ridge class english week 3 - leighterton primary school · soon odins cloak was wet through. but a...

Ridge Class English Week 3

4th May Day 1: Identifying and using adjectives and prepositions


When you are reading today, start to make a list of any interesting adjectives

or prepositional phrases that you come across to use in your writing.


5th May Day Two: Using a range of sentence openers

Starting our sentences in different ways helps to keep our writing more interesting. Use this dice game to practice a range

of ways to start your sentences. Try to use some of what you practiced yesterday in your writing too. Can you think of new

and exciting adjectives that you haven’t used before?


Day Three, 6/5/20 : Writing a character description

When the door opened, a bald and bearded giant of a man emerged

and stepped down into the deep snow that lay on the track. As tall

and wide as two ordinary men, he had blue-tattooed runes arched

over each ear, and a history of past battles etched in scars on his

face. Rings of black kohl were painted around the palest blue eyes,

making them fade into his skull like the eyes of the dead. A Viking

raider, Ylva thought, probably from the same shores she had sailed

from. Dressed in grey wolf furs, he moved slowly like a beast, walking

with his head down, a sword hanging loose in his left hand. The blade

was wet with blood.

The two smallest fingers on the man’s right hand were missing.

Read this extract from ‘She Wolf’ by Dan Smith.

The author uses lots of powerful adjectives and figurative language

to describe this villain. Use a highlighter or a coloured pencil to

underline your favourite words or phrases.

What impression do you get of this man from his description?

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Use this extract and what we have practiced over the last few days to

help you write your own character description of a Viking villain. Use

the pictures below to help you. Try to include the following:

• expanded noun phrases (watch the song to remind you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhEoRVNJfDs)

• powerful adjectives

• figurative language e.g. similes, metaphors: he moved slowly

like a beast

• A range of sentence openers (like we have practiced)

Aim for a similar sized paragraph to the one you just read.

Remember to include action as well as description for a more

interesting paragraph.

Check your spelling and your punctuation after you have finished.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhEoRVNJfDs


7th May Day Four:

Over the next week or so, we will be thinking about writing our own

Viking themed story. I will share with you some stories about the

Viking Gods and creatures that Vikings believed in such as trolls and

dragons and then I will ask you to create your own God and monster

to write your story about.

To start you off, I would like you to read this first story (or listen to

my recording).

How Odin lost his eye

Odin lived in Asgard, the home of the

Norse gods. As well as being god of

war, battle, victory and death, he was

also the god of magic, poetry,

prophecy and wisdom. Like most of

the gods, he didn’t stay in Asgard all

of the time. When he came down to earth, which they called

Midgard, he wandered about in a long dark blue cloak, with a

beautiful silver clasp with letters engraved on it that contained magic

spells. Odin’s cloak had a hood, to keep him dry, as umbrellas hadn’t

been invented yet – and a traveller’s stick to help him beat back the

bushes and branches as he walked along, for there were no roads

like there are today. Odin was a large god with a very long white

beard which reached down below his knees. You could say he looked


rather like Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings. Sometimes Odin

didn’t use his stick, but rode his wonderful magic horse Sleipnir,

which had 8 legs and was terribly fast. Some believed he was so fast

that he could fly like one of Santa’s reindeer.

Odin sometimes got tired of walking and riding about. One day when

he was really fed up with wandering, he had a good idea.

“If only I could see everything that is going on,” he said to himself,

“then, I could stay at home.”

What he needed was True Wisdom. If only he had True Wisdom, he

would be able to stay at home and see everything all at the same

time. But to gain True Wisdom, he knew he would have to have a

drink from the well which was guarded by Mimir, the wisest man in

Midgard.

The next morning, Odin left Asgard, and set off for Mimir’s Well. The

journey was dangerous for he had to climb over rocky mountains and

battle through blizzards of snow and ice- cold winds. The well was

near where the giants lived and lay under a huge ash tree. Mimir was

not at all hospitable.

“He won’t give me a drink for nothing,” Odin thought to himself. “The

price will be very high”.

How right he was. As Odin tramped along the road to the well, he

met a giant. Immediately, he recognised that he was the wisest of the

giants who knew many things – but for all his wisdom, he did not see

through Odin’s disguise. Odin had pulled himself up to the height of

the giant, and whispered to him, “There’s something I would like to

learn from you”

The giant laughed loudly and replied, “Before you can learn from me,

you must answer three riddles. If you answer any of them wrong, you


will lose your head. But if you answer them right, you can ask me

three questions. Do you agree to my rules?”

This was not the sort of game Odin liked but as he was so set on his

mission, he consented to the giant’s terms.

‘Well,’ said the giant, ‘These are the questions. What is the name of

the river that divides Asgard from Jötunheim? What are the names of

the horses that Day and Night drive across the sky? And what is the

name of the field on which the last battle will be fought?’

Odin breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for that! He knew the

answers!

‘Ifling is the deadly cold river that freezes in an instant if any living

thing that falls into it. Skinfaxe and Hrimfaxe are the horses that drive

Day and Night across the sky and the field for the Last Battle is

Vigard. That’s where you and I are destined to fight at the End of

Days,” Odin replied triumphantly.

“Hmph,” said the giant. ‘You keep your head’.

The giant was disappointed because he liked taking peoples’ heads

off them and boiling them up for dinner. ‘Now it’s your turn’.

Odin asked, “What will be the last words that Odin will whisper into

the ear of Baldur, his son?”

“That’s not a fair question!” shouted the giant. “How could I possibly

know that?”

‘Well,” said Odin. ‘Did you worry about being fair to me? No, you did

not… But I don’t want your head, just tell me what I’ll have to give

Mimir for a drink from the Well of Wisdom?’

“He will ask...for your...right eye,” shivered the giant.

Odin shuddered, ‘That’s a lot to ask for. Is there no other way?’


“There is no other way. Many have asked for the wisdom of the

waters, but not one has yet agreed to pay the price.”

Odin nodded. He was glad to leave the wise but fierce giant and walk

on.

The path was stony, and there was a bitterly cold wind and rain and

soon Odin’s cloak was wet through. But a quick spell made him dry

and the weather better. Odin thought about what the giant said for

when the gods were in Midgard, the Land of Men, they had to feel

what men feel, and suffer what men and women suffer. But Odin

knew he would have to forfeit his eye to gain the Wisdom he needed

to save the world.

Eventually, he was able to see the huge ash tree and near there stood

Mimir and his Well.

‘Ho there Odin, I’ve been waiting for you.’ said Mimir, for he had

drunk from the Well, and knew everything that would happen and

everyone’s name before they told him. ‘Are you thirsty?’

“Yes” said Odin. “I have a great thirst for Wisdom from your Well”

Mimir laughed. “Many are thirsty for my waters but they do not get

to drink from them. No one has yet agreed to my price. You must give

me your right eye.”

Odin considered one last time if the price was too high. His pale blue

eyes were the colour of the sky on a bright winter’s day, when the

frost is hard on the ground. His eyes could pick out the tiniest bird

miles and miles away across the frozen lake. People loved to stare in

amazement at his eyes, but at the end of the day he did have two of

them.

“I will pay your price, Mimir,” and just as he spoke, he tore his right

eye from his head. The pain was unbearable. He gave it to the


guardian of the well. Mimir handed him a horn brimming with the

waters of wisdom. Odin took a deep drink.

Instantly, he saw everything that had happened and everything that

was to become. Most people don’t want to know the future, as it’s

not all good news. But Odin was not a person, he was a Viking god,

and when he saw the joy that would come to him, he laughed with

happiness and although he had seen all the sorrows and troubles

that would happen to humankind, he also knew what he could do to

help. For even though the gods didn’t need to bother helping the

humans, they did care about them – at least some of the time.

After he drank from the Well of True Wisdom, he knew that he must

never let evil get the upper hand in the world of humans on a

permanent basis.

That is the story of how Odin got his True Wisdom, and of how he

lost his eye. It is just possible that that is how he got his name too, for

odin or “odeen” – in Russian, means one.

After you have finished reading, I would like you to start to design

your own Viking god using the sheet below. Think about the Gods

you have learnt about so far. What do you want your God to be

known for? What will they look like? What will they wear?


Day 5: Spelling - Homophones

Task 1

Write the correct version of the word into the gaps in the sentences below:

1. If we go ___________ today, we will not go next week. (there/they’re/their)

2. I will ________________ my red dress to the party. (where/wear)

3. The children had forgotten __________________ spellings. (there/they’re/their)

4. “I think that is _______ bus,” Stephen cried as he ran down the road. (our/are)

5. __________ going to Spain on holiday next year with _________ grandparents (their,

there, they’re)

6. “ _________________ are my trousers!?” the boy exclaimed.

7. John wasn’t really sure ________________ train he should catch. (which/witch)

Task 2

Read the following and then use each of the words in a sentence of your own:

The weather was glorious today.

__________________________________________________________________________

I’m not sure whether to go to London or Paris.

__________________________________________________________________________

As Tom walked into the room, he realized he had been here before.

__________________________________________________________________________

“Turn up the music, I can’t hear it,” shouted Jill.

__________________________________________________________________________


Fran reached for a piece of paper so she could write her shopping list.

__________________________________________________________________________

Having the children at home had really destroyed the peace!

__________________________________________________________________________

Everyone was invited to the party except for Bobby.

__________________________________________________________________________

The woman behind the counter wouldn’t accept the ten pound note because it was

scrumpled.

__________________________________________________________________________

The tricky one

affect—this word is a verb which means to influence or ‘bring about’ something e.g.

The sunny weather is really affecting my mood.

__________________________________________________________________________

effect—this is a noun. It is the result of the ‘influence’ or change e.g.

The effect of the sunny weather was an overall improvement of everybody’s mood.

__________________________________________________________________________


ANSWERS

Day One: Adjectives and Prepositions

ridge class english week 3 - leighterton primary school · soon odins cloak was wet through. but a...

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