Spring story unit · KS1 (Reception to Year 2)
Hazel Wakes Up
Learning objective: Notice and describe signs of spring using adjectives and the senses.
Suggested story settings: Genre: Animal Story · Length: 2 chapters · Time: 10–15 minutes · Story world: Spring Blossom Meadow
Talk questions
- Which signs of spring did Hazel find? Have you seen any near school?
- How do you think Hazel felt when she woke up? How do you feel when spring comes?
Writing task
Draw a sign of spring you have seen. Write one sentence about it: 'In spring I can see ___.'
Word bank
- spring
- the season after winter, when plants start to grow again and days get longer
- blossom
- the flowers that grow on trees in spring, often pink or white
- bud
- a small, tight swelling on a plant that opens into a leaf or flower
- lamb
- a young sheep, usually born in late winter or spring
- nest
- a home that a bird builds out of twigs, grass and moss to lay its eggs in
Success criteria (poem)
Reception to Year 2: I can write in lines. I can repeat a line. I can use describing words.
National Curriculum statements
- “expanded noun phrases to describe and specify [for example, the blue butterfly]” (Year 2, Writing – vocabulary, grammar and punctuation (statutory))
- “recognising and joining in with predictable phrases” (Year 1, Reading – comprehension (statutory))
- “being encouraged to link what they read or hear read to their own experiences” (Year 1, Reading – comprehension (statutory))
Sample opening (written for litsee.com, to read aloud)
Deep under the hedge, a little nose twitched. Hazel the hedgehog opened one eye, then the other.
“How long have I been asleep?” she yawned.
“All winter!” laughed Finn. “Come and see what has changed.”
Sniff, sniff, what can you see? Hazel saw white snowdrops and yellow daffodils. She saw pink blossom on the trees.
Sniff, sniff, what can you hear? Hazel heard lambs bleating in the field and a blackbird singing on a branch.
Then Hazel’s tummy rumbled. “I am SO hungry,” she said. So Finn lifted a log, and underneath were three shiny beetles.
Notes
Spring story unit · KS2 (Years 3 to 6)
The Meadow Diary
Learning objective: Use accurate observation and descriptive language to record seasonal change.
Suggested story settings: Genre: Animal Story · Length: 2 chapters · Time: 10–15 minutes · Story world: Spring Blossom Meadow
Talk questions
- Which changes did the naturalist record? How could we check those facts?
- Why should we look at nests and frogspawn without touching them?
Writing task
Write a nature diary entry about a spring change you have noticed, with the date, what you saw, heard and smelt, and one question you still wonder about.
Word bank
- migrate
- to travel a long way each year to find food, warmth or a place to have young
- tadpole
- a young frog or toad that lives in water and has a tail and no legs at first
- pollinate
- to carry pollen from one flower to another, so that seeds and fruit can grow
- observation
- something you notice by watching carefully, and often write down
- blossom
- a mass of flowers on a fruit tree or bush in spring
Success criteria (diary entry)
Years 3 and 4: I can write in the first person and past tense. I can use time words. I can share thoughts and feelings.
Years 5 and 6: I can reflect on events, not just list them. I can keep a personal voice. I can keep my tense consistent.
National Curriculum statements
- “retrieve and record information from non-fiction” (Years 3 and 4, Reading – comprehension (statutory))
- “noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary” (Years 5 and 6, Writing – composition (statutory))
- “distinguish between statements of fact and opinion” (Years 5 and 6, Reading – comprehension (statutory))
Sample opening (written for litsee.com, to read aloud)
Ada had kept her nature diary since the first of February. Its pages were crinkled from the rain and full of small, careful drawings.
“Snowdrops,” she said, turning back to the start. “Then frogspawn in the pond. Then the first bumblebee, on the eleventh of March. Queens come out first,” she added, “looking for flowers to feed on.”
Our hero leant over the page. Beside the bee, Ada had written a question in pencil: Where do they go in winter?
“I like your questions more than your answers,” said our hero.
Ada grinned. “That’s what a diary is for.” She pointed across the meadow, where a dark, fork-tailed bird was skimming low over the grass. “And that,” she said quietly, “is the first swallow. It has flown all the way from Africa.”
She uncapped her pen and wrote the date.
Notes
