YEAR 4 READING "THE OWL WHO WAS AFRAID OF THE DARK"

THE OWL WHO WAS AFRAID OF THE DARK

At this stage, we should choose books that:

ž

  Include more complex structures and figurative language

ž  Include characterization and events which challenge pupils’ understanding of theme

ž  Include stories and poems with more sustained plots, descriptions and interactions

ž  Require a deeper response, on skills of inference and deduction

ž  Represent a range of genres 

Reasons for choice “The Owl who was afraid of the dark”

ž  The text presents a good variety of vocabulary and grammar structures, as well as dialogues and different kinds of speech

ž  The story is a good link with science, as it shows the way of life of owls

ž  The story is attractive for children at this stage 

READING TARGETS

TEXT LEVEL WORK

Pupils should be able to:

Reading comprehension

 Recognise how dialogue is presented in stories, e.g. through statements, questions and exclamations

ž  Recognise how paragraphing is used to organize dialogue

Writing composition

ž  Create word banks associated with a topic by brainstorming, word association, etc.

ž  Use reading as a model to write own passage of dialogue.

ž  Begin to write portraits of characters, using story text to describe behavior and characteristics, and present portraits in a variety of ways, e.g. as posters, labeled diagrams, letters to friends about them. 

SENTENCE LEVEL WORK

Pupils should be able to:

Grammatical awareness

Extend knowledge of verbs:

ž  Revise work from year 3

ž  Classify into regular and irregular past tenses

ž  Explore different pronunciations of –ed words.

ž  Learn and use most frequently used present and past tense verbs

ž  Use verb tenses with increasing accuracy in speaking and writing

Sentence construction and punctuation

ž  Use speech marks correctly in writing

ž  Note where commas occur in reading and discuss their functions in helping the reader

WORD LEVEL WORK

Pupils should be able to:

Spelling strategies

ž  Use word banks and dictionaries

ž  Practise new spellings by “look, say, cover, write, check” strategy

Spelling convention and rules

ž  Spell common irregular tense changes

Vocabulary extension

ž  Collect new words from reading and topics and create ways of categorizing them, e.g. personal dictionaries and glossaries. 

The following video might be useful if we want to improve children's understanding of the story: