Writing across the curriculum
There is an expectation that the high level of writing continues across the curriculum. The children have similar starting points to the English lesson but these can also include a debate, conscience alley and evaluations of products designed. The children understand the importance of writing for different purposes and by ensuring that the high standards of writing covers all of the curriculum, the children are able to use their writing 'top tips' to edit their work in these other areas.
Year 1 Cross –Curricular
During year 1’s Step Back in Time topic, they learnt all about Victorians. They visited Holkham Hall and had a Victorian themed wash and school day where they were immersed into life as a Victorian. They wrote a diary entry from the perspective of a Victorian child, some from the perspective of a child who had to work, others from the perspective of a child who was lucky enough to go to school!
Spring Term 2023
During year one’s ‘Our Planet and Beyond topic, they learnt about the race in space and focused on learning about 4 different astronauts who went into space first that included, Albert the Monkey, Laika the Dog, Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereskova. The children picked their favourite astronaut and wrote down what they remembered about that astronaut and their mission. The children also learned about Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. In another lesson, they enjoyed thinking of questions that they would ask him and researched the answers using laptops to research.
Autumn 2022
The children in year 1 designed and made their own mode of transport to be used in snow as part of a DT project. At the end they evaluated their product and wrote what worked well and what could be improved next time if they were to make the same product again.
Year 2 Cross –Curricular
During year 2’s Habitats and Environment topic, they learnt to apply the same skills that a zoologist to be able to recognise and discuss patterns in nature.
Spring Term 2023
As part of their RE learning, year 2 wrote their own prayers about what Christians might like to thank God for.
Autumn 2022
In RSE, the year 2 children write letters to their future self, they uses their knowledge of letter writing to include information about what they hope to be like as an adult.
Summer Term 2023
In Summer 1, Year 3 have focussed on biographies and the use of persuasion.
We started the half term, learning about the features of biographies and chose Mary Anning (our Year 3 Scientist) as the focus of our writing.
Through the course of the year, the children have continued to develop their knowledge of note taking and understanding of how to research topics. They children produced some fantastic pieces of work, focusing on using both biographical and grammatical features in their biographies.
For the second part of Summer 1, we looked at persuasive writing. The children were incensed to learn that the local playground was going to be demolished and replaced by a housing development! As a class, they debated the pros and cons of this and then wrote a letter using their knowledge of persuasive techniques. We were impressed to see the range of arguments delivered by the children and surprised that not all of them were against the fictitious development. Some wrote that it would be much better for the environment if school-children’s houses were closer to school to ensure there would be less air and noise pollution as well as less traffic congestion. Some also argued that they and their grown-ups would be healthier by walking to school!
Spring Term 2023
Year 3 made healthy flapjacks and wrote their recipe using command sentences.
Autumn 2022
History - instructions on how to mummify.
Computing - The children have focused on word processing this half term so it is the same set of instructions - but taken from a different child.
Summer Term 2023
In summer one English, we have been studying Apartheid. The children have been using their research skills to formulate arguments against Apartheid in order to write a persuasive letter to President F W de Klerk. The children wrote some fantastic letters and were very passionate about the subject. The children learnt how to use rhetorical questions, emotive language and how to structure a formal written letter. We also had the opportunity to study African poems and write our own ‘free verse’ poem about an African scene.
Summer 2:
This term we are learning how to write diary entries using the book ‘Voices in the Park’ as a stimulus. The children have enjoyed reading the story and analysing the different character perspectives and how this shapes the story line. They have focussed on skills such as; informal language, first person, past tense and inference to create a series of diary entries in the voice of a character from our book.
Spring Term 2023
In Year 4 we have really enjoyed using our English skills in RE. At the beginning of the spring term, we learnt how to write explanation texts and how to transfer information we have gathered and learned into a piece of informative writing. We also discussed how we can use prediction when looking at our own lives and what we want to achieve.
The children have really enjoyed researching and discussing our big questions in RE and have creating some superb written pieces that they are really proud of.
Autumn 2022
In Year 4, the children have been writing about the Romans and Celts as part of their History curriculum.
Summer Term 2023
During summer 1, Year 5 explored kenning poems, non-chronological reports and descriptive writing.
Within their non-chronological reports, the children researched the topic of the Titanic and after their research, they were able to plan their report. They carefully considered all of the features such as subheadings, facts, opinions, relative clauses, parenthesis and technical vocabulary. The children enjoyed publishing their reports!
An illustration from The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield inspired the children’s creativity for a piece of descriptive writing. The children explored the five senses, making sure they were using expanded noun phrases and thesauruses to describe a setting.
Spring Term 2023
The children in Year 5 have written a diary entry as if they were a Charchi Indian, who lived in the rainforest. They were using their knowledge of the Amazon Rainforest and were carefully considering how they would feel if they were at risk of losing their home.
Autumn 2022
In Year 5, we have been focusing on using our SPAG skills in our foundation subjects. In History, we have incorporated relative clauses when writing sentences about the Vikings.
Summer Term 2023
Our writing this half term was based around our class reader Holes. We wrote a description of the setting, Green Lake, as it was 100 years ago and how it is described in the book in the present day.
We also wrote a newspaper report, retelling the beginning of the story, explaining how Stanely Yelnats found himself at Camp Green Lake. We made sure that we used some passive voice and a combination of reported and direct speech to describe how some of the characters in the story were feeling.
Spring Term 2023
The children in year 6 have written non-chorological reports in science based on their work relating to evolution.
Autumn 2022
Year 6 have completed some writing in History about the Ancient Greeks, as well as in RE when writng about a visit to a Gurdwara.