Key Stage: KS1 Y2 Genre: Non-fiction Text: Penguins by Emily Bone (Usborne Beginners series) Length of sequence: 3 weeks Key learning outcome: To write a non-chronological report about an animal of interest Elicitation task: Use an object that pupils are interested in, such as a toy car. Talk about the features of the toy, what it is made of, who might use it and why. They should then write a report about the car, to include a diagram. Use the outcomes from this to adapt the medium-term plan and age-related learning outcomes. Medium-term plan Reading Be introduced to non-fiction books that are structured in different ways. Discuss and clarify the meanings of words, linking new meanings to known vocabulary. Answer and ask questions, participate in discussion about books, poems and other works that are read to them and those that they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say. Writing Write for different purposes. Plan or say out loud what they are going to write about. Evaluate their writing with the teacher and other pupils. Proofread to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation. Grammar Use the present and past tense correctly. Use subordination (using when, if, that or because) Terminology tense (past and present), verb Spoken language Pupils should be taught to give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings. 1
Age-related learning outcomes Working at national standard Working at greater depth within the national standard Write an information text in the present tense. Use a range of sentence constructions to make meaning clear to the reader. Use knowledge about features of an information text to lay out pages. Use a range of determiners to make it clear which person/superhero/animal is being referred to. Vary the layout to make the meaning clear to the reader. Guided group writing targets Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Teaching Familiarisation/Immersion in text/analysis Learning about the text Reading Generate a list of questions that pupils would like to ask about penguins. Record them, then use the book to find the answers. Give pupils a question and a spread from the book and ask them to find and write an answer to the question. There are some great videos listed at the back of the book that you could show pupils. Learn and remember a couple of pages from the text, such as What is a Penguin?, Life in the Cold, Super Swimmers and Enemies. Use a map and actions to support memory. What makes this text easy to find information in? Look at a range of pages and identify some of the features and how they help the reader. Annotate the features on the page to show what they do. Give pupils a page to annotate themselves. Help pupils generate questions that can be answered by reading their annotated page. Ask pupils to do the same on their own page and to be clear about the answers. Pupils can then come up to the front as teachers, ask their questions and compare the answers that they are given with the ones they expected. Grammar Choose some of the simple sentences from the book and write them out on strips of card (see below for some examples). Ask three or four questions about them to identify the verb. For example, for the sentence Other penguins dig burrows in the ground ask Who dig burrows in the ground? What do they do? (this is the verb), What do they dig? Where do they dig the burrows? Then repeat the sentence stamping or clapping, etc. when they hear the verb. Do this for the range of sentences and underline the verbs. Ask whether these verbs are in the present or past. How do pupils know? Record the tense that pupils need to write in on the success-criteria sheet, with some examples of the verbs in that tense. Choose a sentence that starts with When (e.g. When penguins are on land, different ways of getting from place to place). Use the cards below and model making the start of some silly sentences and then make up the ending. Write some of the sentences that you create. 2
Look at all the words that come in front of or after penguins to tell the reader which penguin it is (these are determiners, but pupils do not need to know this terminology). For example: some penguins, these penguins, this penguin, a mother penguin, penguins, a penguin and penguin chicks. Use a page such as page 22 and take off all the text. Write captions for each of the images starting with different determiners. Identify the structure of the text and record to support organisation of ideas for pupils own writing. Practising writing Create a list of things that pupils could write about. This could be other animals but you could choose any category, such as superheroes, villains, etc. Choose one aspect to write about. Collect pictures of superheroes (for example) and label them for their special clothing and features. Ask: What sort of information might we include in our books? What is a superhero? Create a display of and about superheroes. Discuss what a superhero is and identify key qualities. Create a poster advertising a job for a superhero with the information. What superpowers do superheroes have? Each pupil should create a trump card about a superpower to display on the wall. Use images of the enemies of superheroes. What do they try to do that is bad? How do they do that? Add the new information to the Text structure chart. Go back to the text map for the three sections and adapt or create a new map for the information that you are going to include in this text. Practise retelling the new text. Decide how to lay out information on each page. Shared writing Model writing each page of the text, focusing on the aspects recorded on the writerly knowledge chart. Pupils write their own pages about superheroes. Make sure you have plenty of guided writing at this stage of the sequence. (Some pupils may only write one page at this point.) Model improving the text before pupils work in pairs to improve their own texts. Independent writing Pupils choose their own aspect to write about, and collect images and ideas. They could start doing this during the Practising writing phase as homework. Label pictures with important information and put the new information on the Text structure chart. Decide on the headings and create a new map for their text, either by adapting or drawing from scratch. Get them to talk through the text with a partner. Support pupils in writing their own text through revising and editing. Proofread for spelling and punctuation. Compare and comment on the progress made from the elicitation task to the Independent writing. 3
Text structure Text model Practising writing Independent writing What is a penguin? brief description unusual fact Super swimmers: intro about how they swim swim underwater to hunt dive in and out to reset their wings leap out of water on to ice short, smooth feathers to move through water easily Enemies: who are the enemies? how an enemy attacks x2 Simple sentences A mother penguin lays an egg. Penguins dig burrows in the ground. Some penguins push themselves across the ice. The penguins call loudly. Leopard seals hunt penguins. Most penguins live here. 4
When penguins are on the plate, When pupils are in the forest, When spotted hyenas are around the table, When cheese sandwiches are drying out, 5