Recount- Newspaper Report- Harry Potter

This unit of work was designed by two teachers, one a writing moderator and literacy lead, still practising in year 6. Collaborative learning is a key aspect to building the foundations of our work so there are opportunities for mixed ability seating whether you set or not.

This unit of work is to designed to push writers towards the expected standard and beyond whilst using Harry Potter and the Philosophers’ Stone. The unit is of a recount focus in the form of a newspaper report which should give the child an opportunity to describe key events in detail. The children will have free choice of events happening in Harry Potter’s first year at Hogwarts. The events range from the troll break in to winning the house cup.

Children are given the opportunity to use a range of elements from the Teacher Assessment Framework. In this piece there is the opportunity to showcase almost all the elements: speech (using dialect for more advanced writers), reported and direct speech, a range of cohesive devices, opportunities for higher-level punctuation, embedded clauses, the use of first person, the use of multiple tenses, distinguishing between levels of formality and a range of clause structures.

The unit provides a model which can be annotated and amended to suit all abilities. As well as the model, we have created a template in which your children can write on or if you choose to they can set it out in their own way.

Overall this unit gives the user ample opportunities to refine skills, assess writing (self, peer or teacher), draft, edit and up level writing.