a lot of time wandering alone in the gardens where no one bothered him.

His empty trouser leg was pinned up and his crutches were propped neatly against the bench beside him.

Lions kill people. They wait in the dark and spring out at you and tear your stomach out.

He got up and peeped through the curtains. Was there something prowling about?

One afternoon Mick came across Lenny sitting hunched on a bench in the walled garden and politely failed to notice his red-rimmed eyes.

When he reached the orchard he broke into a run, weaving from one tree trunk to another, crouching low over his suitcase.

He thought he heard something moving stealthily and carefully through the grass on the other side. He listened. The whole night seemed to be breathing, purring, growling.

Week 1

The First Breakfast

The evacuees had their breakfast in a kitchen as big as the synagogue Lenny went to at home. It was warm in there but Lenny was shy and miserable. Nelly smiled at him.

There was porridge with plenty of milk and thick slices of bread and marge. But Mrs B. was cross when Lenny would not eat the bacon she gave him.

‘There’s good food wasted! I’ll not have that!’ she scolded. ‘We don’t eat bacon in our family,’ said Lenny in a low voice.

Everyone stopped eating and stared at him. Joyce’s eyes were as round and as hard as marbles. Even Winnie stopped grizzling. Lenny felt his ears turning pink. But he was stubborn. He thought of Mum and Dad and he still wouldn’t eat the bacon. In the end Mrs B. gave in and told the children to take their dirty plates into the scullery and get out from under her feet.

Week 1

Character Descriptions

Week 1

Past tense

Look at the verb in the sentence.
Look along the row and colour the correct form of its past tense
The first one is done for you!

I speak to my cat each day! / speaked / spake / spoke
I bite into my apple at playtime. / bit / bited / bote
He brings a new toy to the park every day. / bringed / brung / brought
She just keeps on annoying me! / kept / keeped / keped
I feed my dog twice a day. / feeded / fode / fed
She pays her son to mow the lawn and walk the dig. / paid / payed / pode
I forbid you to come into my bedroom! / forbidded / forbade / forbud
He stands all alone on the beach. / stund / standed / stood
I make my own lunch every day at the weekend. / made / maked / mode
The door shuts behind us with a soft thud. / shot / shutted / shut
They ride on the go-cart all day long. / rided / rode / roded
He puts the cat into the basket to go on holiday. / putted / put / poted

If you have time, re-write three of the above sentences in the past tense.

Week 1

Letter strings ‘wa’ and ‘wo’

Beginning / Middle / Ending
wa / war
wave / towards
wo / woman
wound / sword / two

wa – often makes a long flat’a’ sound. Short a is uncommon. swa is a common string. No examples at the end of words. swa can sound as if it ends with an o sound.

wo – vast majority of examples with wo at the beginning; two is the only example with wo ending. swo is about the only string which places it in the middle of words (except compound words such as waxworks or roadworthy)

Week 1

Letter strings ‘ss, ‘oo’, ‘ch’ and ‘sc’

Beginning / Middle / Ending
ss / missile
procession / discuss
miss
goodness
careless
oo / ooze / look
foot / shampoo
ch / chair
chorus / ache / arch
sc / scare / discrete / disc

Week 1

Nice sentences

What a nice T-shirt you are wearing today!

This is a nice place to stay.

Their dog is really nice.

Is that a nice book you are reading?

They have lots of nice DVDs for sale.

Well done, that’s really nice work.

The team played some nice football.

The room was nice and warm.

That’s a nice mess you’ve made!

10. We spent a nice long time there on holiday.

Week 2

Nice sentences

1. What a nice T-shirt you are wearing today!

2. This is a nice place to stay.

Their dog is really nice.

Is that a nice book you are reading?

They have lots of nice DVDs for sale.

Well done, that’s really nice work.

The team played some nice football.

The room was nice and warm.

9. That’s a nice mess you’ve made!

10. We spent a nice long time there on holiday.

Week 2

Rose Blanche

A little boy tried to escape from a broken down lorry.

Rose took extra food for her school lunch.

Long queues formed outside the shops.

Rose played with her friends and went to school.

Rose followed the lorry and took a shortcut through a forest.

The townsfolk decided to leave because they were frightened.

Rose went to the clearing in the forest and it had all changed.

Rose cheered the soldiers as they went off to war.

Rose gave the food to the children.

Weary, injured soldiers travelled through the town.

Different soldiers, who were cheerful, came into the town.

Rose saw lots of children behind a barbed wire fence.

Week 2

Time Connectives

every eveningsometimes one night

next morningfirstsoonon Monday morning

on Saturday nights on wet days that night

one afternoon laterthe next day

meanwhile thenin the beginning

many weeks later afterwards quite suddenly

in the Springstraight after that years later

no sooner had he …… than …… secondly

at last finally soonthe following year

every day each morning after

Week 2

Rose Blanche Time Line

Week 2

Five Fingers

Week 2

Week 2/3

Root Words

Add: ship, hood, ness or ment

memberfathersillynastyreplace

workman priest tidyfit state

neighbourchampionfalsewickedmove

kindknight apprenticelovely employ

manage partnerenjoyowner child

governmotherdictator fellow fair

For double suffixes:

child leftrightfool

willcareabsent

Week 2

THE EVACUEE by Arthur E. King

Can I come home now?
Can I come home now?
Can I come home now mum?
Can I come home now?

I went to the school house
A change of clothes in a sack.
We then walked to the station
But we didn't come back.

We got on to a train
It headed due south.
We got off the train
At a little town called Louth.

The war it won't last long
You'll soon be back home.
But it seems like forever
I must be brave and not moan.

You can't come back home yet
The planes they still fly,
The bombs they still fall,
and the danger's still nigh.

You'll have to be patient.
One day you'll come home.
When the war it is over
And we're all free to roam.

He was evacuated from Leeds to Lincolnshire

Week 2

Photographs to act as Stimulus 1

Bomb damage to house

Children with bombed home

Week 3

Photographs to act as Stimulus 2

Evacuee comforting others

Evacuees waiting to leave for their new homes

Week 3

Photographs to act as Stimulus 3

Group of evacuees arriving at the station

Evacuees travelling by boat

Week 3

Photographs to act as Stimulus 4

Evacuees with their host and his donkey

Mother with her children (who are about to be evacuated)

Week 3

Extract from ‘To The Seamen’

in The Little Ships

“Through the long time the story will be told;

Long centuries of praise on English lips,

Of courage godlike and of hearts of gold

Off Dunkerque beaches in the little ships.”

John Masefield, Poet Laureate, 1940

Week 3

To the Seamen

You seamen, I have eaten your hard bread

And drunken from your tin, and known your ways;

I understand the qualities I praise

Though lacking all, with only words instead,

I tell you this, that in the future time

When landsmen mention sailors, such, or such,

Someone will say "Those fellows were sublime

Who brought the Armies from the Germans' clutch."

Through the long time the story will be told;

Long centuries of praise on English lips,

Of courage godlike and of hearts of gold

Off Dunquerque beaches in the little ships.

And ships will dip their colours in salute

To you, henceforth, when passing Zuydecoote.

by John Masefield

Week 3

Dunkirk — A Tribute
My memory may fade, after long years,
But through misty eyes, the youth and the tears,
Of that glorious day, to end all sorrows,
And the many who fought, for all our tomorrows.

The memories of Dunkirk, on that infamous beach,
When the small boats of mercy seemed out of our reach,
The Battle of Britain, an attempt to subdue,
And the debt we owe, to those silent few.

To the western desert, in the heat and the sand,
Victory achieved, in the desolate land,
To the George Cross island, courageous and strong,
Through fire and hell, they lived in song.

From Monte Cassino, on the road to Rome,
Hearts becoming lighter, so closer to home.
Memories of D Day, on the Normandy coast,
The longest day, in the minds of most.

Victory day we commemorate, The Battle of Britain,
Admired by all, the heart of the nation.
Weary civilians, for their inspiration,
Let’s meet again and bring to the fore.

The tight band of friendship, returning once more,
Light up all the beacons and let us pray,
For the many who made this our special day,
While our guardians on high, as Bluebirds fly over.

Our symbol of peace, the white cliffs of Dover,
The Dunkirk spirit, which is proudly theirs,
For the spirit of freedom, we owe them our prayers,
A friendly land, a tender smile, that’s all you need to say,
Is thank you for my freedom, and thank you for today.

by George Smith

Week 3

A memory of the retreat towards Dunkirk

Oft times at night when restlessly I lie,
The thoughts of war return to me again,
And buried pictures of the past come to my eye;
I see again the days before Louvain.

A dusty road that winds through fields of corn
That ripens 'neath the early summer's sun
Is cluttered up with refugees forlorn
All fleeing from the terror of the Hun.

The farm carts creaking 'neath their heavy load,
The tired little children trotting by its side,
They rumble on with what was their abode
While anguished mothers try their tears to hide.

As in the distance sounds of battle roll,
Then up to heaven each one turns their eyes,
The German bombers come to take their toll,
The wings of death come screaming from the skies.

And I, a British soldier standing there,
Am helpless but to offer up a plea,
And can with horror simply stand and stare,
And say, God save them from this misery.

Be still those foolish tongues which speak of war,
Wake up those minds that easily forget,
Nor let the people suffer horrors more,
May common sense and kindness conquer yet.

by Joseph Jordan

Week 3