This Year 2 writing unit from our Real Writing collection focuses on a linear journey story. All texts are written by published children’s author Dan Smith, who has retold the traditional tale of Chicken Licken.
Over two to three weeks, pupils will explore the structure of a linear journey story and practise sequencing events using the resources provided.
They will develop punctuation skills by using commas to separate items in a list and investigate words ending in the graphemes ‘ey’ to make the /ee/ sound, including how these words form plurals.
Pupils will then write their own journey stories, changing the characters and the message delivered, providing opportunities to draw on personal experiences or those of others.
This unit integrates fully mapped national curriculum objectives.
Key skills and curriculum links
English objectives
- Spelling patterns and plural formation for /ee/ words ending in ‘ey’
- Commas in lists
- Sentence punctuation, noun phrases, past tense writing, conjunctions, and proofreading
Cross-curricular links
- Sequencing and story mapping support history and PSHE by exploring journeys and messages
- Oral rehearsal of stories supports speaking and listening skills
Vocabulary
Tier 2 words: exclaim, join, journey, lair, reply, search, valley
Tier 3 words: N/A
Common exception words: floor, everybody, people, pass, could, water
Resources included
- Model text PDFs (plain, illustrated, annotated)
- Annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint presentations
- Story map templates and retelling cards
- Vocabulary and common exception word cards
- Character description worksheets
- Idea generation and story planning sheets
- Writer’s checklist
Activities and teaching sequence
Phase 1 – Familiarisation
- Hook: Pupils write a message to a school adult to explore the concept of sending messages
- Reading the model text: Pupils read Chicken Licken, identify story features, and retell events using image cards
- Vocabulary discussion: Pupils match Tier 2 words to definitions and images
- Exploring the message: Pupils write a message to the king, optionally formatted as a simple letter
- Drawing a story map: Pupils map the story events and orally retell the tale
- Sequencing the story: Pupils order events using sentence cards, supported by retelling cards if needed
- Describing characters: Pupils use adjectives from the model text to describe characters and write sentences
Phase 2 – Teaching & rehearsing
- Spelling /ee/ words with ‘ey’ and plurals
- Using commas in lists
- Common exception word practice
- Past tense exploration: identify and practise adding -ed
Phase 3 – Application
- Generating ideas: Pupils plan their own journey story, deciding who delivers the message and what it will contain
- Planning a story: Pupils create individual story maps with modified characters and messages
- Writing a linear journey story: Pupils draft stories using the skills taught, referring to the writer’s checklist
- Checking writing: Pupils read work aloud, proofread, and self-assess using the checklist
Outcomes
By the end of this unit, pupils will be able to:
- Identify and describe the features of a linear journey story
- Use commas correctly in lists
- Spell words with /ee/ sounds ending in ‘ey’ and form plurals
- Write sentences using expanded noun phrases and the past tense
- Plan and write an original journey story with a clear message
- Proofread, edit, and read their writing aloud