Newspaper (3 weeks) unit of Work based on King Kong by Anthony Browne

This is a 3 week unit of work that is aimed at a year 4 and 5 class. The 3 week unit builds the pupils skills through drama and targeted lessons to give them the skills to write an excellent newspaper article. I have included all the resources you need to teach this today. The pupils in my class have always loved this unit and have never failed to create outstanding pieces of work from it. For a great hook I have also been known to dress up as a gorilla and run through the school the first day of teaching this unit.

The learning objectives for the unit are :
• To write a newspaper report
• To write common themes of the books of author Anthony Browne
• To write a job description
• To explore characters through role-play
• To explore the characters feelings and motivations in the story
• To raise questions for different audiences
• To understand the features of newspapers reports
• To identify the features of newspapers reports
• To identify the author’s style and use of language
• To use more descriptive verbs instead of using said
• To identify the differences between direct and reported speech then to convert direct speech into reported speech
• To write cohesive paragraphs
• To plan the introduction to a newspaper article including writing a catchy headline
• To draft and then write a newspaper article
• To write a newspaper article

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, 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.