Summer term 1:

Reading:

This term our class reader is: A Galaxy of Her Own by Libby Jackson.

Book synopsis:

From small steps to giant leaps, A Galaxy of Her Own tells fifty stories of inspirational women who have been fundamental to the story of humans in space, from scientists to astronauts to some surprising roles in between.

From Ada Lovelace in the nineteenth century, to the women behind the Apollo missions, from the astronauts breaking records on the International Space Station to those blazing the way in the race to get to Mars, A Galaxy of Her Own reveals extraordinary stories, champions unsung heroes and celebrates remarkable achievements from around the world.

Written by Libby Jackson, a leading UK expert in human space flight, and illustrated with bold and beautiful artwork from the students of London College of Communication, this is a book to delight and inspire trailblazers of all ages.

Our reading skill this term is 'fill in the gap' questions. In these lessons we will be using extracts from our class reader to use our retrieval and inference skills so that we can skim, scan and close read to answer the question. We will be encouraging children to gather evidence, where possible, to support their answers.

Writing:

In our English lessons we will be developing our writing skills to write a setting description and a leaflet. To help us create an imaginative setting description, we will be using high quality vocabulary mats to create similes, metaphors and personification. In our Rainbow Grammar lessons, we will be developing our knowledge of fronted adverbials further to create zoom in and zoom out fronted adverbials. Additionally, we will be revising our knowledge of appositives. We will then use all of the skills gained to help us plan and write a setting description.

Later in the term we will be writing a leaflet explaining Micro:bits and how we can programme them to help us save energy. We will start by looking closely at the features of a leaflet. Then, we will develop our knowledge of linking adverbs and subordinating conjunctions, in our Rainbow Grammar lessons. Finally, we will plan and write our leaflets to send home to parents and carers. 

Spring term 2:

 Reading: 

This term our class reader is – Goldfish boy by Lisa Thompson. 

Book synopsis

Twelve-year-old Matthew is trapped in his bedroom by crippling OCD, spending most of his time staring out of his window as the inhabitants of Chestnut Close go about their business.

Until the day he is the last person to see his next door neighbour's toddler, Teddy, before he goes missing.

Matthew must turn detective and unravel the mystery of Teddy's disappearance - with the help of a brilliant cast of supporting characters.

Our reading comprehension skill this term is ‘multiple choice questions’. During these lessons, we will be reading the text, Goldfish boy by Lisa Thompson. Using our retrieval and inferences skills, we will answer true or false questions posed. As our confidence grows, we will begin to use evidence from the text to support our

Writing:

In our English lessons, we will be developing our writing skills to write a narrative. We will use the ‘Outsider Story Recipe’ approach to help plan and structure our writing. We will be writing a narrative with a similar theme to the story, 'Goldfish Boy'.

In our Rainbow Grammar lessons, we will be recapping our knowledge of how to include and punctuate parenthesis, develop our knowledge of appositives, and how to identify them and write them. Additionally, we will develop our knowledge of vocabulary and use newly explored language to create similes, metaphors and personification which will develop the mood of the text. 

Spring Term 1

Reading:

This term our class reader is – Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo.

Book synopsis

In fifth-century Denmark, a murderous monster stalks the night, and only the great prince of the Geats has the strength and courage to defeat him. Beowulf’s terrifying quest to destroy Grendel, the foul fiend, a hideous sea-hag and a monstrous fire-dragon is the oldest surviving epic in British literature. Artfully retold and magnificently illustrated, this companion volume to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is made instantly accessible to children by a formidable children’s book partnership.

Our reading comprehension skill this term is ‘True or False’. During these lessons we will be reading the text, Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo. Using our retrieval and inferences skills, we will answer true or false questions posed. As our confidence grows, we will begin to use evidence from the text to support our ideas and answers.

Writing:

In our English lessons, we will be developing our writing skills to write a narrative. We will use the ‘Monster Story Recipe’ approach to help plan and structure our writing. We will be writing a narrative about the hero, Beowulf, and his battle against a new, terrifying monster, which is causing destruction and chaos to Mercia. We will then, having written our stories, publish them and send them home to share with family and friends.

In our Rainbow Grammar lessons, we will be recapping our knowledge of how to punctuate speech, develop our knowledge of non-finite clauses, and how to identify them and write them. Additionally, we will develop our knowledge of vocabulary and use newly explored language to create similes, metaphors and personification to build tension and describe the setting.

Oracy:

Towards the end of the term, we will develop our oracy skills to debate whether Beowulf was indeed a hero or a villain. We will recap our oracy knowledge and skills during the lessons and use sentence stems and language tools to help create a speech. We will then share these Soapbox Challenges with the class. On Thursday 15^th February, we would like to invite parents in to listen to our Soapbox Challenges.

Autumn 2

Reading:

Our reading focus this term is matching – linking information together. We will be using our skimming, scanning and close read skills to help us match information. We will use these skills in larger texts to match events, emotions and other information. Throughout our reading lessons, we will be using the class reader, 'Journey to Jo'burg' by Beverley Naido' to pose and answer matching questions. 

Writing:

To begin our English topic for this half term, we will be looking at diary entries. We will use a range of diary entries to identify the features of a diary entry. In our Rainbow Grammar lessons, we will be developing our knowledge of adverbial clauses and linking adverbs whilst recapping descriptive language skills developed in Autumn term 1. We will use these skills to help us write a diary entry as on of the characters from our class reader 'Journey to Jo'burg'. 

Later in the term, we will be learning how to write a autobiography. We will develop our knowledge of the famous artist Joan Miro, look at a range of auto biographies and identify their features to help us write our own. In our Rainbow Grammar sessions, we will be developing our knowledge of relative clauses and parenthesis. 

Autumn Term 1

Reading:

Our reading focus this term is skimming and scanning. We will recap these skills and use them in larger texts to gain a deeper understanding of the text and answer questions using evidence gathered. These core skills are vital in helping retrieve information, make inferences about a text and provide evidence to support the opinion or point being made. Later in the term we will begin to read our class reader ‘The Explorer’. We will use this text to develop our skimming and scanning skills as well as identify features of a description text.

Writing:

To begin our English topic this term we will look at non-chronological reports. We will explore the genre identifying the key features and using them to write our own non-chronological report on our class animal. During our Rainbow Grammar lessons, we will develop our knowledge of modal verbs and the impact they have in non-chronological reports, and subordinating conjunctions. 

We will then look at narrative based on a journey story recipe. During the planning stage of the journey story, the children will create their own characters, using character profiles. They will explore the setting of the Amazon Rainforest and Rio de Janeiro, develop their knowledge and understanding of survival skills, during forest schools sessions, and carefully plan the purpose and impact of each section of their writing. Our Rainbow Grammar lessons will focus on punctuating speech correctly, non-finite clauses and figurative language (personification, similes and metaphors). The children will then produce a wonderful, captivating story of bravery, resilience and pride that they will bring home to share with family members. 

Oracy

During this half term, we will be using our oracy skills to express our views and opinions. We will take part in a Soapbox Challenge week,  where we will create our own speeches about a topic we feel passionate about.