Real Writing Year 5 - Unit 9
Model text: The Wrong Path, by Jon Mayhew
Curriculum links: Geography (Mountains)
Writing unit overview
This writing unit for Year 5 is built around an original model text by Jon Mayhew; an exciting story about a mountain journey. 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 two to three weeks, pupils will explore the author’s use of vocabulary to evoke a setting, and how he creates characters, making cross-curricular links with geography (describe and understand key aspects of: physical geography, including… mountains). Finally, they will write their own journey narrative, in the past tense, using dialogue to advance the action and for character description, and appropriate language to describe the setting.
Key curriculum skills
Two fully-resourced lessons are included for the following Year 5 English objectives, which can form part of the unit or be taught discretely:
1. Vocabulary - To make appropriate vocabulary choices using their knowledge of synonyms and antonyms
Pupils will: find synonyms for given words; use a thesaurus; change the meaning of sentences with synonyms; match synonyms and antonyms; write a paragraph using synonyms for ‘run’; create a class display of synonyms and antonyms.
2. Composition - To use dialogue to convey character and advance action
Pupils will: add speech marks to text, revisiting the rules when writing speech; indicate a new speaker by starting a new line; explain what dialogue tells us about action and characters; write a section showing feelings, events and actions using dialogue.
Additional skills to teach or revisit
Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech
Additional Year 5 curriculum teaching points:
To link ideas across paragraphs using adverbials of time
Year 5 vocabulary
Year 5 / 6 statutory spelling words: foreign
Tier 2 words: dense, carved, admire, smother, pursed, weary, pillar, strewn
Tier 3 words: mountain, glacier, summit, peak, plateau, valley, forest, mist, Trig Point, compass
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.