English Role Play
20-11-2024
Year 4 had a fun creative morning today. They loved playing the witch and Jub. We also used macaroni to add inverted commas into our speech that we had acted out. 
Writing
At Smithdown Primary, we aim to have all children reading widely, fluently and confidently. Having previously been a ‘Power of Reading School’, we have adapted our reading and writing approaches to incorporate Talk for Writing principles, creating an inspiring reading and writing curriculum. We also utilise elements of the Literacy Counts resources. We believe that the teachers at Smithdown have the subject knowledge, drive and creativity to build bespoke English lessons that meet the needs of our children.
Our bespoke curriculum incorporates reading, writing, vocabulary and GPS skills through the teaching of high quality texts each half term.
It is our aim to encourage children to learn to love reading and to read regularly outside of school. We have recently opened our own lending library for families and pupils to enjoy.
We recognise that English is a core subject within the National Curriculum and essential for educational and social progress. Mastery over language empowers children to communicate creatively and imaginatively, as well as allowing them engagement with the world at large. Therefore we aim to establish a curriculum which provides the necessary meaningful opportunities to develop competence in all language areas.
Reading and phonics also support the development of our writing curriculum. Please see our Reading and Phonics page for more information.
The documents below give you more information about the texts and genres that your child will be covering. Please note that this document should be read in conjunction with our curriculum overviews as the order of the units may change throughout the year.
Reception Overview for reading and writing Year 1 Overview for reading and writing
Year 2 Overview for reading and writing Year 3 Overview for reading and writing
Year 4 Overview for reading and writing Year 5 Overview for reading and writing
Year 6 Overview for reading and writing
Read to Write empowers teachers to provide high-quality teaching of writing through high-quality literature. These detailed units of work centre on engaging, vocabulary-rich texts, with a wealth of writing opportunities within and across the curriculum and they also signpost wider curriculum enrichments.
These units provide:
- Clear sequential Episodes of Learning
- Model Texts linked to writing outcomes within the unit
- Vocabulary learning and contextualised spelling, grammar and punctuation
- Wider reading for the wider curriculum
- Curriculum Enrichments
- A wealth of resources
- Explicit links to the national curriculum
Read to Write is evidence-based teaching of writing. These units have been carefully mapped out so the entire statutory curriculum for English is covered for each year group, supporting our school to build a rich curriculum.
Writing Chatter
English drama activity
20-11-2024
Year 4 had a fun morning creating speech and acting it out. We loved being the villainous witch and sweet, little Jub. We used macaroni to add inverted commas to our speech.
Charles Darwin
24-10-2024
In Science, Year 6 have been learning about Charles Darwin as part of their ‘Evolution and Inheritance’ unit. Look at this incredible writing they have produced!
Solar Panel Persuasive Leaflets
18-10-2024
After learning about renewable energy sources, we have just begun to produce our own persuasive / information leaflets about solar power.
An author has come to Smithdown!
14-10-2024
Author of ‘The late crew’ Rob Ferguson came to visit our school today. Some of us were so excited to even get our books signed by a real life author! We even designed our own alien that we could use in our stories. 
Incredible writing from Year 6
11-10-2024
We are simply blown away by the writing we have recently produced. Our Year 6 classes are so invested in world issues – saving habitats and animals in particular. Have a read of some of the letters we wrote to the Rwandan Government, asking them to help protect the magnificent mountain gorillas 🦍
Amazing Work on Renewable Energy Sources
10-10-2024
In Geography, we have been finding out about renewable energy sources: why they are needed alongwith the advantages and disadvantages of each.
I made my work soooo much better 🌟 ✍️
04-10-2024
I used fronted adverbials, conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions and personification. ⭐️🥳
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Palm Oil – Positives and Negatives
03-10-2024
We simply had to share a few more pieces of work as we think they are truly fantastic! Detailed information which is extremely well presented. Great work Year 6!
Explanation Texts
02-10-2024
After researching mountain gorillas and adaptions of animals, we have just begun to write our own explanation texts. Keep an eye out for the finished pieces.
Using a combination of skills today…
01-10-2024
In Year 6 today, we combined our learning from Geography and English by using our computer skills to present the information we have discovered into Google Sites to create our own web pages.
How to truly be a mischievous child 🤭🤫
30-09-2024
Year 3 had a great start to their first shared write of the year. We have been learning about imperative verbs, rhetorical questions, adverbs and how instructions are laid out. We put all the new skills we have been learning to the test and used them to create a set of instructions about how to be a mischievous child, based on our reading book ‘Seen and Not Heard’
Parents watch out! Your children came up with some very interesting ideas!
Making sandwiches for Anna and Crocodile
26-09-2024
Anna and Crocodile asked us for our help today. We thought about how to make a sandwich, created some plans, made some sandwiches and of course had to taste test them! Yum yum!
Making sandwiches for Anna and Crocodile
26-09-2024
Anna and Crocodile are trying to make a sandwich. We wrote our first set of instructions and then made a sandwich to check we had included all the steps. We learned that a set of instructions needs a ‘What you need’ list and a Method.
Noun or Verb?
25-09-2024
We went on a noun hunt and then acted out verbs to help us to identify the difference between the two.
Making maps
19-09-2024
Today we made our own maps in preparation for our instruction texts. We had to think carefully about where the gold was hidden and then give our partner instructions to find it.
Retelling Lila and the Secret of Rain
07-07-2024
We retold the story in teams and performed the story to our friends.
Asda
27-02-2024
This morning we have had lots of fun playing in our Asda supermarket. We have been writing shopping lists and paying for our food with money.
Hansel and Gretel: Dual Narratives
30-11-2023
We have thoroughly enjoyed reading Neil Gaiman’s version of Hansel and Gretel, so much so, it led us to writing our own dual narratives. We are so proud of the writing we have produced.
Using historical sources
24-11-2023
We read some accounts of evacuation during WW2, comparing content and explaining what information and evidence each source provided.
Today we have read I Like Trains!
20-11-2023
We have printed trains with blocks and made marks to represent train track, trains and signals.
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We have been busy learning about Diwali the festival of light. We have moulded dough into Diya lamps. Made marks to create Rangoli patterns and wrote our names in our cards we have decorated.
13-11-2023
Remembrance Day
10-11-2023
We have created some beautiful poems after reading Flanders Fields and used watercolours/charcoal/pencils to create some poppy artwork to mark Remembrance Day.
So informative and so incredibly well presented
19-10-2023
How AMAZING is this piece of work informing us about the consequences of palm oil! ? So informative and so incredibly well presented. #smithdowngeog #smithdownwriters
This is a test post for the Writing category
18-10-2023
This morning we started to research @maejemison and tomorrow we will start our biographies of her life! #smithdownwriters
