English Department – Curriculum Outline Year 7 2015-16
Unit
What will I do?
How will I be assessed?
Term 1
My First Impressions of Montgomery & Narrative Writing
We will begin the journey into Key Stage 3 by completing a piece of writing about our first impressions of Montgomery and will move into working on narrative and descriptive writing. There will be a strong emphasis on the technical accuracy of your child’s writing. They will develop their technical skills in the areas of spelling, punctuation and grammar; paragraphing using varied and clear topic sentences; sentence structure and variety of sentence types and vocabulary. During this first half term we will evaluate the areas within writing that your child needs to develop and enhance as we progress through the year.
During the week commencing 28th September an assessment will take place in which your child will write a piece of narrative or descriptive writing. Homework will be set weekly.
Poetry Study
Term 2
Novel Study
Writing NonFiction Transactional Texts
This half term focuses on Poetry, where students will study a range of pre 19th century and modern poets and poems, gain an appreciation of how poetry can be performed and create some of their own poetry. Students will also be taught subject-specific terminology and revisit poetic techniques, such as metaphors, similes and personification, to use within their analysis whilst studying their poems. The poetry unit will act as a basic introduction to the poetry unit on the GCSE AQA English Literature Paper 2 Section B. During this half term, students will read a novel with their class teacher. The choice of novel studied will vary, although popular choices are ‘Good Night Mr Tom’, ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, ‘Holes’, ‘Skellig’, and Stormbreaker’. As they read the novel as a class, students will learn new vocabulary and make inferences about characters, themes and context, learning how to use evidence to support their ideas by referring directly to the text. Alongside studying the novel’s setting, plot, and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader, they will also gain a greater understanding of purpose, audience for and context of the writing and draw on this knowledge to support comprehension. Students will develop their writing skills across different text types, for example: formal letters, informal letters, reviews, reports, speeches, articles for newspapers and magazines and leaflets. They will learn how to adapt their language for different purposes and audiences and how to use rhetorical techniques for effect in their writing. There will be a strong emphasis on the technical accuracy of your child’s writing. They will develop their technical skills in the areas of spelling, punctuation and grammar;
Near the time of the assessment, your child will be given the titles or genres to choose from and they will be able to complete some preparation work at home, as well as with their teacher. It would be fantastic if you could help your son or daughter to develop their ideas and prepare for the assessment. In addition, encouraging your child to read widely will really help them to develop their vocabulary and give them ideas to inspire them in their own writing. During the week commencing 23rd November, your child will complete a reading assessment based on two poems, which they will asked to compare and contrast. Homework will be set weekly.
During the week commending 2nd February, students will complete a writing assessment based on their reading and understanding of the text. They may be asked to write as a character in the form of a letter or diary entry. Homework will be set weekly.
During the week commencing 23rd March, students will complete a writing assessment. Homework will be set weekly.