Carlton Hill Primary School

Autumn term

Spring term

Summer term

‘The Lion and The Unicorn’ A short story by Shirley Hughes                                                 

Unit Length: 12 sessions/4 weeks

Purpose: Develop pupils’ ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills, matching particular skills to each extract.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Develop understanding of the eight ‘good reader’ skills: ‘I can … ‘read title, predict, wonder if’; ‘use knowledge and connect to the text’; ‘visualise’; ‘notice meaning breakdown’ and ‘fix it’;
• Develop vocabulary, particularly descriptions of character.
• Share and enjoy a short story linked to class topic work on World War II.

 ‘Anne Frank’, illustrated biography by Josephine Poole

‘Peter in Peril’ by Helen Bate; ‘Survivors of the Holocaust’ by Zane Whittingham and Ryan Jones;

‘Lily Renee, Escape Artist’ by Trina Robbins

Unit Length:  11-12 sessions/ 4 weeks

Purpose: Continue to develop pupils’ ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills; Encourage pupils to spot themes across different

texts; Enable pupils to talk about different genre/ story tellers’ styles.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Develop ability to apply the ‘good reader’ and detective/ inference skills.
• Develop vocabulary around characters’ feelings.
• Discuss the use of figurative language and images in first-person and third-person narration.
• Understand how to skim read and scan texts.
• Spot themes across different texts.

Exploring the Y6 Book Corner Collection

Unit Length: 1 session

Purpose: To invite pupils to explore the classroom book collection, read and share blurbs, recommend titles to each other, and inspire pupils to borrow and read more books.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Know the range of class books available to borrow.
• Develop the skill of predicting what kind of book the blurb, cover and title are describing.
• Broaden ideas about what kind of books might be enjoyable.
• Find out about the books others in the class love reading.
• Be able to articulate ideas about books currently being read.

 ‘Pig Heart Boy’ extract By Malorie Blackman

Unit Length: 4 sessions/ 1 week & 1 day

Purpose: Continue to develop pupils’ ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills; Introduce pupils to the skills of scanning a text and answering inference questions using P.E.E.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Develop ability to apply the ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills.
• Develop skill at identifying and underlining the key points of a text.
• Able to scan a text for specific information, key words or clues.
• Understand and begin to apply the skill of answering inference questions using P.E.E. - making a point, using evidence from the text to back it up, explaining the point further.

Extracts from five stories and an interview:

Unit Length: 6 sessions/ 2 weeks

Purpose: To develop pupils’ inference skills, and their ability to interpret and write about their impressions of a character.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Develop ability to interpret and discuss a character.
• Apply inference skills to write a P.E.E. answer to the question: ‘What is your impression of the character in this extract?’
• Explore a range of different story telling styles and be inspired to borrow and read the rest of the books for personal enjoyment. 

‘Hedda and the Ogre’, a fairy story retold by Amanda Graham;

‘The Snow Queen’ (extract), a fairy story retold by Sarah Lowes

Unit Length: 4 sessions/ 1 week & 1 day

Purpose: To assess how far pupils can ‘Show Their Good Reader Thinking’ by annotating texts under the headings of each of the eight ‘good reader’ skills.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Develop skill at annotating/ making notes about a text, linking ideas to the ‘good reader’ skills and specific evidence in the text.
•  Reflect on a first attempt with ‘Hedda and the Ogre’ and then apply their learning to the second text, ‘The Snow Queen’.

Poetry that Chills Your Bones:

‘Locking Up’ by Ian Serraillier;

‘The Monster of Ghosty Bog’, ‘Whirlpool’,

‘Be Very Afraid’ and ‘Don’t Be Scared’

from ‘New and Collected Poems for

Children’ by Carol Ann Duffy.

Unit Length: 7 sessions/ 2 weeks & 1 day

Purpose: To develop pupils’ understanding of poetic form and the techniques poets can use to write; Further develop pupils’ ability to draw inferences about character and setting.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Develop inference thinking about character and setting.
• Recognise the tools a poet can use to write a poem.
• Discuss the effects poetic writing can create (the mood, tension, storyline, impact on the reader).
• Write some P.E.E. paragraphs about the techniques used and effects created in Serraillier’s ‘Locking Up’.

• Enjoy listening to the Duffy poems read aloud and be inspired to borrow and explore the rest of her collection.

‘Cloud Busting’, a novel written in verse by Malorie Blackman

Unit Length: 9 sessions/ 3 weeks

Purpose: To further develop pupils’ ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills; To consider different poetic forms; To complement PSHE learning.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Able to talk about the different poetic forms (Haiku, limerick, shape poem, blank verse) used to tell this moving story, and the different effects they create.
• Summarise a character’s behaviour; track a character’s changing feelings and thinking; and locate quotations to back up ideas.
• Contribute to story-related discussion about bullying, by- and upstanding, friendship, resilience and being proud to be yourself.

Non-Fiction Texts:

‘Whales in Danger – WHY?’

Greenpeace leaflet ‘Plastic Bottles Are Killing Our Oceans’ (March 2017); ‘The Spark of New Life’ and ‘Fire Threatens Thousands of Acres’

Unit Length: 6 sessions/ 2 weeks

Purpose: To enable pupils to apply their ‘good reader’ and ‘detective’/ inference skills to non-fiction and campaigning texts; To introduce pupils to technical vocabulary and layout devices associated with non-fiction genres.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Able to use ‘good reader’ skills to summarise key information.
• Understand technical vocabulary (newspaper journalism, layout and graphics terms);
• Able to read different ways of presenting information (tables, charts, diagrams, life-cycles, photographs and captions).
• Explore the impact persuasive language and use of visuals can have on readers.
• Draw on this unit and make links to the writing units ‘Animal profile’ and ‘Review’.

Extracts from a range of fictional, factual and poetic genres:

‘Skeleton Key’ by Anthony Horowitz;

‘The Story Of My Life’ by Helen Keller;

‘The Closed School’, a poem by Raymond Wilson;

‘Malala Yousafzai’ biography;

‘Edible Cutlery’ news feature;

‘Private Peaceful’, a play adapted from Michael Morpurgo; ‘Moonfleet’ by J.Meade Falkner

(selected from ‘Aiming for Level 5 Reading’, Collins 2009 and

CGP KS2 ‘English Comprehension Targeted Question Book Two’).

Unit Length: 7 or 8 sessions/ 2 weeks & 1-2 days

Purpose: To further develop pupils’ skills at recognising and

answering different comprehension question types.

Key knowledge and skills:

• Recognise different genre types and understand the implications for a reader’s interpretation of meaning.
• Recognise and answer different comprehension question types (selecting/ retrieving information; making and justifying inferences; explaining words in context; summarising key ideas; commenting on authors’ choice of language).
• Understand how the different ‘good reader’, ‘detective’/ inference and P.E.E. skills can be used to answer different question types.

Telling Tales – Migrant & Refugees’ Stories:

Video poems: ‘You Clap For Me Now’ and

 ‘I am Just Like You’;

Extracts from:

‘Refugee Boy’, a novel, and the poem

‘We Refugees’, by Benjamin Zephaniah;

‘The Arrival’, a wordless graphic novel

by Shaun Tan (3 sessions);

‘Inside Out & Back Again’, a semi-

autobiographical story in free verse by

Thanhha Lai (8 sessions);

‘A Story Like the Wind’ an illustrated

fable by Gill Lewis (9 sessions).

Unit Length: 20 sessions

Purpose: To explore the common themes around migrants’ experiences, feelings of (not) belonging, and senses of identity, woven through different kinds of storytelling by and about refugees.

Key knowledge and skills:

To be able to think about ideas around voice – who gets to speak and tell their tales, and why this matters.

• Explore the power of different kinds of storytelling and the impact on readers.
• Enjoy reading texts from different perspectives and cultures and be inspired to explore the books independently.
• Further develop awareness of issues around equality and diversity, and the school’s commitment to the Schools of Sanctuary programme.

Reading Spine - texts read aloud

Reading Spine – texts read aloud

Reading Spine - texts read aloud

'Refugee Boy' by Benjamin Zephaniah

'Waiting for Anya' by Morpurgo

'The Unforgotten Coat' by Frank Cottrell Boyce

‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ by Michelle Magorian

‘Rose Blanche’ Roberto Innocenti, Christophe Gallaz

'The Boy who Flew' by Fleur Hitchcock

'Hate that Cat' by Sharon Creech

'Holes' by Louis Sachar

‘The Spider and the Fly’ Tony DiTerlizzi

'The Explorer' Katherine Rundell

‘The Boy in Brazil’ Seth Burkett

‘The Rabbits’ Shaun Tan

Mother to son’ by Langston Hughes

‘Lob’ by George Linda Newbury