English 

During the term our English is taught in ‘units of work’ inspired by and based on the following quality children’s texts.

AUTUMN 1

Modern Stories - Wolf Brother (Michelle Paver): Autumn 1 - 6 weeks

Wolf Brother is an exciting adventure set 6,000 years ago during the time of the hunter gatherers. Torak, of wolf clan is the main character. His father’s death, at the hands of a gigantic bear inhabited by an evil spirit, triggers Torak’s quest - to save the forest from destruction. His loyal guide is a wolf cub and the story is told from both human and animal perspectives. There are strong themes in this story, including bravery, loyalty and a deep respect for the forest and its inhabitants.

Main unit writing outcomes:

• Writing to describe: setting description (3 weeks)

        Throughout the unit, we look at how the author has developed the description of the       

        setting through weaving information in carefully.  We interpret the setting decsription

        through visualisation, drawing a map. We then analyse, by reading as a writer, what

        techniques the author has used to describe the setting and then practise these ourselves

         including the use of precise nouns, noun phrases (including effective use of prepositional           phrases) and personification, as well as looking at different sentence structures including             sentences of three and fronted adverbials. 

• Writing to narrate: new chapter - suspense story (3 weeks)

Now we have immersed ourselves in 'Torak's' world, we use a WAGOLL (What a Good One Looks Like) we extend our work on setting descriptions to identify how authors create a suspense setting, using key features such as darkness, temperature (and sudden change of) and the weather for example.  We then move on to identify suspense writing techniques, such as short sentences, rhetorical questions and adverbs linked to danger.  Additionally, we ‘box-up’ the text and use this to create our own suspense story based on the Wolf Brother story.  We then write this version including all the features that we have examined.

• Poetry Week (1 week)

       Contemporary Poetry

       Joseph Coehlo - Overheard in a Tower Block 

       During the week, we will compare and contrast two of Joseph Coehlo's poems.  We will then         write our own poem based on the structure of 'Overheard in a Tower Block' bringing it into           our own frame of reference - 'Overheard in a School/Playground'. 

AUTUMN 2

Shakespeare - Macbeth : 6 weeks

Main unit writing outcomes:

• Writing to recount events

        Letter in role as Macbeth.  More details to be added. . . . 

• Writing to recount events: journalistic

        News article about the death of the king. More details to be added . . . .

SPaG aspects are integrated into all teaching sequences.