Approach

In English lessons, children are taught speaking, listening, reading and writing skills through studying a variety of styles of writing (genres).  Teachers follow the Teaching Sequence for Writing, which means that children will firstly be taught to read and understand the text, then practise the skills of the style of writing (including grammar) and apply into their own writing. 

The Primary National Curriculum statements will be taught through the modules below.

Y5 English Coverage

The year 5 English curriculum consists of the following modules:

Poetry

Word play

Vocabulary building

Fiction

Suspense and Mystery

Fiction from our Literary Heritage

Myths and Legends

Non-Fiction

Explanations

Persuasion

Reports

Discussion

Key poets/authors your children will encounter are:

Nicola Davies 

Neil Gaiman 

Ernest Drake

Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham 

Shaun Tan 

Gary Crew

Polly Ho-Yen

Michael Morpurgo

Roald Dahl

Carol Ann Duffy

Recommended reading list (a variety is best):

Sir Galwain and the Loathly Lady, Selina Hastings

Don Quixote, Marcia Williams

Arthur: The Seeing Stone, Kevin Crossley-Holland

Snow horse and other stories – Joan Aiken

Snaggletooth’s mystery – Gene Kemp

Shock forest and other stories – Margaret Mahy

Room 13 – Robert Swindells

The London Eye Mystery – Siobhan Dowd

No Such Thing as Dragons - Written and illustrated by Philip Reeve

Cosmic- Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Flood Child - Written by Emily Diamand

Narnia Stories – CS Lewis

Harry Potter series – JK Rowling

Billy The Kid – Michael Morpurgo

Why the Whales Came – Michael Morpurgo

Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

Kensuke’s Kingdom – Michael Morpurgo

A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

Stig of the Dump – Clive King

Snow Spider – Jenny Nimmo

Macbeth for Kids, Louis Burdett

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase – Joan Aiken

Peter Pan – J. M. Barrie

A Christmas Carol (Eyewitness classics) – Charles Dickens

The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (adapted by Chris Mould)

The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame

The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

Mary Poppins – P.L. Travers

Stories from Dickens (ed Blishen)

Stories from Shakespeare (ed. Geraldine McCaughrean)

Curriculum Content

Speaking and Listening

Children will be taught to discuss their learning and to develop speaking skills. They will become more familiar with and confident in, using language in a variety of situations, for a range of audiences and purposes. They will, for example

·         Develop their understanding of a subject through discussions, learning to give their opinions and listen to other viewpoints.

·         Speak clearly and in different ways for drama, formal presentations and debate.

Reading

This part of the curriculum is broken down into ‘word reading’ and ‘comprehension’. 

In year 5, pupils will be reading aloud a wider range of poetry and books written at an age-appropriate interest level with accuracy and at a reasonable speaking pace.  Children will be expected to read frequently, outside as well as in school, for pleasure and information.  They will have the opportunity to listen frequently to stories, poems, non-fiction and other writing. At this stage, word reading will not be directly taught, except where individuals need support.  Instead the focus will be on the teaching of comprehension skills.

They will, for example:

·         Retrieve, record and present information from a text

·         Summarise the main ideas of a text eg ‘loneliness’ or ‘friendship’

·         Predict what may happen based on evidence and clues given

·         Discuss and evaluate the text and justify their views

·         Use clues from the text to work out characters’ feeling, actions or motives

·         Distinguish between fact and opinion

·         Identify how language, structure and presentation add to the meaning

·         Compare  different texts

Writing

Writing is developed through teaching the following:

Spelling: Children should learn to spell new words correctly and have opportunities to practise spelling skills.  They will be taught spelling patterns and conventions, and draw on their knowledge of word families and roots to help them spell new words correctly.  They will practise and use the words included in Appendix 1 of the National Curriculum for years 5 & 6. Children will be expected to use a dictionary and thesaurus.

Handwriting: Pupils will continue to be taught handwriting in order to increase speed, fluency and legibility.

Composition (structure): This includes vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. To develop their composition skills, the children will be taught to

·         Plan, draft, compose, edit and evaluate their writing

·         Use a wide variety of punctuation and grammar features

·         Select the appropriate grammar and vocabulary to develop the effectiveness of their writing

·         Use a range of techniques to build detail into their writing and link ideas within and between paragraphs

·         Adapt writing for a range of purposes and audiences as part of their work across the curriculum. In year 5 this will include (cross curricular example, schools to insert their own)

Grammar will be taught throughout the writing process and teachers will follow the terms and concepts of Appendix 2 of the National Curriculum.

Should you wish for a more detailed explanation, please follow this link to the Primary National Curriculum document.