Real Writing Year 5 - Unit 19
Model text: St Cuthbert’s Cross, by Jon Mayhew
Curriculum Links: History (Vikings)
Writing unit overview
This writing unit for Year 5 is built around an original model text by Jon Mayhew; a fiction narrative about a viking invasion. The example text is available as a PDF in three versions (plain, illustrated and annotated); annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint presentations are also included.
Over the course of the 3-week unit, pupils will learn how to structure and write an invasion story using the model text ‘St Cuthbert’s Cross’, written by author Jon Mayhew. This first person narrative will inspire pupils to create their own invasion stories based on Viking invasions, or other invaders of Britain, and could link with a history topic on Romans, Anglo-Saxons or Vikings. At the end of the unit, they will write their own invasion story in the first person, using their knowledge of invaders to add historical details and their learning from the unit to include strong character descriptions.
Key curriculum skills
Two fully-resourced lesson plans are included for Year 5 English objectives, which can form part of the unit or be taught discretely:
1. Grammar - To use noun phrases to describe characters and settings
Pupils will: discuss adjectives and prepositional phrases on sentence cards and think about what extra information these give to the reader; describe images to a partner using noun phrases, asking them to guess which image they are describing (and noting down good examples to use in their own work); choose an image and write a description of the character and setting using noun phrases; collect noun phrases from their reading to use in their own work.
2. Composition - To use dialogue to convey character and advance action
Pupils will: read examples of dialogue and add notes about what they think this tells us about the character and action in a story; choose a story card and write a short story containing dialogue between two or more characters that advances the plot.
Additional skills to teach or revisit
- using paragraphs to organise ideas, punctuating direct speech and punctuating contracted words
Additional Year 5 teaching points
- using relative clauses beginning with: who, which, where, when, whose, that
- perform own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume and movement
Year 5 vocabulary
Year 5 / 6 statutory spelling words: foreign
Tier 2 words: clamber, scribe, seafarer, ransack, relic, mercy, scribe
Tier 3 words: Norse, monk, invasion, Brother, habit, Prior, pulpit, Gospel, monastery, conquer
What is dialogue?
Dialogue is a written conversation between two or more people. It is written as direct speech in narratives, with inverted commas punctuating what is said with other punctuation used in direct speech.
Action can be advanced using dialogue, with the direct speech giving information about was or is happening, or what will be happening in the future.
Information about characters can also be conveyed using dialogue, through what is said in direct speech or in the reporting clause showing how the speech is said.