Weekly writing challenge Year 5 and 6

Describing a setting

Tuesday 2nd June

Imagine you are standing on this beach. Close your eyes and think about what you can see, hear, smell and how it makes you feel.

Make a list of what you can see, hear and feel. I can see……….. I can hear ……………. I can smell ………… I feel …………………

Look back at your lists. Did you use a capital letter? Did you use full stops? Did you use commas in your list?

I can see trees ,mountains sand and water. I can hear the waves. I can hear the wind blowing. I feel happy , calm and relaxed.

I can see trees ,mountains sand and water. I can hear the waves. I can hear the wind blowing. I feel happy , calm and relaxed.

Expanded noun phrases – making pictures come alive.

What is a Noun Phrase?

A phrase is a group

of words that work

together:

my cute puppy

A noun phrase is a

group of words that

have a noun as a key

word:

The year two class

Expanded Noun Phrases

Noun phrases can be very short:

a pen the girl

Quite often in our writing we need to add more

details so that our readers know exactly what

we are writing about.

a purple pen a young

girl

When we add more details to our noun phrases

they become expanded noun phrases.

Expanded Noun Phrases

One of the easiest ways to expand a noun phrase is

to add an adjective before the noun:

a young man the blue

butterfly

To expand the noun phrase further, we can add

another adjective:

a young, handsome man the

beautiful, blue butterfly

Expanded Noun Phrases

Can you expand these noun phrases by adding an

adjective? A _____________________ car.

A _____________________

house.

The

___________________

road.

Can you expand

the noun phrases

further by adding

another adjective

to each of them?

Expanded Noun Phrases

You can also expand a noun phrase by adding a

preposition (information about where or when

something is).

The boy on the ground was crying.

The bird in the tree sang every morning.

The man in the moon looked down at the Earth.

I can see trees ,mountains sand and water. I can hear the waves. I can hear the wind blowing. I feel happy , calm and relaxed.

Writing Expanded noun phrases. Noun phrase I see a tree Expanded noun phrase I see a tall green tree. Expanded noun phrase ( challenge) I see a tall green tree towering over the beach.

Your turn. Write expanded noun phrases for each of the things that you saw, heard and felt. Try the challenge if you want to.

Wednesday 3rd June

Recap– you should now have a number of sentences that contain expanded noun phrases. I see a tall green tree towering over the beach I see the clear blue waves. I hear the gentle cool breeze blowing through the leaves

Now it’s time to put them together so your writing flows. We can do this using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions .

Using adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions help the writing join together and make sense. ( This is called cohesion) . Here is an example of how writing looks if we used them.

In the distance, a bright shining moon fills the night sky. Tall , dark trees stand beside me while a cold wind blows around my ears. Without thinking, I step forward and the sound of crisp white snow breaks the silence . Shivering from the cold, I have to decide whether to keep going or turn back. Suddenly , a terrifying sound fills the air and I know I have to keep moving because the wolves were closing in. The branches of the trees reach out and scratch against my skin yet I don’t stop.

Can you find the conjunctions , prepositions and adverbs in this passage.

Using adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions help the writing join together and make sense. ( This is called cohesion) . Here is an example of how writing looks if we used them.

In the distance, a bright shining moon fills the night sky. Tall , dark trees stand beside me while a cold wind blows around my ears. Without thinking, I step forward and the sound of crisp white snow breaks the silence . Shivering from the cold, I have to decide whether to keep going or turn back. Suddenly , a terrifying sound fills the air and I know I have to keep moving because the wolves were closing in. The branches of the trees reach out and scratch against my skin yet I don’t stop.

Can you find the conjunctions , prepositions and adverbs in this passage.

Thursday 4th June

Improving Sentences further. We have looked at making out writing cohesive and descriptive. Now we need to add more detail.

Improving our writing using different punctuation.

Violently, the colossal, smouldering volcano, which had been dormant for over one hundred years, spat dense, grey ash and molten glowing lava into the blackened sky.

The relative clause give us extra information about the volcano and is introduce with a relative pronoun.

We can now improve this writing using punctuation, modal verbs and relative clauses

In the distance, a bright shining moon fills the night sky. Tall , dark trees ,whose branches stretch out as if trying to grab me, stand silently while a cold wind blows around my ears. Without thinking, I step forward - the sound of crisp white snow breaks the silence . I pull my coat closely around me; the cold beginning to reach my bones. Shivering, I have to decide whether to keep going or turn back. Suddenly, a terrifying sound fills the air and I know I have to keep moving: the wolves were closing in. The branches of the trees reach out and scratch against my skin yet I must not stop.

Can you find a semi colon, colon, dash, relative clause and modal verb?

We can now improve this writing using punctuation, modal verbs and relative clauses

In the distance, a bright shining moon fills the night sky. Tall , dark trees ,whose branches stretch out as if trying to grab me, stand silently while a cold wind blows around my ears. Without thinking, I step forward - the sound of crisp white snow breaking the quietness. I pull my coat closely around me; the cold is beginning to reach my bones. Shivering, I have to decide whether to keep going or turn back. Suddenly, a terrifying sound fills the air and I know I have to keep moving: the wolves are closing in. The branches of the trees reach out and scratch against my skin yet I must not stop.

Can you find a semi colon, colon, dash, relative clause and modal verb?

Friday 5th June

It’s your turn to write a description for our beach scene. Remember to check for you full stops and capital letters Include things you can see, hear and feel. Use conjunctions, prepositions and adverbs to add cohesion. Add different types of punctuation Use a relative clause Include modal verbs. Once you are done - post your writing on your Dojo portfolio.