Autumn Term

ENGLISH

Fiction- Guess What?

In this unit, the children predict how the different stories will end, and then retell them in their own words. They focus on characters and ask questions about them, and they link the characters’ experiences to their own using drama and role-play. They then decide which story they liked most and give reasons for their choice. The children compose sentences orally, with the teacher modelling correct punctuation, and go on to write their own compositions about a visit to a farm and the diary of a dragon. In the main writing task, they plan, storyboard, orally re-tell and write ‘My Hedgehog Story’ and then review and evaluate it with their peers.

Texts we will be reading:

Poetry- Sensational Senses

The children use their senses to explore the weather, mud and the playground as they enjoy listening to a range of poetry. They come up with new vocabulary and sound effects and use real and invented words to describe what they feel - linking it all to their own experiences. They construct sentences to describe how things feel and sound. Oral rehearsal is encouraged at each step of the planning and writing process as they create short narratives and poems. They experiment with sound and rhythm to recite a poem as a group.

Non-Fiction- Who Lives Here?

The children read the interactive eBook Who Lives Here?, linking the text to their own experiences. They use maps to recall the sequence and ask questions about events in the eBook. They learn about different uses for capital letters and use these in their writing. The writing tasks involve composing factual sentences about animals and writing a nature diary following a model.

Live: Poetry Star!

The children are introduced to the idea of the unit: that they will present poems to an audience and become poetry stars. As a class, they read and recite a variety of poems, practising reading them in different ways (adding actions, expression, etc.) to develop their skills. They practise ways to learn poems off by heart. They practise joining words to make sentences and using the punctuation to help read for meaning. After some teacher modelling, they write letters to invite people to their poetry star performance, rehearsing sentences orally before writing them. Time is given at the end of the unit for the children to practise performing poems, both as a whole class and in smaller groups. The children then present to an audience, and feed back on each other’s performances.