KS: Upper KS2
Year Group: Year 6
Author(s): William Shakespeare
This is a Home Learning Branch for Romeo and Juliet. These branches are designed to support home learners to access literature-based learning using a selection of books we love from Writing Roots. They include purposeful writing suggestions, links to the wider curriculum so that texts can be used across other subjects, key questions as well as spelling or phonics investigations.
A Writing Root is available for Romeo and Juliet.
Police report, diaries, letters, narratives, dialogue, setting descriptions, advice notes, character descriptions, oral debate
Balanced argument
15 sessions, 3+ weeks
This is a three-week Writing Root for Romeo and Juliet (Real Reads retold by Helen Street). It is up to the teacher’s discretion which version of the Romeo and Juliet films they would want to use alongside if any. Children begin this sequence of lessons by discovering a crime scene in the playground. They will write up official police reports, using the passive voice to create a formal tone. Children will go on to develop their grasp of legal vocabulary, contrasting conjunctions, formal sentence openers and the subjunctive tone through letters and diary entries. This will culminate in children having a debate, in role as the Prince’s royal advisors, about who is mostly to blame for these tragic deaths. Children will use this debate to plan and write a balanced argument.
Romeo, son of the Montagues, thinks he's in love until he meets Juliet, the daughter of the Capulets, and discovers what true love really feels like. But their two families are bitter rivals, and no one must know about their passion and secret marriage. When Romeo kills Juliet's cousin in a revenge-fuelled sword-fight, their dream of happiness seems doomed. Can the two families ever be reconciled so Romeo and Juliet can have a life together, or will their plans bring even more tragedy?
This is a playscript version of one of Shakespeare’s most classic stories, including the original language and meter which will inspire children to go on and read further of the bard’s plays on their own. The most well-known of Shakespeare’s stories, Rome and Juliet covers themes of love, rivalry and tragedy, this will be a good starting point for children to share their opinions on loyalty and betrayal and whether it is always the best thing to follow your heart.
Shakespeare, playscripts, classic literature, love, betrayal, loyalty, rivalry, family, tragedy
Date written: July 2017
Updated: June 2023
View Romeo and Juliet Writing RootA Spelling Seed is available for Romeo and Juliet.
This is a three-session spelling seed for the book Romeo and Julliet by William Shakespeare. Below is the coverage from Appendix 1 of the National Curriculum 2014.
Spelling Seeds have been designed to complement Writing Roots by providing weekly, contextualised sequences of sessions for the teaching of spelling that include open-ended investigations and opportunities to practise and apply within meaningful and purposeful contexts, linked (where relevant) to other areas of the curriculum and a suggestion of how to extend the investigation into home learning.
There is a Spelling Seed session for every week of the associated Writing Root.
controversy, prejudice, privilege, rhyme, rhythm
Words with ‘silent’ letters (i.e. letters whose presence cannot be predicted from the pronunciation of the word)
Use of the hyphen
View Romeo and Juliet Spelling Seed
