English

IMAGINE, INVENT AND CREATE

Creativity abounds at KPS particularly in the English curriculum! This can only come from the most dedicated and inspiring teachers who offer our children active and dynamic opportunities to debate, explain, imagine, invent and create.

...we have created many cosy corners for children to look at books...

So often, the results of this hard work remains firmly hidden within the red covers of your children’s English books, so it is a special treat to be able to open those pages and share with you some of the beautifully crafted work produced throughout the year.

CHALLENGE AND EXTEND

Here at Kingswood, we are proud to celebrate success at every level from a child’s first attempts to form letters in the Nursery and Reception, through to their study of Shakespeare in Year 6. A wonderful writing challenge, which was open to all children, was the Christmas writing competition. The Christmas writing challenge was open to all children and we enjoyed reading some amazing pieces of work. Subsequently, some children had their work chosen for entry into the Mid-Somerset Festival in March, the results are below. Well done everyone!

THE RESULTS WERE: Laurie S Commended Antoine H-M Distinction Matilda H-M Distinction Jude C Commended Marina M Commended Finlay C Commended James B Commended Rose H Merit

PRE-SCHOOL

Our Pre-School children have daily Read Write inc phonics sessions, giving them a head start for early reading in Reception.

They share a story of the week, and we have created many cosy corners in our new Pre-School building for children to look at books independently or with a friend. There are also many opportunities for mark making, starting with an awareness that the movements they make leave a mark on the paper, to more formal teaching of letter formation for those children who are ready.

The literacy highlight of our year is always National Book Week, where the children come dressed as a character from a book, and bring in books from home to share. We had many budding authors during that week who wanted to write their own story books and illustrate them.

RECEPTION

In Reception we have enjoyed learning a wonderful array of stories, letters, posters and fact files through picture storyboards, texts and books.

We have left our first year at school knowing over fifty stories off by heart! In the Autumn Term, a tiger came to tea and we labelled everything we ate. We also wrote a porridge recipe and invited Goldilocks and the three bears to join us. In the Spring Term, we wrote newspaper articles about Ernest Shackleton, and fact files about Arctic and Antarctic animals. By the summer time, we were able to complete a whole book about the planets in our solar system, and invent our own stories based on ‘Bob, Man on the Moon’.

YEAR 1

This year in Year 1 we have enjoyed using our topics to explore different aspects of English.

Some highlights have included an under the sea poem using similes and adjectives, role playing the story of Handa’s Surprise and writing fact files about countries around the world.

Children have developed their phonics skills within the Read Write Inc scheme, enjoying paired reading, talk partners and phonetic games. The children have been inspired by real world events and created their own imaginative stories.

YEAR 2

The children are introduced to a breadth of writing genres using knowledge of phonics and grammatical language covered in Year 2.

Alove of telling, reading and writing stories is brought to life by our termly topic non-fiction and fiction books. A firm favourite was 'George's Marvellous Medicine'. Could you write a recipe as disgusting as this one?

ARCHIE: “I liked it when the class helped me improve my sentence.” PIPPA: “Similes are as good as a beautiful red and pink flower swaying in the wind.” EVIE: “I loved 'Wind in the Willows' when they visited Badger's house. His kitchen was amazing and I enjoyed writing an advert to sell his home.”

SIMILE • METAPHOR • TIME CONJUNCTION • CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER • TEXT EXPLORING IN YEAR 3 In Year 3, there is very close examination of how texts are put together.

HEADING • SUBHEADING • ALLITERATION • ONOMATOPOEIA • PARAGRAPHS • QUOTE • BYLINE • A fter scrutinising techniques and highlighting features, children are then in a good position to have a go at writing their own masterpieces. It is important that there is a purpose to their writing, whether to entertain, communicate, inform or simply to express feelings. Whether writing a diary entry SIMILE • METAPHOR • TIME CONJUNCTION • CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER • HEADING • SUBHEADING • ALLITERATION • ONOMATOPOEIA • PARAGRAPHS • QUOTE • BYLINE •

from a different viewpoint, a gruesome recipe for Big Bad Wolf, an extra character and chapter for ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, a shape poem, a new African tale or a newspaper report from the day Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, the relevant structures must be followed, and features included.

CREATIVE CONNECTIONS IN YEAR 4

By linking learning to exhilarating and exciting books and threading through the strands of the Humanities topics, English experiences in Year 4 are engaging and motivating.

Children have been taught to use clues in the text to draw the character Lila from 'The Firework-Maker's Daughter' and to develop the skills of seeing both sides of an argument by debating whether Bertie’s lion, from 'The Butterfly Lion', should go to the Frenchman’s zoo. Descriptive writing experiences derived from studying the experience of the residents of Pompeii and from using the Harry Potter texts have enthralled and enthused the budding writers in Year 4.

YEAR 4 PUPILS

“Our teacher makes us make our own teacher comments.” “I like how writing lets me express my imagination.” “When you write, you can make anything happen on the page.”

EXPRESSING YOURSELF IN YEAR 5

As children reach the lofty heights of Year 5, they have developed a range of skills and most importantly, positive attitudes to creating and imagining in the English curriculum.

The children have been totally inspired by a range of exciting texts this year. From Greek myths and Roman legends to the heroic and gentle Iron Man; from the local tale of King Bladud to the gruesome epic poem 'Beowulf', Year 5 have developed their writing skills using figurative language techniques and varied sentence length. The have thought about the audience and the purpose of the piece, thus hooking in the reader and demanding attention to the very end.

Y5 PUPIL: “I really enjoy writing about characters in a story.” Y5 PUPIL: “It helps if I have a picture to look at when describing somewhere.” ...developed their writing skills using figurative language techniques...

FINDING YOUR VOICE IN YEAR 6

We had fun enhancing our writing skills through expanding vocabulary, sharpening punctuation, strengthening structure, extending grammar and augmenting creativity.

The journey of Auggie in 'Wonder' by RJ Palacio, and Salva in 'A Long Walk to Water' touched the hearts of our Year 6 children and their writing reflected the compassion they felt for both characters. Showing the reader, rather than telling, through expression, movement and dialogue demonstrated the sophistication expected of our wonderful Year 6 writers. An introduction to essay writing involved forming persuasive arguments backed up with evidence, and in the Summer Term, the children developed their presentation skills through self-led research projects as part of the KPS Baccalaureate.