Year 6
The English curriculum is built around the three interrelated strands of language, literature and literacy. Teaching and learning programs should balance and integrate all three strands. Together, the strands focus on developing students' knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating. Learning in English builds on concepts, skills and processes developed in earlier years, and teachers will revisit and strengthen these as needed.
In Years 5 and 6, students communicate with peers and teachers from other classes and schools, community members, and individuals and groups, in a range of face-to-face and online/virtual environments.
Students engage with a variety of texts for enjoyment. They listen to, read, view, interpret and evaluate spoken, written and multimodal texts in which the primary purpose is aesthetic, as well as texts designed to inform and persuade. These include various types of media texts including newspapers, film and digital texts, junior and early adolescent novels, poetry, non-fiction and dramatic performances. Students develop their understanding of how texts, including media texts, are influenced by context, purpose and audience.
The range of literary texts for Foundation to Year 10 comprises Australian literature, including the oral narrative traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, as well as the contemporary literature of these two cultural groups, and classic and contemporary world literature, including texts from and about Asia.
Literary texts that support and extend students in Years 5 and 6 as independent readers describe complex sequences, a range of non-stereotypical characters and elaborated events including flashbacks and shifts in time. These texts explore themes of interpersonal relationships and ethical dilemmas within real-world and fantasy settings. Informative texts supply technical and content information about a wide range of topics of interest as well as topics being studied in other areas of the curriculum. Text structures include chapters, headings and subheadings, tables of contents, indexes and glossaries. Language features include complex sentences, unfamiliar technical vocabulary, figurative language, and information presented in various types of graphics.
Students create a range of imaginative, informative and persuasive types of texts such as narratives, procedures, performances, reports, reviews, explanations and discussions.
(source: www.australiancurriculum.edu.au)
Achievement Standard
Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)
By the end of Year 6, students understand how the use of text structures can achieve particular effects. They analyse and explain how language features, images and vocabulary are used by different authors to represent ideas, characters and events.
Students compare and analyse information in different and complex texts, explaining literal and implied meaning. They select and use evidence from a text to explain their response to it. They listen to discussions, clarifying content and challenging others' ideas.
Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)
Students understand how language features and language patterns can be used for emphasis. They show how specific details can be used to support a point of view. They explain how their choices of language features and images are used.
Students create detailed texts elaborating on key ideas for a range of purposes and audiences. They make presentations and contribute actively to class and group discussions, using a variety of strategies for effect. They demonstrate an understanding of grammar, and make considered vocabulary choices to enhance cohesion and structure in their writing. They use accurate spelling and punctuation for clarity and make and explain editorial choices based on criteria.
(source: www.australiancurriculum.edu.au)
- Plus Plan
Literary Devices Poster Pack
Explore the various literary devices used by authors with the set of colourful classroom posters.
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5 Persuasive Writing Prompts
Inspire your students through these relevant persuasive writing prompts.
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Prefixes and Suffixes PowerPoint
Learn prefix and suffix concepts with an interactive teaching presentation.
- Free Plan
Persuasive Writing Checklist (Simplified Version)
A checklist for students to use when proofreading and editing their persuasive writing.
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5 Informative Writing Stimulus Sheets
Writing stimulus sheets with an informative text focus.
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Explanation Text Type Poster With Annotations
Display this explanation text with annotations to help students identify the structure of an explanation.
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Identifying Descriptive and Figurative Language Worksheets
Help your students identify descriptive and figurative language in narrative texts with this set of colour-coding worksheets.
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Informative Text Checklist - Structure, Language and Features
A checklist for students to use when proofreading and editing their informative texts.
- Plus Plan
Year 6 Reading Fluency Passages
Assess student fluency with a printable pack of reading fluency passages for Year 6.
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Forms of Poetry Posters with Annotations
A set of 9 annotated posters to use when introducing structured forms of poetry.
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Oral Presentation Assessment Rubric
A rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' oral presentations.
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Narrative Writing Visual Prompts Presentation
A 19 slide teaching presentation containing visual narrative writing prompts.
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Improving Persuasive Texts Worksheets
3 pieces of text for students to rewrite in order to make them more persuasive.
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Informative Texts Writing Task - Elephants
A writing activity to help students construct an informative text based on factual information.
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Informative Text Structure Sorting Task - The Apple iPad
A sorting task to help students learn about informative text structure.
- Plus Plan
Informative Texts Writing Scaffold
A scaffolding sheet which can be used to write an informative text.
- Plus Plan
Writing A Persuasive Text Poster
Display this poster in your room as a visual reminder of the structure of a persuasive text.
- Plus Plan
Earth Watch – Drowning in Plastic Reading Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article about plastic pollution in our oceans.
- Free Plan
Readers' Theatre Script - Treasure Map
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 8 years and over.
- Plus Plan
Summarising Teaching Slides
Teach students all about summarising with 15 teaching slides of summarising goodness.
- Free Plan
Readers' Theatre Script - Pet Rescue
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 8 years and over.
- Free Plan
Readers' Theatre Script - Foiled Robbery
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 8 years and over.
- Plus Plan
Persuasive Texts Writing Scaffold
A one page scaffolding sheet which can be used to write a persuasive text.
- Plus Plan
Biography Text Type Poster With Annotations
A poster about the biography text type, including an annotated example.
- Free Plan
Editing Passage Task Cards - Year 6
A set of 20 editing passage task cards with answers.
- Plus Plan
Finding the Main Idea - Comprehension Task (Thunderstorms)
A task to use when teaching your students reading comprehension strategies.
- Plus Plan
Types of Figurative Language - Worksheet
Practise identifying and creating examples of figurative language with this printable worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Writing Explanation Texts PowerPoint
A 33-slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about explanation writing.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Task Cards - Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion
A set of comprehension task cards to help students distinguish between fact and opinion when reading.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Task Cards Summarising
Practise summarising text with these relevant events-based texts.
- Plus Plan
Emotive Language Task Cards
Get students exploring emotive language examples with this set of task cards perfect for your persuasive writing unit.
- Plus Plan
Informative Texts Writing Tasks - Fact Files and Scaffolding Sheet
A set of 5 fact files and a scaffolding sheet which can be used to write an informative text.