This week in English

This week, Pagoda have thoroughly enjoyed listening to the beginning of the novel ‘Wonder’ by R.J Palacio. We have been focusing on making reading an enjoyable and relaxing experience. Some pupils have been following along, whilst others have been developing their active listening skills; some pupils have further built their oracy skills by reading aloud to the class. We have identified an overuse of the word ‘nice’ in some chapters and spent time writing sentences using synonyms and antonyms for ‘nice’ and ‘horrible’.

Citadel and Lattice have started exploring ‘Sinister Stories‘. Pupils have identified the tropes that make novels, movies and TV shows spooky or sinister; they are also beginning to develop characters and settings for their own stories. Pupils have already started elevating their vocabulary for effect, by considering the impact of powerful words on the audience.

Martello and Spire have been reading the opening to the novel ‘I’m the King of the Castle’ by Susan Hill and have identified the ‘who, what, why, where, when’ approach as a strategy for answering exam style questions. We have been revising the correct structure to use when responding to questions that focus on the choice of language used by the writer.