* Where the unit title is asterisked, detailed planning exemplification has been produced and can be accessed by clicking on the title.

Teaching approaches

Reading aloud and re-reading
Reading texts aloud to children brings them alive and lifts them off the page. The act of listening to the language and 'voice' of the author or poet provides an important background for a child's own reading of the text.

Visualisation and responding to illustration
Asking children to picture or visualise a character or a place from a story is a powerful way of encouraging them to imagine the fictional world. Children can be asked to picture the scene in their mind's eye or walk round it in their imagination.

Introducing a new book with a key illustration is a way to intrigue and motivate the children to want to find out more. Using an illustration can encourage children to predict what the text will be about, the genre, who the main character is etc. Children can suggest what the illustration tells them about the setting, character, main theme of the text. Teachers should record points from the discussion for later reference.

Discussion
Open questions such as what did you like or dislike about the opening, did anything puzzle you, to which all children can respond, are more likely to result in extended and fruitful discussions at the beginning.  Later on the teacher will focus in greater depth on particular aspects of the text, but continuing to keep questions open is the best way to promote discussion; for example:

• Why do you think that...
• What might be happening...
• How do you know that...
• I wonder if...

Reading journals
Reading journals provide opportunities for children to reflect on their reading experiences and respond through writing or drawing activities. They can support children's development as readers and also provide a record of their progress. They can take the form of a dialogue between child and teacher, a group or class activity where responses are recorded by the teacher or a child, or can take the form of more structured activities or investigations such as making word collections or creating character sketches. 

Readers Theatre/scripting
Readers Theatre is an approach to reading a text which treats the text as a playscript. Characters and narrators perform the story. Two or Three pages of a novel, short story or picture book can be marked up into a script as a whole class or group reading activity. Groups of children can then work on performances for the rest of the class.

Drawing and diagrams
children's texts can include both drawing and diagrams – for example a story map or character sketch.

Shared reading and writing
Shared reading is a key approach for helping children to focus on key parts of the text. Shared writing helps the teacher to support and structure a piece of writing: the class is encouraged to take part in deciding, for example, how the writing might begin, be structured, or draw on language which has been collected.

Text marking and annotating
Text marking and annotating can be carried out as a class, group, paired or individual activity. It is usually better for the teacher to demonstrate the purpose of the activity to the whole class first, before asking children to carry out the activity independently.

Drama and role play
Role play and drama provide immediate routes into the fictional world of a story and allow children to explore texts actively. Children can put themselves into a particular character's shoes and imagine how things would look from their point of view.

Writing in role
Taking the role of a particular character enables young writers to see events from a different view point and involves them writing in a different voice.

Based on Jane Bunting and Deborah Nicholson, BookPower, Literature through Literacy, Years 5 and Year 6, CLPE 2006/2007

The narrative block addresses the following learning objectives.

Narrative	UNIT 1	UNIT 2	UNIT 3	UNIT 4
1. Speaking
Use a range of oral techniques to present persuasive arguments and engaging narratives
Participate in whole-class debate using the conventions and language of debate, including Standard English
Use the techniques of dialogic talk to explore ideas, topics or issues
2. Listening and responding
Make notes when listening for a sustained period and discuss how note-taking varies depending on context and purpose
Analyse and evaluate how speakers present points effectively through use of language and gesture
Listen for language variation in formal and informal contexts
Identify the ways spoken language varies according to differences in context and purpose of use
3. Group discussion and interaction
Consider examples of conflict and resolution, exploring language used
Understand and use a variety of ways to criticise constructively and respond to criticism
4. Drama
Improvise using a range of drama strategies and conventions to explore themes such as hopes, fears, desires
Consider the overall impact of a live or recorded performance, identifying dramatic ways of conveying characters' ideas and building tension
Devise a performance considering how to adapt the performance for a specific audience
5. Word recognition (objectives covered by the end of Year 2)
6. Word structure and spelling
Spell familiar words correctly and employ a range of strategies to spell difficult and unfamiliar words
Use a range of appropriate strategies to edit, proofread and correct spelling in own work, on paper and on screen
7. Understanding and interpreting texts
Appraise a text quickly, deciding on its value/quality/usefulness
Understand underlying themes, causes and points of view
Understand how writers use different structures to create coherence and impact
Explore how word meanings change when used in different contexts
Recognise rhetorical devices used to argue, persuade, mislead and sway the reader
8. Engaging with and responding to texts
Read extensively and discuss personal reading with others, including in reading groups
Sustain engagement with longer texts, using different techniques to make the text come alive
Compare how writers from different times and places present experiences and use language
9. Creating and shaping texts
Set own challenges to extend achievement and experience in writing
Use different narrative techniques to engage and entertain the reader
In non-narrative, establish, balance and maintain viewpoints
Select words and language drawing on their knowledge of literary features and formal and informal writing
Integrate words, images and sounds imaginatively for different purposes
10. Text structure and organisation
Use varied structures to shape and organise texts coherently
Use paragraphs to achieve pace and emphasis
11. Sentence structure and punctuation
Express subtle distinctions of meaning, including hypothesis, speculation and supposition, by constructing sentences in varied ways
Use punctuation to clarify meaning in complex sentences
12. Presentation
Use different styles of handwriting for different purposes with a range of media, developing a consistent and personal legible style
Select from a wide range of ICT programs to present text effectively and communicate information and ideas

Match between current planning and the previous National Literacy Strategy planning materials