Magical Writing in Year 5

Year 5 have been producing some magical work this term in English, completely immersed in the world of Harry Potter.

We have been practising our formal letter writing with our own letters inviting Harry to join the school. We have also written a setting description of the Forbidden Forest, where we watched a clip, explored vocabulary and discussed the importance of using different sentence lengths to create a sense of suspense and atmosphere in our writing, all the time using our all-important Year 5 skills.

The highlight for all the children, though, has definitely been the project on the Marauder’s Map! The children have thoroughly enjoyed this week-long project, where we began learning about semicolons and colons in our grammar lesson. The following day allowed imaginations to run wild when the children drafted out a plan of instructions outside on the playground to let Harry know the best route to Hogsmeade. We then wrote them up in our books, incorporating semicolons and colons, as well as other grammar skills.

A Marauder’s Map would not be complete without parchment, so we tea-stained paper to create an authentic effect and, once dry, wrote the final draft in our best handwriting for our classroom wall.

The magic continues the rest of this term as the children write newspaper reports about flying cars, non-chronological reports about mythical creatures and diary entries as Hagrid (with his very colloquial language), finishing with their own magical narratives!