These emergency lesson plans for Year 5 Literacy are only to be used by supply teachers who are faced with no planning or easily accessible resources. Also to be used following the guidance notes here.

Autumn Term

Word Level Work

• Investigate plurals, find your own rules (much better than being given rules, as long as they’re correct!)
• Investigate meanings and spellings of words with prefixes: auto, bi, tele and circum.

Sentence Level Work

• Give sentences in direct/reported speech, to convert to reported/direct speech (she said, “I am eating!” to she said (that) she was eating)
• Give a list, and ask to place a colon, make their own lists (top ten authors/pop stars etc.) and place colons as necessary.
• Look at the conventions for writing dialogue in narrative using current reading books, separate lines and commas etc.

Spring Term

Word Level Work

• Collect onomatopoeic words and present them to class
• See how many different ways the sound for example ‘a’ as in May, can be written

Sentence Level Work

• Write a formal invitation on the board, and ask the children to change it to an informal one… and decorate!
• Explore ambiguities e.g. Heavy Plant Crossing, they are cooking apples, police shot man with knife, Baby Changing Room, and Danger Swimmers Keep Out

Summer Term

Word Level Work

• Spell unstressed vowels in polysyllabic words, e.g. company, portable, interest, description, carpet, freedom, extra
• Investigate and create rule (better than being given one) for modifying words ending in e, when adding ing/ful/ly
• Compile class dictionary for own slang words and give own definitions, e.g. mate, (it) wrecks, nectar.

Sentence Level Work

• Use connectives other than and, then, but, to link clauses in sentences. Find in own previous work (collect lots of connectives before they start) and re-write sentence on today’s page.

Text Level Work

Narrative / Plays / Scripts

• Add a new character/scene to a Roald Dahl/Lucy Daniels/Jeremy Strong book, using the style of the author (i.e. a talking animal in a Roald Dahl book)
• Write a short story (pref. myth/fable) on the board, and ask them to review and edit it (include misspellings, poor language selection etc. Make sure you clearly show that these are the parts to rework.)
• Write a well-known story from someone else’s point of view, i.e. The Wolf in Three Little Pigs/Little Red Riding Hood
• Discuss known proverbs in class, a bird in the hand, too many cooks etc., and choose one to write as a story in fable/myth/legend style, to demonstrate it’s meaning.

Non Fiction

• Write an incident letter to the police from two different people’s points of view, i.e. victim and eye-witness.
• Write to the local MP regarding e.g. poor lighting outside school, placing poop scoop bins at edge of park etc.
• Write instructional texts, i.e. How to Use a Computer: Ideal Text for Teachers!

Poetry

• Read a poem with a definite theme (i.e. football) and ask them to change the theme by substituting words (i.e. to horse riding)
• Read a poem with a definite structure, explore structure and ask them to add a verse.
• Convey feelings/moods in a poem, structure given by teacher. Shaped into a frown/smile?
• Choral and performance poems, relate Christmas carols, Albert and the Lion, rap, pop music, nursery rhymes. Children to perform in small groups at end of lesson.

Return to Emergency Lesson Plans Index

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on Year 5 Emergency Lesson Plans for Numeracy. Check out our resources area here too.

These emergency lesson plans for Year 4 Literacy are only to be used by supply teachers who are faced with no planning or easily accessible resources. Also to be used following the guidance notes here.

Word Level Work

• Game split 2-syllable words containing double consonants in the middle, kettle, bubble, common, rabbit. Randomly write the two halves somewhere on the board, and the children have to draw a line to match the pairs, write them on their whiteboards, or tell a friend.
• Write to/too/two or they’re/their/there in sentences correctly.
• Practice handwriting!
• Vocabulary extension: give sentences with common vocab. in, e.g. good, got, nice, then, and ask children to improve them.
• Practice range of presentation skills, design a poster with capitals for header, print for labels and cartoon captions and different fonts for emphasis. Poster to advertise new club in school?

Sentence Level Work

• Create a class/group list of words to use instead of walk/went e.g. crawled, hobbled etc.
• Look through current reading books to identify possessive apostrophes, and write without apostrophe i.e. Jake’s hat was red. > Jake owned a hat which was red.
• Look at use of apostrophe for contraction. Give examples on board and ask children to find others in reading material.
• Make a list of punctuation used in your reading book/non-fiction book from bookcase. Make a glossary on how and when to use.
• Present verbally an argument between two friends, using connectives to structure it, i.e. if you… then…, on the other hand, when you… finally, so that means…

Narrative / Plays / Scripts

• Write a setting on board while children watch. Describe a fantastical or horrific place. Ask children to write their own. Deny them the use of certain common words associated with that place, but investigate more figurative language and adjectives. Explore the five senses in the setting.
• Look at three different ways of planning a story… storyboard (page cut into 4/6), brainstorming, linear sequence like a film strip or pathway (one setting to next, what happens along the way i.e. earth to planet Zog)
• Re-write the ending of a well-known story, change the reader’s opinion of the main character, e.g. the bad guy was actually trying to do good, offers apology, ‘good’ guy doesn’t accept and is bitter.
• Write two character opposite descriptions, emotionally provocative, i.e. Dracula and victim, evil/good twin
• Write a play script using well-known story, i.e. fairy tale, Aesop’s fable, myth/legend (Hare and The Tortoise could be a good one!)
• Write a story based in a castle, featuring knights and princesses.
• Write a character description of an alien, and describe his home planet.

Non Fiction

• Write a review of the latest gadget/game for a magazine.
• Write to the Head Teacher to persuade them to get 10 of the latest PS2/IPOD/fav. gadget of the class into school.
• Give bulleted points on board to children regarding their current humanities topic. They then write out in two paragraphs and find information to flesh it out from other sources.
• Design an advert/jingle for a new product, summer fruits drink? Healthy new sweets? Space travel holidays?
• Write a newspaper front cover, include headline story and an advertisement. Headline story to be something the children are familiar with or can identify with, include one interview (tiger escapes from zoo and terrorizes school, 3 little pigs survive wolf torture.)

Poetry

• Write limericks, explore structure, rhyming patterns and humour first.
• Teacher to write a poem on board, children refine and polish it, use thesaurus, reorganise structure.
• Write a poem to describe an atmosphere/setting, 3 adverbs per line.

Return to Emergency Lesson Plans Index or visit the supply teacher downloads page.

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on Year 4 Emergency Lesson Plans for Numeracy. Check out our resources area here too.

Click to download all 289 of my Key Stage 2 supply teacher emergency lesson plans as a PDF.

These emergency lesson plans for Year 3 Literacy are only to be used by supply teachers who are faced with no planning or easily accessible resources. Also to be used following the guidance notes here.

Word Level Work

• Split words given into syllables, clap out with a friend and write with slashes/dashes, dash-es, slash/es.
• Find words with -le on the end, investigate the occurrence of double consonants before the -le.
• Practice handwriting, ascenders and descenders.
• Ping-pong spelling: Children collect own mis-spelt and corrected words on scraps of paper in groups of three. One reads a word aloud, shows the other two for ‘n’ seconds, hides it, and then the two children take it in turns to say the next letter.
• Explore a dictionary, where do certain letters fall (‘s’ towards the end, ‘e’ close to the beginning) and play games (Find The Word…) based on using dictionary.
• Identify as many short words as you can inside other, longer words, your name, school name, words given, recognise features and syllables to aid spelling.
• On board, write words to be contracted, could not, and go through use of apostrophe for contraction, then challenge children to contract all words on board, couldn’t.
• Collect synonyms for shouted/said/walked/ran and improve the power of sentences given.
• Find in a dictionary some simple words and explore different meanings etc., form, wave, place.

Sentence Level Work

• Find in own reading books examples of verbs used other than common verbs, chased instead of ran etc.
• Identify speech marks in dialogue and punctuation conventions associated, i.e. capital letters to start direct speech, commas used etc. Write dialogue of own.
• Collect words for colours, sizes and moods in groups. Present as a ‘word board’ for use by rest of class.
• When to use capital letters. Look in current reading books to find all examples.
• Sequencing, give them a chronologically based set of sentences, i.e. getting up to arriving at school, and order/connect using first, then, after, meanwhile, etc.

Text Level Work

Narrative / Plays / Scripts

• Take a book the class have read together, or a well-known story, and plan for it to be a 3/4/5-part mini-TV series… what happens in each episode?
• Give a basic sentence describing an action, ‘Tom moved closer to the door,’ and ask the children in pairs to write three more sentences, the first will help build tension, the second set the scene a little more, and the third create suspense, thicken the atmosphere/add to the mood.
• Collect from reading books and experience story openings and endings, use in re-telling own simple, four sentence story.
• Re-write endings of traditional tales, i.e. Three Little Pigs
• Character description: 2 parts, physical and non-physical description. Present as police profile, reference for a job, wanted poster, postcard to friends about someone you met on holiday, letter to class about new teacher in new school.
• Brainstorm words other than basic ones (deny the use of mummy and pyramid in Egyptian story for example) for a topic before writing an opening (setting/character introduction), using three of new words found.
• Write descriptive setting of the quiet area in the school playground, use all five senses.
• Write a letter to your favourite author explaining why you like their books.

Non Fiction

• Design an information leaflet for a local visitor attraction/tourist information for your village.
• Book Reviews: look at what they would like to be included, and design your own format, then complete for your favourite book.
• Writing instructions: think of alternative instructions such as how to win the lottery, how to

Poetry

• Write an A-Z about their school for the Year 2 children arriving in September.
• Shape poems of musical instruments, the sounds they make and effect on the ear/brain/soul.
• Alliteration poem, animals coming off the Ark, slithering snakes etc.
• Calligrams, where the handwriting/font aids the poem… LARGE, bold

Return to Emergency Lesson Plans Index or visit the supply teacher downloads page.

Where next? There’s a great quick read here on Year 3 Emergency Lesson Plans for Numeracy. Check out our resources area here too.