You Will Need
Essential Resources
Several packs of playing cards
Presentations
SPAG PowerPoint: Adverbs for cohesion
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English Blocks or English Plans?
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Hamilton Group Readers
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Free English Resources on Hamilton
Find out which Hamilton English planning resources you can access for free.
Non-fiction
English Year 5 Autumn Instructions and Explanations
Changing Technology
Explore instructions and explanations with hover boards, doggie umbrellas & new-fangled escalators. Study the grammar of cohesion and create guides for futuristic travel.
We recommend that you start with the core unit, the heart of this English block of study. This introduces key textual material and sets the tone for any further units you wish to teach. These can be selected on the basis of the needs of your class – look at the green icons to identify the unit’s particular focus: SPAG, Composition or Comprehension. Whichever units you choose, we suggest teaching them in order, as there is a built-in progression indicated by the numbering.
‘UNIT PLAN’ gives you a text version of all parts of the unit to use in your school planning documentation. ‘DOWNLOAD ALL FILES’ gives you that unit plan plus all of the associated documents.
Unit 1 Core: Features of instructions, including imperatives & adverbs
(suggested as 3 days)
Objectives
Spoken Language
-- Listen and respond appropriately.
-- Articulate and justify answers.
-- Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations.
-- Use spoken language to develop understanding.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
-- Read texts that are structured in different ways and read for a range of purposes.
-- Identify and discuss conventions.
-- Make comparisons within and across books.
-- Discuss and evaluate how authors use language.
-- Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction.
-- Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Use similar texts as models.
-- Select appropriate grammar & vocabulary meaning.
-- Use devices to build cohesion within paragraphs.
Grammar
-- Learn the grammar in Appendix 2 [devices to build cohesion – adverbs].
Teaching and Activities
Day 1 Teaching
Discuss card games and how we use instructions to help us learn new ones. Read ‘How to Play Sevens’ (see resources) and discuss. Record instruction features on f/c (see resources for list ideas).
Activity
Distribute ‘Card Games’ sheets (see resources) to children in groups of 3-4. Children try one or two games, evaluating how easy the instructions are to follow and which features make them clearer. Children annotate sheets to note features and improvement ideas.
Day 2 Teaching
Display and read instructions, PowerPoint slide 1. Discuss text features for clarity: steps, numbers, bullets, arrows and time adverbs. Use PowerPoint (slides 2-6) to recap adverbs for time and extend to other adverbs for cohesion. Display ‘Instructions for Boarding a Bus’ (see resources), and ask children to improve these instructions, adding adverbs, imperative verbs, numbers or bullet points.
Activity
Children use activity sheets (see resources) to prompt writing clear, cohesive instructions.
HARD: ‘How to Use the Telephone’;
MEDIUM: ‘How to use an Escalator’;
EASY: ‘How to use an Escalator Safely’.
Day 3 Teaching
Recap features of instructions, checking children are secure in terms: imperative verb, person and concepts of audience and purpose. Add adverbs for time and listing to features list. Agree that we can use a features list to evaluate instructions.
Activity
Children read and compare instruction texts, thinking about structure & language, supported by prompt sheets (see resources).
HARD: ‘A guide to using twitter’; ‘Getting Started with your iPhone’ & ‘Thinking about Instruction Texts 1’.
MEDIUM: ‘LeapPad Instructions’; ‘Aeroplane Instructions’ & ‘Thinking about Instruction Texts 2’.
EASY: ‘Art Attack Instructions’; ‘Aeroplane Instructions’ & ‘Thinking about Instruction Texts 3’.
SPAG: Grammar and Punctuation
Adverbs for Cohesion PowerPoint
Show children how adverbs link ideas in a paragraph, indicating time, order, manner, cause and contrasts. Also address punctuation issues.
Unit 2 SPAG: Features of explanations, including adverbs
(suggested as 2 days)
Objectives
Spoken Language
None for this unit.
Word Reading
-- Apply growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words.
Comprehension
-- Read for a range of purposes.
-- Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction.
-- Explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read.
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Select appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning.
-- Use a wide range of devices to build cohesion within paragraphs.
Grammar
-- Use commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing.
-- Learn the grammar in Appendix 2 [devices to build cohesion – adverbs].
You Will Need
Websites
Research website from www.explainthatstuff.com
Presentations
SPAG PowerPoint: Adverbs to link ideas in a paragraph
Teaching and Activities
Day 1 Teaching
Use PowerPoint: Adverbs for Cohesion (slides 2-4) to explore adverbs for cause and contrast. Display explanation text, ‘How Escalators Work’ (see resources), discussing purpose of this text type - to explain how or why something happens. Notice adverbs for cohesion; there are more for cause and contrast than with instructions.
Activity
Distribute ‘How Alexa works’ (see resources). Children edit or rewrite the pairs of sentences, adding appropriate adverbs. Challenge more able to find different places to add an adverb in the same pair of sentences.
Day 2 Teaching
Display and reread ‘How Escalators Work’ (see resources). Discuss language features. Compare static text with animated diagram, clicking on the link. Discuss and model how to use the text to answer the question ‘How do escalators work?’. Discuss summarising the key facts in note-form.
Activity
Allocate ‘Research Questions’ and display website (see resources). Children research and answer a question by reading an online explanation text, making notes and presenting information to a peer.
SPAG: Grammar and Punctuation
Adverbs to Link Ideas in a Paragraph PowerPoint
Show children how adverbs link ideas in a paragraph, indicating time, order, manner, cause and contrasts. Also address punctuation issues.
Unit 3 SPAG: Writing explanations using parenthesis: brackets, commas, dashes
(suggested as 3 days)
Objectives
Spoken Language
-- Give well-structured descriptions and explanations.
-- Participate in presentations.
-- Gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s).
-- Select and use appropriate registers.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
None for this unit
Transcription
None for this unit
Composition
-- Select appropriate grammar and vocabulary.
-- Note and develop initial ideas.
-- Use a wide range of devices to build cohesion within text.
-- Use further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader [for example, headings, bullet points, underlining].
Grammar
-- Use brackets and other devices to indicate parenthesis.
You Will Need
Presentations
SPAG PowerPoint: Parenthesis
Teaching and Activities
Day 1 Teaching
Read ‘A Guide to Using Twitter’ (see resources), noting use of brackets for parenthesis. Use PowerPoint (slides 2-6) to give more examples and challenge children to decide where brackets could be placed in a text.
Activity
In small groups, children use game sheets (see resources) to play a game, similar to Consequences, taking turns to add to the story, with extra information in brackets (see example sheet in resources). Children unfold the sheet when it has been completed and write out one of the scenarios in their books, correctly punctuated.
Day 2 Teaching
Briefly revise explanation features. New technology often requires instruction and explanation. Display Baby Cage pictures (see resources) and discuss/draft related instructions and explanations. Create or display a side-by-side lists of the features of instructions and explanations picking out similarities and differences.
Activity
In small groups, children use patent designs (see resources) to plan and present a three-minute presentation (pitch), explaining how the inventions work, in the style of Dragons’ Den. MEDIUM/HARD: Include adverbs for opinion in addition to cause and contrast.
Day 3 Teaching
Revisit explanation features, noting that their sequential, cause-and-effect nature distinguishes them from reports. Model presenting an everyday item as a fabulous new gadget. Model writing a short explanation of how it works, emphasising language features and punctuating parenthesis with brackets or commas.
Activity
Using notes from Day 2, children draft formal explanation texts which aim to explain and persuade, selecting a formal tone. Remind children how they can use brackets to add extra information which they want to stand out.
SPAG: Grammar and Punctuation
Parenthesis PowerPoint
Define parenthesis and model three common examples: brackets, commas and dashes. Show how and when to use each of these appropriately.
Unit 4 Composition: Extended writing: explanations and instructions
(suggested as 3 days)
Objectives
Spoken Language
-- Use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas.
Word Reading
None for this unit
Comprehension
None for this unit
Transcription
-- Use dictionaries to check spelling.
-- Use a thesaurus.
Composition
-- Identify audience and purpose of writing, selecting appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own.
-- Note and develop initial ideas.
-- Select appropriate grammar and vocabulary.
-- Use a wide range of devices to build cohesion.
-- Use further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader [for example, headings, bullet points, underlining].
Grammar
-- Use brackets to indicate parenthesis.
You Will Need
Presentations
SPAG PowerPoint: Adverbs to link ideas in a paragraph
SPAG PowerPoint: Parenthesis
Teaching and Activities
Day 1 Teaching
Display ‘Transport of the Future’ (see resources) and discuss. Children will write a guide to a futuristic form of transport, which will include both instructions for use and explanations as to how they work. Children discuss ideas, based on pictures or ideas of their own. For those who need support, distribute ‘Transport of the Future! Ideas’ (see resources).
Activity
Children plan a guide for users of their invented transport, choosing an audience and considering their needs. Children plan their guide layout first, with boxes for introduction, explanation, instruction and a summing up sentence.
EASY: Use ‘Planning Support Grid’ (see resources).
Day 2 Teaching
Discuss ‘Cycling Helmets A & B’ (see resources). Children compare texts, discussing which is easiest to read and why (text is identical). Create a list of organisational features which children might choose to make their writing clearer today.
Activity
Children write first drafts of guides. Challenge children to use adverbs for cohesion and brackets for parenthesis.
Day 3 Teaching
Pick one writing aspect the class find tricky (e.g. lack of linking adverbs, misuse of commas etc.) Show how to tackle this, including some good examples of children’s writing. In pairs, children read their guides to themselves and then to partners. Discuss giving positive feedback and display areas of focus on f/c. Remind children how to use dictionaries and thesauruses efficiently.
Activity
Children complete and edit guides based on guidance given in whole-class teaching. Encourage children to use dictionaries for spelling and a thesaurus to improve vocabulary choices.
SPAG: Grammar and Punctuation
Adverbs to link Ideas in a paragraph PowerPoint
Show children how adverbs link ideas in a paragraph, indicating time, order, manner, cause and contrasts. Also address punctuation issues.
Parenthesis PowerPoint
Define parenthesis and model three common examples: brackets, commas and dashes. Show how and when to use each of these appropriately.