Reading: A Window to the World

Welcome to Unit 1. You will talk about the books you like, choose a book to read, read a story and work out hard words, practise punctuation, write a book report, and learn about compound nouns.

1.1Kinds of books: genres

English Year 6 SK, p. 1.

1.2Choosing a book: blurb and synopsis

Kamini tells Idith how to pick an interesting book (p. 2):

1. First, choose your favourite genre.
2. Then read the synopsis (the gist of the story), which is on the back of the book.
3. If it sounds interesting, buy it.

On p. 3 two blurbs are read aloud. Matilda is a clever girl, a bookworm and a Maths wizard, whose parents do not appreciate her; she goes to Cruncher Hall Primary School, run by the strict Miss Trunchball. Harry Potter lives a miserable (sad) life with his cruel aunt, uncle and cousin Dudley, until a messenger brings a mysterious letter that invites him to a wonderful place.

1.3Reading a story: The Knight of the Night

Summary (p. 4): In the country of Peace Piece, children sleep only when the Knight of the Night sings to them. One Saturday he is late, and the mothers are angry. One mother goes to ask why. He explains that he was cleaning all day and still has to put the sun to sleep, wake the moon and polish the stars so that Sunday looks clean and pretty. She is confused and says he cannot do these things. He is angry and says he knows what he is doing. Through the window she sees the children already asleep, so she goes home and never learns whether he told the truth.

Homophones

Homophones sound the same but have different spelling and meaning. Peace and piece, knight and night, write and right are homophones.

1.4Reading: The scarecrow, and word meanings

English Year 6 SK, p. 5.

Summary: Pak Johan grows organic vegetables, and his very scary scarecrow keeps the birds away. His jealous neighbours Man and Lan steal it, and Pak Johan's greens are eaten. At night the brothers cannot forget the scarecrow's face; Man smashes its head and buries it. At midnight the headless scarecrow rises, grabs Lan and chases Man. Man sees it has a new head, and the story stops there, so the reader decides how it ends.

1.5Writing: punctuation

1.6Writing: a book report

A book report says what you think about a book you read. Your opinion can be positive or negative. Idith's report on Little House on the Prairie (p. 7) has these parts:

1.7Language: compound nouns

English Year 6 SK, pp. 8 and 9 (pairs matched from the Grammar exercise).

1.8Poem: Toes

"Toes" by Judith Nicholls praises toes. They are handy to wiggle, useful to kick, fun to tickle, and good to count on, walk on and run on. The poem ends by saying feet without toes would be much less fun, and a fine set of toes is "neat". Toes also help us balance.

Summary