Year 6 literacy planning

Narrative 11–12 weeks	UNIT 1 Fiction genres* (4–5 weeks)	UNIT 2 Extending narrative* (2 weeks)	UNIT 3 Authors and texts* (2 weeks)	UNIT 4 Short stories with flashbacks* (3 weeks)

Non-fiction 12 weeks	TRANSITION UNIT Persuasion*	UNIT 1 Biography and autobiography* (3 weeks)	UNIT 2 Journalistic writing* (3 weeks)	UNIT 3 Argument* (3 weeks)	UNIT 4 Formal/impersonal writing* (3 weeks)

Poetry 3 weeks	UNIT 1 The power of imagery* (2 weeks)	UNIT 2 Finding a voice* (1 week)

Revision 8 weeks	UNIT 1 Reading and writing narrative (and plays)* (3 weeks)	UNIT 2 Reading and writing non-fiction* (3 weeks)	UNIT 3 Reading poetry* (2 weeks)

Additional text-based units	There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (3 weeks)	The Midnight Fox (3 weeks)	Street child (3 weeks)	The Highwayman (3 weeks)	Sensational! (2 weeks)

* Where the unit title is asterisked, detailed planning exemplification is available.

** Numbers of weeks identified for each unit are suggestions only

The combined content of these units, together with continuous and discrete work at word and sentence level, carries the learning that children can be expected to achieve in Year 6. Further work on presentational skills and speaking and listening will be ongoing throughout the year. Literacy learning in Year 6 is summarised in the objectives in the twelve strands. The year divides into 10-11 weeks on narrative, 12 weeks on non-fiction and 3 weeks on poetry, with 8 weeks for revision but these timings and the ordering of many of the units can be flexible. This flexibility means that schools can position the units to create purposeful links across the curriculum. However care must be taken to maintain the progression in learning at text, sentence and word levels if these units are taught in a different order from the one suggested.

It is expected that the narrative units will take place before, after or alongside units from across the curriculum that will provide the content and purpose for speaking, listening, reading and writing. Many schools will also wish to link non-fiction, plays and poetry units across the curriculum.

See pages 29-36 of Learning and teaching in the primary years: Designing opportunities for learning (Ref: 0521-2004) to see how curriculum maps can be used to align units of study across curriculum areas.

The framework teaching sequences are exemplar materials on which to model good practice. Teachers may need to tailor and develop these units to match the needs of pupils and the curriculum of individual schools. Some units are not populated with content so that teachers are able to pursue their own professional development by planning their own lessons.