Autumn Term 2

Writing

Our first text is ‘The Lost Thing’ by Shaun Tan. Using the film and text of Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing, we will initially engage with the themes of the story and make predictions about its content. We will then engage with the story through writing diary entries in role and writing formal letters of advice to Pete about what he should do. The children will then go on to create guides for how to look after it along with completing official paperwork and adverts for the Department of Odds and Ends. Finally, the children will design their own lost thing and describe it in order to incorporate it into their own version of a ‘lost thing’ narrative.

Our second test is 'Freedom Bird' by Jerdine Nolen. This is a three-week Writing Root book tells the story of John and Millicent Wheeler, whose parents were sold as enslaved people and who now live and work on Simon Plenty’s North Carolina Plantation. Before being sold, their parents told them stories of how one day their people would fly away to freedom; these are the hopes and dreams that remain alive in their hearts. The sequence of learning begins with children considering the difference between their needs and wants, before going on to research the history of the transatlantic slave trade in America. The children will write in role as the enslaved children, considering their experiences from a first-hand perspective, create dialogue of a conversation between the two siblings and write them a letter of advice to help them through their situation. The Writing Root culminates with children writing a biography of Harriet Tubman, one of the most famous conductors on the Underground Railroad.

We will also continue to practise our handwriting and spelling skills using the ‘Penpals for Handwriting’ and ‘No Nonsense Spelling’ schemes.

Reading

For our Reading sessions, we will be following the ‘Literacy Leaves’ approach from Literacy Tree. Using quality texts, our aim is to create and nurture a love of reading whilst at the same time enabling children to develop a range of age-related reading skills through a variety of tasks and activities.

This term our chosen books are as follows:

‘Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow’ by Benjamin Dean. 

Book blurb:

My name’s Archie Albright, and I know two things for certain: 1. My mum and dad kind of hate each other, and they’re not doing a great job of pretending that they don’t anymore. 2. They’re both keeping a secret from me, but I can’t figure out what. Things aren’t going great for Archie Albright. His dad’s acting weird, his mum too, and all he wants is for everything to go back to normal, to three months before when his parents were happy and still lived together. When Archie sees a colourful, crumpled flyer fall out of Dad’s pocket, he thinks he may have found the answer. Only problem? The answer might just lie at the end of the rainbow, an adventure away.

Bright Stars of Black British History by J.T Williams

This beautifully written and illustrated non-fiction text brings the lives of 14 shining stars from Black British History into the spotlight, celebrating their remarkable achievements and contributions to the arts, medicine, politics, sport, and beyond! This text takes readers from the Roman era up to post World-War 2 history. While the Literary Leaf focuses on nine of the ‘Bright Stars’ discussed in the book, we would encourage teachers to allow children the opportunity to extend their study by exploring more of the text and the inspiring people from history within it. We would recommend this Leaf be used in conjunction with the Writing Root for the Lizzie and Belle Mysteries, set in Georgian England, though this is not essential.

Autumn Term 1

Writing

We will start the new term with a three-week workshop to consolidate our grammar and punctuation skills.

We will then be following the Literacy Tree approach in our school Writing curriculum using recommended texts to inspire and produce quality writing.

Our first text is ‘Robot Girl’ by Malorie Blackman. The journey starts with children arriving in class to be presented with a government mandate that robots will take over all jobs in the community, which they will go on to discuss and debate. As they read Robot Girl, they will unpick the elements of science-fiction writing as they learn more about the key characters in the story, comparing them. They will explore creating effective dialogue to convey character and show feelings through writing emails in role. After making predictions about twists and turns in the story, they will go on to create atmospheric setting descriptions, give a character advice about what to do, and write an action scene. After finishing the book and discussing the dramatic plot twist, they will write a book review before going on to create their own science-fiction narrative inspired by Robot Girl.

We will continue to practise our handwriting and spelling skills using the ‘Penpals for Handwriting’ and ‘No Nonsense Spelling’ schemes.

Reading

For our Reading sessions, we will be following the ‘Literacy Leaves’ approach from Literacy Tree. Using quality texts, our aim is to create and nurture a love of reading whilst at the same time enabling children to develop a range of age-related reading skills through a variety of tasks and activities.

This term our chosen books are as follows:

‘Cosmic’ by Frank Cottrell Boyce. This book is about a boy called Liam and how his size (and facial hair) gives him more than your average amount of advantages. He’s pretty sure he’s the only eleven-year-old to ever ride the G-force defying Cosmic rollercoaster - or be offered the chance to drive a Porsche. But then, long-legged Liam makes a giant leap for boy-kind by competing with a group of adults for the chance to go into space. As the story unfolds, he begins to realise that size is not everything.

Hidden Figures Young Readers’ Edition by Margot Lee Shetterly. This beautifully written and powerful book tells the inspiring story of four female mathematicians - Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Christine Darden - who worked at NASA and played a significant part in American history from WW2 through to the Space Race. Not only were they behind many key events in NASA’s history, but they also played a significant role in fighting for gender and racial equality - leading by example.