Thinking skills embedded in the English curriculum

TEACHING THINKING 
Reading is inherently a problem solving activity.  The NLS model of searchlights for reading and writing is intended to reinforce this point. Successful readers and writers need knowledge e.g. of the spelling and sound systems, about conventions of books and print, the characteristics and purposes of different text types, how punctuation is used, and so on. However, what characterises successful readers and writers is not simply their knowledge about these things but their ability to continuously apply, cross-connect, generalise and infer from them. Teachers who help children to do this promote rapid and secure progress and contribute to the wider development of children's thinking skills. They use class and group teaching methods such as shared and guided reading and writing to demonstrate, model, explore and create texts for reading and writing. They ensure that children have the requisite knowledge but, in the process, also actively help children to learn creatively through, for example:

• engaging their interest through selecting appropriate content and presenting it in ways that make sense and are relevant, enjoyable and challenging, including spoken, written and other media texts
• linking what they are teaching to what children already know, through helping them remember, assimilate, exemplify, reflect and explain
• cross-checking and self-correcting to extend and reinforce knowledge, and to  develop independence and confidence
• extending and refining their knowledge through seeing patterns, analogies and connections, and generalising  to rules and conventions for application in other contexts
• teaching them to be pro-active readers, to interact with texts as they read  through predicting, hypothesising, inferring and deducing, and checking for evidence which confirms extends and refines expectations
• teaching them to be reflective readers with a developing awareness of text-types and structures which help them to see common features, understand text purpose and organisation, relate texts to one another and use this organisational knowledge in their own writing
• judging and valuing texts, forming personal preferences and responses, noticing and remembering texts or parts of texts which are significant, building a repertoire of known or accessible texts as points of reference for comparing, criticising and as models for composing their own texts.
   

Writing is likely to be a greater challenge for pupils than reading; it is always a creative process, no matter what kind of text is being composed. Success in writing must be fed by the interactive teaching of reading described above. Without the enriching and reflective experience of well taught reading, there will be little to fuel the writing process. A useful way to think about writing is to turn the NLS 'searchlights' model inside out. Successful readers need to orchestrate a range of cues (phonic, graphic, grammatical and contextual) to decode and comprehend a text. But while a reader has to decode, understand and interpret a text, a writer has to invent it. For a writer, each 'searchlight' represents a range of decisions, rather than cues, which have to be orchestrated to create a text. Writing is a complex task which challenges teachers' skills and children's thinking.

The National Literacy Strategy guidance Developing Early Writing and Grammar for Writing refer to the teacher's role in 'scaffolding' children's learning. Many children find independent writing a struggle because they are faced with too many things to do at once. They have to plan what they will write, think of which words and sentences to write, work out the spellings and transcribe it all on to the page. It is essential, therefore, for teachers to help children focus on aspects of writing while scaffolding other parts of the process, particularly in relation to the compositional aspects which, for many children get lost in the effort to focus on the tasks of transcription. This is why so much emphasis has be placed upon teaching through shared writing and its role in focusing on the composition of writing, linked to what children have read, and how teachers can manage the transition from this 'scaffolded' activity into increasingly independent and confident writing.

In the context of thinking skills, there has been a widespread misunderstanding about the teaching of writing, which has traditionally been strongly focused on 'creative' story writing. This fostered a tendency for teachers to leave children too much to their own devices, on the grounds that to intervene would be to interfere inappropriately with the creative process. Writing was facilitated rather than taught, with much stimulation, opportunity and encouragement, but it relied to heavily on the resources that the children themselves brought to the task. Nowhere are thinking skills more needed than in the process of composing writing but equally important is careful scaffolding and teaching of the kind described in the introduction to the NLS writing guidance for Key Stages 1 and 2, to provide the contexts in which thinking skills can be developed. . As in reading, teachers should ensure that children have the requisite knowledge but, in the process, also actively help children to learn creatively through, for example:

• providing writing tasks and topics which enable pupils to build on and extend what they already know, so that they can draw upon their experience, know what they are trying to say and find writing tasks relevant;
• connecting writing to reading for example, through using texts they have read as models for writing, structures to extend, opportunities to focus and extemporise on specific parts,  stimuli for other writing;
• 'scaffolding' children's writing by composing texts with a class or a group through shared writing. This process is explained in detail in the introductions to the NLS writing guidance Developing Early Writing and Grammar for Writing e.g. by:
  - supporting the transcriptional aspects, spelling and handwriting, to help pupils concentrate on the compositional aspects,
  - clarifying and discussing the purpose of a piece of writing, what and who it is for and what the writer intends to say. Clarity at this level is essential for developing independent and self-correction skills how can I know whether it makes sense if I am not clear about what I intended to say?
  - clarifying the type of text organisation most relevant e.g. an anecdote, report, instruction, argument, story etc. (these text-types are included in the NLS Framework for Teaching and set out in the appendices to the NLS writing guidance),
  - teaching children to rehearse orally what is to be written before writing it down, to develop and maintain sense and to remember the sentence while they are writing it,
  - focussing on aspects of composition e.g. planning, writing sections or paragraphs, editing and refining,
  - experimenting with sentence construction to develop complete sentence making (younger pupils) or more complex sentence making (older pupils), and sequencing sentences  with appropriate connectives for cohesion,
  - experiment with choosing words and phrases for precision and effect;
  
• teaching self-checking and corrective strategies through constantly and cumulatively re-reading, checking for sense, noticing errors e.g.: Does it say what I intended? Are the ideas appropriately sequenced and coherent? Do the choices of words and phrases have the desired effect? Is it correctly spelt and punctuated?
• Developing confident independent writing so that children can move out on their own with sufficient knowledge of what they are doing to succeed - see the introductions to the NLS writing guidance Developing Early Writing (pp 15 -19) and Grammar for Writing (pp 12 -18)

The Literacy Hour, with its embedded teaching sequence, assists children in developing their reasoning skills:

Interactive whole class teaching ¿ promotes structured talk to develop children's learning. Reading demands interpretation. The reader must make decisions about how a written text should be analysed to interpret the writer's intended meaning. Teachers and pupils progressively negotiate and unravel meaning, e.g. when discussing the behaviour of main and recurring characters, the drawing of inferences is modelled by reference to analogous situations drawn from common experience.  The teacher models ways of drawing upon specific knowledge derived from everyday experience.  The teacher then demonstrates drawing inferences to create a mental model and makes explicit that the first model, which comes to mind, will not be the only possibility. The children are then supported in constructing and evaluating several different models from the information given.

Guided teaching - in groups, children may discuss, share information and solve problems. Children are called upon by teachers to describe, explain and justify unfamiliar and hypothetical topics, e.g. the feelings of characters. This involves analysing and interpreting the text with teacher and children talking themselves through the text trying out various interpretations. The teacher supports the children in drawing inferences from narrative (going beyond the information given) which enables them to construct models of the situations depicted in stories and make connections not explicitly mentioned. Discussion relies upon interactive teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil  exchanges. The teacher's role is interventionist rather than facilitative.

Independent work - In this session, children apply skills learned in the whole class session to their independent work enabling them to infer, reason and justify autonomously. Independent activities may include reading comprehension, which is concerned with drawing intended inferences from written texts. In engaging in a piece of writing children are generating new ways of reasoning e.g. writing character portraits or justifying a point of view in persuasive writing.

Plenary - the plenary can again serve as a vehicle for reasoning and problem solving. Plenaries and mini plenaries are concerned with the problem solving process. Children are required to share their ways of thinking (e.g. justifying preferences) and children come to realise that their may be several routes to the solution of a problem. This session can be information sharing or scaffolding and enables the teacher and pupils together to generate new understanding.

EXAMPLES
Each of the five aspects of thinking skills is briefly illustrated below for listening, speaking, reading and writing in KS1 and KS2. For ease of illustration and reference, all the examples of teaching objectives are drawn from the NLS Framework for Teaching. Of course, speaking and listening, reading and writing are pervasively important to the teaching of thinking skills across the full range of children's experience and most of the examples below could equally well be illustrated through other subjects in the curriculum.

1.  INFORMATION PROCESSING SKILLS
These enable pupils to locate and collect relevant information, to sort, classify, sequence, compare, contrast, and to analyse part/whole relationships (QCA 2000).

YR and KS1
Speaking and listening

• Teaching pupils, through discussion prior to, and during, shared reading and writing to follow, understand and respond to directions and simple explanations in speech and writing:
  - YR T8 to locate significant parts of a text, e.g. picture captions, names of key characters, rhymes and chants, e.g. I a troll¿., I'm the Gingerbread Man, speech bubbles, italicised or enlarged words
  - Y1 Term1 T13 to read and follow simple instructions e.g. for classroom routines, lists for groups in workbooks
  - Y1 Term2 T7 to discuss reasons for, or causes of, incidents in stories
  
• Expressing a clear sequence of ideas in a description, instruction, narrative e.g. as an oral rehearsal prior to writing:
  - Y1 Term 1 T7 to re-enact stories in a variety of ways e.g. through role-play, using dolls or puppets
  - Y1 Term3 T5 to re-tell stories, to give the main points in sequence and to pick out significant incidents
  - Y2 Term3 T16 to use models from reading to organise instructions sequentially e.g. listing points in order, each point depending on the previous one, numbering and T16 to use appropriate register¿direct, impersonal, building on texts read

Reading

• Learning and applying phonic skills to decode a text and cross-check for sense with the grammar and meaning of what has been read. All the objectives set out in the NLS guidance Progression in Phonics apply here, bearing in mind that children should be taught:
  - to use their knowledge of letters and the corresponding phonemes to decode words in the first instance, but that
  - when decoding is not available (because of limited knowledge or non-decodable word) they should be helped to speculate on options through combining clues from context and/or grammar and letters, and
  - to use knowledge gained through informed guessing and cross-checking to extend their spelling knowledge e.g. through learning alternative spellings,  exceptions, seeing connections between word parts and their meanings, detecting spelling patterns, rules and conventions.
  
• Reading for sense to comprehend the overall meaning of a story, instruction, description etc.:
  - Y1 Term2 T10 to identify and compare basic story elements e.g. beginnings and endings in different stories
  - Y2 Term 2 to predict story endings/incidents e.g. from unfinished extracts, while reading with the teacher

Writing

• Composing a simple narrative e.g. recapitulating a known story or an anecdote from experience, using complete sentences in a coherent sequence:
  - Y1 Term 3 T20 to write simple recounts linked to topics of interest/study or to personal experience, using the language of texts read as models for own writing. Make group/class books e.g. What we know about¿, Our Pets¿

KS2
Speaking and listening

• Teaching pupils, through discussion prior to, and during, shared reading and writing to follow, understand and respond to directions and simple explanations in speech and writing to stories, discussions or arguments:
  - Y4 Term 3 T3 to understand how paragraphs or chapters are used to collect order and build up ideas
  - Y4 Term 3 T17 how arguments are presented e.g. ordering points to link them together so that one follows from another, how statistics, graphs etc. can be used to support arguments
  
• Giving a clear description or account of an experience or event, drawing on relevant information or evidence in a coherent sequence which conveys the main points to a listener:
  - Y3 Term 3 T19 to summarise orally ¿ the content of a passage or text and the main point it is making
  - Y5 Term 3 T19 to construct and argument in note form or in full text to persuade others of a point of view and:
  ° present the case to the class or group
  ° evaluate its effectiveness

Reading

• Teaching pupils to navigate texts effectively:
  - Y4 Term 2 T15 to appraise a non-fiction book for its contents and usefulness by scanning e.g. headings, contents list
  - Y4 Term 2 T17 to scan texts in print or on screen to locate key words or phrases, useful headings  and key sentences and to use these as a tool for summarising the text
  - Y5 Term 1 T14 to map out texts showing development and structure e./g. its high and low points, the links between sections, paragraphs, chapters. (This objective is analysed in detail in Grammar for Writing p 112)
  
• Understanding the features of differing text-types and how particular texts are organised to present information for different purposes e.g.
  - Y4 Term 1 T27 Identify the main features of instructional texts¿
  - Y4 Term 2 T20 identify the key features of explanatory texts ¿
  - To identify the main features of recounted texts such as sports reports, diaries, police reports ¿.

Writing

• Planning and writing a coherent narrative reflecting a sequence of events, telling or retelling them as a story in sequence which has a coherent sequence which leads the reader to an intended conclusion:
  - Y4 term 2 T12 to collaborate with others to write stories in chapters using plans with particular audiences in mind
  - Y5 Term 1 T14 to map out texts showing development and structure, e.g. high and low points, the links between sections, paragraphs, chapters
  - Y6 term 1 T6 to manipulate narrative perspective by:
  ° writing in the voice and style of a text
  ° producing a modern retelling
  ° writing a story with different narrators
  
• Planning and writing for information:
  - Y4 Term 2 T23 to collect information from a variety of sources and present it in one simple format, e.g. a wall chart, labelled diagram

2.  REASONING SKILLS
These enable pupils to give reasons for opinions and actions, to draw inferences and make deductions, to use precise language to explain what they think, and to make judgements and decisions informed by reasons or evidence (QCA 2000).

Reasoning involves reaching decisions and making judgements or choices e.g. we may decide one solution will not work while another solution takes us a step forward. We then set out to prove or explain why that solution works. Errors or misjudgements in reasoning then become apparent. Literacy is an important influence on the development of verbal reasoning. Reasoning skills are used at two levels in literacy: to decode and make sense of a text, and to gain and make use of knowledge gained from a text through literal interpretation, deduction and inference. 

YR and KS1
Speaking and listening

• listening to, following and re-telling a narrative (story, anecdote, joke etc) to predict how it will end, by forming and modifying hypotheses, and drawing conclusions on the basis of clues as the telling proceeds:
  - Y1 Term 3 T5 to retell stories to give the main points in sequence and to pick out significant incidents
  - Y1 Term 1 T5 to identify and discuss reasons for events in stories, linked to the plot

Reading

• Using reasoning skills to develop independent reading strategies e.g.:
  - Y1 term 2 S2 to use awareness of the grammar of a sentence to decipher new or unfamiliar words e.g. predict text from the grammar, read on, leave a gap and re-read
  - Y1 Term 2 S3 to predict words from preceding words in sentences and investigate the sorts of words that 'fit', suggesting appropriate alternatives i.e. that make sense
  - Y2 Term 2 T4 to predict story endings/incidents from unfinished extracts while reading with the teacher

Writing

• writing and/or drawing simple lists or plans to illustrate a sequence of events in the correct order
  - Y1 Term 2 T14 to represent outlines of story plots using e.g. captions, pictures, arrows to record main incidents in order e.g. t make a class book, wall story , own version
  - Y2 Term 2 T21 to produce simple flow charts or diagrams that explain a process

KS2
Speaking and listening

• Through class or group discussion prior to or, in the course of, shared writing, teaching pupils to follow an argument, contribute to debate and formulate arguments to persuade
  - Y3 Term 2 T13 to discuss the merits and limitations of particular instructional texts, including IT and other media texts and to compare these with others, where appropriate, to give an overall evaluation
  - Y4 Term 3 T21 to assemble and sequence points in order to plan the presentation of a point of view e.g. on hunting, school rules
  - Y6 Term2 T5 to analyse how messages, moods, feelings and attitudes are conveyed in poetry
  - Y6 Term 2 T 18 to construct effective arguments:
      ° developing a point logically and effectively
      ° supporting and illustrating points persuasively
      ° anticipating possible objections
      ° harnessing the known views, interests and feelings of the audience
      ° tailoring the writing to formal presentation where appropriate

Reading

• Reading for inference i.e. comprehending what is implied rather than directly stated by a text and finding evidence in the text to support a conclusion about implied meaning
  - Y3 Term 3 T5 to discuss 1) characters' feelings 2) behaviour 3) relationships, referring to the text and making judgements
  - Y4 Term 1 T3 to explore chronology in narrative, using written or other media texts, by mapping how much time passes in the course of the story e.g. noticing where there are jumps in time, or where some events are skimmed over quickly, and others told in detail
  - Y4 T1 Text 2 to identify the main characteristics of key characters, drawing on the text to justify views, and using the information to predict actions.

Writing

• Framing a coherent narrative, explanation or argument, formulating the main points, plotting their connections and sequencing them coherently to draw the reader to a conclusion
  - Y4 Term 1 T9 to use different ways of planning stories e.g. using brainstorming, notes, diagrams
  - Y5 Term 2 T22 to plan, compose, edit and refine short non-chronological reports and explanatory texts, using reading as a source, focusing on clarity, conciseness and impersonal style

3.  ENQUIRY SKILLS
These enable pupils to ask relevant questions, to pose and define problems, to plan what to do and how to research, to predict outcomes and anticipate responses, to test conclusions and improve ideas (QCA 2000).

A significant part of the English National Curriculum and the NLS concerns the uses of literacy for enquiry. Reading and writing for information are features of work in most subjects of the curriculum, and approximately half the text level objectives in the NLS Framework are focused on developing these skills.  Additionally, skills of investigation and enquiry are also a focus of much of the word and sentence level objectives, where the focus is upon exploring and investigating patters, rules and conventions in the structure of language

YR and KS1
Speaking and listening

• Investigating words
  - Y1 Term 1 W1 to learn new words from reading and shared experiences and to make collections of personal interest or significant words and words liked to particular topics
  - Y2 Term 3 T8 to discuss meanings of words and phrases that create humour and sound effects in poetry e.g. nonsense poems, tongue twisters, riddles and to classify poems into simple types to make class anthologies
  
• Preparing to read for information:
  - Y2 Term 3 T14 to pose questions and record these in writing prior to reading, in order to find answers
• Preparing for writing:
  - YR T13 to think about and discuss what they intend to write ahead of writing it

Reading

• Spelling investigations:
  - Y2 Term 2 S7 to investigate a range of other
  - Y1 Term 2 W8 to investigate and learn spellings of words with 's' for plurals
  - Y1 Term 2 W2 to investigate, read and spell words ending in 'ff'  'ss' 'ck' 'ng'
  - Y2 Term 2 W 8 to learn to spell words with common prefixes e.g. 'un', 'dis', to indicate negative
  - Y2 Term 2 T16 to use dictionaries and glossaries to locate words by initial letter
  
• Investigating purpose and organisation in texts:
  - Y1 Term 3 T7 to use titles, cover pages, pictures and 'blurbs' to predict the content of unfamiliar stories
  - Y2 Term 2 S7 to investigate a range of other ways of presenting texts e.g. speech bubbles, enlarged, bold or italicised print, headings and sub-headings
  
• Using texts to seek information:
  - Y2 Term 3 T19 to make simple notes from non-fiction texts e.g. key words and phrases, page references, headings, to use in subsequent writing

Writing

• Recording and organising information:
  - Y1 Term 2 T25 to assemble information from own experience e.g. food, pets; to use simple sentences to describe, based on examples from reading;
  - to write simple non-chronological reports; and to organise in lists, separate pages and charts
  - Y1 Term 3 T20 to write simple recounts linked to topics of interest /study or to personal experience, using the language of texts read as models for own writing. Make group/class books e.g. Our day at school¿, Our trip to¿
  - Y2 Term 2 T21 to produce simple flow charts that explain a process.

KS2
Speaking and listening

• Investigating and discussing differences between texts:
  - Y3 Term 1 T5 to recognise the key differences between prose and playscript, e.g. by looking at dialogue, stage directions, lay out of text¿
  - Y4 Term 1 T17 to identify the features of non -fiction texts in print and on screen e.g. headings, lists,  bullet points, drop-down menus, buttons etc. which support the reader in gaining information efficiently
  
• Investigating grammar:
  - Y5 Term 3 S3 to search for, identify and classify a range of prepositions: back, up, down, across, through etc. Experiment with substituting different prepositions and their effect on meaning. Understand and use the term preposition

Reading

• Investigating text organisation:
  - Y4 Term 1 T4 to explore narrative order: to identify and map out the main stages of a story: introductions ¿ build-ups ¿ climaxes or conflicts ¿ resolutions
  - Y4 Term 2 T19 to identify how and why paragraphs are used to organise and sequence information
  - Y6 Term 2 T16 to identify the features of balance written arguments which e.g.:
       ° summarise different sides of an argument
       ° clarify the strengths and weaknesses of different positions
       ° signal personal opinion clearly
  
• Information retrieval:
  - Y4 Term 2 T16 to prepare for factual research  by reviewing what is known, what is needed, what is available and where one might search
  - Y5 Term 1 T26 to make notes for different purposes e.g. noting key points as a record of what has been read, listing cues for a talk, and to build these notes into their own writing or speaking
  - Y6 term 2 T7 to identify the key features of different types of literary text, e.g. stock characters, plot structures, and how particular texts conform to develop or undermine the type e.g. through parody

Writing

• organising and recording information:
  - Y3 Term 2 T16 to write instructions e.g. rules for playing games, recipes, using a range of organisational devices e.g. lists, dashes, commas for lists in sentences, recognising the importance of correct sequence: use writing frames as appropriate fro support
  - Y5 Term 1 T24 to write recounts based on subject, topic or personal exY5 Term 1 T24 to write recounts based on subject, topic or personal experience for (a) a close friend and (b) and unknown reader e.g. an account of a field trip, a match, a historical event

4.  CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS
These enable pupils to generate and extend ideas, to suggest hypotheses, to apply imagination, and to look for alternative innovative outcomes (QCA, 2000).

Creativity is at the heart of good literacy teaching at all levels. It is marks out a disposition to explore, play and invent with language and to use language in increasingly effective ways in spoken and written expression. Creativity is equally important as an element of thinking in relation to the reasoning and enquiry skills illustrated above. An interest in and willingness to explore and invent patterns and connections, are the roots of generalisation, investigation and rule construction, while the capacity to suppose, pretend, adopt roles and suspend belief are at the heart of imaginative and logical thinking. Creativity is not the sole province of fiction and poetry, it is central to every aspect of literacy development and no less important in the reading and writing of non-fiction where the creative challenge of achieving precision, accuracy, conciseness and objectivity is just as great.

KS1
Speaking and listening

• Exploring word sounds and patterns:
  - YR W1 to understand and be able to rhyme through:
       ° recognising exploring and working with rhyming patterns
       ° extending these patterns by analogy, generating new and invented words in speech and spelling
  - Y2 Term 2 T9 to identify and discuss patterns of rhythm, rhyme and other features of sound in different poems
  
• Story telling and role play
  - Y1 Term 2 T8, T9 to identify and discuss characters, e.g. appearance, behaviour, qualities; to speculate about how they might behave, discuss how they are described in the text and compare characters from different stories¿become aware of character and dialogue e.g. by role-playing parts¿
  - Y2 Term 2 T7 to prepare and retell stories individually and through role-play in groups using dialogue and narrative from the text

Reading

• Reading and enjoying stories and poems
  - Y2 Term 2 T8 to read own poems aloud
  - Y2 Term 3 T6 to read, respond imaginatively, recommend and collect examples of humorous stories, extracts and examples

Writing
          - Y1 Term 3 T14 to write stories using simple settings e.g. based on previous reading
          - Y2 Term 1 T12 to use simple poetry structures and to substitute own ideas, write new lines
          - Y2 Term 2 T13 to use story settings from reading, e.g. re-describe using own writing, write a different story in the same setting

KS2
Speaking and listening

• exploring words:
  - Y3 Term 1 W17 to generate synonyms for high frequency words e.g big, little, like, good, nice, nasty
  - Y3 Term 2 W24 to explore opposites, e.g. upper/lower, rude/polite
  - Y4 Term 3 W8 to practise extending and compounding words through adding parts, e.g. ful, ly, ive, tion, ic, ist; revise and reinforce earlier work (Y3) on prefixes and suffixes; investigate links between meaning and spelling
  - Y5 Term 1 T8 to investigate and collect different examples of word play, relating form to meaning.
  
• Exploring language effects:
  - Y3 Term 3 T6 to compare different types of humour e.g. by exploring collecting and categorising forms or types of humour e.g. word play, jokes, poems, word games, absurdities, cautionary tales, nonsense verse, calligrams.
  - Y6 Term 2 T3 to recognise how poets manipulate words:
       ° For their quality of sound, e.g. rhythm, rhyme, assonance,
       ° For their connotations
       ° For multiple layers of meaning, e.g. through figurative language, ambiguity

Reading

• Exploring sentences
  - Y5 Term 2 S8 to construct sentences in different ways, while retaining meaning, through:
       ° combining two or more sentences;
       ° reordering them;
       ° deleting or substituting words;
       ° writing them in more telegraphic ways;
  - Y6 Term1 S5 to form complex sentences through e.g.:
       ° using different connecting devices;
       ° reading back complex sentences for clarity of meaning and adjusting as necessary;
       ° evaluating which links work best;
       ° exploring how meaning is affected by the sequence and structure of clauses;
  
• Reading interpreting and responding to texts
  - Y4 Term 2 T5 Y4 Term 2 T5To understand the use of figurative language in poetry and prose; compare poetic phrasing with narrative/descriptive examples; locate the use of simile;
  - Y5 Term 1 T9 to develop an active attitude towards reading: seeking answers, anticipating events, empathising with characters and imagining events that  are described;

Writing

• Composing texts:
  - Y3 Term 3 T11 to write openings to stories or chapters linked to or arising from reading; to focus on language to create effects, e.g. building tension, suspense, creating moods, setting scenes;
  - Y4 Term 2 T13 to write own examples of descriptive, expressive language, based on those read linked to work on adjectives and similes
  - Y5 Term 1 T16 to convey feelings, reflections or moods in a poem through the careful choice of words and phrases
  - Y6 Term 1 T14 to develop the kills of biographical and auto biographical writing in role, adopting distinctive voices, e.g of historical characters through, e.g.:
       ° Preparing a c.v.
       ° Composing a biographical account based on research
       ° Describing a person from different perspectives, e.g. police
       ° Description, school report, newspaper obituary

5.  EVALUATION SKILLS
These enable pupils to evaluate information, to judge the value of what they read, hear and do, to develop criteria for judging the value of their own and others' work or ideas, and to have confidence in their judgements.

Evaluative skills develop from the early formation of preferences for books to a more critical awareness of how texts serve their differing purposes, based on the pupils' growing awareness of text-types and their related organisational features, the use of language for precision and effect, their growing awareness of authors, styles and genres. These skills help readers and writers to become more critically aware of texts and to apply this awareness to composition in their own writing. Teachers need to equip pupils with the relevant knowledge and technical language to analyse and  conceptualise this critical awareness so that it becomes increasingly possible for pupils to transfer it from their reading to their writing and to self-evaluate and refine their own work as well as appreciating the work of other writers.

KS1
Speaking and listening

• Discussing preferences:
  - Y1 Term 3 T10 to compare and contrast preferences and common themes in stories and poems
  - Y2 Term 2 T11 to identify and discuss favourite poems and poets, using appropriate terms (poet, poem, verse, rhyme etc.) and referring to the language of the poems;
  
• Discussing, comparing and evaluating aspects of a text:
  - Y2 Term 1 T6 to discuss familiar story themes and link to own experiences, e.g. illness, getting lost, going away;
  - Y2 Term 2 T5 to discuss story setting: to compare differences; to locate key words and phrases in text; to consider how different setting influence events and behaviour

Reading

• Responding to texts forming views and opinions:
  - Y1 Term 3 T17 to recognise that non-fiction books on similar themes can give different information and present similar information in different ways;
  - Y2 Term 3 T7 to compare books by different authors, evaluate and form preferences giving reasons;

Writing

• recording preferences and evaluations:
  - Y2 Term 3 T12 to write simple evaluations of books read and discussed giving reasons
  - Y2 Term 3 T18 to evaluate the usefulness of a non-fiction text for its purpose

KS2
Speaking and listening

• Comparing and evaluating the use of language for effect:
  - Y3 Term 1 T6 to read aloud and recite poems, comparing different views of the same subject; to discuss choice of words and phrases that describe and create impact, e.g. adjectives, powerful and expressive verbs, e.g. stare instead of look;
  - Y5 Term 2 T10 to understand the differences between literal and figurative language, e.g. through discussing the effects of imagery in poetry and prose;
  - Y6 Term 2 T17 to read and understand examples of official language and its characteristic features, e.g. through discussing consumer information, legal documents, layouts, use of footnotes, instructions, parenthesis, headings, appendices and asterisks;

Reading

• Developing personal response to texts:
  - Y4 Term 3 T10 to describe and review own reading habits and to widen reading experience;
  - Y6 Term 1 T3 to articulate personal responses to literature, identifying why and how a text affects the reader;
  
• Comparing and evaluating text types and aspects of texts:
  - Y3 Term 2 T3 to identify and discuss main and recurring characters, evaluate their behaviour and justify views
  - Y4 Term 3 T16 to read, compare and evaluate examples of arguments and discussions, e.g. letters  to press, articles, discussion of issues in books, e.g. environment, animal welfare
  - Y5 Term 1 T22 to read and evaluate a range of instructional texts in terms of their:
       ° purposes;
       ° organisation and layout;
       ° clarity and usefulness;
  
• Comparing and evaluating books and writers
  - Y4 Term 3 T9 to read further stories or poems by a favourite writer, making comparisons and identifying familiar features of the writers work;
  - Y5 Term 1 T10 to evaluate a book by referring to details and examples in the text;
  - Y5 Term 1 T12 to discuss the enduring of established authors and 'classic' texts;      

Writing

• Recording evaluations:
  - Y4 Term 3 T8 to write critically about an issue or dilemma raised in a story, explaining the problem, alternative courses of action and evaluating the writer's solution
  - Y5 Term 1 T!8 ¿ 20 to write own play-script, applying conventions learned from reading¿..annotate the script for performance¿..evaluate the script and the performance for their dramatic interest and impact.
  - Y5 Term 2 T19 to evaluate texts critically by comparing how different sources treat the same information
  - Y6 Term 2 T6 to read and interpret poems in which meanings are implied or multi-layered; to discuss, interpret challenging poems with others
  - Y6 Term 3 T19 to review a range of non-fiction text-types and their characteristics, discussing when a writer might choose to write in a given style and form.