Key Stage: Upper KS2
Text: Animalium by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom
Length of sequence: 4 weeks
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Key learning Outcome
To write a class book about animals on Pandora
You could write about real animals. If this is the case choose a real animal for the innovate stage
and then let children choose another for invent. The activities can stay the same.
Elicitation Task:
Use a range of images about a particular animal. Explain to the children that they are going to
write a report for a book about a wide range of animals. Discuss the information that people
might be interested in if they are looking at the book. Use the images and ensure that everyone
can talk about the animal and, if not, knows that they can just make up the information for the
purposes of this writing. Write the report.
Use the outcomes from this to adapt the must/should/could below. There is a lot of
grammar that could be taught using this text. Use the elicitation task to decide which the
children need most and take the other elements out. You will not have time to teach it all!
Reading
Writing
Grammar
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Read texts that are structure in 
different ways and reading for a
range of purposes
Identifying conventions in and

across a range of writing
Identify how language,
structure and presentation
contribute to meaning



Note and develop initial ideas,
drawing on reading and
research where necessary
Select appropriate grammar
and vocabulary,
understanding how such
choices can change and
enhance meaning
Use further organisational and
presentational devices to
structure text and to guide the
reader
Link paragraphs across a text
using a wider range of
cohesive devices.
Propose changes to the
grammar and vocabulary and
punctuation to enhance
effects and clarify meaning
Working at national standards


Use passive form of verbs to
affect the presentation fo
information in a sentence
Use expanded noun phrases
to convey complicated
information concisely
Use brackets, dashes or
commas to indicate
parenthesis
Grammar Terminology
Brackets, dashes, commas,
noun phrases, complex
sentences, clauses, subordinate
and main clause, passive
Working above national standards


Write using complex sentences
Use a range of punctuation to make
meaning clear to the reader

Use a range of complex sentence
constructions
Identify and explore the effect of writing in
the present passive



Use a formal voice to present information
Guided group writing targets:
Gp 1
Gp2
© 2014 Babcock International Group
Gp3
Gp4
Gp5
www.babcock-education.co.uk/ldp/literacy
Key Stage: Upper KS2
Text: Animalium by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom
Length of sequence: 4 weeks
Teaching
Guided Work linked
to sequence
Learning
(I can … / I know…
/ I understand…)
Familiarisation/ Immersion in text/Analysis
Create a writerly knowledge chart with the children as you work
through the imitate stage of the sequence.
Imitate
 Explore and respond to the book prior to starting this sequence,
studying pages that the children are particularly interested in.
 Choose an animal and a habitat that the children are interested
in and learn and remember them using a map and actions. E.g.
snakes and deserts.
 Create a likes/dislikes/patterns and puzzles chart for the pages.
Discuss aspects identified by the children and choose a couple
of points to follow-up on. Give pairs of children different pages
from the book to explore and investigate, e.g. do all pages have
three paragraphs? Are these paragraphs the same on each
page?
 Use a photocopy of the image and label one of the snakes with
the information in the general text.
 Put children into pairs and explain that they are scientists who
are going to speak to some younger children about the animal
on the page they have been studying. Prepare a talk using the
information and images in the book and then go and share it
with younger children.
 How do the pages work? Explore the structure and information
on the pages. Are there any patterns in how the information is
presented? Annotate pages and compare with others. As a
class, create templates for the pages.
 Grammar (Remember you need to choose which of these
activities you are going to do. (You cannot do them all!)
o How is so much information shared in so few words?
Go back to labels on diagrams. What sort of
information did you put as labels (can you name it)?
Explore the use of noun phrases, identifying those
used, writing them out on strips of paper and
identifying patterns. Is it the same on the habitat
page? Map onto a noun phrase chart. (see below)
o Use images of other animals from the book and label
them using a range of noun phrases as identified
above.
o Explore the difference between active and passive
sentences by looking at the subject and whether they
are doing the verb or not. Perform a series of actions
and ask children to write a sentence to describe the
action as an active and a passive sentence, e.g. Joy
threw the keys on the floor. The keys were thrown on
the floor. Look through the text and identify the passive
verbs. What effect do they have on the text? Try
rewriting the sentences to make them active and
reflect on the difference.
o Use an image and ask children to write a short
paragraph about it only using active sentences. Then
repeat using the passive. What effect does writing in
the active or passive have?
o Look closely at the sentence with dashes and read it in
the way you think the reader wants you to. Change
the punctuation in it to commas and also brackets.
Read these sentences and discuss the differences.
Why do you think the author used dashes here? Do
they use them anywhere else? Is it for the same
© 2014 Babcock International Group
www.babcock-education.co.uk/ldp/literacy
Key Stage: Upper KS2
Text: Animalium by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom
Length of sequence: 4 weeks


reason? Use the sentence and create your own based
on its structure, e.g. Classrooms have colourful – and
pleasing – display boards, and use these to share
great work by children. This type of sentence forces
children to write generically which is important for this
writing.
o Choose some of the complex sentences from the text.
Record on strips of paper. Children cut up strips into
clauses and underline verbs. Investigate the order of
clauses and explain why they think the author has
used the order that they did. Create their own
sentences using the structures to write about
something else. Record them, ensuring the correct
punctuation is used.
Cut out the paragraphs on the snake and desert page. For
each paragraph cut off the first sentence. Write these out on a
sheet of paper. Model reading a paragraph and matching it up
to its first sentence. What clues are you looking for? Children
do this for the rest of the paragraphs. How do the first
sentences link to the rest of the paragraph? .
Box up the text for the animal and the habitat. Model doing this
for the animal and let the children complete the habitat page.
Innovate
 In art, create an alternative environment and design an animal
that lives in it. Discuss the adaptations that the animal needs to
live in this setting. Ask the children to create their own animals
that have the same sort of adaptations Talk to a partner about
how it is adapted to live in that environment. This would also
link to science work about adaptation.
 Create the environment as a display either 2d or 3d so that
everyone can see it.
 For the animals and setting, create noun phrase charts by
describing what they can see and recording the words in the
chart. Children can also magpie words from the text to use in
the chart. Take words from the columns to put together to
create a noun phrase.
 Box up new information adding the amount of detail needed.
 Go back to the map and retell the text now using the new
information. Make changes where necessary. Pick a small
part of this new text, retell it and then write it. Evaluate the
effectiveness of the sentences. Are you using patterns that
convey lots of information generically? Identify complex
sentences and consider the order of the clauses used.
Shared Writing
 Model writing the habitat and the animal information over a
couple of days focusing on the elements included in the writerly
knowledge chart. Children to write their own version for the
habitat and animal.
 Evaluate the effectiveness of the writing; think about it being
generic and information dense.
Mark the writing and identify elements to be taught in the invent stage.
Capturing Ideas
Invent
 Watch the Pandora Discovered by downloading it from YouTube.
Look closely and listen to information about the planet and make
notes. Turn your classroom into Pandora.
 Create a noun phrase chart for children to use.
 Use several images from the film (google has lots). In pairs choose
an image and describe it as clearly as possible. List words used
© 2014 Babcock International Group
.
www.babcock-education.co.uk/ldp/literacy
Key Stage: Upper KS2
Text: Animalium by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom
Length of sequence: 4 weeks


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and then add them to a noun phrase chart. Create the best noun
phrases you can to describe the image and label them.
Go to boxing up chart and complete that part of the information.
Watch video again but this time focus on the animals, making notes
about what is special about them. Go back to boxing up chart and
put in information that you have found out. What do you still need
to know? If you can’t find that information, make it up and complete
the boxing up chart.
Look at the information that you have. How would you group your
information and what would your topic sentence be? Create one
paragraph into text orally and then write it. Ensure that you are
using complex sentences and noun phrases to give lots of
information.
Retell the text, either the habitat or the animals one. Listen to
children telling the text and ensure that they have a range of
complex sentences and are generic.
Teach the element identified from the innovate stage.
Children write their habitat and animal page. They can use this site
http://www.pandorapedia.com/ to create the animal fact files.
Support children writing the text through revising and editing of the
text to include the elements taught throughout the sequence.
Present pages as a final, published version.
Compare and comment on the progress made from the elicitation
task and the invent writing
Noun phrase charts
Determiners
Adverbs
Adjectives
Nouns
Head noun
preposition
An
Few
A
their
Extremely
constantly
Dry
Changing
Passing
Long
Tube-like
Narrow
Flexible
Large
Forked
body
Climate
Plants
Landscape
Victim
Bodies
Shape
Backbone
Jaws
Tongues
method
Of attack
Adjectives
Nouns
Determiners
Adverbs
a, an, the
this, that,
these,
those,
some, any,
my, our,
slightly
very
extremely
rather
quite
© 2014 Babcock International Group
Head noun
Relative
pronoun
preposition
of
with
Relative
pronoun
www.babcock-education.co.uk/ldp/literacy
Key Stage: Upper KS2
Text: Animalium by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom
Length of sequence: 4 weeks
his, their,
several,
few, last,
next, first,
seventh,
six, twelve
who
which
that
Boxing up
Imitate
Animal
What does the snake look like?
What is the same for all
snakes?
How do they track and kill their
prey?
Individual snakes
Name
Latin name
Length
Habitat
Special features
Habitat
What is a desert like by day and
night?
The effects of temperature
change
How are animals adapted to this
environment
Innovate
Invent
Medium Term Plan
(core objectives from POS)
Reading
Writing




Read texts that are
structure in different ways
and reading for a range of
purposes
Identifying conventions in
and across a range of
writing
Identify how language,
structure and presentation
contribute to meaning



Note and develop initial
ideas, drawing on reading
and research where
necessary
Select appropriate grammar
and vocabulary,
understanding how such
choices can change and
enhance meaning
Use further organisational
and presentational devices
to structure text and to guide
the reader
Propose changes to the
grammar and vocabulary
and punctuation to enhance
effects and clarify meaning
Links to Grammar and
Punctuation Appendix
 Use passive form of verbs to
affect the presentation fo
information in a sentence
 Use expanded noun phrases
to convey complicated
information concisely
 Use brackets, dashes or
commas to indicate
parenthesis
Grammar Terminology
Brackets, dashes, commas,
noun phrases, complex
sentences, clauses, subordinate
and main clause, passive
Spoken Language
© 2014 Babcock International Group
www.babcock-education.co.uk/ldp/literacy
Key Stage: Upper KS2
Text: Animalium by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom
Length of sequence: 4 weeks
Give well-structured descriptions and explanations for different purposes
Simple
present
have
are
possess
swallow
Present
participle
killing
not chewing
coiling
Present
Infinitive
passive
are
to eat
characterised to death
are believed
are stacked
are designed
I
© 2014 Babcock International Group
www.babcock-education.co.uk/ldp/literacy