Gather a collection of proper nouns and investigate their origins using dictionaries and encyclopaedias.
Look at more complex suffixes, prefixes and roots. Find poly-syllabic words and break them down to better understand meaning and origin.
Sentence Level Work
Write a set of instructions, a non-chronological report or similar on the board and ask children to investigate ways in which it could be punctuated. Look at use of colons, semi-colons, brackets and dashes.
Spring Term
Word Level Work
Build a bank of connectives.
Build a bank of alternatives to 'said'. Give a sentence to improve i.e. "Get out of my way," said Kojic
Sentence Level Work
Contracting sentences: note making, editing and summary - find out what current humanities topic is, read a passage from a relevant source, ask them to take notes while you read it, then to summarize the passage (could be in bullet point or paragraph form.)
Summer Term
Word Level Work
Invent mnemonics for irregular and difficult spellings.
Sentence Level Work
Study proverbs and write their meanings.
Text Level Work
Narrative / Plays / Scripts
Write a story with two different narrators. More able alone, one paragraph (sub-titled?) for each, able and less able in pairs, think of a story with two characters (parent/teacher and child perhaps? Bully/Victim) and each take a part to write same story, compile as intertwined paragraphs at end.
Give the children 1 story title, and ask them to plan five stories using it, using the same characters. Example titles: Lost!; We're On Our Way!; Shipwrecked!; Track Fever; Mysterious Mummies.
Read the opening to a story, and ask children to prepare as a script using stage directions etc.
Write the blurb for the back cover of a novel they'd like to write/their auto-biography.
Write a flashback story, secret door, key, black hole etc.
Write an alternative ending to a well-know story (i.e. myth, fairy tale.)
Produce a writer's commentary on the opening/first chapter of their current reading book
Non Fiction
Give each table a different audience but the same non-fiction title, e.g. Life in the Blitz, compare the style the different texts are written in, language, format etc.
Discuss current point of debate (i.e. local toxic waste plant (use local/current affairs knowledge) or imaginary school scenario (Head teacher decides to ban/bring in uniforms for teachers) and write a balanced report.
Prepare a CV for their hero, research where available, for job as Prime Minister.
Write a report in a journalistic style based on a local/current issue such as dogs fouling the park. Present a balanced and ethical report that includes interviews from different perspectives.
Give invitation to Hermione to Wizard's Ball, ask to prepare same for a professor of wizardry, concentrating on differences between formal and informal text used.
