Real Writing Year 6 - Unit 5
Model text: A Jaguar in the Chicken Coup by Jon Mayhew
Curriculum Links: geography (South America, rainforest biomes)
Unit overview
This writing unit for Year 6 is built around an original model text by Jon Mayhew; a story set in the Amazon rainforest. The example text is available as a PDF in three versions (plain, illustrated and annotated); annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint presentations are also included.
In this two-week unit, pupils will read a first person narrative based in the Amazon rainforest, which follows the structure of a ‘Defeating the Monster’ story. They will explore how the author has used semi-colons to join closely linked main clauses and how they have chosen vocabulary for effect by using synonyms to repeat a theme within a story. The final task requires pupils to write their own narrative based in the Amazon rainforest. This unit could be used as part of a topic on South America or rainforests
Key curriculum skills
Two fully-resourced lessons are included for the following UKS2 English objectives, which can form part of the unit or be taught discretely:
1. Vocabulary: To know how words are related by meaning as synonyms
Pupils will: sort synonyms to find ones which could be used to show movement; edit a paragraph using their knowledge of synonyms to avoid repetition; write a description of a caiman, using synonyms to describe how it moves.
2. Grammar: To use semi-colons to mark boundaries between independent clauses
Pupils will: match closely related main clauses, rewriting these using a semi-colon to join them; write a description of a rainforest that includes sentences joined by semi-colons.
Revisited skills
- punctuating direct speech
- paragraphing
- adverbials
- using the past perfect tense
- noun phrases
Additional year 6 curriculum teaching points
- antonyms
- using dialogue to convey character and advance action
- using a wider range of cohesive devices
- recognising structures typical of informal and formal speech and writing
Year 6 words: featured vocabulary
Spelling words: disastrous, familiar, foreign, variety, suggest
Tier 2 words: co-operation
Tier 3 words: canopy, vegetation, habitat, ecosystem