Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

AusVELs Content Description and Elaborations:

Level 5 - English: Writing

Consolidate a personal handwriting style that is

Level 6 - English: Writing

Experiment with text structures and language

Level 7 - English: Writing

Understand how to use spelling rules and word

legible, fluent and automatic and supports writing for extended

features and their effects in creating literary texts, for

origins, for example Greek and Latin roots, base words,

periods.

example, using imagery, sentence variation, metaphor and

suffixes, prefixes, spelling patterns and generalisations to

word choice.

learn new words and how to spell them.

Experiment with text structures and language

Understand the difference between main and

subordinate clauses and that a complex sentence involves at

least one subordinate clause.

Understand how noun groups/phrases and

Create literary texts that adapt or combine

aspects of texts students have experienced in innovative

features and their effects in creating literary texts, for

adjective groups/phrases can be expanded in a variety of ways

ways.

example, using rhythm, sound effects, monologue, layout,

to provide a fuller description of the person, place, thing or

informative and persuasive texts, choosing and

navigation and colour.

Create literary texts that adapt stylistic

idea.

experimenting with text structures, language features,

features encountered in other texts, for example, narrative

images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and

viewpoint, structure of stanzas, contrast and juxta position.

Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative

Understand the use of vocabulary to express

greater precision of meaning, and know that words can have

different meanings in different contexts.

Understand how the grammatical category of

possessives is signalled through apostrophes and how to use

audience.

Plan, draft and publish imaginative,

Reread and edit students own and others

work using agreed criteria and explaining editing choices.

Make connections between students own

and persuasive texts, selecting aspects of subject matter and

particular language, visual, and audio features to convey

apostrophes with common and proper nouns.

Create literary texts that experiment with

experiences and those of characters and events represented

information and ideas.

Edit for meaning by removing repetition,

in texts drawn from different historical, social and cultural

refining ideas, reordering sentences and adding or substituting

structures, ideas and stylistic features of selected authors.

Create literary texts using realistic and fantasy

contexts.

words for impact.

Consolidate a personal handwriting style that is

settings and characters that draw on the worlds represented in

texts students have experienced.

Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative

and persuasive texts containing key information and supporting
details for a widening range of audiences, demonstrating
increasing control over text structures and language features.

Reread and edit for meaning by adding, deleting

or moving words or word groups to improve content and
structure.

Write using clearly-formed joined letters, and

develop increased fluency and automaticity.

legible, fluent and automatic and supports writing for

extended periods.

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

Vocabulary:
Writing - Writing Process (brainstorm / plan / draft / edit / conference / revise / publish), setting, characters, events,
beginning, middle, end, steps to writing success (plan / sizzling start / tension / dialogue / imagery / ban the boring / ending)
Reading - Comprehension, visualisation, mental image, strategies, blurb, evoke, senses, main
idea, summarise, purpose, recall, facts, details, key, information, revise, revisit, skim, tools,
graphic organisers, reports, visual text.

Assessment FOR
Baseline Assessment - Students will write a
narrative

Assessment AS
Anecdotal Grids
Work Samples
Effective changes made to initial narrative

Assessment OF
Post Assessment - Narrative written after content
delivery

Resources Resources: Punctuation tasks (resource folder), Narrative Posters, 7 Steps to Writing Success posters,
Stationary: Lined loose leaf,
Technology: Toontastic app,

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

Literacy - Writing Narratives

Week 3: 27th 31st of July, 15

Wednesday
Learning Focus

Whole Class teaching

Independent
Activity

Reflection

Students will be given the lesson to write a narrative of their choice. This Refer to whole class
will be used as a baseline for the duration of the unit.
teaching.

Pre-test

Success Criteria

Warm Up Activity

Thursday

Go through the seven steps to writing success.

Learning Focus
To explore the writing process as
outlined in the 7 Steps to Writing
Success.

Ask students if they recall writing using the 7 Steps to Writing

Success last year?

Success Criteria
If so, ask students to explain the steps.
I can name some of the steps to
writing success.
I can identify the seven steps to

If not, share the following:

Make posters for

the seven steps.
-

Send to jess
to print out?

3 things you
feel
confident
about in
regards to
narratives.
2 things you
feel you
need to
develop
further.
1 question
you have.

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015
writing success.

1.

Plan for Success

I can recall what happens at each

step.

2.

Sizzling Starts

3.

Tightening Tension

4.

Dynamic Dialogue

5.

Show, Dont Tell

6.

Ban the Boring Bits

7.

Exciting Endings

Term: 3

Warm Up Activity
Get to know you activity
- 2 truths and 1 lie
- 10 dogs, speak fluent Italian
and Ive travelled to 13
countries.
- During class pass around a
piece of paper and get
students to write down 2
truths and 1 lie and then Ill
try and pick which one is true!
This is my way of getting to
know you Fold the paper as
you write, then this will ensure
that what you write is
personal to you.
Sentence stories
I start with a sentence and go
around the room adding to the
story with sentences.

Ask the students what they think happens at each stage or what each
stage is about.
Ask them how these steps compare to the steps we discussed during the
previous lesson.
Share that we will explain each step in greater detail over the next few
lessons.

Week: 3 - 7

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Friday
Learning Focus
To plan for success using graphic
organisers.
Success Criteria
I can explore a range of graphic
organisers.
I can identify the graphic
organiser that helps me to
organise my ideas the best.
Warm Up Activity
Tell Me a Story
Students write about one of the
prompts below in their Writers
Notebook or on their iPads.
Encourage students to
select one they can
personally relate to / write
about.
Also encourage students to
follow the steps, i.e. sizzling
start, exciting ending.

The worst, most

embarrassing moment in my

Term: 3

Quote - You wouldn't go on a holiday without planning where to go or

how to get there. It's the same with stories. Save yourself time and
wasted words - figure out what will happen BEFORE you start to write.
Focusing on step 1 plan for success.
Step 1: Plan For Success
Start where the action is
Backfill important
information
Plot Development
Gradual Build up
Hugh Tension Scene
Action Climax
Character and Emotion
Wrap-up

Week: 3 - 7

Students explore
graphic organisers
online.
Students note the
ones they think
they could use in
their writing books
or on their iPads
(screen shots, save
PDFs, etc).

Once students have

found at least 2 that
they think they
could use to plan
they may continue
finishing off their
posters.

What
graphic
organiser do
you like the
best?

How will it
help you
with your
planning?

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

life.

How I met a famous person

and the dumb/clever/funny
things I said.

Whenever the wind blows I

feel

My greatest
sporting/musical/academic
achievement.

You can bet I'll never do that

again.

Assessment

FOR:
Baseline Assessment - Students will write a narrative

AS:
Anecdotal Grids, work Samples effective changes made to initial narrative

OF:

Post Assessment - Narrative written after content delivery

Literacy - Writing Narratives

Week 4: 3rd 7th of August, 15

Monday

Whole Class teaching

Independent Activity

Reflection

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

Learning Focus
We are learning to tighten the
tension.

Success Criteria
I can use my five senses to add
detail.
I can describe feelings.

Ask students how they create nail-biting tension in their writing? List
these on a poster. Also share the following tip:

Students form groups of

Students
four (or students can work share their
in table groups, if this is
passages.
easier for you to manage).
Visualize the scene in your mind, then list the details. Use the five
senses. What did you see, hear, touch, taste and smell? Add in your
How did you
feelings. Now the tension scene is easy to write.
apply what
you learnt
Ask students to think what characters in a story would see, hear, touch, List the following topics on today in
taste, smell and feel (emotionally) if they were in a cemetery. List these. the board. Ask each group your writing?
to select one. It doesnt
matter if more than one
group selects the same
topic.

Warm Up Activity
Share that with all of these ideas, the following could be written:
Students will respond to the visual
prompt of a volcanic eruption.
Students will record what they would
see, hear, touch, taste, smell and
feel.
Students will be given approximately
3 to 4 minutes to complete this,
before sharing as a larger group for
2 minutes.

The night was cold and weirdly dark. There were shadows
around me, tombstones and graves of people long dead.
Names, loving words, births, deathsand now the broken
bricks and long grass tells the true story the dead are
forgotten. I smelt freshly mown grass, someone was paid to
care. But over it all was a smell of sweetness. Too sweet. I
shivered, feeling alone. Then the scream came out of the
darkness.
Ask students to share their thoughts on this piece. Stress that it is
important to brainstorm ideas first and write second because it
makes it SO much easier to create great scenes.
-

Planning is so important!

1.

A bushfire is raging
out of control and you
are trapped.

2.

A football match. (Or

netball, basketball,
cricket, soccer, etc)

3.

Speech night - all the

students, all the staff,
500 parents - and YOU
have to make the
speech.

4.

Lost in the hot,

steamy, scary jungle.

Ask each group to select

one person to be the
recorder, the person who
records the groups ideas
on poster paper. Stress
that spelling isnt
important at this stage.

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7
This person just has to be
able to write FAST!

Share that each group

now has 2 minutes to
brainstorm as many ideas
they can for each of the
senses on the topic they
have chosen:

See / Hear /
Touch / Taste / Smell /
Feel (emotions)

When finished, share with

students that they now
have 5-10 minutes to
write about their topic
using some or all of their
ideas.
Share with students that
they could begin their
piece in the middle of the
scene. Also share the
following prompts might
help them:

I sawI heardI
felt

(Think about evoking the

senses)

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

Tuesday
Ask students to share the BORING beginnings they discovered in the
Students write sizzling
Warm Up Activity. Write these on a poster. As a class, discuss why they starts (opening
think these beginnings are boring.
sentences) for each of
We are learning to write sizzling
the following topics.
starts.
Ask students to share the SIZZLING beginnings they discovered in the
Warm Up Activity. Write these on a poster. As a class, discuss why they 1.
She's a totally
think these beginnings are sizzling.
elegant fashion model
- with a dog that farts.
Success Criteria
Share with students there are lots of ways to create Sizzling Starts. Here
are five suggestions:
2.
Perhaps going into
that old house in the
woods hadnt been
1. Start with a bang
such a good idea.
I can identify the elements to create
a sizzling start.
I wondered why the football was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
3.
You wake up to find
you
have the biggest
I can write a sizzling start.
2. Make the reader curious
teeth in the world.

Learning Focus

Let me explain about the divorce, the beach house and the bacon.

4.

A kid finds a sword

that makes him a
fighting master. But
hes incredibly
clumsy.

5.

The day my Mum

begged me NOT to
clean my room.

3. Create a Moment of Change

Warm Up Activity

The Hunt for Boring Beginnings

and Sizzling Starts

Everything was going well, until my Mum said 'I've got a job in
California.'
4. Use humour
Never let your three-year-old brother eat ice cream in your bed.
5. Dialogue brings characters alive

Students explore a variety of texts in

order to locate sentence starters

Students share their

starts with a partner.
Together, they combine
their ideas to write an

Students
share their
before and
after starters.

How can you

apply what
you have
learnt today
to your
writing?

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015
they feel are BORING and SIZZLING.

Term: 3

'It's just a rat,' I said, breathing hard.

'Rats don't growl,' said Mike.

Students could use:

reading corner

Ask students how they think they can use these suggestions to
enhance their writing?

Week: 3 - 7
improved sizzling start.
Students identify which of
the 5 suggestions their
start matches (as
discussed earlier).

Make anecdotal notes of planning etc.

iBooks

Write a paragraph
explaining to
someone why they
need a sizzling
start/how they would
write one.

Google books
etc

Wednesday
Learning Focus
We are learning to write sizzling
starts.

Success Criteria
I can identify the elements to create
a sizzling start.

Share with students that a story has about 60 seconds to grab the
reader and make them want to keep turning the pages, so its great to
start their stories with action.
Share the following example detailing how a girl began her story about
an exciting disco competition.
Before
I woke up that morning really nervous. Today was the day of the big
disco competition. Sam and I had been practising for months. This
year we would do it. We would beat that Penelope and her partner
once and for all. I leapt out of bed...

I can write a sizzling start.

The writer now has the problem of how to get through the slow
morning, the long lunch and the boring afternoon - until at last the
disco begins.
After

Students look at the

sentence starters in their
stories. Students identify
their BORING and
SIZZLING starts.
Students adapt their
stories to include sizzling
starts. Or write a new
sizzling start for their
story.

Finish posters
Continue to add
detail to their story

Students
share their
before and
after starters.
They may
choose to do
this visually
using an
application
like
PicCollage.
These can
then be
printed and
displayed!

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

I opened the door to the disco and the music hit me like a blast.
Lights flashed, people moved in a swirl of colour and it was suddenly
hard to breathe. Nerves, I guess. It was the big dance competition
tonight. Sam and I had been practising for months. This year we
would do it.
We would win. We must!
'Hi there.' It was Penelope. Yeah, it would be. 'Bet you think you're
going to win tonight.'
See how her next draft jumps right into the action at the disco. We call
this the 'Moment of Change'.

One other thing to remember about our writing is

Marilee has Strong White Teeth
Read to students:

Warm Up Activity
Write for 5-10 mins straight using
the story cards.

Share fast write

In real life we get to know people slowly through their words and
actions. However, writers often think they have to tell absolutely
everything about their characters at the start of a story. We call this
an information dump. Here's a great example from the Bulwer-Lytton
(worst story start) competition.
With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned
unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep
azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that
vied for competition and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty
that defied description.
Students write their own 'information dump'.

Week: 3 - 7

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

Once theyve finished write the sentence starter for their new
story.

Next Week - Monday

Learning Focus
We are learning to tighten the
tension in our narratives.

Success Criteria
I can tighten the tension in my
story.

Whole Class teaching

Ask students to share their descriptions. Discuss the similarities and
differences. Ask students how they applied what they learnt yesterday
in their writing.
Share the following and ask students how they think this passage can
be improved:
Before

Warm Up Activity

Tim stood ready at the top of the run. His friends had already had
their turn. Now it was Tim's go. He had to beat a time of two minutes.

Visualisation He went through the starting gates and down the slopes as fast as he
could. It was all over. He had finished. He looked back to see the
clock. One minute and 58 seconds. Tim had won!
Students will respond to the visual
prompt of a volcano. Students will
record what they would see, hear,
touch, taste, smell and feel.

Share the re-worked passage. Ask students how they think the tension
has been tightened:
After

Students will be given approximately

3 to 4 minutes to complete this,
before sharing as a larger group for
2 minutes.

Tim took a deep breath, dug his poles firmly into the snow and
looked at the starter.
'Racer ready,' said the man.
Tim gulped and tried to nod.

Students adapt their

stories to tighten the
tension.

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

'Three. Two. One. Go.'

With a heave, Tim hurled himself downhill. He skated hard, heading
for the first gate, working for speed. Past the gate, moving fast now,
aiming for the second gate. He clipped it with his shoulder, taking it
tight. The next gate coming fast - too fast. He felt his knees shudder,
trying to keep the edge. Through somehow. He was nearly at the icy
patch where people had spun out earlier in the day. Careful now.
Careful.
Past and clear! The finish line loomed ahead. He tucked.
'Go hard,' he could hear his own voice say. 'Go!'
A cheer from the crowd. A pause. He shuddered to a halt and looked
back to see the clock.
One minute and 58 seconds.
Tim had won!

Assessment

FOR:
Baseline Assessment - Students will write a narrative

AS:
Anecdotal Grids, work Samples effective changes made to initial narrative

OF:

Post Assessment - Narrative written after content delivery

Writing Narratives

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015
Week 5/6: 17th 21st of August,
15

Term: 3

Whole Class teaching

Week: 3 - 7
Independent
Activity

Monday
Learning Focus
We are learning how to explore
detail in our narratives.
Success Criteria
- I can create imagery for the
reader

Ask students to share their thoughts about the warm up activity.

How do they think they can transfer acting to writing? Explain that in
stories, it is really important to show, not tell.

- I can use descriptive words to

show the reader what I mean
Discuss the following:

Warm Up Activity

What SHOWS someone is generous?

Show me a Secret

What SHOWS someone is terrible at music?

What SHOWS a person is scared of dogs?

Brainstorm with students a list of

emotions, i.e. happy, sad, love,
hate, jealous, angry, frightened,
etc.

Students form groups and pick

one emotion. They then have to
act out a scene that shows this
the only condition is they CANNOT
name the emotion. Other members
of the class have to guess what
emotion the scene is portraying.

Students adapt their

stories to include
more detail about
how characters are
feeling.

Reflection

How can you

apply what
you have
learnt today
to your
writing?
How did you
meet the
success
criteria?

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

Tuesday
Learning Focus
We are learning how to explore
detail in our narratives.

Success Criteria
-

I can create imagery for the

reader
I can use descriptive words to
show the reader what I mean

Share with students that it is just as important to describe the setting

as it is to describe characters feelings. To describe characters even more,
authors sometimes describe characters body language to emphasise how
they are feeling.
For instance:

The woman twisting her wedding ring around and around is nervous.

The man rubbing the back of his neck is frustrated.

The woman with the sagging shoulders and two toddlers is exhausted.

The kid rubbing his eye and shuffling his feet is telling a lie.

Ask students to share the different types of body language they

have seen? How do you think the person/people was/were feeling?

Warm Up Activity

Show me a Setting
Brainstorm settings in the same
way. (e.g. the beach, a cubby house,
kitchen, under a bed.) Now students
have to role play an emotion plus
a setting. They are NOT allowed to
mention either by name. It has to be
done through dialogue and actions.
Here's an example: Selfish in a
desert.

Students adapt their

stories to include
more detail about
how characters are
feeling and where
things take place.

Students
share the
changes to
their stories.

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

'It's so hot. I justcan't go on.'

'You were the one who got us
lost.'
'Water. I need water'
'Sorry.' (Takes out water bottle,
turns and sneaks the last mouthful.)
'There's none left'

Wednesday
Learning Focus
We are learning to identify and
delete or replace the boring
components of a narrative.

Success Criteria

I can convey my ideas in a short

sharp manner

I can illustrate my ideas in an

interesting manner

Warm Up Activity
Boring bits brainstorm words or
parts of sentence that are boring
And then, because, too much
detail
And

Explain to students that Old Style writing often had incredibly tedious
passages in them. (One explanation is that often writers were paid by the
word!) In some books it took about twenty sentences for the guest to be
escorted from the front door to the sitting (lounge) room.
Ask students if they think they would like to read something like this. Ask
them to explain why / why not. Explain to students that writing styles
change over time due to the wants of the readers.
Share the following with students:

Students need to
write a BORING
paragraph on a
very exciting
event.
They can choose
from the following:

Meeting
Justin Bieber

Getting lost
in a chocolate
factory

Winning one
million dollars

Driving in a
Ferrari

Being
Principal for a

Students
share their
BORING
paragraphs
and discuss
what they
liked/ disliked
about the
task.

Before:
I got up that morning and got dressed quickly, ate my breakfast and ran to
school. The bus for camp was leaving at 8.00. Myra and I sat together and
we ate lots of chips and lollies in the back seat. It was a really boring trip.
We stopped at a place for lunch, and everyone ordered hamburgers which
were yuck. We finally got to the camp and everyone was really tired and
went to bed. The next day we went on a bush-walk and Myra fell in a hole
and it took two hours to get her out. Camp was really good.

After:

Ask the
students
whether their
work would
be
interesting to
read. Why/
why not?

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015
Abstract
Then, and posters for ban
the boring bits.

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

Camp was really boring until Myra fell into a hole. We were walking along
this dusty track pretending to look for birds and suddenly her foot slipped.
She gave a sort of grunt and the bottom half of her body slid right down a
hole while the top half stuck out on the track, looking stunned.
As a class brainstorm which of the above passages they preferred and why.
What do they like to see when theyre reading? Do they like it to take 20
pages for something interesting to happen?

day

Going to a
Disco

Well be sharing
and I will
randomly call on
a student so
make sure you
have written
something.

Thursday
Learning Focus
We are learning to identify and
delete or replace the boring
components of a narrative.
Success Criteria
-

I can convey my ideas in a short

sharp manner
I can illustrate my ideas in an
interesting manner

Warm Up Activity

Fact or Fiction
Students write 3 short stories about
themselves (around 3 sentences per
story). 2 stories need to be true, and 1
needs to be a lie. Select some students

Ask one student to share their BORING paragraph from yesterday and
write it on to the whiteboard or butchers paper.
As a class work through banning the boring bits, cross them out!

Students adapt their

stories, banning the
boring bits.

Do you find
that you have
banned a lot
from your
story?

Compare the Before and After pieces and ask the class to identify
which they would prefer to read and why.
How do you
decide what
is boring and
what isnt?

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7

to share their stories, the class votes on

which story is a lie.

Friday
Learning Focus
We are learning to include an
exciting ending to our narrative.
Success Criteria
-

I can end my narrative in an

exciting way.

Warm Up Activity

Celebrity Interview
Students select a celebrity that they
would love to interview. Give
students 10 minutes to list as many
interesting and open-ended
questions that they would ask that
celebrity as they can.

Ask the class to

Explain to the students that writing an Exciting Ending is just as important as come up with three
writing a Sizzling Start. Ask students why they agree with this statement.
possible endings for
these plots:Share the following with students:
It's a really exciting story - four crooks plan to steal ten million dollars in
diamonds. They have captured the brave kids investigating them and tied
them up. The parents search frantically, but the crooks have set a fire which
is raging closer and closer to the terrified kids.

How could they end this story? Allow students to share their ideas.
Explain that the most exciting ending would come from the ending should
come from the kids being brave or smart - not from the police or the parents
rushing in to rescue them.
Ask the students if they can explain why (because everyone expects the
police/adults to rescue them).

A skateboard
champion has
won five
championships.
She's not the
nicest person,
she's really
selfish and
arrogant. But
then she gets
injured...

There is a
tiny glitch in
time. For a few
minutes two
doctors from
2044 are in your
living room. They
have discovered
a way to make
people run
faster...

A boy
discovers he can
read thoughts
but only when

Explain that professional writers always know their ending before they start
writing!!

Students
share their
endings with
the class.
Discuss why
their endings
were exciting,
or how they
could be
made even
more
exciting.
How did you
apply what
you learnt
today in your
writing?

Unit Focus: Narrative Texts

UNIT PLANNER
Year: 2015

Term: 3

Week: 3 - 7
everyone in the
room is silent. He
uses this fact to
cheat in tests,
get himself onto
the football team
and see what his
parents really
think of him.
However, then

Assessment

FOR:
AS:
OF:

Pre-test (Common Learning Task)

Student reflections, anecdotal grids and small focus groups.
Conferences, student reflections and post-tests.