Descriptive Narrative based on the video Pandora (3 week unit) Y4/5

This is a 3 week unit of work which focuses upon writing a descriptive narrative for an astronaut who has landed on the planet Pandora. The end written piece is a descriptive narrative about an alien animal, that is a Hexapod, which the pupils get to create themselves. This unit has word level focuses, guided reading, expanded noun phrasing, variation of sentence types as well as how to structure paragraphs. Pupils really enjoy the creativity and wonder of Pandora as the video is very engaging. The end written piece is always amazing in my experience, as pupils are incredibly engaged by the stimulus of a video compared to the usual text that this unit provides. I have included all the resources including worksheets, WAGOLL and displays so you can start using this straight away. The learning objectives for this unit are;

Stimulate & Generate
• To learn the meaning of new vocabulary including technical vocabulary
• To identify the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary
• To Retrieve, Record & Present Information from Non- Fiction
• To explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read
• To describe using expanded noun phrases
• To write a logbook entry as an astronaut

Capture, Sift and Sort
• To find the key features of descriptive writing
• To write expanded noun phrases
• To add embedded Clauses
• To use conjunctions to link paragraphs
• To vary sentence structure and type for effect
• To write a paragraph with restrictions

Create, Refine and Evaluate
• To plan and organise my ideas to effectively support my writing
• To revise, edit evaluate and improve my writing

This unit of work uses the 3 stage planning process of:
• Stimulate and Generate
• Capture, Sift and Sort
• Create, Refine and Evaluate
Stimulate and Generate = This usually starts with a hook to interest the class where the class realise who they are going to write for so they have a clear purpose and audience. Activities can include reading excellent model texts, drama or researching more about the author or the content of the book.
Capture, Sift and Sort = This is the part of the unit where pupils look at key features, practise skills they will need in order to complete the final piece or new learning for objectives they have not learnt yet.
Create, Refine and Evaluate = This is where you bring all you have learnt together and plan the final piece before you write it and then edit it to improve the piece. This can include self, peer or teacher led reviewing.