Descriptive Language Reading Comprehension

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🎯 WALT: We Are Learning To identify and understand descriptive language in texts

Success Criteria:

✓ I can find describing words (adjectives) in a text
✓ I can explain what descriptive words tell me about characters or settings
✓ I can make inferences about feelings and atmosphere

📖 Read this passage carefully:

The Mysterious Garden

Emma pushed open the creaky, wooden gate and stepped into the forgotten garden. Twisted, gnarled branches reached towards the grey, cloudy sky like bony fingers. The damp, mossy path squelched beneath her muddy wellington boots. Ancient roses with blood-red petals drooped sadly from thorny stems, whilst silvery spider webs sparkled with morning dew. A gentle breeze whispered through the overgrown grass, carrying the sweet scent of jasmine and the earthy smell of rotting leaves. Emma's heart raced with excitement and fear as she noticed a mysterious, golden key glinting in the shadows.

🔍 Part 1: Finding Descriptive Language

1. Find and write down three describing words (adjectives) that tell us about the garden's appearance:

2. The author writes that branches are "like bony fingers". What does this comparison tell us about how the garden looks and feels? Explain your thinking:

3. What do the words "creaky", "squelched", and "whispered" tell us about the sounds in the garden?

4. How do you think Emma is feeling when she enters the garden? Use evidence from the text to support your answer:

💭 Part 2: Deep Thinking Questions

5. Why do you think the author chose to describe the roses as having "blood-red petals" instead of just saying "red petals"? What feeling does this create?

6. The garden is described as "forgotten" and "overgrown". What do you think might have happened to this garden in the past? Use clues from the description:

7. Challenge Question: If you were to continue this story, what do you think Emma might discover with the golden key? Write your prediction and explain why the descriptive language in the passage supports your idea:

Extension Activity: Choose one object in your classroom. Write three sentences describing it using interesting adjectives, comparison words (like/as), and sensory details (what you can see, hear, smell, feel).