Guided Reading in Term 6

In guided reading this term, we will be reading 'Song of the Dolphin Boy' by Elizabeth Laird. 

Writing in Term 6

In term 6, we will be writing our own poems, taking inspiration from 'Lost Words' by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. Throughout our Acrostic poems, we will be using figurative language to describe Dandelions. As a result, we will be practising our editing and uplevelling skills to ensure our poems reach our target audience and purpose. 

Then, we will be writing a biography about the incredible life and works of David Attenborough. Within this piece of writing, we will be aiming to use the following skills that we have learnt: 

*Use subordination ( when, if, that , because) to extend or join sentences. ​

*Understand coordination (or, and, but, so) and can link or extend sentences using coordinating conjunctions. ​

*Use expanded noun phrases for description and specification. ​

*Understand how to use time adverbs (answers the question when) e.g. then, next, soon, therefore...

*Use place adverbs/ prepositions  ​

*Choose and use suitable time adverbs as fronted adverbials to link sentences together.  ​

* Independently use punctuation taught so far across a range of writing. ​

After writing our biographies, we will be writing a discussion text linked to our topic; Is plastic fantastic? This will give us a chance to not only write the discussion but to use our oracy skills to perform real life debates in our classrooms. We will also be given the opportunity to carry out research to ensure our discussions are factual and relevant.

Reading at River in KS2 for Parents

• Parents Reading at River KS2.docx

The document above gives lots of different questions you can ask your children at home when they read with you, this is very important for developing their comprehension skills as well as their word reading skills.

It is really important for children to regularly read their home reading book, returning it to school on the appointed days, so that they can enjoy some of our new school reading books and read a wide genres of texts. 

Reading lots at home also has a really positive impact on the children's writing as hey absorb vocabulary and learn different writing techniques from other authors.  

We encourage the children to read a wide variety of texts both through their reading material at home; visiting local libraries with families or accessing their online resources as well as reading books that are sent home from school.

Use the VIPERS questions at home to help you understand the texts you are reading.

Vocabulary - questions that focus on the meaning of words and understanding why the author has used certain words or phrases.

Infer - questions that focus on using clues from the text to understand character thoughts/feelings/actions and being able to show this evidence.

Predict - questions that focus on understanding what happens next and what role the characters will play in the story. Use evidence from the text to prove your predictions.

Explain - questions that focus on giving a detailed explanation e.g. explaining similarities and differences between events/characters or explaining your opinion about topics.

Retrieve - questions where you can 'grab' the answer from the text.

Summarise - questions that focus ask you to 'sum up' what has happened or putting events in order.

 As well as books from school, you can access some great books in your current book band level at the Oxford Owls Website

Reading activities and games