Based on ‘The Write Stuff’ unit writing a balanced argument. I have included TWO versions of each document. A sentence stacking powerpoint for all lessons. A boxing up grid to support planning A complete type up of the model text Version A - follows the original unit plan. Version B - is my edited version. I rewrote the unit to meet the needs of my class. I understand having high expectations, but my ethos is always to teach to the children who find writing the hardest, and encourage my higher attainers to take their pieces where they will - no ceilings. My unit supported their understanding of the structure of a balanced argument whilst keeping the language progressive but accessible. All of my children were able to plan and write their own balanced argument about a question of their choice. I have also included my powerpoint that had a list of ideas they could choose from - some children did generate their own questions which I approved. Feel free to play around with the resources/unit plan. Hopefully it will save you time creating supporting documents from scratch :)

This is the sentence stacking powerpoint to accompany 'The Write Stuff’s Year 4 story unit. NB: I have included a 2nd powerpoint - I re-wrote the unit to reflect the wider ‘rags to riches’ story plot. I have included the boxing up for this version of the unit, but it can easily be adapted back to the original. I have also included two examples of the writing outcomes from my class based on the teaching of the latter version of the unit. Any images included are from the two films and are not my property.

PPT that follows the sentence stacking sequence for 'The Write Stuff’s year 3 unit. I have put the powerpoint together with a mixed year 3/4 class in mind. I have also included a boxing up grid which I used to aid their planning process for the independent write, and a photo of the text map I modelled drawing to support the writing of my own story. I have moved towards the text map to support their composition skills and showing their progress in this area of writing. Almost like a blend of The Write Stuff with Talk4Writing. Top tips from my teaching experience of this unit: I gave my children free reign on their own stories to take their character anywhere they wanted but they had to know their world/time period really well and the story had to make sense (be cohesive).

Sentence Stacking powerpoint for ‘The Creature’ The Write Stuff unit and boxing up grid. I made this with a mixed year 3/4 class in mind. I encourage the class to really make sentence stacking sentences their own. However, as this was my first unit of the school year many of my class have closely hugged the model. The boxing up is not The Write Stuff, but I find them useful to teach as a planning format/document to help structure the independent write and break it down into manageable chunks.

PPT that follows the sentence stacking sequence for 'The Write Stuff’s year 4 unit. I have put the powerpoint together with a mixed year 3/4 class in mind. I have also included a boxing up grid which I used to aid their planning process for the independent write. NB: MASSIVE NB: I changed the ending. There was only one mention of a wish and the suspense ending felt like a cop out. It’s meant to be a rags to riches storyline, therefore I felt Aladdin needed to go from rags to riches with a touch of moral development e.g., freeing the genie. Feel free to keep it as I’ve done it or play around with it a bit. My class had recently seen the local Christmas panto of Aladdin which certainly helped them to understand the story more than the story - perhaps watching clips from the well known film might help also?

PPT that follows the sentence stacking sequence for 'The Write Stuff’s year 4 unit. I have put the powerpoint together with a mixed year 3/4 class in mind. I have also included a boxing up grid which I used to aid their planning process for the independent write. I spent as much time as possible talking about the fact that the script is like a set of instructions - whatever you write as the dialogue is exactly what the actor/actress will say and how. Top tips from my teaching experience of this unit: I began with a lesson looking at how to write a playscript using the BBC bitesize article and then we wrote the start of a script for the Gruffalo. I taught it in a 4 week 4 day half term - ideally I would have liked longer to really get them to understand how writing a play script is different to a narrative. The spaces in the ppt - if you teach the experience day where you act out the story following the BBC podcast, use photos from that session to show which part of the play you are focusing on. My class got very excited to see which small group I had featured each SS lesson.

PPT that follows the sentence stacking sequence for 'The Write Stuff’s year 3 unit. I have put the powerpoint together with a mixed year 3/4 class in mind. I have also included a boxing up grid which I used to aid their planning process for the independent write, and an additional powerpoint for two additional lessons to help develop the ending of the story. We talked a lot about the effect on the reader. Top tips from my teaching experience of this unit: I began with a lesson looking at different openings using a variety of picture books, we talked about how the openings worked to draw the reader in and used what we knew from the book Journey to write an effective opening. I taught a lesson before the start of the sequence giving them the picture of the girl talking to family members and they wrote/drew speech bubbles for the scenes which we then used for SS1 and talked about using different verbs for ‘said’ - this gave them a clearer idea of where the inverted commas needed to go. All pictures included in the powerpoint come from the original text ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker

PPT that follows the sentence stacking sequence for 'The Write Stuff’s year 3 unit. I have put the powerpoint together with a mixed year 3/4 class in mind. I have also included the information gathering format, and a boxing up grid which I used to aid their planning process for the independent write. To complete the first part of the boxing up we walked back through the sentence stacking lessons (revisiting) and used the sheet to make notes of they key points that were included for each section. All pictures included in the powerpoint come from the original text ‘Fox in the Night’ by Martin Jenkins. NB: Sentence Stacking lesson 4/chunk 1 - I encouraged my class to copy across the sentence they made in initiate as their model sentence as they had produced some lovely sentences for that section. This unit will not feel as though it is leading to an explanation text. Stick with it. My class produced some really good writing at the end of this unit. Independent write: I gave my class an information gathering sheet (included) so they could research their own nocturnal animal. We then used this information with the second part of the boxing up to create our own text about a 24-hour cycle in the life of their chosen animal.

PPT that follows the sentence stacking sequence for 'The Write Stuff’s year 3 unit. I have put the powerpoint together with a mixed year 3/4 class in mind. I have also included a boxing up grid which I used to aid their planning process for the independent write. All pictures included in the powerpoint come from the original text ‘The Incredible Book eating boy’ by Oliver Jeffers.