D/J'jr'J

Roderick Hunt
Alex Brychta
Story written by Roderick Hunt Oxford
Illustrations by Alex Brychta Reading
Tree
What's this story about?

As Gran holds the magic key she and the children find themselves in
a castle where three witches have turned the royal family into frogs.
Gran and the children soon put things right.

Talk together

Read the title on the cover. Look at the picture and talk about what
Biff is holding. What or who does the child think this is?

Read the story (O = Word recognition O = Language comprehension

Look through the book to see what happens. Try to get the
child to tell the story using the pictures. This helps him/her to
take in what is happening.
© As the child reads, explain that it is sometimes easier to work
out a new word by reading the sentence and leaving out the
new word. For example, on page 2, if 'nasty' is a problem word
read, 'They were n... witches.' The child will probably be able to
guess. If not, look more closely at the word, saying the sound of
each letter.
Look at the endings of these words and explain the differences
in meaning between them, if necessary: 'witches' (on page 2),
'witch's' (on page 8) and 'witches' (on page 17).
Page 24, ask, "What do you think Mum said?" and "Do you
think Gran told her about the adventure? Why do you think
that?"
V_ )
 ft? #»
,< *’ •','-*•>
V ■ V.^jiC-<f?i.
•v 'r '■ ft. > ,tir I3>*iS«
^»3#g?wgy^glpi

>•*€»,;

'i.U_*' - d . ..d , 1 *6*

;■ WyHyPtr-»!
S*aX'S»38raH
i|%s

^>>^1

The magic took them to a castle.

i
 1
1 c
-,tv
•
I

Three witches lived in the castle.

They were nasty witches.

2
One was a black witch. One was a
red witch. One was a green witch.

3
 The magic took the children inside
the castle. It took them to a room.

4
 -

m®m

*3* ;. '. i^iz-y -r1' .•

- - ,-. ,■ i ' •

<■•■ V.

A frog was in the room.

“I am a king,” said the frog. “I am
the king of this castle.”
5
 “The witches turned me into a frog.
Help me,” he said.

6
A witch was coming. It was the black
witch.
“Look out!” said the frog.
7
 The witch opened the door. Gran
pushed the witch. Chip took the
witch’s keys.
8
 iflii

ipfe*'"
If1 v’-j y ?}'£
:

1
L .M «#§
Bi£Z/ * j
*■.

TOM

They ran out of the room. Chip

locked the door. The witch couldn’t
get out.
9
 Everyone ran.
“Look out!” called Chip.

10
 8gfe
'^0-W

A witch was coming. It was the red

witch.

11
 “I don’t like witches,” said Gran.
She put a net over the witch.

12
The witch couldn’t get out.
“Good old Gran,’’ called Biff.

13
 Gran went to the green witch.
“I don’t like witches,” said Gran. “I
don’t like nasty witches.”
14
 ■

j '' .. ■ >-'

\i

Gran threw the witch on the floor.

“Help!” yelled the witch.
“Good old Gran,” said the children.
15
 1/1
i^r 1
>4*< .
v^p- ,/w ‘ J
#V
1 ik/ ~ ■V^' i f

Some frogs came in and jumped on

the table. One was the king.

16
“Help us,” he said.
Biff and Gran looked in the witches’
book.
17
 The frogs turned into people.
“Thanks!” said the king.

18
 u~>< >r»T(
HIIIIMW

~ -o~ •'■•' ^

The witches turned into frogs. Gran

put the book on the fire.
“Oh no!’’ said the witches.
19
m&

The king had a party. Everyone went

to it.
“What a good party!” said Chip.
“What an adventure!” said Biff.
“I like adventures,” said Gran.
“Good old Gran!” said everyone.
21
 The magic key was glowing.
“It’s time to go,” said Biff.
“Goodbye,” said the king.
22
The magic took them back to
Biff’s room.

23
 They fell on to Biff’s bed.
“Oh no!” said Mum.

24
 Play a game

How many consonants?

To help the child to notice words where two or more consonants

are blended together.

m Remind the child that consonants are letters that are not vowels
(not a, e, i, o, u). Find 'castle' on page 1. Show how this word has
's, t, I' next to each other - i.e. three consonants together.
• Open the book at any page and ask the child to find a word
with two or more consonants. Spell the word out loud, using the
letter names.
• Then the child chooses a page for you to find a word with two
or more consonants next to each other.
• Have two or three turns each.

Other ideas

You can use these ideas straight away, or on another day.

• Try to remember what Gran did to the red witch, the green
witch and the black witch. Look in the book to check.
• Find pages where people say something. Read what they say
with different expressions, e.g. how did Gran say, "I don't like
witches"?
v _______ J
 Oxford Stage 5
Heading
Tree Stories

5 Castle Adventure /
Gran goes on an adventure.

This story practises these words:

an back bed call(ed) came could(n't)
don't door good had help jump(ed)
live(d) old one out over people push(ed)
Book Band 5 Green

put ran some them three time took us

were what

Stage 5 Stories

1 The Magic Key 4 Gran

2 Pirate Adventure 5 Castle Adventure
3 The Dragon Tree 6 Village in the Snow

Available in packs
Stage 5 Stories Pack (one of each title) ISBN 978-0-19-846510-2
Stage 5 Stories Class Pack (six of each title) ISBN 978-0-19-846511-9

ISBN 978-0-19-846516-4
Orders and enquiries to Customer Services:
OXFORD tel. 01536 741171
UNIVERSITY PRESS
For further information, phone the
Oxford Primary Care-line: tel. 01865 353881
780198 465164
text © Roderick Hunt 1986
illustrations © Alex Brychta 1986
First published 1986
www.OxfordPrimary.co.uk This edition published 2008 Printed in China by Imago
10 9 8 7