For the next few weeks, our Literacy lessons will be based on the book ‘Escape from Pompeii‘. A story about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii in AD 79. Only recently, archaeologists have discovered a written inscription in Italy that suggests this memorable eruption happened around October 24th, rather than the once thought, 24th of August. How exciting to have found new evidence from such a long time ago! Here is a video of the story being read aloud, please watch the video at the beginning of Tuesday’s lesson .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=506haO6kYzg
The story’s main characters are children named Livia and Tranio who lived in Pompeii. Although the characters are fictional, the tale is based on truth and tells the tale of what people living in Pompeii may have experienced on the day that the ‘gentle mountain’ erupted.
Monday – To plan the layout of my newspaper report
Last week, the Literacy lessons were based on exploring newspaper reports and planning a newspaper report based on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the city of Pompeii in AD 79.
Following on from the planning of report paragraphs last Thursday, today’s lesson is to plan the layout of the report, including headings and subheadings.
Using this template – Newspaper report template you need to:
- Come up with a name for your newspaper (something that relates to Pompeii, Italy, volcanoes for example ‘ The daily Pompeii’
- Decide on a catchy headline that would draw readers in. Reporters tend to use a range of writing techniques such as exaggeration (hyperbole) and alliteration (words beginning with the same letter) in their headings to catch the eye of the reader. Eg ‘Vicious volcano Vesuvius destroys city’ or ‘The gentle mountain turns into a deadly disaster’
- Add subheadings to the template to show where each of your paragraphs will go. The paragraphs of information must be in CHRONOLOGICAL (time) order as this is a key feature in newspaper reports. Remember, subheadings must link to the paragraph’s content to give the reader an idea about what the paragraph will be about. E.g ‘A terrifying eyewitness account’ as a subheading must then lead to a paragraph that includes an eye witness account.
Tuesday – LO: To write my newspaper report about Mount Vesuvius
Using the report template that was started yesterday,(which should now have a Newspaper name, main heading and subheadings on it) the task today is to write your newspaper report onto the template.
Use your planned paragraphs from last week to ‘fill’ in the report template. Remember that there should be an introduction paragraph at the start of the report that includes ‘when, where, who and what’ information about what the report is about (eruption of Vesuvius). The rest of the paragraphs in the report should be in chronological order to tell the reader what happened when.
Wednesday – LO: To edit my Newspaper report
Editing and proofreading is a very important part of the writing process, especially if you were a real newspaper reporter, you would want to make sure your report was perfect before it got published in a newspaper !
Follow these steps to edit your newspaper report:
- Proof-read your newspaper report – proofreading means to read through and check for any errors in your text such as spelling mistakes, punctuation errors and checking that your sentences make sense and you haven’t missed or repeated any words.
- Edit your report to improve it – You may have already done some editing during the proofreading step but take the time to go back over your report to check your spellings and see if you could improve any of the words that you have used. For example, could you change any adjectives to make them more powerful? Could you add any extra detail that would make it more interesting for the reader? Do your subheadings link to your paragraphs?
Thursday – LO: To finish my newspaper report
Today your newspaper report should be finished ! Proofread it one more time to check for any errors.
Then, use this newspaper feature tick list – Features of a newspaper report.to check that you have included all the correct features that need to be included in a newspaper report – If you have missed any, can you add them in?
Finish your report with a picture that is relevant to the report, perhaps a picture of Mount Vesuvius erupting or a picture of what Pompeii looks like now. Remember to add who the report was written by (you) if you haven’t already. Well done, you are finished ! Please send me your reports so I can have a look at them 🙂
Friday
Friday’s lessons every week will be for Free writing (children’s choice of how and what to write about) – They could write a poem, story, recipe, list, diary etc. If any children would like a writing focus and haven’t completed them all already, then they can choose a Literacy task from their ROMAN ACTIVITY GRID.
Spellings – If you would like to continue with spelling practice at home, I will attach our spelling words – Year_3_Term_2B_Spelling_Overview[1]for this term.
Reading– It is world book day this Thursday (4th March) and I would like to encourage you to dress up at home as your favourite book character and join our Zoom call on Thursday so that we can share some of this day together (The invitation for the Zoom call will be posted later this week).
Until then, you could have a go at some of these book related challenges:
- Turn an everyday object from home into a character or object from one of your favourite stories (for example, a pebble could become Harry Potter, or a wooden spoon could become the BFG)
- Redesign the front cover of your favourite book – you can use this front cover template if you would like to – Design a book cover
Again, please send any work that the children complete or if you have any questions, please email Class3@shawburystmarys.co.uk
Thank you, Miss Taylor
