English

Autumn 1 - The Firework-Maker's Daughter

Key Learning

The Firework-Makers daughter ins fantasy story. This genre incldes elements of magic and the setting is in a fictional universe.  Towards the end of the unit, children will be writing their own version offolowing the structire of the original story. By then children will be able to:

• Use subordination for time.g. when, before and after
• explore and identify complex sentences using a range of conjunctions. g. when, before, after, while, until.
• use a comma to separate clause in complex sentences where the subordinate clause appears first.
• identify, generate and effectively use noun phrases. g. The blue butterfly with shimmering wings…
• select vocabulary from a vocabulary banks
• use inverted commas to punctuation direct speech (speech marks)

Explore the clips before to familiarise yourself with The Fireworkmakers Daughter.

English KS1 / KS2: The Firework-Maker’s Daughter' by Philip Pullman - BBC Teach

The Firework-Makers Daughter, chapter 1 https://youtu.be/a5hkaO_iRSw 

A PDF of the full story can be found in the files section.

Here are a few examples of the children's amazing work related to the Firework-Maker's Daughter.

All the vocabulary, grammar and planning the children have been doing is to help them when they come to write their own story.

We've got some amazing fantasy stories being written.

We created our own villain for our stories

The Rumaysa is a fantasy story, based on a well know fairy tale.   Towards the end of the unit, children will be firstly rewriting the story from one of the characters point of view. We will then be innovating the story, changing the characters and part of the setting before writing our own version of the 'twisted fairy tale'. 

We explored known fairytales.

We spent time exploring the main characters.

We explored the vocabulary in the story and created our own WOW vocabulary mats.

We demonstrated active learning. 

KL: Explain the meaning of key vocabulary within within the context of the text.

KL: To use intonation

KL: Use active listening to find answers within a text 

KL: Inverted commas

KL: To identify characters descriptions and make inferences. 

KL: To choose appropriate vocabulary to describe a character

KL: Identify noun phrases

We used a zone of relevance.

KL: To understand and write a monologue 

KL: To understand direct speech between two charcters

KL: To write direct speech between two characters.

We took part in a kaleidoscope activity to have a go at having a conversation between Rumaysa and Zabina. We focused on our speech.

KL: To write a letter and include feelings

KL: Nouns for precison

KL: To make predictions based on evidence from the text

KL: To plan for independent writing

KL: To write in the style of a fairy tale

Spring 1 - The Mousehole Cat 

Mowzer the cat lives with his owner, Tom the fisherman, in a beautiful seaside village in Cornwall called Mousehole. One day, a huge storm begins to batter the harbour walls, and no-one can leave to fish anymore. With Christmas around the corner, there is no food to be found in the village. So Mowzer and Tom decide to set out to sea and bravely face the Great Storm-Cat together. 

Click on the link to watch a trailer for the story.

Explore the whole illustrated story by clicking on the link

KL: To make predictions and to use inferencing 

KL: To explore vocabulary

Suggested Reading List for Year 4

Click on the link to explore a selection of 45 novels, you can find hilarious stories, adventures, mysteries, terrifying tales, imaginative stories, and captivating narrative nonfiction. The books will appeal to children of all reading abilities, featuring modern and classic children’s stories as well as entertaining short-chapter books

Year 4 Reading List