This year 3/4 SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural development) Refugee themed unit of work is based on The Silence Seeker by Ben Morley.

A family has moved into the house next door. Joe’s mum explains that they are asylum seekers who have travelled a long way. “Silence seekers!” says Joe, who sets out to show his new friend how to find peace and quiet in a busy city.

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.

The unit comprises 15 sessions of English planning and focuses 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.

Mastery skills:

Year 3:

• Form nouns with a range of prefixes
• Use present and past tenses correctly and consistently including the progressive and present perfect forms
• Build a varied and rich vocabulary
• Use inverted commas to punctuate direct speech (using dialogue to show relationship between characters)

Year 4:

• Use Standard English for verb inflections
• Organise paragraphs around a theme (using fronted adverbials to introduce or connect paragraphs)
• Use present and past tenses correctly and consistently including the progressive form and the present perfect form
• Use and punctuate direct speech (using dialogue to show relationship between two characters)

Short writing opportunities:

• Setting description
• Speech sandwich to show relationship between characters
• Diary
• Letter

Resources: PowerPoints, lesson planning and abridged methodology.

This unit can be used individually or as part of a whole-school themed project with our other units on this theme.

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.

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