Any lessons or resources that require the use of YouTube or other social media platforms should be supervised by an adult.
The Highway Man
Lessons 1 & 2
Re-read the poem and talk about the separate verses and the sequence of events in the poem. You could note the key events next to each verse, for the first few verses.
Children can create a storyboard to illustrate the sequence of events in the poem, and write some detailed annotations underneath each scene to clarify what is happening. A template is available for the children to use but depending on how many key events they decide there are, they could design their own. They should also think about their use of sentence structure and vocabulary to describe.
Lesson 3
Today the children will be working on thinking from a character’s view point about the reasons for their behaviour. Read the verse with the children where the soldiers enter the inn and tie Bess to the bed. Encourage the children to think about what might be going through Bess’ mind initially and also what the soldiers might be thinking and feeling. Would they all be happy to be carrying these orders? Would Tim the Ostler be there as he was the one who tipped them off? How would he be treated? Would Bess be pleased to see him? Children can then create a mind map or bullet point list of ideas they have about the character/s studied.
Lesson 4
Today we are going to be questioning characters from the story. Children need to think about questions they could ask the main characters, and what their responses would be. Watch the animated Highway man clip.
Start with some simple examples like: Why are you a highway man? What attracted you to Bess? What is your real name and that of your horses? Then children can think of how they might respond if they were The Highwayman, writing down questions and answers. In class, we would normally do some hot seating and drama to support this activity, so if you are feeling up to it and have anyone to help, this would be a great time to have a go!
Lesson 5 – Grammar
Relative clauses. Work through the PowerPoint and have a go at writing your own examples.