This is a Year 2 resource. Two weeks of detailed lesson plans plus smartboards for eight lessons where smartboards are required. There is a link in the planning to an online reading of the book. This is a great way for year 2 children to include adjectives and adverbs in their descriptive writing. There is also a link to a video clip of The Northern Lights to inspire the children. The activities are differentiated either by a worksheet or by differentiated expecttations set out as success criteria. I have successfully used this unit of literacy to link to our history topic on Explorers from the past including Christopher Columbus. The story of the Great Explorer follows the adventures of a child who sets off to the North Pole to rescue his Dad. Follow up work on a news report and information writing to follow.

This bundle includes the planning and smart boards for children to write both an acrostic poem and a free poem using poetic phrases.

This unit of work was planned for a year 1 class for their Talk for Writing lessons. The unit of work lasts for 2 to 3 weeks. Each lesson is planned for between 20 and 30 minutes with an extended time given for the final pieces of writing. Although these sessions are short, I have previously used the book and ideas for a year 2 literacy unit of work. The book fits really well into a topic about London and links well to KS1 Geography identifying and comparing key physical features of a city/town. This planning suggests changing the story from Katie visiting London to Katie visiting Barnsley but it easy to adapt it to the place that you are teaching in. I have included a story map to remember the beginning of the story and a simplified version that can be simplified further as the text that the children can remember and then have a go at writing.

This unit of work has been planned for 20 to 30 minute sessions based on The Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson. The unit is planned for 2 to 3 weeks with extended lesson time given to the writing sessions. I have included a story map to help them memorise the text. This story links well with learning about animals in KS1 science lessons.

This bundle includes lesson plans for 12 lessons with smart board presentations and resources to support the planning. The unit of work is aimed at year 2 and will build up to a re-tell of a traditional tale.