Students will engage in a comprehensive exploration of texts, emphasising reading comprehension, critical thinking and effective communication. The curriculum integrates diverse literary genres to provide a dynamic and enriching learning experience. This course is tailored to prepare students to be able to answer questions in the Selective High Schools Placement Test as well as scholarship tests.
Course objectives
• Apply advanced reading comprehension strategies to interpret and analyse diverse texts independently
• Demonstrate creativity and clarity in a range of text types including narrative, descriptive, informative and persuasive writing
• Develop critical thinking skills through literary analysis, inference and interpretation of texts
NOTE: As there is some overlap in the teaching plan for writing, we do not recommend enrolling in both Year 5 English (Reading & Writing) and Year 5 Intensive Writing.
Teaching plan
Vocabulary is included in most weeks. Homework includes a writing task that is teacher-marked, and other activities that are self-marked. There is no homework in week 10.
Week 1: Non-fiction comprehension, flow of ideas, cloze: sentence gap-match and word fill-in-the-blank, sensory imagery, descriptive writing, text analysis, dangers of purple prose
Week 2: Paired texts comprehension, linked extracts comprehension, writing dialogue, characterisation, text analysis
Week 3: Cloze: subheading and paragraph gap-match and word fill-in-the-blank, persuasive writing: introduction & validity of arguments, text analysis
Week 4: Linked extracts, poetic techniques and devices, poetry comprehension, formal letter layout, letter of complaint, text analysis
Week 5: Reading mock test, advertorial, differences between advertorial and advertisement, text analysis
Week 6: Cloze: sentence gap-match and word fill-in-the-blank, poetry comprehension, linked extracts, diary or journal entry – focus on persona, language features, text analysis
Week 7: Making inferences, linked texts comprehension, newspaper report structure, news angle, text analysis
Week 8: Cloze: subheading and sentence gap match, imagery in poetry, poetry comprehension and analysis, sentence variation, responding to exam prompts, text analysis
Week 9: Reading and writing assessments & review, confusing vocabulary, text analysis, rewriting activity
Week 10: Poetry comprehension, cloze: word fill-in-the-blank, linked extracts, book review, text analysis, quick writes