'The Way Back Home' by Oliver Jeffers – reading activities

Last updated: 15/11/2023
Contributor: Jo Heffer
'The Way Back Home' by Oliver Jeffers – book based ideas
Main Subject
Category
Comprehension: Book-based resources
Resource type
Student activity
Teaching ideas
Authors
Oliver Jeffers
Books
The Way Back Home
Focus
Reading
Focus
Fiction
Focus
Comprehension

A collection of KS1 teaching ideas based on the picture book The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers. Tasks include grammar activities, such as writing expanded noun phrases, investigating word meanings, looking at punctuation and retelling the story using Talk for Writing techniques. The children go on to develop alternative story scenarios using the prompts on the provided PowerPoint.

Suitable for Y1 and Y2.

An extract from the resource:

Retelling the story The Way Back Home:

With the children, identify the key events in the story.  The events below are just suggestions but the children may sort their ideas in different ways.  However, try to restrict them to between six and eight events otherwise it can become too complicated!

  • The boy finds the plane in the cupboard
  • He flies until the plane runs out of petrol and becomes stuck on the moon
  • The Martian’s spaceship breaks down on the moon
  • They plan how to fix their vehicles
  • The boy carries out the ‘fixing’ plan
  • They both go on their separate ways

Model on separate pieces of card (or paper) how you would just write one or two keywords on each piece to act as prompts.  Alternatively, you could draw pictures or symbols instead of words. For example, if you are using words you could write:

  1. Plane – cupboard
  2. Flies – no petrol – moon
  3. Spaceship breaks down
  4. Decide how to fix
  5. Fixed!
  6. Goodbye

Explain to the children that these cue cards are going to help keep track of the story but you do not need to write too much down because you are going to ‘retell’ the story rather than write it.

All reviews

Have you used this resource?

Some good ideas that I can also differentiate for some of my students.

Peter Crawford

31/05/2020

great and very helpful

samira Kiibwana

04/05/2020

Some good ideas that I can also differentiate for some of my students.

Peter Crawford

31/05/2020

great and very helpful

samira Kiibwana

04/05/2020