In English this year, we have written in a range of genres including narratives, poetry, non-chronological reports, letters and diaries. Each lesson starts with a starter activity based on the core grammar and punctuation objectives that we are learning for the genre of writing. We also build in planning and editing time when we are completing our final written piece. 

Quality texts are chosen to accompany English lessons and children have many opportunities to develop their reading fluency and comprehension skills. 

Across the week, children take part in daily spelling sessions and guided reading sessions.  All children have regular opportunities to develop their speaking and listening skills. This might be through class discussions, drama or group work.

So far this year, we have:

been inspired by to write our own poems after reading Allan Ahlberg's poetry

written our own story with an issue based on "Frog, Belly, Rat, Bone" by Timothy B. Ering

written letters to King Charles III

written reports on the Tudors

created our own version of "The Hare and the Tortoise"

written a story inspired by "The Egyptian Cinderella" by Shirley Climo

used our Big Bang learning to write instructions on How to Mummify a Tomato

You can find greater information on what phonics, reading, writing and spellings look like at Therfield First School on the English homepage.  

Robots

For our topic Robots, we looked at the story “The Iron Man” and wrote setting and character descriptions based on our interpretations of the book.  We then wrote our own version of the Iron Man using our own characters. They were amazing!

Active Planet

For our Topic Active Planet, we looked at the core features of explanation texts.  We then researched different types of volcanoes, how and why volcanoes erupt and famous eruptions. We created our own explanations based on Volcanoes and shared facts that we had found interesting.

Fairtrade

For our topic Fairtrade, we focussed on poems written by Michael Rosen and the book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” written by Roald Dahl.  We had fun performance reading and acting out the poems “Don’t” and “Chocolate Cake.”  After reading “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, we wrote our own play scripts based on an event that happened in the factory. We definitely have budding Actors and Actresses in Rooks Nest Class and some future comedians judging by their performances!

Need for Speed

For our topic Need for Speed, we looked at the story “The Tunnel” by Anthony Browne.  We loved reading this story and hosted many discussions and debates about the characters in the story.  We also found many references to Little Red Riding Hood in the pictures.  At the end of the learning sequence, we wrote our own setting descriptions based on the amazing illustrations.  

Ancient Greece

For our topic Ancient Greece, we looked at a different myth each week and then wrote our own myth based on “Hercules and the 12^th Labor.”  We ensured that we included all the core features of myth stories and enjoyed reading this to an audience.  We loved learning about the different mythical creatures and created our own creature for our story.