After the Fall by Dan Santat is a beautifully illustrated story about what happened to Humpty Dumpty after his oh-so-famous fall. It is a tale of resilience and overcoming fear.
The book is aimed at younger readers, which makes it accessible to all abilities. There are three levels of challenge within the unit:
Consolidate: Focuses on coordinating conjunctions;
Core: Focuses on subordination;
Extend: Focuses on relative clauses.
The unit could be easily adapted for use from Year 2 to Year 6.
A two-week writing unit on the text Archie’s War, by Marcia Williams. It links perfectly with my History unit on World War I but it can also stand alone.
There is a heavy focus on sentence structure in this unit, with three levels of differentiation - this makes it suitable for Years 3 - 6.
Unit of work on Journey to the River Sea - writing a diary entry.
Originally created for a Year 5 class but could easily be adapted for Y4 - 6.
Includes:
Power Point with planning and lesson teaching points, plus loads of examples of the success criteria;
WAGOLLs (differentiated);
Self and teacher assessment sheet;
Activities on commas for LA (for alternative to main task).
Success criteria covers:
Using commas to avoid ambiguity;
Cohesive devices;
Spell some words with silent letters.
A magical poetry unit based on 'The Lost Words, by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
To be taught over approximately 2 weeks (if English is taught every day), this fully resourced unit of work focuses on the following Learning Objectives:
Use a varied and rich vocabulary.
Use an increasing range of sentence length and structure.
There is a focus on reading and talk for writing, as well as figurative language like simile, personification and metaphor.
I have included lots of video and music links to create a highly engaging and visual learning journey.
This unit can be easily adapted for both LKS2 and UKS2.
A three or four week writing unit based around the books ‘Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World’ and ‘Fantastically Great Women who Saved the Planet’ by Kate Pankhurst.
The writing outcome is a Biography with a range of sentence structures and cohesive devices. The sentence structures are differentiated by ability group:
Consolidate: Coordinating conjunctions.
Core: Subordination.
Extend: Relative clauses.
This unit was originally taught to Year 5 but it could easily be used from Year 2 - 6, due to the accessible nature of the original books and the grammar covered. We also used supporting material from ‘What Would she do? Real-life Stories of 25 Rebel Women’ by Kay Woodward and other books of a similar theme.
This is a brilliant unit that has so many opportunities for discussion about racial and gender equality and women’s rights.
Children love this unit! Originally for Year 5 but could be used in Year 6 as revision or adapted for use from Year 3.
It is based on a hilarious mockumentary (in the style of David Attenborough), which follows the journey of a plastic bag to its final resting place in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The resource includes:
Power Point with planning and lesson teaching points, examples of success criteria and worksheets;
A character activity;
A pupil/teacher assessment sheet.
Success criteria covered:
*Relative clauses.
Originally created for a Year 5 class but could be adapted for Year 4 - Year 6.
Includes:
Power Point with examples and lesson teaching points, plus planning slides;
WAGOLL;
Self and teacher assessment sheet.
Success Criteria covered:
Identifying fact and opinion;
BRackets, dashes and commas for parenthesis.
A unit of work to to produce a persuasive advert for a pair of shoes that pupils design.
Success criteria:
Expanded noun phrases;
Subordination using if, when, because, although.
Suitable for Years 3, 4 and 5.
Fully differentiated with visuals to support SEND.
Lesson slides;
WAGOLL (differentiated versions);
Planning sheet;
Self-Assessment sheet.
Now with SATs style reading questions!
This eight lesson reading unit uses the Marcia Williams version of Oliver Twist (although any suitable abridged version could be used instead, or indeed, the musical film).
The unit also focuses on the historical context of the book, enabling children to visualise what life was like in Victorian England and for those living in workhouses.
The life of Charles Dickens is also explored.
The reading objectives covered are from the Y5 curriculum, but this unit could easily be adapted for years 3 - 6.
All video links, text extracts and worksheets are included, so you’ll have everything you need, except the book itself.
Everything you could possibly need to teach a 3 week writing unit on space! Tried and tested on a Year 5 class but differentiation is spread between Y1 - Y5, so easily adaptable for all year groups. The writing outcome is a non-fiction report about the Solar System.
There are three levels of differentiation within this unit:
Consolidate: simple sentences, full stops and capital letters;
Core: Subordination;
Extend: Relative Clauses
There is also a strong focus on spelling, with differentiated work on common exception words from Y2 - Y5
All worksheets are provided, as well as lesson slides to support teaching.
Links really well with the science topic: Earth and Beyond.
An alternative to the traditional tale of Little Red Riding Hood, this two-week (10 lesson) unit of work is based on the short animation ‘Red’. The themes in the animation are ‘never judge a book by its cover’ and ‘things aren’t always what they seem’.
The writing outcome (a recount) focuses on consistency in sentence structure and the use of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. It was created to address some of the common errors in writing I often see at the start of Year 5, but this resource would be suitable for Year 3 - Year 6.
A one-stop-shop writing unit based around the book ‘Winter’s Child’ by Angela McAllister. All the resources you need are included in the download.
The writing outcome is a recount with a variety of sentence structures and expanded noun phrases. The sentence structures are differentiated by ability group:
SEND: Expanded noun phrases
Consolidate: Coordinating conjunctions.
Core: Subordination.
Extend: Relative clauses.
This unit was originally taught to Year 5 but it could easily be used from Year 2 - 6, due to the accessible nature of the original book, incredible illustrations and the grammar covered.
Some spelling activities that cover Y3 and Y4 National Curriculum objectives:
Doubling consonants;
y used in place of i (e.g. crystal);
Possessive apostrophes.
Writing unit for Y4, Y5, Y6 (UKS2)
Re-write the chapter in your own words
Poseidon Gets Salty (how Athens got its name)
Use informal language
Cohesive devices
Speech/dialogue to move the action along
Formal/informal language
Link to history (Ancient Greece)
Mythology
A writing unit based on the book ‘Heroes’ by David Long.
Includes work on relative clauses and cohesive devices.
Suitable for Year 5 or 6.
Also links with World War I History (as the focus stories are about war dogs).
Fantasy Narrative Writing Unit (Year 4, Year 5, Year 6):
LO: In narratives, I can describe settings, characters and atmosphere.
LO I can use figurative language such as similes, alliteration, metaphors and personification.
Sentence structure includes:
Fronted adverbials;
Relative clauses;
Subordinating clauses;
Using common exception words.
Based around the novel: 'The Legend of Podkin One-Ear by Kieron Larwood.
Writing unit based on the otter poem in The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane.
Pupils write ‘An Encounter with an Otter’ .
Suitable for UKS2, LKS2 (Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6).
Resource includes:
Planning;
Lesson presentation with all resources;
Planning sheet;
Assessment sheet.
Perfect if your class loves nature!
A range of Y5/6 spelling activities based around:
-cial or -tial word endings;
-cious or -tious word endings;
–ant and –ance –ancy word endings;
–ent and –ence –ency word endings.