Which words make the door sound different?.Discuss any vocabulary and also the following questions: Once the class are familiar with the story, read it.

Make sure they perform their stories using expression. Stronger writers can retell the tale in their own words, embellishing. Weaker writers benefit from knowing a text word for word as this helps them to internalise sentence patterns and vocabulary. Get immersed in the storyĭraw story maps and use actions to retell the story. Children love describing the new setting, the little people and the magical feast. This ‘portal’ story has a warning at its core and is a great story for Year 3 and 4 children, though it can also be used with older pupils. There are many stories around the world about gateways into other worlds. Well, at least, Billy never found his way back… He dreamed of dark halls, fantastic feasts and golden cupboards. At school, they said that Billy was always lost in his daydreams. Second, poor Billy never saw the door again, even though he walked up and down Elf Road many times. His mother said that the fruit tasted sweeter than starlight itself. One grew into a beautiful tree with blossoms of silver and apples of gold that glowed like tiny suns. Just in time, he found the wooden door that led him back to his own world.Īmazingly, two very strange things happened after Billy reached home. Clutching the apple, he dashed through the dark hall, past the great table with the tiny people running behind him. Billy shuddered and ran from the echoing sound. Instantly, he could hear a thousand mocking voices ringing in his ears like sharp, clanging bells. The glistening apple tasted of sunlight! At that very moment, Billy gasped because he had remembered what he had been told. It smelt so sweet and his mouth was so dry that he picked it up and took a bite. So, Billy wandered further into the hall, walked past a great fireplace and, at the end, he found a golden cupboard.Īmazed, he opened the door and inside was a golden apple sitting on a silver plate. “Look where you wish, but don’t touch a dish.” In the middle of the table was a glittering dragon carved out of ice and in its beak there was a folded piece of paper. Billy tried to talk to the tiny people but they did not say a word! They were dressed in rainbow coloured clothes with scarlet cloaks, pointed mustard yellow shoes and crimson caps. Hundreds of tiny people were serving steaming pies, fresh strawberries like gleaming embers and glasses full of creamy drinks. On an enormous table, someone had set out a great feast with slices of chicken, bowls of salad, jars of fruit and plates of sweet puddings. Gently, he turned it and the door creaked open. The metal handle was shaped like a dragon’s mouth. One sunny afternoon, he was walking down Elf Road when he saw an unusual wooden door in the brick wall.

Portal and portal 2 plot