Learning English – appreciating a wide range of literary styles
In English, Year 1 explored a wide range of books and writing styles in the spring term.
They read non-fiction books, with a focus on books about animals. They have analysed the features of non-fiction books and loved looking through them to find the contents page, sub-headings, index, glossary, photographs, captions and labels. After this, the children looked at the features of a fact file and highlighted key words and phrases about a particular animal. Once the children had a good understanding of fact files, they wrote their own. To so this, they had to research different facts, organise their information, use descriptive language and write in sentences. This process really helped children to develop their key literacy skills.
Year 1 also read ‘The Enormous Crocodile’ by Roald Dahl. This wonderful book was then used as the stimulus to write their own version of the story, changing the main character and the tricks that The Enormous Crocodile carried out. The new stories were wonderfully imaginative.
The children then learned about playscripts and acted the story of Jack and the Beanstalk out, in small groups. The children re-told the story to each other and sequenced the main events using pictures, time adverbials and key words. The children finally recreated their story of Jack and the Beanstalk, by changing Jack to their own original character. The character descriptions included adjectives to describe the appearance and personality, including their likes and dislikes. Innovating existing pieces of work in this way, provides a useful starting point, when learning to write creatively at a young age.
The children enjoyed reading stories, writing sentences, creating stories and engaging in activities that helped build their confidence, developed their vocabulary and fostered a love for reading and writing in school.
