Monday 22^nd February  

Hello Kensukes and Potters! Hope you have had a restful half term.  It’s Mrs Hall here and I’m very excited that it’s time to do some writing about our monsters!  After speaking to some of you on the phone before half term, I know that a lot of you have really enjoyed our monster work so far!  Today, we will be looking at topic sentences.  What’s a topic sentence I hear you ask? Read on and find out!

You might have noticed that the model text does not have sub-headings.  Instead, in Year 6, we can use TOPIC SENTENCES. These are like little introductions to the paragraph allowing you to add more detail than you would in a simple heading.

Examples from our model:

Swamp monsters don’t just live in swamps they resemble them.

This topic sentence introduces our APPEARANCE paragraph

Have you ever wondered what a swamp monster eats?

This topic sentence introduces our DIET paragraph and uses another question to interest the reader.

Swamp monsters are rumoured to inhabit the most remote and humid swamps of the Amazon rainforest.

This topic sentence introduces the paragraph which is about DIFFERENT SPECIES and HABITAT.

Use these examples to have a go at writing some topic sentences of your own for the topics below.  See my example topic sentences about a river troll from the Spiderwick Chronicles.  

HABITAT – Have you wondered where you are most likely to encounter a river troll?

APPEARANCE – The river troll's appearance is the result of much adaptation to it's environment.  

DIET – This water-dwelling beast has a varied diet and is mostly, as you would expect, piscivorous (mainly consists of fish and other seafood)

ACTIVITY 

Tuesday 23^rd February

Welcome back Year 6! Thank you for sending me your topic sentences yesterday – these will really help you when writing your report on your monster.  So, today we will plan our report!  Let’s have a quick look at the model text about our swamp monster first. 

TASK 1

Read through the model text and write down what each paragraph is about – e.g. diet, habitat, hook etc.

TASK 2

Ready for the answers…….? 

Paragraph 1 – Hook

Paragraph 2 – Habitat

Paragraph 3 – Appearance

Paragraph 4 – Diet

Paragraph 5 – Warnings and advice

This will be the structure that we follow when we write our report about our monster.  You may remember that I wrote topic sentences about a river troll:-

See my plan for my report about my river troll and answer the following questions:-

1. Which continent do they live in?
2. Why are they rarely seen by humans?
3. Where do they migrate to in the summer?
4. What does their diet usually consist of?
5. How does their diet change according to the season?
6. When does it eat small mammals?
7. Why do they have large chests?
8. Why do they have long arms?
9. What should you do if you see a river troll?
10. When should you be particularly wary of river trolls? Why?

TASK 3

Now it’s your turn!  Create a plan about your monster.  Remember to use the following structure:-

Paragraph 1 – Hook

Paragraph 2 – Habitat

Paragraph 3 – Appearance

Paragraph 4 – Diet

Paragraph 5 – Warnings and advice

I can't wait to read them!

Wednesday 24^th February

Hello Year 6! Hope you are all ready today for some writing – I can’t wait to get started.  Your plans for your monsters were so interesting and I can tell we are going to do some great writing in the next few days!  Today, we will be writing the hook and habitat sections of our report.  We will finish our reports tomorrow. 

When writing today, I would like you to refer to three things:

1. Your plan
2. The monster word mat
3. The remember tos (you can write them out on the top of your page before you start writing)

Task 1

Watch the video below, then write the hook and habitat sections.  Please remember to refer to the 3 things I mentioned above. 

Please upload the writing you have done so far below.  I would love to see them and it will also help me when recording my video for tomorrow’s writing!  I can’t wait to read them!

Thursday 25^th February

AHHHHHH! That was me being very afraid of the monsters in your report! What amazing reports you have sent me! I have loved reading them all so thank  you for uploading them for me to see.  Based on the writing I read yesterday, I would like you to focus on three things today:-

1) Using a colon.  I talk about this in the video below in more detail. 

2) Using capital letters for proper nouns e.g. North America, Joe Smith, Amazon

3) A personal target of your choice - perhaps ask an adult to suggest one or read through your writing yourself and set yourself this target.

Task 1

Watch the video below, then write the appearance, diet and warnings sections of your report. 

When writing today, I would like you to refer to three things:

1. Your plan
2. The monster word mat
3. The remember tos (you can write them out on the top of your page before you start writing)

Friday 5^th February

Bonjour Year 6! Today, we will be editing our reports!  I thought it might be fun to present our reports in a different way today using some computing skills.  If you would like to present it using pen and paper, that’s fine as well! 

TASK 1

Get the green pen ready and go through your writing and see if you can turn it from great into absolutely amazing!  Can you focus on:-

1. Checking for missing capital letters, full stops and commas
2. Ensure you have a topic sentence for each paragraph
3. Add a colon and semi-colon into your report

TASK 2

We will have a go at presenting our reports in a different way today.  You will create a Powerpoint presentation and record yourself presenting your report over the top of it!  Look at my example below, then move onto task 3. 

MAKE SURE YOU CLICK ON THE SLIDE SHOW TAB AND THE TOP AND THEN CLICK ON PLAY FROM BEGINNING.  This should begin to play automatically.  Make sure the play narrations option is ticked.

TASK 3

Watch my video below to see how to make the presentation.  Please do upload them as I would love to see them!  If you want to upload them and would prefer them not to be on the blog (they can be just for me to see!) there will be an option for you to let me know on the Google Form.

HAPPY PRESENTING YEAR 6!