Grammar and Writing

Monday 18th January 2021

Today's Grammar lesson is all about expanded noun phrases. We have practised these before, so I have included a video to remind you about what they are and to recap our learning. We will be using these in our writing this week as we will be thinking about setting in our descriptive writing. Once you have watched the video, complete the activity mentioned at the end of the video - write 4 sentences which include an expanded noun phrase about the images at the end of the video.

Tuesday 19th January

Use the PowerPoint to help you think about writing a description about a setting. The setting we are going to write about this week is linked to our Theme, Polar Regions and is The Antarctic (Antarctica). Think about all of your senses; What can you see? What can you hear? What can you smell? What can you touch? What can you taste? Guide your reader through your experience and make them feel as though they can really picture what you are describing and your writing paints a vivid image in their heads! Today, practise writing some different expanded noun phrases for one of the Antarctica images above.

Think about:

1) The snow/ice (e.g. Below my thick, black boots was layer upon layer of delicate, crunchy snow which made me feel a strong sense of bitter coldness.)

2) The penguins or any other polar creatures which might be around you

3) The Ocean

4) Your thoughts/feelings

5) The temperature and the climate

and any others you can think of! Can you write one for each?

Challenge: How many different expanded noun phrases can you write for each, linked to the image of Antarctica?

Wednesday 20th January 2021

Today, you will be planning your writing for your description of a setting. Using your expanded noun phrases that you wrote yesterday, I would like you to plan your writing into paragraphs. Perhaps you could group your ideas according to the senses (e.g. see, hear, feel, smell, taste) which would be five separate paragraphs. 

Plan what you will write in your paragraphs - this can be done in note form.

Then, think about any other language features/devices you might include to improve your writing.

Can you include any similes ('like a...' or 'as ____ as a _____'), metaphors, onomatopoeia (e.g. crunch, bang, fizz) or personification (giving human qualities to something non-human e.g. The snowflakes quickly ran down the side of my cold face - snowflakes can't really run!) within your writing?

Thursday 21st January 2021

Continue writing your description of a setting (Antarctica). Remember to use your plan and to include as many different expanded noun phrases as you can. Think about how you will organise your ideas into different paragraphs (using one of the senses per paragraph). Make sure to vary the length of your sentences, add as much description as possible and your challenge is to try to include lots of lovely language features (e.g. similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, personification) within your writing. I can't wait to read your descriptions!

Friday 22nd January 2021

Today, it is time to self-assess and edit your work. Use a different coloured pen or pencil (like we use in school with our purple pens!) and go back through your work reading a paragraph at a time out loud. This will help you to spot any little mistakes as if you read it in your head, you are less likely to spot them!

Remember to check...

• Capital letters and full stops
• Spellings
• Use of paragraphs
• Expanded noun phrases (with lots of lovely adjectives!)
• Use of the five senses
• Any similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia or personification?