UK Primary Curriculum (English language)

Different stories by the same author
(3 weeks)


Page map
Basic outline
- Overview
- Objectives
- Building on previous learning
Detailed view
Key aspects of learning
Resources required


Basic outline

This is the third of a block of four narrative units in Year 2. It builds on children's knowledge and experience from units 1 and 2.

Phase 1
Read several books by the same author (in shared and independent reading). Compare similarities and differences and express personal response. Find out more about the author. Draw attention to features of the author's style.

Phase 2
Explore characterisation in an author's books by gathering evidence from the text, interpreting information and responding imaginatively through drama activities. Pose and answer questions about particular characters and look for evidence of change during the course of the story.

Phase 3
Work collaboratively in a group to investigate the style of another author. Each group member reads at least one book and evaluates in writing. Discuss and agree on features of the author's style and a favourite to recommend to the class.

Phase 4
Use drama and discussion to explore ideas for a new story about a character created by one of the chosen authors. Children plan and write their own complete stories, with: consistent use of third person and past tense; descriptions of settings and characters; some dialogue.


Overview

• Reading and response: Introduce a particular author and display a collection of their work. Demonstrate how to find out about the author, for example from blurb or websites, and make notes. Read several short stories, for example series of books that put the main character(s) into different situations. Encourage children to read more by the same author.

• Analysis: Compare specific features of the books read, including characters, events, settings. Collect information about the main character(s) and use this to make predictions about how they will behave in different settings or in response to different events. Explore the character's feelings in different situations using improvisation.

• Speaking and listening: Provide groups of children with a collection of books by a particular author. Each child reads at least one complete book and reports back to the group, explaining their response and identifying important aspects. Group collaborate to identify common features and information about the author to present to the class.

• Writing: Children select a character created by one of the authors they have read. Discuss/role-play what that character would do in a particular situation and note ideas for a story plan.

• Children write a sustained story about this character. Demonstrate how to include dialogue and detail to expand the story and sustain the reader's interest. Support children in using third person and past tense consistently.


Objectives

To ensure effective planning of literacy teachers need to ensure they plan for all elements of literacy effectively across the year ensuring that assessment for learning is used to plan and amend teaching. It is essential that core skills such as phonic strategies, spelling, and handwriting are incorporated into these exemplar units to ensure effective learning.

Most children learn to:

2. Listening and responding
• Listen to others in class, ask relevant questions and follow instructions

3. Group discussion and interaction
• Work effectively in groups by ensuring that each group member takes a turn challenging, supporting and moving on

4. Drama
• Adopt appropriate roles in small or large groups and consider alternative courses of action

5. Word recognition: decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling)
• Read independently and with increasing fluency longer and less familiar texts
• Spell with increasing accuracy and confidence, drawing on word recognition and knowledge of word structure, and spelling patterns
• Know how to tackle unfamiliar words that are not completely decodable
• Read and spell less common alternative graphemes including trigraphs
• Read high and medium frequency words independently and automatically

6. Word structure and spelling
• Spell with increasing accuracy and confidence, drawing on word recognition and knowledge of word structure, and spelling patterns including common inflections and use of double letters
• Read and spell less common alternative graphemes including trigraphs

8. Engaging with and responding to texts
• Engage with books through exploring and enacting interpretations
• Explain their reactions to texts, commenting on important aspects

9. Creating and shaping texts
• Sustain form in narrative, including use of person and time

10. Text structure and organisation
• Use planning to establish clear sections for writing (This link will take you to the relevant Steps in learning for this objective. Use the 'back' button on your browser to return to the objectives.)

11. Sentence structure and punctuation
• Compose sentences using tense consistently (present and past)


Building on previous learning

Check that children can already:
• Identify typical features of a traditional story.
• Demonstrate understanding of characterisation by talking about what a character looks like, how the character behaves and suggesting reasons for the character's feelings or actions.
• Write a complete story using a shared story plan, making use of features from reading to make it 'sound like a story'.
• Present a logical sequence of events and make use of connectives to show links between events.


Detailed view

Note: Children working significantly above or below age-related expectations will need differentiated support, which may include tracking forward or back in terms of learning objectives. EAL learners should be expected to work within the overall expectations for their year group. For further advice see the progression strands and hyperlinks to useful sources of practical support.

Phase 1: Reading; response (4 days)

Teaching content:
• Introduce a particular author and display a collection of the author's work. Include books that children will be able to read independently during the course of the unit.
• Read several short stories, for example a series of stories with the same character or group of characters having different adventures. Ask children to look for author information on the cover before reading each book and then talk about the similarities and differences between each story.
• Invite children to respond to each story by expressing an opinion or asking a question about an aspect of the story, for example I enjoyed the part where...; It was funny when...; I wonder why the character decided to...
• Demonstrate how to find out about the author, for example by reading the book blurb or looking for websites, and make notes to add to the display.
• Encourage children to read more by the same author and express their response by commenting on important aspects.
• Read another book by the same author without revealing the author's name. Ask for suggestions and draw attention to aspects of the author's style, for example familiar characters or settings, or similar story structure. Review and discuss what you have found out about the author's style.

Learning outcome:
• Children can talk about a text and explain their reaction to it.

Phase 2: Analysis; drama; writing (4 days)

Teaching content:
• Look more closely at specific features of the stories read: characters, events, settings. Encourage children to engage with books by exploring characters in more depth. Reread stories to collect information about the main characters. Ask children to identify the part of the story that tells them most about a character. Consider how much information is given and ask for suggestions about things that they are not told about, but can work out or imagine.
• Present an outline drawing of a character. Discuss what you know already and make notes inside the outline. Pose questions about what you would like to know, demonstrate how to write these and then display them around the drawing. Explore using the activities below and then ask children to write their own answers in sentences to add to the display, for example as thought or speech bubbles.
• Challenge children to find evidence about a character's thoughts and feelings. Help them to recognise the conventions of written dialogue and look for clues about how the character speaks. Draw attention to the verbs used for dialogue, for example shouted, joked, sighed, and the different feelings that are indicated.
• Explore the character's feelings in different situations using drama techniques such as hotseating and freeze-frame. Take the hotseat in role as a character and ask children to pose general questions. Children then work in groups where one person takes on the character's role and answers the other children's questions. Groups re-enact particular scenes and freeze the action at a crucial moment in the story. Ask individuals to explain what their character is thinking and feeling at the moment.
• Establish the idea that some characters can change during the course of a story or as a result of events. Explore this by rereading a story and focusing, for example, on a 'bad' character. Focus on the character's feelings and behaviour at the beginning and end of the story. Discuss how the character has changed, what the character has learned, how the character might behave in the future.

Learning outcome:
• Children can make inferences about characters and use the text to support their answers

Phase 3: Reading; speaking and listening; response (3 days)

Teaching content:
• Children work in groups to find out more about a particular author and report back to the class about the type of books the author writes and the book the group would recommend for others to read.
• Provide each group of children with a collection of books by a particular author. Each child reads at least one complete book at their own independent reading level and writes a short evaluation explaining their response and identifying important aspects. The group collaborate to identify common features and reach agreement about which book to recommend to the class.
• After reporting to the class the group review the task. They reflect, with adult support, on how their talk helped them to reach agreement.

Learning outcome:
• Children can work as a member of a group to discuss and reach agreement over a task.

Phase 4: Speaking and listening; writing (4 days)

Teaching content:
• Select a familiar character created by one of the authors the children have read. Develop an idea for a new story involving the character by making predictions about how the character will behave in a different setting or in response to different events. Use improvisation and role-play to explore alternative courses of action and make a note of different story ideas for children to refer to later.
• Demonstrate how to write some dialogue for a well-known character. Rehearse orally and decide on how the character would speak - Does this show the reader more about what the character is feeling or thinking? Support children as they try to write further lines of dialogue independently.
• Explore grammatical agreement and past tense to prepare children to apply in their independent story writing.
• Refer back to the ideas developed in drama and support children in making brief plans for their own story about the character you have chosen. They make notes under the headings Opening, Something happens, Events to sort it out, Ending. Talk about the need for links between each event and remind them of the lists of connectives they have used for other stories.
• Children write a sustained story about the character. Encourage them to include dialogue and to choose words carefully when describing people and places. Remind them to keep rereading and checking that they have used the third person and past tense consistently.
• Children read finished stories to a partner and make changes and improvements before publishing, for example as part of a display or web page about the author who originally created the character.