Non-fiction

English Year 1/2 Autumn Recounts

Animal Diaries

Enjoy reading Diary of a Wombat and Waiting for Goliath in this lovely block. Learn to spell and capitalise the days of the week. Look at the use of first-person and find and use past tense verbs. Write postcards, letters and diary entries.

Start with the core unit to introduce key texts. Then select from comprehension, SPAG and composition units.

Core
Unit 1 Core: Reading and writing diaries and recounts
(suggested as 5 days)

Group Readers

The Cat's Journey
The Cat's Journey by Ruth Merttens. The cat recounts her long journey in simple language, making it accessible to children who still struggle to read. What makes this a ‘must’ are the original and idiosyncratic illustrations, which carry the story forward simply and effectively.

You Will Need

Texts:
Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
The Cat’s Journey, Hamilton Group Reader, by Ruth Merttens and Anne Holm Petersen (provided)

SPAG
Unit 2 SPaG: Verbs and tense - simple past and present
(suggested as 2 days)

SPaG: Grammar and Punctuation

There is no spelling and grammar presentation for this unit.

You Will Need

Essential Text:

Hamilton animated tale, The Swallow’s Journey written by Ruth Merttens and read by Ted Fletcher

SPAG
Unit 3 SPaG: Days of the week; using capital letters correctly
(suggested as 3 days)

SPaG: Grammar and Punctuation

There is no spelling and grammar presentation for this unit.

You Will Need

Essential Texts:
Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
Hamilton animated tale, The Swallow’s Journey written by Ruth Merttens and read by Ted Fletcher

Composition
Unit 4 Composition: Write a diary for a character from a story
(suggested as 5 days)

Group Readers

The Cat's Journey
The Cat's Journey by Ruth Merttens. The cat recounts her long journey in simple language, making it accessible to children who still struggle to read. What makes this a ‘must’ are the original and idiosyncratic illustrations, which carry the story forward simply and effectively.

You Will Need

Essential Texts:
Waiting for Goliath by Antje Damm
Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
The Hamilton Group Reader, The Cat’s Journey by Ruth Merttens and Anne Holm Petersen