English

During the term our English is taught in ‘units of work’ inspired by and based on the following quality children’s texts.

SPRING 1

Werewolf Club Rules (Joseph Coelho): 6 weeks

Do not talk about Werewolf Club! You can howl about it But never talk. Do not walk to Werewolf Club! You can bound to it in moonlight But never walk. Find out the mysterious rules of Werewolf Club, how to look like a rainbow, what happens when puppies fall in love - and how to fold up your gran!

The key learning aims during the unit are:

• To explore and understand the importance of poetry as a genre.
• To know how to listen and respond to a wide range of poems from a single poet collection.
• To understand that poems are written for different reasons.
• To interpret poems for performance.
• To gain and maintain the interest of the listener through effective performance of poems.
• To be able to use art as a means of responding to a poem, visualising and inferring and extending and enriching language. 
• To recognise figurative language in poetry and interpret its effects on the reader.
• To draft, compose and write poems based on real and personal experiences using language with intent for effect on the reader.

The main writing / speaking and listening outcomes of the unit are:

• Identify the audience for and purpose of the writing, selection the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own.
• Select appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning.
• Evaluate and edit by assessing the effectiveness of their own and others' writing.
• Evaluate and edit proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning. 
• Perform their own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume, and movement so that meaning is clear. 

SPRING 2

LIBBA: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten (Laura Veirs)

Elizabeth Cotten was only a little girl when she picked up a guitar for the first time. It wasn't hers (it was her big brother's), and it wasn't strung right for her (she was left-handed). But she flipped that guitar upside down and backwards and taught herself how to play it anyway. By age eleven, she'd written "Freight Train," one of the most famous folk songs of the twentieth century. And by the end of her life, people everywhere—from the sunny beaches of California to the rolling hills of England—knew her music. This lyrical, loving picture book from popular singer-songwriter Laura Veirs and debut illustrator Tatyana Fazlalizadeh tells the story of the determined, gifted, daring Elizabeth Cotten—one of the most celebrated American folk musicians of all time.

The key learning aims during the unit are:

• To engage children with a story with which they will empathise.
• To explore themes and issues, and develop and sustain ideas through discussion, enabling children to make connections with their own lives.
• To develop creative responses to the text through responding to reading, drama and artwork.
• To develop reader response and comprehension through wide range of cross-curricular opportunities.
• To write in role in order to explore and develop empathy for a character.
• To write with confidence for real purposes and audiences.

The main writing / speaking and listening outcomes of the unit are:

• Personal Writing
• Poetry
• Information Writing
• Writing in Role: Diary or Letter 
• Advertisement
• Freeze Frame
• Thought Tracking
• Writing in Role 
• Teacher in Role
• Book Talk
• Storymapping
• Persuasive Speech 
• Writing in Role: Letter
• Liner Notes or Newspaper Article
• Biography

SPAG learning is incorporated into each lesson.