Key Stage 2 - Literacy

Charles Dickens
by Daniel Maclise
1839
NPG 1172

Combine Literacy with Art and History to see portraits of classic authors from the past, or to explore the biographies of some famous and intriguing people. All sessions and materials are free.

Past Lives: Biography Sessions

Explore the biographies of sitters from one of the following periods: Elizabethan, Stuart (including the diaries of Samuel Pepys) Eighteenth Century, Regency or Victorian. After hearing about sitters’ lives, pupils draw them from the portrait and plan a short biography of their selected person to be written up back in school.

This session supports the Revised Literacy Framework, Year 6 Non-fiction – Unit 1: Biography and Autobiography)

• 90 minutes
• One class, maximum 30 pupils

Authors from the Past – Older Literature

A dynamic session where pupils can examine portraits, hear book extracts and discuss the writing techniques of famous authors such as Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, Beatrix Potter and, when available, JK Rowling for a modern comparison. Pupils drawing directly from an author’s portrait, and discuss our response to their work today.

• This session supports the Revised Literacy Framework, Year 5 Narrative – Unit 4: Older Literature
• 90 minutes
• One class, maximum 30 pupils
• Follow-up webquest: KS 2 English Just So Stories (reading and writing animal stories)