English

English at Tang Hall

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
Benjamin Franklin

At Tang Hall Primary School, we believe that literacy and communication are key life skills. The study of English develops children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes, including the communication of their ideas, views and feelings. Through the English curriculum, children will develop the skills and knowledge that will enable them to communicate effectively and creatively, enabling them to have the skills to become lifelong learners. Literacy is at the heart of all children’s learning, their knowledge, skills and understanding are transferrable and are used across a range of different situations and across the curriculum. Reading is given high priority at Tang Hall; it is the gateway to all other knowledge, improving spelling and fluency in written work.

Our principle aims in the teaching of English at Tang Hall are:

To enable children to speak clearly with fluency, communicate effectively, both verbally and non-verbally, gaining the ability to adapt to any situation.
To encourage children to listen with concentration, identifying main and important parts.
To develop enthusiastic, independent, reflective and critical readers of stories, poetry and drama, alongside non-fiction and media texts.
Children develop a love of reading.
To instil a love of writing, encouraging purposeful writing no matter the genre, improving planning, drafting and editing skills.
To teach cursive handwriting from Foundation to Year 6.
To develop a secure understanding of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG.)

SPaG lessons are taught as a discreet lesson daily. A range of resources are used in the teaching of punctuation and grammar ensuring that Standard English and the rules governing it are understood. Spelling is taught daily and spellings are given out and tested on a weekly basis. Home learning is expected to support the learning of spellings. To enable our children to become confident readers and writers, phonics is taught from Reception. Prior to this Nursery introduce sound play. In Year 1 every child must sit a Phonics Screening test, set by the Government. We endeavour to prepare all children for this.

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

Handwriting is taught throughout the school in the cursive font from Foundation through to Key Stage 2. It is taught to ensure consistency throughout school and to ensure that children have fluency in their writing and that joins are created. Handwriting is taught as a discreet lesson and is reminded about in all curriculum lessons. At Tang Hall we use Letter Join to model our cursive hand writing style to the children. An emphasis to start all letters on the line begins in Foundation Stage with the use of the pre-cursive font with progression through school ensuring that children are joining their writing is joined by the end of Key Stage One.

https://www.letterjoin.co.uk/

Guided Reading occurs daily in every class, adults are shared between classes to give more opportunity for groups to work with an adult. Cracking Comprehension is used to support Guided Reading alongside a variety of other texts and resources. Daily reading is a key part of the timetable and time is set aside each day to ensure that children have the opportunity to read. Members of staff and regular volunteers listen to individual children read within the school day. Home reading is expected of each child and family and this is recorded in the planner – this expectation begins in Reception.

At Tang Hall Primary we use:
Phonic scheme: Letters and Sounds forms the basis for our phonics scheme. This is supplemented with a variety of resources which include bug club books.
Reading scheme: children in the early stage of reading are only offered phonetically decodable books. These are taken from a range of schemes including: Bug Club, Oxford Reading Tree, Collins Big Cat and Rigby Star.

Overview of topics

Wrens

	Autumn 1 Ourselves / Celebrations	Autumn 2 Winter	Spring 1 & 2 Traditional Tales	Summer 1 Exploration	Summer 2 Under The Sea
Genre focus	Story Description Rhymes and Poetry Explanation	Story Description Rhymes and Poetry Info Texts	Story Description Rhymes and Poetry Instructions	Story Description Rhymes and Poetry	Story Description Rhymes and Poetry Instructions
Texts used	E.g. Funny Bones - Titch - All about me - Just Like Jaspar - Topsy & Tim Kippers Birthday	Factual book about Inuits Factual book about winter animals The Christmas Story	Fairy Tales The Gingerbread Man The Three Little Pigs Little Red Riding Hood	We’re Going On A Bear Hunt	Commotion In The Ocean
Grammar	- Speaking in sentences - Labels and captions	Speaking in sentences	Speaking in sentences Beginning to write phrases and sentences	Present and past correct in spoken English	Writing simple sentences
Spelling	- Phase 2 phonics and tricky words	Phase 2 phonics and tricky words	Phase 3 phonics and tricky words Phase 3 phonics and tricky words	Revision of phase 3 phonics Introduction of phase 4 phonics	Phase 4 phonics

Robins

	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Genre focus	Story Description List Letter	Story Description List Letter	Recount Instructions Non-Fiction (Non-Chron)	Poetry Information Text	Story List Description Recount Instructions Letter	Story List Recount Description Letter Poetry
Texts used	Whatever Next – Jill Murphy Aliens Love Underpants – Claire Freedman and Ben Cort	Owl Babies – Marin Waddell Aliens Love Panta Claus – Claire Freedman and Ben Cort	Meerkat Mail – Emily Gravett Jasper’s Beanstalk – Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen	Handa’s Surprise – Eileen Browne We Share The Air – Kevin McCann	Traditional Tales – undecided in which ones as yet	Traditional Tales Cont. Class 2 at the Zoo – Jill Jarman
Grammar	Leaving space between words Knowing where a sentence starts and ends Capital letters and full stops. Using present tense	What is an adjective? Description using adjectives Full stops and capital letters What is a noun? Plural noun suffixes (dog; dogs, wish; wishes) Capital letters for names	Knowing where a sentence starts and ends Capital letters and full stops. What is a verb? Suffixes added to verbs where root doesn’t need changing (help, helping, helped, helper)	Description using adjectives How the prefix un changes meaning (unhelpful, unsuccessful) Full stops, capital letters and finger spaces Joining clauses using and	Recap on suffixes, prefixes Recap on verb, adjective, noun etc Full stops Capital letters Finger spaces Sentence structure Paragraphs	Repeat any learning that is required.
Spelling	Phonics Phase 4 re-teach Moving onto Phase 5	Phonics Phase 5	Phonics Phase 5	Phonics Phase 5	Phonics Screening	Phonics Phase 6 introduction

Woodpeckers

2	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Genre focus	Story Description (of Dogger) Letter (write to Shirley Hughes?)	Story Letter (to the Giant from Jack) Instructions (growing a beanstalk) Poetry (briefly- Xmas)	Instructions Recount (my day on the moon) Description (moon aliens)	Story Description Recount Letter Instructions	Story Description Poetry Recount Letter Instructions	Poetry Recount Story Letter/Instructions
Texts used	Shirley Hughes stories The Twits	Jack and the Beanstalk Maximus and the Beanstalk	Man on the Moon Aliens Love Underpants	Orang-utans	Horrid Henry Stories	Mungo and the Picture Book Pirates
Grammar	subordination (using when, if, that, or because) and co-ordination (using or, and, or but) C . Past tense	statement, question, command sentences C . ? . the present and past tenses correctly and consistently including the progressive form	expanded noun phrases to describe and specify exclamation sentence C . ? . !	Refresh all sentence types- statement, question, command, exclamation , in list ‘s possession	Review all previous	Review all previous
Spelling	Long vowel sounds Wk2 igh Wk3 oa Wk4 ue Wk5 ee Wk6 ai Wk7 Review	Wk1 –el at the end of words (camel, tunnel, squirrel, travel, towel, tinsel) Wk2 –al at the end of words (metal, pedal, capital, hospital, animal) Wk3 –il (pencil, fossil, nostril) Wk4 –y at the end of words (cry, fly, dry, try, reply, July) Wk5 Adding –es to nouns and verbs ending in –y (flies, tries, replies, copies, babies, carries) Wk6 Adding –ed, –ing, –er and –est to a root word ending in –y with a consonant before it copied, (copier, happier, happiest, cried, replied …but copying, crying, replying) Wk7 Adding the endings – ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y to words ending in –e with a consonant before it (hiking, hiked, hiker, nicer, nicest, shiny)	Wk1 Adding –ing, –ed, –er, –est and –y to words of one syllable ending in a single consonant letter after a single vowel letter (patting, patted, humming, hummed, dropping, dropped, sadder, saddest, fatter, fattest, runner, runny) Wk2 The suffixes -ment, –ness, –ful , –less and –ly Wk3 The suffixes -ment, –ness, –ful , –less and –ly Wk4 The suffixes -ment, –ness, –ful , –less and –ly Wk5 The suffixes -ment, –ness, –ful , –less and –ly Wk6 Wk3 The suffixes -ment, –ness, –ful , –less and –ly Wk7 Review suffixes (enjoyment, sadness, careful, playful, hopeless, plainness (plain + ness), badly Exceptions where words end with y: merriment, happiness, plentiful, penniless, happily)	Wk1 Contractions one letter omission (isn’t, I’m) Wk2 Contractions more than one letter omission (can’t, I’ll) Wk3 Possessive apostrophe (Megan’s, Ravi’s, the girl’s, the child’s, the man’s) Wk4 Words ending in –tion (station, fiction, motion, national, section) Wk5 Wk6 Review apostrophes	Wk1 The /ɔ:/ sound spelt a before l and ll (all, ball, call, walk, talk, always) Wk2 Review suffixes Wk3 Review contractions Wk4 Review possessive apostrophe Wk5	Review previous as appropriate.

Swallows

3	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Genre focus	Narratives (familiar settings) Instructions	Poetry Reports	Myths and Legends Poems	Info texts	Narrative (adventure) Letters (Authors)	Plays
Texts used	Dear Olly (in brief) Hodgeheg Horrid Henry	Stone Age Boy	Theseus and the Minotaur Pandora	Places to go e book My Naughty Little Sister	Flood Zathura My Naughty Little Sister
Grammar	Apostrophes for possession a/an was/were Dictionary skills-alpha order	Synonyms Conjunctions cause and effect Complex sentences	Past tense Main and sub clauses	Speech Present tense Fronted adverbials	Prepositions
Spelling	Ing Ed Er tion	tion Ly Un Dis Mis In Il Ir	Long vowels Sure Ture Tch	Irregular tenses	Homophones and near homophones	Recap

Owls

4	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Genre focus	Narrative, description, poetry, letter.	Narrative, description, letter, explanation.	Narrative, description, non-chronological report, letter, explanation.	Narrative, description, letter, explanation.	Narrative, description, non-chronological report letter, explanation.	Narrative, description, non-chronological report, letter, speech, explanation.
Texts used	Tin forest	Fire bird Peter and the wolf	Wolves in the walls	Iron man	Firework makers daughter	The boy who could do what he liked
Grammar	extending the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions, including when, if, because, although	indicating possession by using the possessive apostrophe with plural nouns using and punctuating direct speech	using fronted adverbials using commas after fronted adverbials	using the present perfect form of verbs in contrast to the past tense	using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time and cause	choosing nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition
Spelling	To distinguish between the spelling and meaning of homophones	To investigate, collect and classify spelling patterns related to the formation of plurals	To investigate and learn to spell words with common letter strings	To understand how suffixes change the function of words	To understand the use of the apostrophe in contracted forms of words	To revise and investigate links between meaning and spelling when using affixes

Nightingales

5	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Genre focus	Explanation, Recount, Information, Persuasion, Instruction and procedural	Explanation, Recount, Discussion, Persuasion, Non-chronological report	Narrative, Information, Non-chronological	Poetry, Recount, Narrative, Explanation	Information, Instructional and procedural	Explanation, Recount, Persuasion, Non-chronological report, Poetry, Information, Narrative
Text used	1. Georges Marvellous Medicine 2. Grandpa’s Great escape	1. Grandpa’s Great escape	Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.	Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.	There’s a boy in the girls bathroom or Holes!	Goodnight Mr Tom
Grammar	Using commas to clarify meaning and avoid ambiguity Colons for a list Bullet point punctuation	Using hyphens to avoid ambiguity Using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis.	Relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that or with an implied relative pronoun. Speech	Modal verbs Perfect forms of verbs Speech	Modal verbs Perfect forms of verbs Speech	Using commas to clarify meaning and avoid ambiguity Colons for a list Bullet point punctuation
Spelling	Rules for: Cious and tious Ant, ance, ancy, ation, ent, ence, ency	Rules for: Using a Hyphen Adding suffixes vowel letters to words ending in fer.	Rules for: Word endings – able, ably, ible, ibly, ant, ance, ancy, able, ation Ei after c rule	Homophones and other words that are confused.	Silent letters.	Homophones and other words that are confused.

Kingfishers

6	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Genre focus	Auto-biographies and biographies (biography, autobiography, narrative, newspaper article)	Detective fiction (report, description, letter, narrative)	(newspaper, description, advert, narrative, non-chronological report)	(newspaper, description, advert, narrative, non-chronological report)	(speech, letter, newspaper, description, narrative)	(non-chronological report, letter, newspaper, description, narrative)
Texts used	Boy tales of a childhood – Roald Dahl	Stormbreaker	Gangsta Granny	Street child	Treasure	Kensuke’s Kingdom
Grammar	Punctuation (capital letters, full stops, question marks, commas in list, comas to clarify meaning, commas after fronted adverbials, inverted commas, apostrophes, parenthesis, colons, semi-colons, dashes, hyphens, bullet points) Verbs (past and present tense, verbs in perfect form, modal verbs, present and past progressive, subjunctive verb form, passive and active voice)	Phrases and clauses (relative clause, noun phrase, coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, subordinate clauses) Types of sentences (statement, exclamation, question, command)	Word classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, pronouns, possessive pronouns, relative pronouns, adverbs, adverbials, prepositions, determiners, subject, object.)	Revision of all grammar elements	Revision of all grammar elements	Revision of all grammar elements
Spelling	Vocabulary (prefixes, suffixes) Verbs (past and present)	Vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms, word families, homophones)	Words ending with: /ʒə/ or /tʃə/ /ʒən/ –tion, –sion, –ssion, –cian –cious or –tious –ant, –ance, –ancy, –ent, –ence, –ency –able and –ible –ably and –ibly	Words ending with: /ʒə/ or /tʃə/ /ʒən/ –tion, –sion, –ssion, –cian –cious or –tious –ant, –ance, –ancy, –ent, –ence, –ency –able and –ible –ably and –ibly	Recap of all spelling rules	Recap of all spelling rules

Curriculum

English