This immersive one- to two-lesson unit explores Ray Bradbury’s iconic dystopian short story A Sound of Thunder. Students will develop their understanding of the butterfly effect, analyse descriptive language, and reflect on the genre’s key features while engaging in both analytical and creative tasks.
What’s Included
Reading comprehension activities with targeted questioning
Close language analysis of the time machine and dinosaur description
Foreshadowing task focusing on political commentary and dystopian elements
Descriptive writing scaffold with annotation prompts for metaphors, similes, and imagery
Creative writing extension – finish the story or write your own dystopian time-travel tale
Peer assessment templates for evaluative feedback
Ideal For
KS3 English – especially Year 8 or 9
Dystopian fiction introductions or short story exploration
Building descriptive writing and close analysis skills
Bonus Features
Promotes higher-order analysis (e.g. zoom-in on language features)
Encourages critical thinking around actions, consequence, and history
Links to science fiction and dystopian genre conventions
Get this resource as part of a bundle and save up to 83%
A bundle is a package of resources grouped together to teach a particular topic, or a series of lessons, in one place.
Something went wrong, please try again later.
This resource is a fantastic way to introduce students to dystopian fiction and the power of short stories. The lessons are carefully structured and make Bradbury’s complex ideas accessible without oversimplifying them. The blend of comprehension, language analysis, and creative response tasks keeps students engaged throughout, and the focus on the butterfly effect really sparked some brilliant class discussions. It’s ideal for building critical thinking and introducing speculative fiction at KS3. Highly recommended!
to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions.
Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.
£3.00