This is a fully resourced unit inspired by ‘The Iron Man’. Children change key parts of a known story into news reports. Every session has a detailed plan, a presentation and resources for writing tasks. This was planned for Y4, but it could be easily adapted to any KS2 class (everything is fully editable in Word and PowerPoint). There are some preview screen shots to give you a feel for the unit, but the whole unit is included in the attached zip folder. Each lesson is organised into subfolders for ease of use. Enjoy! Here is a brief overview of the 15 sessions: Pre-unit Assessment - Cold task – ‘Lion loose in school grounds’ • I can show what I already know about newspaper reports Asking questions – reading comprehension • I can ask questions about the text I am reading Interviewer and eye witness part 1: Hogarth • I can use drama explore events from different points of view Interviewer and eye witness part 2: Hogarth’s father • I can reuse words from the text Interviewer and eye witness part 3 and 4: farmer and police officer • I can use drama explore events from different points of view Paragraph structure • I can group and order information Headlines and summaries I can tell, sell and summarise Adverbials of time (fronted adverbials) • I can use adverbs to say when an event happened Adverbials of time (again!) • I can use adverbs to say when an event happened Switching between different voices (objective journalistic comment and informal first person quotes) • I can change between third person (journalist) to first person (eye-witness) Extend a paragraph with further related information • I can add information to a paragraph (sticking to the theme) Co-create a toolkit and pick out key features from news reports • I can identify the features of a news report Combine writing from sessions 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 to create a full news report. • I can edit, improve and publish my work Generate ideas for hot task through drama and plan a news report • I can plan a news report Extended writing - Apply learning from across the unit • I can write a newspaper report (based on a known narrative)

This is a 3 week KS2 writing unit based on an extract from ‘Varjak Paw’. Each of the 16 sessions has a clear and detailed lesson plan, presentation slides and differentiated activities (greater depth, on track and support) complete with resources. It’s all here! For a large chunk of this unit, children explore a wonderful extract from chapter 21: Varjak discovers a toy shop and meets a toy cat. Using this passage for inspiration, children create short bursts of writing whilst learning and applying new skills. These short bursts are eventually combined to create a diary entry. When you open the zip, you will find a folder for each session - everything is organised in a user-friendly way. As with all of my resources, all files have been created using PowerPoint and Word, so you can edit and adapt as you wish. I have aimed this unit at Year 4, but it could be used in any KS2 setting - I would happily do this project with Year 6 pupils. This unit has been very carefully sequenced and builds towards quality writing outcomes. It is packed with talk, reading, vocabulary, grammar and composition skills. Unit Overview Session 1 Prewriting activity – I can visualise a story setting Session 2 Cold task – What do you already know about diary writing? Session 3 I can notice and define adventurous words and phrases Session 4 I can reuse adventurous words and phrases Session 5 Reading activity: I can read like a detective Session 6 I can use prepositions to show where something is (in relation to something else) Session 7 I can use preposition phrases to organise a paragraph Session 8 I can describe how a character is feeling using their body language Session 9 I can punctuate direct speech correctly (sentence level) Session 10 I can punctuate direct speech correctly (text level) Session 11 I can use ‘but’ to change direction in an unexpected way Session 12 I can write sentences using adventurous vocabulary and prepositions Session 13 I can pick out the key features of diary writing Session 14 I can use the key features of diary writing Session 15 I can plan a diary entry independently Session 16 Independent diary writing. Children have the opportunity to demonstrate their new skills and knowledge.

Three weeks of creative and fully resourced Year 2 Talk for Writing planning involving drama, reading skills (information retrieval and then inference), poetry, grammar skills, drawing, diary writing and story writing. Only a few of the lessons and outcomes are shown in the preview. Each lesson is fully resourced and differentiated - there is also a focus on greater depth opportunities. To get the most from this writing project, it would be useful if the class had access to a copy of ‘The Tear Thief’ by Carol Ann Duffy - a magical picture book. If you buy this unit, PLEASE USE THE ZIP FOLDER - everything you need is in there. Each session is organised into a separate folder. The other files are simply there as a preview to show some of the resources included. Over the three weeks, the following Y2 objectives are thoroughly covered: Grammar • I can say and write a sentences with a capital letter and a full stop • I can use different joining words (conjunctions) to join my ideas • I can use carefully chosen adjectives/expanded noun phrases • I can use an apostrophe to show ownership Reading • I can spot meaning breakdowns • I can visualise a character from a story • I can find information in a story • I can read like a detective (inference) Composition • I can retell a story in sentences • I can add a new part to a story I know • I can create a character • I understand how a story can be organised • In my own writing, I can use words and ideas from a story I have read • I can write a story (using the skills I have been learning) This unit could be easily adapted for use in other year groups.

Contractions come up in Year 2, but I have made these resources for KS2, as children still need to practise accurate use of apostrophes. Included are two engaing dice games (‘Contraction Creator’ and ‘The Memory Test’). Both are far more memorable and fun than dull worksheets. There is also a support activity and a presentation. Enjoy!

Assessment focus: I can write a sentence that makes sense by itself Children explore sentences that make sense and sentences that do not. They fix sentences and write them correctly. The main activity is differentiated 3 ways. Included: Lesson plan Warm up Activity differentiated 3 ways

Massive 3 week writing unit, planned in detail and fully resourced and differentiated. It is pitched at Year 4, but would work equally well in Year 5 or 6 (please see the key skills covered below). For most sessions, there are resources to extend high attainers and resources to support SEN learners. This unit is ready to go! Three weeks of differentiated resources is a lot of files, so you can’t see it all in the preview. When you buy, please use the zip folder. The contents of the zip are organised into weeks and then into individual lessons (the other files are only there so that people can preview the unit!) . The zip will enable you to navigate your way through the plan and related resources with ease. All resources are PowerPoint and Word, so you will have no issues opening anything - and you can edit to suit your own needs - no PDFs! There are many, many resources included. Here are a few key examples: model text (short and long versions); a story map; drama activities; story boards; cold task/assessment task; reading comprehension activities; conjunctions activities; scavenger hunt; paragraphing activities; pronoun activities; noun phrase activities; fronted adverbial activities; tool kits; idea gathering resources; planning grids; peer assessment resources; and many more! The key objectives covered repeatedly throughout the unit are: Reading: • increasing their familiarity with a wide range of books, including myths and legends, and retelling some of these orally • asking questions to improve their understanding of a text • drawing inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence Vocab/grammar/punctuation • I can use a wide range of subordinating conjunctions (when, if, because, although) • I understand the term ‘adverbial’ and I can use fronted adverbials (with a comma) • I can choose a variety of nouns and pronouns (to avoid repetition) Composition • discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar • organising paragraphs around a theme Evaluate and edit by: • assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements These have been broken down and written in ‘child speak’ within the planning.

Use the presentation to explore ary, ory and ery word endings. Play the fun two player game with built in self assessment - Word race: ‘ary’, ‘ery’, ‘ory’ Challenge and support activities are included. Challenge: Try the ary ory ery riddles included (‘challenge activity’). Support: Match the word cards and sentence cards and write the sentences down.

Use this to develop children’s understanding of clauses, and to encourage children to vary the number of clauses they include within their sentences. Assessment focus I can understand the terms ‘clause’ and ‘conjunction’. I can say sentences with one or more clauses. I can write sentences with many clauses, without confusing the reader. This activity promotes lots of talk around word classes and building multi-clause sentences.

Reading comprehension! Drawing! Drama! High quality writing! Newspaper reports! These five fully resourced sessions aimed at Year 5 or Year 6 give children an opportunity to produce excellent non-fiction using a fiction context - no research required! Available in Word and PowerPoint so that you can edit and adjust to suit your needs. Through these 5 sessions, children will explore 3 news reports about heroes; generate their own toolkits; strip a fiction text (Beowulf) back to its bare bones; create captions and draw scenes from the story; take part in drama activities and finally write news reports using a consistent style and appropriate register. I have recently added useful editing questions for children to ask each other - I would suggest a final session for editing and improving. It is helpful (though not essential) if the children have previously explored the story of Beowulf. If they have not heard the story before, allow a little extra time to get familiar with the text (included). These sessions could make up a one week unit or be run over one day, as a writing workshop. Enjoy!

Word and PDF both included Assessment focus I can build solid sentences Explanation We teach a lot of grammar in primary schools, but many children still struggle to see how it all fits together. There are plenty of children in upper KS2 who cannot compose grammatically correct sentences. Whilst it is true to say that reading, story-telling and listening to stories are the best ways to build awareness of sentences, it may also be helpful to give children some basic sentence patterns to use. If children can internalise these basic patterns, they may be able to use them in infinite different ways. Ultimately, we hope that children feel confident enough to move away from the patterns we give them and onto creating patterns of their own. Who is this for? On Track (ARE) The ‘4 brick’ version of this activity is for writers who could be at age related expectation if they could create grammatically correct extended sentences. Support There is also very simple ‘3 brick’ version of the activity for learners who are not able to write in simple ‘one clause’ sentences. Going deeper Children who are already confident at writing in accurate sentences can try the ‘Follow the dice’ activity (included). These learners will focus on using sentence variety.

Dice game! Warm up! Presentation! Missing dashes activity! I’ve probably spent too much time thinking about how to teach young writers to understand dashes and to use them creatively. The end result is a dice activity which teaches children six simple ways of using dashes effectively. Children who take part in this writing activity will learn six different (and fool proof!) ways of dropping in extra thoughts and ideas between dashes. It is surprising the depth this can add to fiction writing. *As well as the dice activity, I have also included a 15 slide PowerPoint. This explains how dashes can be used, and it has extension activities. *I have also included a warm up activity that always leads to some useful discussion. *I have also included a ‘add the missing dashes’ activity Teachers, if you swap the sentences in this activity to match your own writing projects, children can generate superb sentences to add to their own compositions.

‘Noun or Not?’ is a two player dice game aimed at Key Stage 2 children. It has an interesting wildlife theme and built in peer assessment, so pupils can correct each other as they go along. There are 6 ‘going deeper’ activities involving plenty of challenge. I’m sure your class will love this way of looking at nouns - BETTER THAN A WORKSHEET!

Excellent grammar session! Fully differentiated! Including ‘support’ and ‘going deeper’ activities and a detailed PowerPoint to use in class. Available as word and PDF docs. Assessment focus I can identify nouns and verbs When I classify (group) a word, I think about the job it is doing in the sentence Explanation We spend a lot of time telling children that nouns are ‘people, places, things and ideas’ and verbs are ‘actions or states of being’. These are useful starting points for younger learners, but there is a little more it… If you ask children to classify ‘walk’, ‘laugh’, ‘object’ and ‘book’, they will likely tell you that the first two are verbs and the second two are nouns. Understandable! In fact, these words can be nouns or verbs, and there are many similar examples. Therefore, when children are classifying a word, we need to encourage them to look at the function of the word within its sentence. The walk was long and tiring. (Noun) I walk to school. (Verb) This two player dice game, aimed at upper KS2, gives pupils lots of opportunities to identify nouns and verbs. More than that, they also explore the function of words that can be used as nouns and verbs. Children have to look at the whole sentence before classifying a word. It has built in peer assessment, so there is NO MARKING REQUIRED! Pupils assess each other’s answers as the game progresses: player A has player B’s answers and vice versa. Lots of opportunities for pupil talk! It’s an engaging way to get pupils talking about the function of words and is much richer than a simple worksheet.

I use this in year 5 and year 6 - I'm sure it could be useful for ages 7-14. I can understand the meaning of ‘addition’ words and ‘cause and effect’ words I can develop an argument using ‘addition’ or ‘cause and effect’ Explanation When children try to add a further point to an argument they often get confused between two key language functions: • ‘addition’ - adding a further related point (also, in addition to, furthermore, moreover…); • ‘cause and effect’ - explaining the effect of the previous point (therefore, consequently, as a result of, because of this…). This can result in children making points that are nonsensical: Mobile phones make children safer because they can contact their parents in the event of an emergency. Consequently, children can contact online safety websites and get useful advice about online bullying. Here we see that a misunderstanding of the adverb ‘consequently’ has weakened the argument. An ‘addition’ adverb such as ‘furthermore’ would make a lot more sense. The same problem can occur in reverse. Text messaging during lessons is a distraction. In addition to this, children secretly sending text messages will fall behind their classmates. In this passage, the second point is a consequence of the first and not an additional argument. A cause and effect adverb such as ‘therefore’ would make much more sense. Use the activity "Addition or cause and effect?" to help children understand how to develop a point without confusing the reader.

Updated for 2019! Young people are interested in drones, so if you are teaching argument, persuasion or discussion, make the most of their enthusiasm for these popular flying gadgets. Also, drones are always in the news and it is motivating to pick a current issue. Here are two fantastic drone themed lessons (around 150 minutes required) broken into nine activities, suitable for Key Stage 2 writers and no doubt useful for KS3 as well. All children will have opportunities to ‘talk the language of debate’ and produce a piece of writing either ‘for’ or ‘against’ drones. It’s a winner! There is also drone background information; links to videos; key argument cards; banks of useful sentence openers; modal verbs; suggestions for support/extension activities; a planning sheet; an example text and a detailed self/peer assessment sheet (or toolkit). Everything you need. The nine fully resourced activities are: 1. Get to know drones! 2. Meaning breakdown – understand tricky new words 3. Pick a side 4. ‘For’ or ‘against’? 5. Organise your debate 6. Useful sentence openers for debate and persuasion 7. Switch sides! 8. Write a persuasive letter/blog for the school website 9. Self assessment/peer assessment