Reindeer Break-In Lesson 1 – Hook & feature hunt

Children come in to find the classroom in a mess (chairs upturned, paper strewn around, you could go nuts and add hoof prints…) Think Pair Share: What could have happened?

Pretend to check emails while they discuss. Display an email from the headteacher asking for help. Attach ‘CCTV video clip’ of reindeer dancing in the classroom (made using FX Guru – a free app). The email asks for help – we need to write a statement for the police.

Look at an example police report (one each and one displayed for class). Pairs

discuss and orally decide what makes a good statement. Pairs Compare: pairs pair-up and share their thoughts. Come together as a class and discuss. Guide towards the following:

- Formal language - Openers of time and place (fronted adverbials) - Facts & details but few opinions - Structure: title saying the date, paragraph 1 explains what was seen,

paragraph 2 describes their own investigation, paragraph 3 tells what has happened since (in our case, finding out it’s happened in other classes), signature of witness.

- Note: there are tense shifts in the intro, between what he ‘always does’ and what he did that day – good for Greater Depth

Plan as a class using flowchart plan. For each section, discuss and form notes orally, then all record. I like them to do this in their books, but I’ve created a sheet in case you want to use one.

- Emphasise notes, not sentences - Key events in order - Could note down some openers at the end of the lesson if time allows

Support: careful peer partnering, teacher checking understanding, scaffolded sheet for planning Stretch: questioning – why is this what we find in a statement? Look at the tense shifts.

Witness Statement: Friday 8th December 2017

Every evening, I visit my reindeer to feed and groom them. On Friday, I

visited their stables at approximately 7pm. Before I even entered, I could tell

that something was amiss: the stable door was open and hay was scattered

across the floor outside. As I stepped in, I immediately realised that there

were not enough reindeer there. After a quick head-count, I found that three

were missing. I had no idea where they could be. The remaining reindeer

seemed fine; there were no signs of any distress. Stepping outside, I followed

the trail of hay, but it vanished after a few metres. This did not surprise me,

as the reindeer can fly.

Immediately after, I called my head elf, Timmy, and asked him to find the

CCTV footage covering 6-7pm that day. The video showed an elf creeping

into the stables at about 6.15pm. I couldn’t see his face, only the back of his

head. The elf unlocked the doors and sneaked off to the side, deliberately

keeping their head turned away from the CCTV cameras. Within two

minutes, three of the reindeer had danced their way out of the door! It was

like a mini conga line. No elf has come forward to admit that they opened the

stable and all of my elves are currently in the workshop.

Since then, I have been inundated with phone calls. People are reporting

sightings of reindeer dancing on their roofs, sneaking into their homes,

leaving hoof-prints and generally causing chaos. I have had no contact with

the reindeer and they have not returned home, despite the fact that Christmas

is fast approaching.

I confirm that the above statement is a true and accurate record of events, to

the best of my knowledge.

Father Christmas

Planning a Witness Statement

Paragraph 1

*________________________________________________

*________________________________________________

*________________________________________________

*________________________________________________

Paragraph 2

*________________________________________________

*________________________________________________

*________________________________________________

*________________________________________________

Paragraph 3

*________________________________________________

*________________________________________________

*________________________________________________

*________________________________________________

What you first saw

W

hat you found out W

hat’s happened since

Remember: write in notes, not sentences – just the key

information

Lesson 2 – Write You can structure this however you like. You could use paired writing, guided or independent. Below is a plan for independent writing.

Watch the video clip again

Look at the plan we made yesterday. No content should need adding. Today, we are adding detail and building great sentences.

Give out a tick-list, based on what we spotted yesterday and what you want the

children to focus on. Mine is on the next page. Read it together.

I have a bank of openers that I will display to help out those who struggle to start. This is on the page after next.

Play some background Christmas music. I have an album of Christmas piano

pieces. Let them write independently.

As they write, look over their shoulders. Try not to interfere too much, but allow them to write. Guide them towards using fronted adverbials followed by commas and anything else you’d like them to focus on.

Half way through the lesson. Stop and ask them to highlight 3 examples of each

item on the tick list. If they can, they tick it. This gives them opportunity to do it in the second half. It draws the focus back to the features you want them to include. The highlighting means they actually look for it, rather than just ticking.

Give time prompts to help them to manage their time when writing. I work on

around fifteen minutes per paragraph.

At the end, ask them to repeat the tick-list check.

My fantastic witness statement includes:

o time openers with commas after – a.k.a fronted adverbials

o place openers with commas after – a.k.a fronted adverbials

o facts

o formal language

My fantastic witness statement includes:

o time openers with commas after – a.k.a fronted adverbials

o place openers with commas after – a.k.a fronted adverbials

o facts

o formal language

My fantastic witness statement includes:

o time openers with commas after – a.k.a fronted adverbials

o place openers with commas after – a.k.a fronted adverbials

o facts

o formal language

My fantastic witness statement includes:

o time openers with commas after – a.k.a fronted adverbials

o place openers with commas after – a.k.a fronted adverbials

o facts

o formal language

Awesome Openers Time Place

This morning, In the classroom,

As soon as I walked in, Under the desks,

Immediately, Everywhere,

Until then, In the middle of it all,

Since then, Beneath the table,

Within an hour, Outside the room,

After that, In every class,

Lesson 3 – Editing Stations

Give children time to read their work from yesterday. They should have a pencil in their hand as they do this, so they can make changes if needed.

Editing: You could structure this as just a series of guided tasks, but I like to use

stations. Set up 4 tables. Put a station on each. The children have ten minutes on each station. (Once you’ve done this a few times, they could move freely from station to station). They edit their work using a variety of techniques, different colours etc. These are very flexible and you may want to make your own to match your class targets. I like to have 2 stations to check for errors and 2 stations to up-level. Mine are on the next page.

We use ‘polishing pens’ for all of these activities – a coloured pen used for editing,

so we can see the changes.

After using the editing stations, end the lesson with children reading their partner’s work aloud to them. This will help children to spot if their work is missing punctuation, making it difficult to read. Note: children only write on their own work.

NOTE: after this lesson, it’s nice for the children to ‘publish’ their work. You could

ask them to write it neatly, set it as a homework task, let them use pen if they don’t usually, ask them to type it... I don’t do this for every piece of work, s it becomes tedious for some, but it’s a good way to apply and embed the changes.

Homophone Hunt Ø Read your work. Stop if you see any of these words:

where were we’re

there their they’re

Ø Use the chart below to check if you’ve used the right word. If you haven’t, change it. If you have,

trace over the word.

Word Means Example

where A place The pencil wasn’t where I left it.

were Past tense of are The chairs were upside-down.

we're We are We’re not the only class this has happened to.

there A place or idea There were no others there.

their Belonging to them It’s their first time away from home.

they're They are They’re the only ones who know what happened.

Punctuation Station

Ø Read your work aloud. Every time you pause, put a blob of blue tac.

Ø Look at the first blue tac blob. If there is a full sentence on BOTH sides, remove the blue tac and

check that there’s a full stop under it (and a capital letter after it). If there isn’t, remove the blue

tac and put a comma.

Ø Do this for every blob.

Ø Read your work again. Every time you see a full stop, take a breath. Every time you see a comma,

take a mini-pause.

Conjunction Junction Ø Scan your writing.

Ø Highlight any of the following words.

because if although so when for but

Ø Put your finger on a full stop. Orally, try replacing the full stop with one of the words above. If

you think it sounds better, cross out the full stop and add in the conjunction. (Remember: if you

remove the full stop, remove the capital letter unless it’s a name).

Senses Spot

Ø Name the five senses. (They’re at the bottom if you’re stuck).

Ø Circle one time when you’ve talked about each and label it with the sense. Did you use show me,

don’t tell me? (e.g. my heart was pounding instead of I was nervous). If not, decide if this would

improve each example and change it if you like.

Ø If you’ve missed any senses, try to add them in.

Ø Taste is tricky. Remember, you can use the word ‘almost’.

Ø As well as touch, think about the other type of feeling: emotion.

Sight,hearing,smell,taste,touch