Mrs Tatham’s story:

(I have underlined some examples of adverbs and adverbial phrases, but there are lots more in the story)

On a cold January morning in the middle of rush hour, Damien sat next to his parents in their rented removal
van. Looking at the car in front of him, he made a mental note of how long they had been sat in traffic for.
He sighed irritably.
“It’s not far now,” his dad reassured him, patting his knee.
“It’s going to be worth it, I promise” said his mum confidently. “I know you will love your new room”.
Damien turned to his mum and replied angrily, “But it is so far away from my friends!”

After what seemed like hours, they arrived at their new home. Damien stood on the pavement and looked
up anxiously at the strange house in front of him. It was a three storey house, much bigger than their last
one, but it seemed different. The outside was run down, the woodwork was chipped and there were cracks
in the door.
Minutes later, Damien opened the door to his new room in the attic. He made his way across the room when
suddenly he heard the hard, wooden floorboards beneath his feet squeak. Curious, he bent down and after
a short while carefully pulled the loose floorboard out. There, underneath the missing floorboard, Damien
saw a dirty piece of paper. Without hesitation, he pulled it out and opened it. He was shocked. “This can’t
be what I think it is?” said Damien. It was a treasure map.

Hours later in his make shift bed, Damien studied the map. He could work out a building and lines but the
map was faded which made it difficult to read. Just then, the street light outside his window turned on and
shone light into his room. As the light hit the map, Damien could clearly see the outline of this house and a
dotted line leading to the back garden. “I wonder…” he said to himself, looking towards the door.
As quickly and quietly as he could, he picked up the map and tiptoed out of his room, down the stairs to the
back door. Excited about the prospect of gold and treasure, Damien reached for the handle. Then his heart
stopped, it was locked and he didn’t know where the key was.
He stood still and thought, “How can I get to the treasure now?” Frantically, he started searching the
cupboards and boxes in the kitchen. The key was nowhere to be found. He had no option, he had to climb
out the window. Looking back towards the kitchen door, Damien climbed onto the work surface, turned the
key in the lock, pushed open the window and jumped out.

With the fear of being caught in mind, Damien got out the map and made his way down to the bottom of
the garden. He could see the large tree that the dotted line on the map had led to. Underneath the tree,
Damien started digging. In no time at all, he had found a cardboard box beneath the dirt.

He opened the box and peered inside eagerly. It seemed to be a collection of photos and letters. Damien
picked one up and recognised the previous owners. It must be a time capsule, Damien had learnt about them
at school. He saw how happy the family were and what a loving home this had been for them. Sat in the
garden in the dead of night, Damien looked up at the house he once thought of as strange and decided that
it could be worth it after all.