LITERACY

On this page, once a week I will be posting a writing task or a SPAG (Spelling, punctuation and Grammar) task.

For writing, we follow our 10 step approach to writing (see image below) and in school it can take up to two weeks to complete one piece of written work in a Golden Writing book. Obviously, we are doing things slightly different than at school so it's expected that the writing tasks should be spread out over one week at home. This allows children to reflect on their written work and time for fresh ideas to come to mind. I will explain clearly the steps needed to achieve a good quality piece of written work for each new topic of writing (which the children will be familiar with) along with posting WAGOLLs (What A Good One Looks Like). The writing tasks may include lots of skills including drama, reading, spelling, grammar, punctuation, editing and publishing.

Most importantly - Writing is an insight into peoples minds! Be CREATIVE, IMAGINATIVE AND HAVE FUN!!

W/B: 15.6.20

SPAG (Spelling, punctuation and Grammar)

Adverbs and Fronted Adverbials

Read the PowerPoint then try the activities for this weeks SPAG.

Once completed, perhaps you could try writing your own story using adverbs and fronted adverbials.

W/B: 8/6/20

Pigeon Impossible

Secret Agent Walter Beckett has a problem of pigeon sized proportions. 
When a pigeon gets trapped inside the spies briefcase all kinds of  mayhem ensue.

1) Watch the short animation here

2) Your writing task is to write a Newspaper report on the events of the day. Imagine you were minding your own business walking down the street and you saw all this unfold. You had to stand and watch! Record what you saw and perhaps you could include some interviews of other people who saw the chaos the pigeon caused. 

3) Look at some examples other children have written under 'Journalistic Writing' to give you some ideas.

4) Hopefully now you should have a few ideas on how to start your newspaper report and its time to PLAN.

When planning a Newspaper report it is divided into paragraphs and you can use the document below to help sort your ideas. 

Introduction: Answering these 5 key questions in 5 sentences.

• Who was involved? 
• What happened?
• Where did it take place?
• When did it happen?
• How and Why did the event happen?

Paragraph 1-3: The events of the story broken up into 3 paragraphs. 

It could be something along the lines of P1= The pigeon enters the suitcase P2= The pigeon causes chaos in the streets and sets off a rocket P3= Secret Agent Walter saves the day.

Interviews: Write one or two paragraphs interviewing people about their thoughts and feelings on the events of the day

Final Paragraph: Summarise what happened. What are the characters doing now? Does Walter Beckett have any more missions planned?

5) Watch this video about Newspaper features.

6) Once your plan is completed its time to write your Newspaper report. You will need to come up with the name of your Newspaper E.g. The Kendall Times/ The Washington DC Mail and a story headline E.g. Bagel Blowout, Rocket Rumble!

Newspapers are written in a very specific style so use this format below of create your own on a piece of lined paper. 

A few things to remember

• Use your plan and don't forget to include key details.
• Look back at the examples and magpie some ideas from them. 
• Think of your sentence before you write it 
• Try to include a range of punctuation (Fronted Adverbials with commas, ? ! ; : ' )

7) Edit your writing. Check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Read your writing out loud or to an adult. Can you improve your writing in any way? Can you change some words to make them better? Does it all make sense? Is it interesting to read?

8) Produce your Golden Writing. Complete a final copy of your newspaper report. This could be typed up on the computer or written in your neatest handwriting. Include pictures and bold writing for the titles. Have a look at these other final reports to give you ideas on how to complete the layout.

I would love to see some of your writing so please attach your writing on the Google Form here so I can see how you are getting on. Enjoy writing!!

-Miss Kendall

Other writing ideas about the Pigeon Impossible

- Create comic strips and picture boards from the story,
-  Write more missions for Walter which are spoilt by the pigeon,
- Write a persuasive argument giving an argument for why it was not the pigeon's fault.
 - Should we feed the pigeons in the street? Discuss.

W/B: 1/6/20

Space: A Description

1) First, complete this weeks Guided Reading text found on the Guided Reading page and watch the videos about the International Space Station (ISS). 

2) Look a the pictures below of Earth taken from the ISS.

3) Create a brainstorm of descriptive words about the photos. How do these pictures make you feel? What can you see? What can you hear? What can you feel? 

Start to imagine you are in Space looking down. Think more carefully.. What would you be wearing? What is your spaceship like? How does it move? Here are some descriptive words below to get you started.

4) Once you've completed a brainstorm its time to start some descriptive writing. When you are writing to describe you are trying to build a picture in the readers head by being descriptive as possible. To do this include adventurous vocabulary and use the checklist below. 

Read the start of my WAGOLL (What a good one looks like) so you can see how to get started.

5) Edit your writing. Check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Read your writing out loud or to an adult. Can you improve your writing in any way? Can you change some words to make them better? Does it all make sense? Is it interesting to read?

6) Once your happy with your writing produce a final published piece just like our Golden Writing. Present your description in any way you want! You could draw a pictures next to your writing or make it on your computer.

If you have a printer you could print these boarders off and use them for your final published piece. 

W/B: 18/5/20

Creative Writing

This week’s writing task is very open ended and requires you to use your IMAGINATION.

You are going to choose what style/genre you are going to write in. There is no right or wrong in this week’s literacy task. I will show you through an example.

1) Look at the pictures below and choose a picture that you like (click to enlarge). For my example, I have picked the Graveyard photo.

2) Complete a brainstorm about the picture answering the following questions. Write down as many different ideas as possible. Try to be as creative as you can.

• What can you see?
• What is happening?
• How does it make you feel? and other describing words.

3) Next, you are going to choose your writing genre. Your task is to be as creative as possible and you can write as much as you want. Here are some ideas for a genre of writing.

• A story
• A poem
• A play script
• A diary entry
• A description
• A letter
• A newspaper report
• A poster – For example a wanted poster

*Perhaps you could do more than one?*

4) Once you’ve decided it’s time to start writing! I decided to do a diary entry for my picture. I decided my diary was going to be from the perspective of the person in the picture. Remember as you are writing everything we’ve learnt in Year 4 and to use your planned ideas from above. Here is a writing checklist for you to follow.

I decided to write a diary from the mysterious character in the photo. As the picture gave me a creepy and scared feeling I decided that my character would feel that way too. Remember to include a description of the setting and thoughts and feelings if your doing a diary entry.

5) Use last weeks literacy to help you with this part. Its now time to edit your writing. Check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Read your writing out loud or to an adult. Can you improve your writing in any way? Can you change some words to make them better? Does it all make sense? Is it interesting to read?

Use a different colour so you can clearly see your changes. Take a look at my example.

6) Once your happy with your writing produce a final published piece just like our Golden Writing. Present your writing in any way you want! You could draw a pictures next to your writing or make it on your computer.

If you are happy with your writing. Attach it to this google form so I can have a look at your writing. I look forward to reading your work and seeing your creative ideas!!!!

W/B: 11.5.20

SPAG (Spelling, punctuation and Grammar)

Editing

Following feedback from the google forms on last weeks literacy. A few children mentioned that they needed some help on the editing part of their work. 

1) First WATCH the video below of Tom Palmer a famous children's author editing his writing. 

2) Get a different coloured pen or pencil (Green if you have one!)

3) Read the texts below and edit them. You can use the editing station cards to identify what you need to be checking. For example, capital letters and full stops and spellings.

Remember: When editing you are 1-checking for MISTAKES and 2- looking for ways to IMPROVE the writing.

W/B: 4.5.20

DIARY ENTRY

Imagine you’ve just woken up and to your surprise you’ve found out there is NO ELECTRICITY.

You and your family don’t know why the electricity is not working but you carry on your normal day at home without it.

How would your day be different to how it is now? How would we be feeling? Would things have to change?

1) Complete the Science TASK 1 found on the Science page. Think carefully about the electricity you use in your own home and record as accurately as possible. A question to think about... if there is no electricity would batteries work?

2) Now consider that everything you recorded from the task above you WILL NOT be able to use and you don’t know why. Take a second to think about how your day would be different. For example, no fridge to keep your food cool, no chargers for your i-pads and no toaster! Oh no!!

3) Time to plan your diary entry. This is going to be written in 3 different paragraphs.

Paragraph 1: The Morning. 

Paragraph 2: Dinner.

Paragraph 3: Evening.

Remember to write about how you would be feeling and what you would be thinking.

6) Using your plan and the RT’s with support sheets (see below) it’s time to write your diary entry! Remember the 3 paragraphs from your plan. If you open the RT’s word document, you could type in below on your device or write it on some paper. LOOK AT YOUR RT’s for key steps to remember when writing.

7) Edit your writing. Check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Read your writing out loud or to an adult. Can you improve your writing in any way? Can you change some words to make them better? Does it all make sense? Is it interesting to read?

Below is some writing with lots of mistakes. I've started to highlight some but not change. Can you have a go at correcting my mistakes?

8) Once your happy with your writing produce a final published piece just like our Golden Writing. Present your diary entry in any way you want! You could draw a pictures next to your writing or make it on your computer.

If you have a printer you could print these boarders off and use them for your final published piece. 

Once you've finished, complete a quick questionnaire about your piece of writing. If you want to you can send me your writing too! I cant wait to read some of the responses. CLICK HERE.

W/B: 27.4.20

SPAG (Spelling, punctuation and Grammar)

Expanded Noun Phrases

This weeks literacy work is going to be SPAG focusing on Expanded Noun Phrases.

1) First, watch the video below to remind yourself what an Expanded Noun Phrase is.

2) Once you've watched the video, its time to watch another but this time me (Miss Kendall).

I will explain how to write an Expanded Noun Phrase to pictures of Mr Evans and objects posted below the video. Why don't you take a peek at the photos (click on them to enlarge) before watching the video. 

3) Now its your turn! Try writing Expanded Noun Phrases for the photos above using a range of interesting vocabulary to describe in as much detail as possible. 

Film Reviews

Have you been watching a lot of TV recently? 

Well why not apply your literacy skills to write a film review for you favourite film or any film you've watched recently. 

But what is a film review Miss Kendall I hear you ask?

Well, a film review..

• Gives information about a film (Characters, special effects..)
• Uses your opinion
• Gives reasons for your opinion
• Provides an overall summary of the film
• Uses key details
• Uses persuasive writing techniques

1) Start by planning what your going to write. You could use a brainstorm like this or make your own. 

2) Then complete a first draft. Try to include subheadings, questions and interesting vocabulary to keep the reader interested and engaged. 

3) Edit your writing. Check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Read your writing out loud or to an adult. Can you improve your writing in any way? Can you change some words to make them better? Use the checklist below. 

4) Once your happy with your writing produce a final published piece just like our Golden Writing. Present your film review in any way you want! You could draw a picture of one of the characters next to it or make it on your computer.

Take a picture and submit your film review by CLICKING HERE. I can't wait to read some of them!!

David Walliams's Elevenses

I absolutely love all of David Walliams's books so you can imagine how excited I was when I found this out and I just had to share it with you all.

Every day at 11am David Walliams will be releasing free audiobooks for children (and adults!!). The link below gives you access to the elevenses book which changes daily.

SPELLING BAM GAME

Prior to playing this game you will need to make

X5 SWIPE cards

X5 BAM cards

X15 of your Y3/4 Spellings

1. Players sit in a circle and take it in turns reaching into the container, pulling out a card without looking and handing it to the player on their left.
2. That player reads the word out loud for the person to spell. If they spell the word correctly, they get to keep the card. If the player is incorrect the card goes back in the container.
3. Continue taking turns around the circle, reading, spelling and collecting cards.
4. If you pull out a “BAM!” card you must put your whole pile of cards back in the container.
5. If you pull out a “SWIPE!” card it means you can swipe a card from any player as long as you spell it correctly.
6. At the end of the length of time whoever has the most cards is the winner!