Varmints | Year 5 English Unit | 15 Complete Lessons + Resources + Mark Scheme

A 3-week, fully resourced primary literacy unit based on Varmints by Helen Ward. KS2 Fiction. National-Curriculum-aligned grammar, WT/ARE/GD differentiation, and ready to teach.

What’s inside

This complete English unit gives you everything for three weeks of high-quality teaching, designed to match the standard of leading primary schemes (Literacy Tree, Write Stuff, Power of Reading).

• 15 lesson PowerPoints — illustrated cover slides, success criteria, vocabulary previews, modelled writing, “big questions” (Bloom’s-laddered), differentiation tiers, plenary, and reflection.
• 15 differentiated resource sheets — Working Towards, Age-Related Expectations, and Greater Depth, with sentence frames, word banks, and writing frames.
• Complete teacher unit plan — unit overview, key themes, model texts, full session-by-session plans, key questions, assessment focus, and vocabulary focus.
• Child-friendly mark scheme — “I can…” success criteria for the final writing piece, ready for self- and peer-assessment.
• 3 weekly exit tickets — 5 multiple-choice questions per week, with teacher answer keys.

Final writing outcome

A two-part final piece — a descriptive narrative contrasting the lost natural world with the suffocating mechanical city, followed by a persuasive speech delivered by the small creature urging others to protect ‘The Last Seed’ and believe in the return of nature.

Grammar features (Year 5 NC-aligned)

• Relative clauses (defining and non-defining) using relative pronouns who, which, that, whose, where.
• Parenthesis using brackets, dashes and commas to add sensory or emotive detail.

Themes explored

Environment and conservation, Peace, silence and the value of stillness, Hope, growth and renewal.

Key vocabulary

Industrialisation, encroaching, mechanical, fragile, sanctuary, smothered, flourish, perhaps.

Format & compatibility

• Editable PowerPoint (.pptx) and Word (.docx) files.
• UK English spelling.
• One printer-friendly A4 page per resource sheet.
• Compatible with Literacy Tree, Write Stuff, and Power of Reading planning approaches.

Year groups & key stage

• Year 5 (KS2).
• 15 sessions over 3 weeks (≈45–60 minutes per lesson).

Tags

KS2, Year 5, English, fiction, Helen Ward, reading and writing, complete unit, differentiated, NC-aligned, lesson plans, resources, varmints