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Year 2 Model Text Resource Pack 7: Nell Saunders’ Diary (Diary recount, History - Great Fire of London)

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Real Writing Year 2 - Unit 7
Model text: Nell Saunders’ Diary by Gabrielle Kent
Curriculum links: History - Great Fire of London

Writing unit overview

This writing unit for Year 2 is built around an original text by Gabrielle Kent - a fictional diary entry of the events of the Great Fire of London, from a child’s point of view. The diary entry 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 learn the features of a diary entry and will sequence the events using resources provided. Pupils will learn how to form adjectives by adding the suffixes -er and -est to words and will use noun phrases to add description to their writing. They will write their own diary recounting the events of the Great Fire of London from a child’s point of view. This unit gives pupils the opportunity to write for a range of purposes and could be used as part of a history unit on The Great Fire of London.

Key curriculum skills

Two fully-resourced lessons are included for the following Year 1 English objectives, which can form part of the unit or be taught discretely:

1. Vocabulary: to use adjectives ending in the suffixes -er and -est

Pupils will: add the suffixes -er and -est to words, learning spelling rules where needed. They will begin to understand how they can be used to make comparisons between two or more objects or people. They will then use words ending in these suffixes in their own sentences and write sentences that contain words with these suffixes that are dictated by an adult.

2. Grammar: to use expanded noun phrases

Pupils will: learn how to create noun phrases by adding information either before or after the noun to add description. Pupils will collect ideas that they could use to describe objects linked to a bakery before using their ideas in their own writing.

Additional objectives to teach or revisit:

  • punctuating sentences
  • using conjunctions
  • to use an apostrophe for contraction
  • rereading writing to check that it makes sense
  • proof-reading to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation
  • reading aloud what they have written

Year 2 vocabulary

Common exception words: door floor children cold Mr could father people last half would every path because parents whole great break
Tier 2 words: columns, terrified, valuables
Tier 3 words: ash, bakery, embers, fiery, London, scorching, Thames

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