Black Lives is a collection of units designed to inspire children, through their writing in English, by exploring people and characters with African heritage.

EYFS – We’re Going to Find the Monster!: Pupils use images to depict the main events of the story.
Year 1/2 – Meesha Makes Friends: Pupils write a diary entry based on the events of the story.
Year 1/2 – Look Up!: Pupils write a diary entry about a space flight.
Year 3/4 – Coming to England: Pupils write letters from Floella to her Grandma about settling into life in the UK.
Year 3/4 – Counting on Katherine: Pupils write an information text about mathematician Katherine Johnson: a hero of the space race.
Year 5/6 – Young, Gifted and Black & Race to the Frozen North: Pupils write a series of diary entries from the viewpoint of Matthew Henson: a pioneer of Arctic exploration.
Year 5/6 – The Place for Me: Stories About the Windrush Generation: Pupils write an information leaflet about a period in Black history (hybrid text type including information, recount and explanation).

Our mixed age planning was written to support a variety of school settings.  From one mixed age class to a school with several mixed age classes, the planning can be flexibly adapted using a range of cycles to suit. Cycles of mixed age planning are available for years 1/2, 3/4, 4/5 and 5/6. They have been carefully thought out to ensure progression and coverage of skills for each of the year groups whilst retaining high quality texts suitable for the age range. We are always happy to advise on different configurations of classes and how Pathways to Write can be adapted to suit any circumstance.

All of the ‘Black Lives’ units comprise 15 sessions of English planning and focus on mastering key writing skills (grammar, vocabulary and punctuation) from the national curriculum. Opportunities to develop reading comprehension, writing composition and spoken language skills are also woven throughout the unit. For more information please see individual units as linked above.

If you are an existing Pathways to Write school and wish to order any additional units, please download and complete the order form above to access your Pathways Literacy discounted prices.

Resources: PowerPoints, lesson planning and abridged methodology.

This Black Lives themed collection of units aligns with skills and progression covered in Pathways to Write, Autumn 1.

The supporting texts for the units of work can be purchased at Peters Ltd at 30% off the RRP price of the books*:
Please contact Oonagh Towse oonagh.towse@peters.co.uk 07815 557646
Or, place your order online using discount code ‘LITCO30’ Click here for details
*You will receive 30% discount off the RRP on the vast majority of books ordered for the Pathways to Read and Pathways to Write programmes. Items excluded from this offer: book packs, plus short discount items (a small number of academic titles, big books, and audio titles). This offer may not be used in conjunction with any other promotion.