Year 6 English Curriculum Overview 2014 - 15
Term
Topic
Unit Overview
Class reads: Medal for Leroy or War Horse by Michael Morpurgo (set in
World War I to link with History War topic.) The war poem Flanders Field
will be covered in class.
AUTUMN TERM 1
Topic 1
Poetry
Ted Hughes
Powerful Language
Children will be reading Poems about the natural world using powerful
language.
Children will be encouraged to learn some of the poems off by heart and
perform them
Children will write poems based on close observations of animals or nature.
Children may also write ‘My Imagination’ poems full of similes and metaphors.
Narrative poetry
Read Matilda who Told such Dreadful Lies by Hilaire Beloc
Watch Off By Heart performance of the poem.
Read Jim by Hilaire Beloc
Top Set: The Lady of Shalott
Topic 2
Planet Prison
Multimodal story from
Literacy Evolve
Children will be reading an on-screen, interactive story set in the future
about Earth having been taken over by the CLAWs. The story is set on
another planet with the main character being half human and half celban
(creature from the other planet).
After watching parts of the story, children write short texts that form a
compilation.
Some of the texts can be pre-recorded on IPads and then written up.
Assessment
Opportunities
Poem about the seasons
(assess use of figurative
language)
Newspaper Report
Report on Matilda’s house
burning down or a boy
being eaten by a lion at a
zoo.
Compilation of writing
based on Planet Prison
• description of
earth
• fact file on the
Celbans
• continuation of
story
• recorded
messages and
radio
announcements
• letter describing
conditions of
humans
Year 6 English Curriculum Overview 2014 - 15
Topic 3
Fiction
Literacy Shed
Inspiration Shed
The Piano
AUTUMN TERM 2
TO LINK WITH WORLD
WAR II LEARNING
JOURNEY TOPIC
Topic 1
Fiction
Short story:
Little Ships
Topic 2
Topic 3
A story about a man that plays the piano and reminisces about his youth. As
he reminisces the story flashes back to these times. These flashbacks also
include a war memory.
Narrative Recount
First person recount
about the man's
reminiscences.
AUTUMN HALF TERM
Class Read: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips by Michael Morpurgo
(set in World War II) or Goodnight Mr Tom.
A short story about the D-Day on Dunkirk beach. Many people have been
stranded on the beach and smaller ships have to be sent in to help. The
story is told from the point of view of a young girl who is posing as a boy
(girls would not have been allowed)!
Audio recordings of Dunkirk beech for vocabulary:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/dunkirk/14311.shtml
Diary Entry
Write a diary entry from
the point of view of a
soldier on the beach who
is rescued by one of the
ships or form the girls’
point of view.
Non-fiction
Extracts from Anne
Frank
Children will read fascinating extracts of the Diary of Anne Frank. Using
IPads or MacBooks they will research more information about her before
writing a biography.
http://www.annefrank.org.uk/node/14
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/316:54/1/Anne_Fra
nk.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERfrankA.htm
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/war/annefrank.html
Biography
The Life of Anne Frank
Christmas Book
Planning and activities to follow
Year 6 English Curriculum Overview 2014 - 15
SPRING 1
TO LINK WITH
GEOGRAPHY LEARNING
JOURNEY: NATURAL
DISASTERS
Topic 1
Reading Comprehension:
Non-fiction
Mission: Save Pompeii
Past Sats Reading Paper 2007 On Dangerous Ground
A reading comprehension paper based on Pompeii.
An exciting on-line book that can be read on IPads/MacBooks.
Children will take notes and answer key questions as they go.
Using the information they find out from this book the children will record a
speech to warn people of Pompeii of impending eruption.
Topic 2
Fiction
Book:
Eye of the Wolf
A thought-provoking story beginning with a young boy seeing a wolf in the
zoo. The wolf looks inside the boy and can see the story behind him. Main
theme of story is humans as a destructive force.
The story is told from both the wolf and the boy’s points of view.
Topic 3
The Great Debate
A topic will be chosen for children to have a live debate that the children can
present to another class or film.
Looking at language features of successful arguments.
SPRING TERM 2
Topic 1
Non-fiction
The Titanic
Children will be studying suitable extracts from the
famous book of the titanic. They will explore what
happened and have a go at writing newspaper reports,
Non-chronological
report: Vesuvius
Write a non-chronological
report to the town
leaders about the need to
evacuate the population
of Pompeii to save their
lives.
• Include facts
about volcanoes /
Vesuvius
• Misguided beliefs
that people may
have
Suggestions for a course
of action
Narrative
Retell a scene in the
story from the
perspective of a
different character’s
point of view.
Balanced argument
Can be linked to zoos –
should we keep animals in
zoos / or any other topic
that will work with your
set / or it can be linked
to the unit below.
Choose from:
Persuasive brochure – attracting
customers to the Titanic.
Year 6 English Curriculum Overview 2014 - 15
Extracts from My Story:
The Titanic
diary entries and letters of complaint based on what they
have learnt.
Newspaper Report – The launching of the
Titanic / sinking
Diary entry (over a few days)
See Level 5 Annotated example
Letter of complaint - about the food in
the Titanic restaurant.
Balanced argument – should the lifeboats
have gone back
SUMMER TERM 1
Topic 1
Comprehension Revision
Non-fiction
Amazing Inventions
Topic 2
SUMMER TERM 2
Topic 1
TO LINK WITH
LEARNING JOURNEY:
THE ANCIENT GREEKS
Fiction
Greek Myths
Fiction
Book: Uninvited Ghost
EASTER
Revision of key comprehension skills of inference and
information retrieval. Revision for SPAG test.
Children will read an ebook about new inventions. They will
then be encouraged to create their own inventions and
more importantly promote the invention to a given
audience using their persuasive skills in a letter.
SATS
Persuasive letter
To persuade a company to buy a new
invention.
Children will study a number of traditional Greek Myths.
Through drama they explore the ideas and common
themes before having a go at writing their own creation
myth.
Informal letter
Write a letter from Persephone to her
mother describing life in the Underworld
Narrative
Write a creation myth
HALF TERM
Children will read ghost story about uninvited, nuisance
ghosts. They will revisit narrative techniques, varying
Narrative
Ghost Story and/or
Year 6 English Curriculum Overview 2014 - 15
and
Fiction
Book: Fantastic, Funny
Frightening
sentence lengths for effect, balance of action,
description and dialogue.
Suspense story
Children will also Read Nule and Moving House.
that creates suspense.
Also Recount of Science Trip
Topic 2
Poetry
Ted Hughes/John Agard
Poetic Voice
Children must be encouraged to learn some of the poems
off by heart and perform them – could be a homework.
Children will explore free verse poems.
Topic 3
Shakespeare.
Children will be exploring Shalespeare’s famous Romeo and
Juliet.
They will be exploring the text through drama, animated
clips and easier style text versions of the story.
Performing Arts week
Play script
Rewrite a scene in modern English as a play
script.