Reading English C 2009/20010 Anne Voulund.

Aims:
To develop reading skills so that the pupils become fluent, independent readers, who not only read but enjoy doing it through a rich variety of different modes of reading.
Using related language activities the aim is to produce effective readers who have gained the multiplicity of reading skills required in order to become reflective readers.
To develop reading comprehension skills using a wide range of text types and develop confidence in many everyday reading situations.

Method:• The pupils will read independently from library books.
They will keep reading journals, reviewing the books they have read in a number of different ways.
• They will read in groups following a reading program using core readers containing a variety of letters, diaries, newspaper articles, autobiographies as well as stories and poems. Each reading level in the program includes a novel.
• They will also read class sets of books throughout the year. They will read biographies.

Materials:
Reading 360 Levels 8-11. Ginn.
Teachers for teachers- Reading Box Green.


Writing in English C - 2009/2010 Rosemary Plowright
Aims
Students should:
• write in a wide range of forms, both fiction and non-fiction
• write fiction texts such as, stories, poems, plays, autobiographies and biographies.
• Write non-fiction texts such as, instructions, explanations, reports, letters, re-counts and persuasive writing.
• be able to write for a variety of purposes, such as, to inform, explain, describe, imagine, entertain and argue.
• be able to plan the structure of their writing, using paragraphs, chronological sequences and the appropriate language for the type of text.

*This is year 2 of a 2- year course where students work at their own levels within a common framework.

Plans for August -December 2009

The focus will be on Fictional texts and writing.
One lesson a week will be devoted to English Usage and Grammar (see separate plans at the end of Writing.
The class will first learn to recognise the different genres. Then we will work in depth on the following topics:

Topic 1: Poetry

Using the Theme: The Seasons of the Year we will look at a variety of poems, learning to recognise poetical devices such as rhyme, rhythm, shape, alliteration, personification and the use of metaphors and similes.
We will practice using the devices in a variety of ways before making our own poems.

At the end of the topic each pupil will present their own interpretation of the theme.

Topic 2: Crime and detective stories

Using the Storyline method will build a class story about a murder by:
- describing characters
- describing locations
- writing in 1st and 3rd person
- developing a plot

At the same time will read a variety of extracts from crime writers to identify the way in which a story is built up and developed.

Materials:
Video/DVD films about detectives
Extracts from Agathe Christie, "Sherlock Holmes", Philip Pullman and "Nancy Drew"

Topic 3 – Individual Writing project
Plan and write a work of fiction from a choice of settings and genre.


Plans for January - June 2010

The Focus will be on Non-fiction texts and writing.

Topic 3: Newspapers

After looking at English newspapers and identifying the ways of writing we will learn to write:
- Formal Letters
- Chronological reports-(re-counts)
- Non-chronological reports
- Discussions expressing different points of view
- Summaries of texts to a given number of words
- Note-taking from Information Media, TV, Interviews with real people
- Persuasive writing for advertising.

Materials
A variety of English Language newpaper articles
Scholastic Literacy Time
Writing frames from different text books.

Topic 4: An individual Non –fiction Report about a subject linked to Social Studies or Science.The project should have the lay-out of a newspaper report.

NB: All written work will be directly linked to IT skills : drafts will be proof read, corrected and improved. Reports will include references from sources and relevant illustrations.


English Usage in English C - 2009/2010 Rosemary Plowright


One writing lesson pr week will concentrate on relevant skills both as whole class instruction and as individual programmes of study to strengthen each student's weaknesses. These skills are also integrated into all writing activities.

Vocabulary
Students should:
• learn a range of vocabulary appropriate to their needs
• explore definitions by using a dictionary
• learn to use a thesaurus and use new words in context.
• recognise sayings and figurative expressions


Grammar
Students should:
• revise word classes
• use verbs in the appropriate tenses including conditionals.
• begin to use more complex sentence structure to make speech and writing more interesting and fluent.

Punctuation
Students should
• be accurate with their use of Capital letters.
• use apostrophes and commas correctly
• be able to punctuate speech.
• recognise the colon, semi-colon, dashes and brackets and how they are used.


These skills will be practised regularly using a variety of texts both fiction and non-fiction, games, puzzles and competitions.
Individual progress will be monitored by the teacher and evaluated by the pupils on a regular basis.

Materials
Scholastic Key stage 2 Literacy Poster Pack about; Punctuation marks, Nouns, adjectives and prepositions, Verbs and adverbs, Connectives, Prefixes, suffixes and roots, Figurative language.