Year 6 Spring 1 English Planning Unit : Heroes and Villains

Year 6 Spring 1 English Planning Unit : Heroes and Villains

This half term block, based around a theme of Heroes and Villains consists of three English units:

• Older Literature
• Non-fiction hybrid
• Poems with imagery

Cross curricular links
Although the units will stand alone, they can be planned to run alongside science and design technology, linking to the theme of health and food. Opportunities for cross-curricular writing of a non-fiction hybrid text unit could be based on research of Health Heroes such as:

• James Lind (1716-1794): Carried out experiments to discover the cause of scurvy.
• Elsie Widdowson (1906-2000): A British chemist who was a pioneer of the scientific study of nutrition and one of the creators of the state-recommended diet during the Second World War.
• Lord Boyd Orr (1880-1971): A Scottish nutritional physiologist who devoted nearly four decades to the field of nutrition. For his efforts to promote lasting peace by wiping out hunger, he was awarded the 1949 Nobel Peace Prize.
• Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)

Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
Skills have been specifically identified for each unit from Key Learning in Writing. The full set of units include all skills for the year group. However, if these units and/or skills are rearranged from the planned order, modifications to the identified grammar skills may be necessary. When planning, consider if the suggested skills are the most appropriate for the class or if different skills are needed based on assessments of children’s outcomes. This may involve the revisiting of skills from previous year groups. Refer to Key Learning in Writing for the year group to ensure full coverage over the year.

Our English Planning Units have all recently been updated to include:

• new ideas and approaches for planning through the teaching sequence phases with more detailed guidance on reading and gathering content phases;
• updated suggestions of texts, direct links to specific film clips and resources within every unit;
• a tighter focus on grammar skills via warm-up sessions and integration within units;
• increased emphasis on vocabulary for reading and writing;
• further short and longer writing opportunities built into each unit; and
• updated outcome suggestions for scaffolded writing whilst highlighting the need for independent writing for assessment purposes.