Year 5- Writing Stay & Learn

Firstly we wanted to say a huge thank you to all of the parents, carers and family members who attended the writing session on Tuesday.

We started the session by discussing the year 5/ year 6 national curriculum Writing objectives (please see below)

Spelling:
use further prefixes and suffixes and understand the guidance for adding them
spell some words with ‘silent’ letters
continue to distinguish between homophones and other words which are often confused
use knowledge of morphology and etymology in spelling and understand that the spelling of some words needs to be learnt specifically
use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words
use the first 3 or 4 letters of a word to check spelling, meaning or both of these in a dictionary
use a thesaurus

Handwriting and Presentation:
Pupils should be taught to write legibly , fluently and with increasing speed
choosing which shape of a letter to use when given choices and deciding whether or not to join specific letters
choosing the writing implement that is best suited for a task

Composition:
Plan their writing by:

identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own
noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary
in writing narratives, considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed

Draft and write by:
selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning
in narratives, describing settings, characters and atmosphere and integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action
using a wide range of devices to build cohesion within and across paragraphs
using further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader

Evaluate and edit by:
assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing
proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning
ensuring the consistent and correct use of tense throughout

Vocabulary & grammar:
recognising vocabulary and structures that are appropriate for formal speech and writing, including subjunctive forms
using passive verbs to affect the presentation of information in a sentence
using the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause
using expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely
using modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility
using relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an implied (ie omitted) relative pronoun

Punctuation:
using commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity in writing
using hyphens to avoid ambiguity
using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis
using semicolons, colons or dashes to mark boundaries between independent clauses
using a colon to introduce a list
punctuating bullet points consistently


Next, we worked discussed the features of non-chronological reports and the members of year 5 staff explained that this is currently our non-fiction focus.
Then, we designed our own dragon working with our partners and parents to create a fact file. We used the sub-headings 'appearance, diet, habitat and forms of attack'.

We were blown away with some of the dragon designs and will definitely be using some of the ideas in our writing this week. Some of the dragons lived in dark spooky lairs, lava filled volcanoes and the icy Arctic. Some had strong muscular frames or slender legs or serpent-like bodies. Their bodies were covered in pearlescent scales or protective, hard calloused skin. The dragon's all had different personalities from amicable and kind to territorial and ferocious.

We can't wait to read the final dragon non-chronological reports with the inspiration from the Stay & Learn session.


We really appreciate all of your continued support.


Thank you again from the Broadford Year 5 team!