English Unit of work – Fact File – 2 weeks

Contents Alexander the Great – Fact File ..................................................................................................... 2

Vocab Challenges ................................................................................................................................. 5

Dictionary activity .......................................................................................................................... 5

PEE styled question. ....................................................................................................................... 7

Comprehension questions .......................................................................................................... 8

Spelling Activity ............................................................................................................................ 10

Homophones ............................................................................................................................... 10

Identifying the key features of a chronological report: .................................................... 11

Features of a text .................................................................................................................... 12

Practising the skills I need to write a non-chronological report: ..................................... 13

I begin to open paragraphs with topic sentences and organise them around a theme.

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Planning a Fact File. .................................................................................................................. 17

Write my own fact file on Alexander the Great: .............................................................. 18

Alexander the Great – Fact File

Alexander the Great was the king of Macedonia (the ancient

kingdom of northern Greece). He is considered to be one of

the greatest military commanders in history.

Early Life

When Alexander was born he was already heir to the

throne. His father, King Philip II was the ruler of the

powerful empire of Macedonia. In 356 BC, King Phillip’s wife

Queen Olympia gave birth to a son and named him

Alexander. During Alexander’s childhood, his father was

away from his family for extended periods of time for his

military campaigns. This caused Alexander to resent his

father and resulted in himself and his sister being raised

in the royal court by their mother, who they saw as a

strong role model.

Education

Alexander had an extensive education. Alexander’s first

tutor was Leonidas. He was hired by King Philip to teach

Alexander mathematics, archery and horsemanship. His

next tutor was Lysimachus, who used role playing

activities to spark Alexander’s interest. During these

lessons, it was made obvious that Alexander had an

interest in the military as he pretended to be the great

warrior Achilles.

Aristotle

Alexander was used to being tutored, but his ladt tutor

was significant. In 343 BC, when Alexander was thirteen years old, his father hired the

famous philosopher Aristotle to tutor Alexander at the temple of the Nymphs at

Meiza. During his lessons, Alexander learnt many lessons, such asscience, politics,

drama, literature, poetry and philosophy. Alexander particularly enjoyed Homer’s Iliad

(the 15,000 line Greek poem, set during the Trojan War). Due to Alexander’s love for

this poem, Aristotle created a shorter version of Iliad for Alexander to carry with him.

However, when he reached his sixteenth birthday, Alexander completed his education

and became a solider.

Alexander was now considered an adult and his military career began. His first military

campaign was against the Thracians, a group of Indo-European tribes, who had been

Full name:

Alexander III of Macedon

Date of Birth:

July 20, 356 BC

Place of birth:

Pella, Macedonia

Died:

June 10, 323 BC

Occupation:

Military Commander and King

of Ancient Greece

allies of the Trojans when they fought against the Greeks. In 338 BC, Alexander

helped his father to defeat the Athenian and Theban armies. When Philip had

succeeded in uniting all the Greek city-states (except Sparta) into the Corinthian

league, Philip’s relationship with his son came apart. Philip banished Olympia and

Alexander and married Cleopatra Eurydice.

King of Macedonia

Alexander was only nineteen years old when he became king of Macedonia. During the

festival following the wedding of Alexander’s sister, King Philip was murdered by a

Macedonian noble. Many people suspected that Alexander and his mother, Olympia, had

plotted to have King Philip killed, but it was never proven. Quickly, he obtained the

support of the army and to secure his claim to the throne, his mother had the daughter

of King Philip and Cleopatra Eurydice murdered.

When King Philip was killed the control of the Corinthian league was not inherited by

Alexander, the states were once again divided up. Therefore, Alexander had to work to

gain the support of the members of the league. He did succeed in gaining the support

of all the city-states except Athens. After he had made sure that the Northern

boarders were secure, he prepared to go to battle with the Persian Empire ( a large

kingdom to the east of Greece).

Campaigns and Conquests

The preparation for Alexander’s military campaigns was very important. Before

Alexander could start his campaign against the Persian Empire, he had to resolve some

unrest in his city-states. In Thebes, they had forced out his Macedonian troops. In

fear of a revolt he sent over 3000 cavalry soldiers and around 30,000 infantry soldiers

to tip of the Greek peninsula. He used his army to destroy Thebes, which resulted in

fear spreading across the city-states. Even Athens decided to pledge their loyalty to

him.

In 334 BC, Alexander left for his Asiatic campaign and he and his armies faced and

quickly defeated the Persian King Darius III’s army near the Grancius River. After his

victory, his troops rested for the winter on the southern coast of Asia Minor. Then, in

the summer, his armies defeated the Persian troops again, despite the fact that they

were outnumbered. Alexander used strategies and different formations to defeat the

Persians. In November, 333 BC, he captured Darius and declared himself the King of

Persia.

Conquering Egypt

Alexander had set out to conquer the world. Next, Alexander set his sights on Egypt.

He easily achieved this goal and in 331 BC he founded the city of Alexandria, which

became an important Greek cultural and commerce centre.

Later that year, he defeated the Persians again at the Battle of Gaugamela. Now

Alexander was “King of Babylon and Asia.” He was, in effect, King of the four quarters

of the known world.

Next, he set his sights on eastern Iran, where he formed colonies under Macedonian

rule. After capturing Iranian Prince Oxyartes, he married the prince’s daughter,

Rhoxana.

In 328 BC, he defeated King Porus’ armies in the north of India, however, he was

impressed by Porus so he gave Porus back his rule and secured his loyalty.

Then, Alexander marched eastward to the Ganges river, however, his troops were

weary. They missed their wives and children and wanted to go back home (Macedonia)

Alexander was wounded by Malli soldiers as they travelled back along the Indus river.

He recovered and then he and his armies headed north along the Persian Gulf. Many of

them died, or became ill.

In 324 BC they reached

the city of Susa, now in

Iran. Firstly, in order to

unify Persia and

Macedonia, he commanded

that Macedonians marry

princesses from Persia.

Then, he recruited

thousands of Persian

soldiers and dismissed

Macedonian soldiers. This

made his loyal soldiers

incredibly angry.

However, he tried to

appease them by killing 13 Persian military leaders.

Alexander’s Death

By today’s standards Alexander was only young when he died. At the age of 32,

Alexander became ill and died in Babylon, Persia, (now part of Iraq), while he was

planning the conquests of Carthage and Rome. He might have died of malaria, but many

historians believe he might have been poisoned. His wife gave birth to his son a few

months later.

Alexander’s empire collapsed after his death, but over time the cultures of Greece and

the Orient blended and thrived due to Alexander’s empire.

Vocab Challenges

Dictionary activity

Below there are five key words from the text. Each word has two possible

definitions. Match the word to the correct definition in relation to the context

of the text.

Tutor

Banished

Campaign

Cavalry

A private teacher, typically one who

teaches a single pupil or small group.

A book of instruction in a particular

subject.

Get rid of something unwanted.

Send someone away from a country

or place.

A series of military operations

intended to achieve a particular

objective.

To work in an organised and active

way towards a particular goal.

Refers to a source of help or rescue

in an emergency.

Soldiers who fought on horseback.

Dismissed

Now, using the key words above write a sentence using your word in the correct context.

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Finally, find five different words that you are unsure of the meaning and find

their definition.

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Remove from employment or office.

Treat as unworthy of serious

consideration.

PEE styled question.

Answering this question using the PEE structure.

Do you think that Alexander deserves the name ‘Alexander the Great’?

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Comprehension questions

Answer these questions, using the Alexander the Great Fact File.

1. What was Alexander’s father called?

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2. Who was Queen Olympia?

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3. Why was King Philip often away for extended periods of time?

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4. What did Lysimachus do to keep Alexander’s interest in his lessons?

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5. Name three lessons, which Alexander studied.

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6. How many lies did Alexander’s favourite poem have?

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7. How did his tutor Aristotle overcome this?

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8. What happened at the Battle of Gaugamela?

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9. Why did Alexander’s troops want to go back to Macedonia?

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10. How old was Alexander when he died?

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11. Why did Alexander have to work to gain the support of the members of

the league?

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12. What was the Persian Empire?

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13. Whose army was defeated in 334 BC, near the Granicus river?

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14. Where did Alexander’s troops rest for the winter after their victory

near the Granicus river?

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15. What happened to Alexander’s empire after his death?

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Spelling Activity

Homophones

Homophones - Same pronunciation, different spelling, different meaning

accept/ except

I _______ the terms and conditions.

They do not allow dogs ______ guide dogs.

whose/ who’s

______ pencil case is that?

______ your friend?

whether/ weather

Rich could not decide _______ he would go out or not.

The _______ is sunny today.

piece/ peace

Can I have a ______ of cake?

Eco-wolf wanted _______ in the valley.

medal/ meddle

The soldier received a _______ for his bravery.

You should not _______ with other people’s possessions.

Identifying the key features of a chronological report:

An effective topic title

Introduction paragraph

Information organised into at least three other

paragraphs

Topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph.

Sub-headings for each paragraph

Fact boxes or bullet points

Language features

Conjunctions Fronted adverbials Nouns and Pronouns Technical Vocabulary

Features of a text

What are the sub-headings of the text?

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What is the function of subheadings?

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What is the function of pictures in a text? Explain the function of the pictures in the

fact file.

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Practising the skills I need to write a non-chronological

report:

Using the Recount and information text sentence starters on the next page, fill

in the blanks for the sentences below. You may need to refer to the Fact file to

help you.

The first one is done for you. Try and use a wide range of different sentence

starters.

First, Alexander was tutored by Leonidas, who taught him mathematics, archery

and horsemanship. _____, Alexander had a tutor called Lysimachus, who

sparked Alexanders interest in all to do with the military. _______, the most

famous tutor he had was Aristotle.

______, Alexander needed to secure the loyalty of the city-states before he

could go to battle with Persia. ______ _____, he had secured the loyalty of the

city-states, Thebes made his soldiers leave. This resulted in Alexander sending

a huge army to Thebes. _________, his armies defeated Thebes which resulted

in fear being spread across the city-states.

___________________________, Alexander defeated King Porus’ armies, he

gave Porus back rule of his land. ______ _____, Alexander’s army became

weary and wanted to return home.

Now have a go at writing a paragraph using different sentence starters. Choose

one of the sub-headings as a theme for your paragraph. Don’t forget your

commas!

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I begin to open paragraphs with topic sentences and organise them around

a theme.

When we write in paragraphs, each paragraph has a theme. Below, there are two

different paragraphs, can you identify the theme for each paragraph.

Alexander the Great had a complicated family life. His parents where King Philip

II and Queen Olympia. In 356 BC, Olympia gave birth to Alexander in the Pella

reign of Macedonia. He had four sisters and two brothers. Later in his life, his

father married another woman called Cleopatra Eurydice, who together had

another child. He and his mother were thought to have been the ones who

orchestrated King Philip’s murder.

Theme = _________________

During Alexander the Great’s reign, he acquired a number of territories and

became king to a quarter of the world known at the time. First, he moved

through Asia Minor and what is today Turkey. He took over Syria defeating the

Persian Army at Issus and then laying siege to Tyre. Next, he conquered Egypt

and established Alexandria as the capital. After Egypt came Babylonia and

Persia, including the city of Susa. Then he moved through Persia and began to

prepare for a campaign in India.

Theme = _________________

From both of the paragraphs above they have a topic sentence. These sentences

explain what the rest of the paragraph is going to be about.

Alexander the Great had a complicated family life.

During Alexander the Great’s reign, he acquired a number of territories and

became king to a quarter of the world known at the time.

Now for the sub-headings in the text, write your own topic sentence for each

one to summarise what is going to be in that paragraph.

Early Life

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Education

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Aristotle

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King of Macedonia

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Campaigns and Conquests

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Conquering Egypt

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Alexander’s death

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Planning a Fact File. Next you need to carry out further research into Alexander the Great and plan out

your own fact file.

Remember you need to ensure you have these paragraphs:

• Introduction – Tell me who he is and why he is important.

• Three paragraphs at least, summarising the different areas of his life (some of

the themes you may be able to tie into one.

• Closing statement to summarise what you have already said.

Write my own fact file on Alexander the Great:

Using this success criteria and your plan, write your own fact file.

Key Genre Success Criteria Pupil Teacher

G1 An effective topic title

G2 Introduction paragraph

G3 Information organised into at least three other paragraphs

G4 Sub-headings for each paragraph

G5 Fact boxes or bullet points.

G6 Technical vocab

Key Skills:

H1 I increase the legibility, consistency and quality of my

handwriting: down strokes of letters are parallel and

equidistant; lines of writing are spaced sufficiently so that

the ascenders and descenders of letters do not touch.

C1 I include key vocabulary and grammar choices that link to

the style of writing.

G1 I begin to open paragraphs with topic sentences and

organise them around a theme.

P1 I almost always use commas for fronted adverbials.

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