The Magic Finger: Reading Comprehension

#TheCompleteSeries5lessons

During the five The Magic Finger Lesson Plans, you will read the book together as a class. Particular emphasis is placed on exploring and understanding the different characters' viewpoints through asking and answering questions, role-play, debate, and even hosting a talk show!

Including everything you need for a successful week of English teaching, The Magic Finger Lesson Plans pack contains: detailed yet easy-to-follow plans, slide shows for the teaching inputs, as well as differentiated worksheets and activity ideas.

Click here to preview PlanBee's English lessons for FREE

#Lesson1AnsweringComprehensionQuestions

Use this Answering Comprehension Questions KS2 lesson to introduce your class to Roald Dahl's The Magic Finger.

In this first lesson, you and your Year 4 class will begin to read the book together, discussing the events that have happened so far. Children will then use extracts from the text to answer a range of comprehension questions. In the alternative activity provided, they can use The Magic Finger Spinner to select and then answer questions about the book in small groups.

This Answering Comprehension Questions KS2 lesson pack contains a detailed plan, an engaging slide show for the teaching input, and differentiated worksheets and activities to suit the needs of the majority of learners.

#Lesson2ExploringCharactersFeelings

This Exploring Characters' Feelings KS2 lesson pack, based on The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl, encourages your Year 4 class to put themselves in the shoes of some of the main characters.

Children will first recap on what has happened in the story so far, before reading another section of the text together. They are encouraged to think about how each of the Greggs might be feeling at different points, and why. In their independent activities, they will explore and record the thoughts and feelings of the characters in more detail, using prompt questions, thought bubbles, and in the alternative activity provided, role-play.

Develop your Year 4 class's inference skills with this Exploring Character's Feelings KS2 lesson pack. An easy-to-follow, differentiated lesson plan is included, as well as an engaging slide show and a range of worksheets and activity ideas.

#Lesson3DifferentViewpoints

In this Different Viewpoints KS2 English lesson, your Year 4 class will explore the situation from both the perspective of the Gregg family and the ducks.

Children will begin by reading a short extract of the next part of The Magic Finger themselves. After discussing some questions as a class about what they have just read, they will then explore the opposing viewpoints of the Gregg family and the ducks, in preparation for small-group debates. In the alternative activity, children are challenged to step into the shoes of Mr Gregg and write a plea to the ducks to spare his family.

Including a detailed plan, a set of slides for the teaching input, and differentiated worksheets, this Different Viewpoints KS2 English lesson pack contains everything you need for a successful lesson!

#Lesson4AnswerQuestionsinCharacter

In this Answering Questions in Character KS2 lesson, your Year 4 children will be given the opportunity to further demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of Roald Dahl's The Magic Finger.

Children will first discuss the 'cliffhanger' that the section of the story from the previous lesson ended on. As a class, they will then read to the end of the book, and answer some questions together. In their independent activities, children are tasked to generate questions to ask some of the characters from 'The Magic Finger', then use role-play to ask and answer them. In the alternative activity provided, children are challenged to conduct a talk show titled 'The Greggs who became the Eggs'.

This Answering Questions in Character KS2 lesson pack includes an easy-to-follow plan, a set of slide shows for the teaching input, as well as differentiated worksheets and activity ideas.

#Lesson5SummarisingaText

This Summarising a Text KS2 lesson helps you to teach your Year 4 class what a summary is, and what to include in one.

In this final lesson based on Roald Dahl's The Magic Finger, children will first discuss their opinions of the story, before exploring what a summary is, and what it should include. In their independent activities, they will write their own summaries of the book. In the alternative activity provided, children are challenged to write a letter to the Cooper family from the Egg family, summarising what happened to them as a warning to the Coopers.

Included in this Summarising a Text KS2 pack are a detailed lesson plan, an engaging slide show, and a range of differentiated worksheets and resources.

Free Overview (Medium-Term Plan)

Download a free overview to support your teaching of this scheme of work.

Free Assessment Grid

Download a free, editable assessment grid to support your teaching of this scheme of work.

Curriculum Objectives covered

• listening to and discussing a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks
• increasing their familiarity with a wide range of books, including fairy stories, myths and legends, and retelling some of these orally
• identifying themes and conventions in a wide range of books
• discussing words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination
• checking that the text makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context
• asking questions to improve their understanding of a text
• drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence
• predicting what might happen from details stated and implied
• identifying main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph and summarising these
• participate in discussion about both books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say
• discussing and recording ideas
• composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures (English Appendix 2)
• listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers
• ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
• articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions
• give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings
• use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas
• participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play/improvisations and debates
• consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others