WEEKLY ENGLISH HOME LEARNING YEAR 6 15.06.20 Every week we will send out this sheet for your child’s reading and writing home learning. There are daily

activities to keep you practising your secretarial skills and longer writing tasks that you can complete at any

point during the week. Remember the best writers are readers, so make sure you are keeping up your

reading too. Continued practise of secretarial skills is key and don’t forget that talking is also a great way to

practise your ideas for writing.

From now on, home learning will be slightly simplified and include Basic Learning and Extension Activities.

We will also include success criteria, which we often use in class to illustrate to the children the basic

elements of that particular genre of writing. If you are able to give feedback to your child, this will be a very

useful starting point.

Basic Learning in Reading means:

spending at least half an hour a day on quality, concentrated reading time

discuss any reading your child has completed Extension Activities in Reading mean: Completing a reading comprehension activity set by the teacher where the key skills of:

understanding the characters and why they do or say something

retrieving key information

predicting what might happen next

summarising what has happened already

inferring Written answers are not necessary, they could be discussed with a parent, sibling or friend. Basic Learning in Writing means: Do some writing every day, whether it’s a shopping list, a book review, a get well card to grandparent, a letter to Auntie Jean, a diary entry or an adventure story… Make sure you include:

correct use of full stops and capital letters

correct spelling – your teacher gives you your weekly spellings for your year group

neat and legible handwriting

Extension Activities in Writing mean all of the above plus, making sure you include (where appropriate):

correct use of apostrophes for possession and contraction

correct sentence structure for simple, compound and complex sentences

properly demarcated paragraphs

an introduction and a conclusion

neat and legible handwriting

READING This week, your reading comprehension is about Refugee Week. You can find it on the website – you DO NOT need

to print this out. It looks like this. There are

two levels for you to choose from. Why not try

challenging yourself!

Don’t forget, you can also read books on

Bug Club.

If you have not logged in since 16 May, you

will need to re-enter your username and

password as there have been some

updates.

Your username is your first name and the

first letter of your last name. The password

is Books123.

SPELLING, PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR Spelling lists can be found in each year group’s additional resources section. Keep going back to practise these. Once you know all your own, try using them in interesting sentences.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

WRITING IDEAS SUCCESS CRITERIA This week the focus of writing is using descriptive language.

To be successful, you will need to include the following writing skills:

Figurative language to build an image in the reader’s mind (similes, metaphors, personification)

Powerful vocabulary choices

A range of punctuation

A range of sentence types

Cohesive devices to make the writing flow (adverbial phrases)

BASIC SESSION 1: Exploring a text Read the story starter below, thinking about what is happening and the characters you meet:

Story starter!

One second you saw it, the next you didn’t. She wanted to turn around and leave this strange place, but curiosity got the better of her.

The fog seemed to be alive. It danced amongst the trees: smothered, slithered, sneaked, in and out of the branches. The trees lining the road, sentinels of the night, seemed to sway in the breeze, their branches reaching up like tentacles clawing for the sky, yearning to escape the cloying fog.

One second you saw it, the next you didn’t. The ghostly shadow vanished once again into the mist.

She had come too far to turn back now. Goosebumps prickled on her cold, clammy skin, and she was sure she could hear her heart thumping inside her chest like a fluttering bird begging to be let out of its cage. Pulling her scarf tightly around herself, she stepped forward into the woods, towards the place where the shadow had been…

What do you think is happening here? Where do you think this is? Where might the road

lead to? What sounds might you hear if you were there? What do you like or dislike about

the text? Does it remind you of anything you know in stories or real life (connections)? How?

What stands out for you in the scene?

Think about the character in the middle. Who might the character be? What do you think you know about them and what they might be doing?

You could create a Likes / Dislikes / Puzzles / Patterns grid to organise your thoughts and ideas.

SESSION 2: Identifying figurative language

Figurative language is when words and ideas are used to create mental images and give impressions. Three examples of figurative language are similes, metaphors and personification.

Simile A way of describing something by making a comparison to another object

Example: The thunder growled like an angry beast. He was as quiet as a mouse.

Metaphor States one thing is another thing to create an image in the reader’s mind.

Example: A scarf of fog curled around her, making her shudder.

Personification Attributes a human characteristic to something not human.

Example: The mist dances among the leaves, sneaking in and out of the branches.

Look at the sentences below, identify whether a simile, metaphor or personification is used.

She was as quiet as a mouse.

The ants marched home.

The moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.

She’s as mad as a hatter!

The trees whispered to each other in the darkness.

The sun went to bed.

She ate the mountain of food greedily.

The frog’s tongue moved like lightning.

Match the object to the human quality to complete the sentence.

Object Human Quality

The candle flame nodded in the wind.

The chocolate cake in the fridge danced in the dark.

The party crept into the classroom.

The wallflowers sang a lonely song.

Along with the teacher, silence was calling her name.

The wind died as soon as he left.

Sentence Surgery

These sentences are ‘sick’. Rewrite them to include figurative language.

It was foggy. The trees stood by the road. There was a person in the distance.

SESSION 3: Using figurative language in sentences

Take another look at the Story Starter in Session 1. Identify the figurative language that has been used. How does this help to build an image in your mind?

Now write your own sentences, using figurative language, to describe the images below.

Try placing the figurative language in different parts of the sentence.

Read through your work to make sure that it still makes sense.

Extension: These are two other examples of figurative language (hyperbole and alliteration) that you could try using.

Hyperbole An exaggerated idea used to gain maximum effect.

Example: Bethany could sleep through an earthquake.

Alliteration When several words in a phrase or sentence start with the same sound.

Example: Slowly and surreptitiously , the snake slithered through the tall grass.

SESSION 4 and 5: Planning and writing a descriptive text

Recap quiz

1. Identify whether the definition below is for a simile, metaphor or personification. a) A comparison using like or as b) Giving human characteristics or feelings to something that is not human c) A direct comparison with something else without using like or as

2. Identify whether the following sentences use either similes or metaphors to describe the picture below.

a) The river was a blue ribbon tying itself in knots as it made its way through the green countryside. b) The river slithered like a snake through the fields of green. c) The trees were soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the winding river. d) Snaking through the countryside, the river was a worm.

3. Which two of the sentences below are also examples of personification? a) The river was a blue ribbon tying itself in knots as it made its way through the green countryside. b) The river slithered like a snake through the fields of green. c) The trees were soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the winding river. d) Snaking through the countryside, the river was a worm.

4. Read the extract from Owl Moon (Jane Yolen) below:

Which simile used to describe the sound of the train whistle would best replace “like a sad, sad song”? a) like the crackle of a firework. b) like a melancholy fog horn. c) like the screech of a tyre. d) like the constant drone of a speaker.

5. ‘And when their voices faded away it was as quiet as a dream’. Why has the author used this simile to describe the silence? a) Because you are asleep when you’re dreaming. b) Because dreams aren’t real. c) Because people don’t speak in dreams. d) Because dreams are rare.

Using figurative language in descriptive writing

Continue the story based on the image below. Plan your work to structure your narrative (Opening, Build up, Climax, Resolution, Ending).

Who are the characters? Where is it set? What will happen? How will you build powerful imagery in the reader’s mind?

One second you saw it, the next you didn’t. She wanted to turn around and leave this strange place, but curiosity got the better of her.

The fog seemed to be alive. It danced amongst the trees: smothered, slithered, sneaked, in and out of the branches. The trees lining the road, sentinels of the night, seemed to sway in the breeze, their branches reaching up like tentacles clawing for the sky, yearning to escape the cloying fog.

One second you saw it, the next you didn’t. The ghostly shadow vanished once again into the mist.

She had come too far to turn back now. Goosebumps prickled on her cold, clammy skin, and she was sure she could hear her heart thumping inside her chest like a fluttering bird begging to be let out of its cage. Pulling her scarf tightly around herself, she stepped forward into the woods, towards the place where the shadow had been…

Figurative language to build an image in the reader’s mind (similes, metaphors, personification)

Powerful vocabulary choices

A range of punctuation

A range of sentence types and sentence openers (adverbial phrases)

Cohesive devices to make the writing flow

Words from Year 6 spellings list

EXTENSION Below are some sentence types that you could try using in your writing.