African Tails English Pack

#TheCompleteEnglishPack21lessons

This downloadable 21-lesson pack contains detailed lesson plans, engaging slideshow presentations, and child-friendly printable teaching resources.

Please be aware that, for copyright purposes, we are unable to provide the full text for the Narrative strand of this pack. Extracts are provided where appropriate.

#AllNARRATIVELessonsinPack

Go on a lion hunt and explore African animals and landscapes in this scheme of work inspired by the book ‘We’re Going on a Lion Hunt’ by David Axtell.

This downloadable six-lesson series of lessons includes the slides, plans and printable resources you’ll need to teach this amazing African narrative topic. Your class will meet lots of different animals, with a variety of tails, as they travel through African landscapes.

Please be aware that, for copyright purposes, we are unable to provide the full text for this scheme of work. Extracts are provided where appropriate.

#AllPOETRYLessonsinPack

This African Animals Poetry KS1 series of lessons gets your Year 2 class discussing, performing and writing poems all about African animals.

These downloadable lessons come complete with a detailed lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#AllFACTBOOKSLessonsinPack

This English Year 2 Information Texts scheme of work will get your class discovering, learning and sharing amazing facts about African animals. Over the course of three lessons, your class will think about what facts are as they learn some interesting facts about African animals.

This non-fiction scheme of work is perfect for Year 2 children and would complement lots of cross-curricular topics.

The three lessons in this series come with detailed lesson plans, slideshow presentations and printable teaching resources.

#AllRECOUNTSLessonsinPack

This Safari Recounts Year 2 series of English lessons will have your Year 2 class reading, writing and analysing recounts featuring African animals. They will write recounts from different points of view and in different styles, including newspaper articles and blog entries.

This downloadable series of ready-to-teach lessons contains lesson plans, slideshow presentations and printable teaching resources.

#AllNEWSPAPERSLessonsinPack

Read and write African-themed newspapers using this Newspaper Report KS1 series of three lessons. The lessons will explain the features of newspapers and give your class the opportunity to develop their comprehension and reporting skills.

This downloadable three-lesson series of English lessons includes slides, plans and printable resources.

#AllLETTERSLessonsinPack

This 'Meerkat Mail' planning pack is a three-lesson-long mini-series focusing on letter writing. Your class will examine postcards and letters as they discover what Sunny has been doing on his trip. They will find similarities and differences between postcards and letters, learning all about the placement of the address and the message. Your class will have the opportunity to look in detail at the content of Sunny's postcards and discuss how they think he is feeling about his trip.

This downloadable series of lessons comes with detailed lesson plans, engaging slideshow presentations and printable child-friendly teaching resources.

#Lesson1WereGoingonaLionHuntPerforming

In this narrative lesson inspired by the book 'We’re Going on a Lion Hunt’, your class will develop their language skills as they infer meaning and talk about the themes in the story. They will describe how the characters feel at each stage of the story and create freeze frames in response to each section. They will either act out scenes from the book or they will write descriptions of the characters in different scenes.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson2WereGoingonaLionHuntOnomatopoeia

The second lesson in this narrative scheme of work focuses on onomatopoeia. Your class will create a list of all the onomatopoeic words they can think of and then they will use them to write sentences describing pictures of African animals.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson3WereGoingonaLionHuntDescriptiveSentences

The third lesson of six in this narrative scheme of work for Year 2 gets your children writing descriptive sentences. They will think of and use adjectives, adverts and onomatopoeia. They also be able to edit and improve their writing individually and example texts as a class.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson4WereGoingonaLionHuntStoryPlanning

During this lesson, your class will think about five-part story plans and create their own. They will explore a variety of familiar stories that have been split into five parts: beginning, build-up, problem, resolution and ending. Your class will have the opportunity to think about the most likely additions to complete a partially filled story plan, thinking about what makes sense within the context of the story.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson5WereGoingonaLionHuntStoryWriting

In the penultimate lesson in this series, your class will write stories using five-part story plans. They will use the structure of the completed plans as the basis for the structure of their own writing. Your class will be encouraged to make appropriate vocabulary choices when describing what is happening in each part of their story.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson6WereGoingonaLionHuntEditingStories

The final lesson of this six-part scheme on narrative writing challenges your class to edit and improve their writing. They will work together as a class editing and improving an example text before working on their own stories. Your class will be encouraged to think critically about their sentence structure and the choice of vocabulary they used in their writing.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson7PoetryPerformancePoetryAnimalFair

This Performance Poetry KS1 Year 2 lesson gets your children to examine then perform the ‘Animal Fair’ poem. They will think about and discuss the choices the author made, including the vocabulary, punctuation and rhythm used and the effect they have on the audience. This lesson is sure to get your class enjoying listening to and performing poetry.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson8PoetryAnimalsNonsensePoetry

Your class will explore different poems and the effects that have been created by the poets’ word and stylistic choices, including nonsense words. The poems they will examine will include ‘Eletelephony’ by Laura Richards, ‘Wild Beasts’ by Evaleen Stein and ‘The Crocodile’ by Lewis Carroll.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson9PoetryAnimalNonsenseAlphabetPoem

Find out about Edward Lear and look at his ‘Nonsense Alphabet’ poem. Your class will be encouraged to look at the grammar, punctuation and spelling used and the effect they have on the reader. Your class will then create their own alphabet poems and perform them, demonstrating what they have learnt during this poetry unit.

This downloadable lesson comes with a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson10FactBooksUnderstandingAfricanAnimalFacts

This understanding African Animal Facts lesson in the African Tails series builds up your class’s knowledge and understanding of facts. They will think about what facts are and share facts they know about African animals. By the end of this lesson, your class is sure to have an excellent bank of facts they can recall.

This downloadable English lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson11FactBooksResearchingFacts

During this lesson, your class will research African animal facts after they recap the difference between fiction and non-fiction. They will share the facts they know about African animals and use their research skills to answer questions.

This downloadable lesson comes with a detailed lesson plan, an engaging slideshow presentation and child-friendly printable teaching resources.

#Lesson12FactBooksWritingAnimalFactBooks

Your class will use and apply all the facts they have learnt about African animals when creating a factbook. They will think about appropriate subheadings in their book as well as how best to present the information they wish to share.

#Lesson13RecountsRecountFeatures

In this recount features Year 2 lesson children will discuss and locate the features of a recount. They will think about what chronological means and find evidence of the features of the genre in example texts. Your class will also have the chance to answer a range of comprehension questions to demonstrate their understanding.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson14RecountsWritingRecountsWitnesses

During this lesson on recounts for Year 2 your class will read and analyse newspaper reports before writing their own recounts from the point of view of a witness. They will have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the genre as they imagine being in some unusual scenarios.

This downloadable lesson comes with a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson15RecountsWritingRecountsfromPictures

In the final lesson of this African-animals-recount-themed scheme of work, your class will write recounts from picture stimuli. They will generate nouns, verbs and adjectives to describe their pictures and then use these words to help them write recounts from the point of view of the photographer. They will also practice changing verbs to the past tense.

This downloadable Writing Recounts lesson for Year 2 contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources, all in a handy ready-to-teach pack.

#Lesson16NewspapersNewspaperFeatures

This Newspaper Features African Animals themed English lesson has been created for Year 2. Your class will look at the features of a newspaper and think about its purpose and content. They will then answer comprehension questions about the newspaper articles.

This downloadable lesson comes with a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson17NewspapersFeaturesofaNewspaperReport

This engaging lesson teaches your class all about the features of a newspaper report. They will recap the features of a newspaper article before generating some content for their own newspaper articles using role-play or investigative research.

This downloadable lesson comes with a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and child-friendly printable resources.

#Lesson18NewspapersWriteNewspaperArticles

This downloadable English lesson gives your class the opportunity to write a newspaper article. Your children will write their newspaper articles themed around African animals using information generated in the previous lesson.

This lesson comes with a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson19LettersPostcardFeatures

The first lesson on 'Meerkat Mail' explores postcards. Your class will look at the features of postcards and have a go at locating features and information on a range of postcards. They will think about how the postcard is opened and closed and what its purpose is. This lesson concludes by challenging your class to think about formal and informal language.

This downloadable lesson comes with a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

#Lesson20LettersLetterFeatures

This 'Meerkat Mail'-themed letter writing lesson for Year 2 starts by challenging your class to compare the features of postcards and letters. They will then look in more detail at letter writing before either writing a persuasive letter to Sunny or ordering a pre-written letter.

This downloadable lesson contains a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources, all in a handy ready-to-teach file.

#Lesson21LettersLetterWriting

This Year 2-letter writing lesson is inspired by 'Meerkat Mail'. Your class will recap the features of a letter before thinking about writing their own. They will look at different sources to help them decide on the content of their letter, then they will write their own letters to Sunny.

This downloadable lesson comes with a lesson plan, slideshow presentation and printable teaching resources.

Free Overview (Medium-Term Plan)

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Free Assessment Grid

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Free Suggested Teaching Sequence

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Curriculum Objectives covered

• continue to apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words until automatic decoding has become embedded and reading is fluent
• read most words quickly and accurately, without overt sounding and blending, when they have been frequently encountered
• read aloud books closely matched to their improving phonic knowledge, sounding out unfamiliar words accurately, automatically and without undue hesitation

• discussing the sequence of events in books and how items of information are related
• becoming increasingly familiar with and retelling a wider range of stories, fairy stories and traditional tales
• recognising simple recurring literary language in stories and poetry
• discussing their favourite words and phrases
• continuing to build up a repertoire of poems learnt by heart, appreciating these and reciting some, with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear
• drawing on what they already know or on background information and vocabulary provided by the teacher
• checking that the text makes sense to them as they read and correcting inaccurate reading
• answering and asking questions
• participate in discussion about books, poems and other works that are read to them and those that they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say
• explain and discuss their understanding of books, poems and other material, both those that they listen to and those that they read for themselves

• writing narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional)
• writing about real events
• writing poetry
• planning or saying out loud what they are going to write about
• writing down ideas and/or key words, including new vocabulary
• encapsulating what they want to say, sentence by sentence
• evaluating their writing with the teacher and other pupils
• re-reading to check that their writing makes sense and that verbs to indicate time are used correctly and consistently, including verbs in the continuous form
• proof-reading to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation [for example, ends of sentences punctuated correctly]
• read aloud what they have written with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear

• expanded noun phrases to describe and specify [for example, the blue butterfly]
• the present and past tenses correctly and consistently including the progressive form
• some features of written Standard English

• Use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences