KS1 & KS2 English curriculum

This unit uses and builds on pupils' skills of writing about historical figures from the Year 2 unit 'Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole: non-chronological report'. Here, pupils use a much wider range of sentence structures and cohesive devices, including parenthesis, to write a biographical text about a different important historical figure. New learning in this unit includes the terms 'biography' and 'biographical writing'. Pupils peer edit their written outcomes too. This unit prepares pupils for further biographical writing in the Year 6 unit 'Charles Darwin: biographical writing'.

1. Identifying the features of a biography
2. Researching Harriet Tubman in preparation for writing a biography
3. Planning and writing the introduction of a biography about Harriet Tubman
4. Planning and writing the section about Harriet Tubman's early life
5. Peer editing the early life section of a biography about Harriet Tubman
6. Planning the section about Harriet Tubman's activism
7. Writing the section about Harriet Tubman's activism
8. Planning and writing the conclusion of a biography about Harriet Tubman

• Non fiction writing is writing that is informative or factual rather than fictional.
• A paragraph is a section of a piece of writing that is indicated by a new line and an indentation
• A main clause is a group of words that contains a verb and makes complete sense
• A subordinate clause is a group of words that contains a verb and does not make complete sense
• A complex sentence is a sentence formed of at least one main clause and a subordinate clause