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ENGLISH UNIT: Narrative

Topic or Theme: English/Literacy
Literature or text type/s: Narratives
Year level: 1

RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENT STANDARD

Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)

By the end of Year 1, students understand the different purposes of texts. They make connections to personal experience when explaining characters and main
events in short texts. They identify that texts serve different purposes and that this affects how they are organised. They describe characters, settings and events
in different types of literature.
Students read aloud, with developing fluency. They read short texts with some unfamiliar vocabulary, simple and compound sentences and supportive images.
When reading, they use knowledge of the relationship between sounds and letters, high-frequency words, sentence boundary punctuation and directionality to
make meaning. They recall key ideas and recognise literal and implied meaning in texts. They listen to others when taking part in conversations, using
appropriate language features and interaction skills.

Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)

Students understand how characters in texts are developed and give reasons for personal preferences. They create texts that show understanding of the
connection between writing, speech and images.
They create short texts for a small range of purposes. They interact in pair, group and class discussions, taking turns when responding. They make short
presentations on familiar topics. When writing, students provide details about ideas or events, and details about the participants in those events. They accurately
spell high-frequency words and words with regular spelling patterns. They use capital letters and full stops and form all upper- and lower-case letters correctly.
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GENERAL CAPABILITIES

Literacy: Comprehending texts through listening and reading; and Composing texts through writing.

Critical and Creative Thinking: Thinking broadly and deeply using skills, behaviours and dispositions such as reason, logic, resourcefulness and imagination.

Information and communication technology: Use ICT effectively and appropriately to access information

LEARNING INTENTIONS
Knowledge: As a result of engaging with this unit, students will know the structural elements for writing narratives (Orientation, Complication, Resolution).
Understanding: As a result of engaging with this unit, students will understand that the purpose of a narrative is to entertain.
Skills: As a result of engaging with this unit, students will be able to plan write and edit a narrative.

FOUR RESOURCES MODEL

Code breaker: The emphasis of code breaker for this unit will be on decoding and encoding the conventions of narratives they are exposed to.
Text participant: The emphasis of text participant for this unit is on comprehending and composing narratives.
Text user: The emphasis of text user in this unit is on understanding the purpose of a narrative.
Text analyst: The emphasis of text analyst in this unit is on understanding that narratives represent different viewpoints.
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WEEKLY TIMETABLE
Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
9:40 LITERACY
(NARRATIVES)

10:25 SPELLING GUIDED READING GUIDED READING GUIDED READING DICTATION

(DAILIY 5) (DAILIY 5) (DAILIY 5)
Recess Time
11:30 GUIDED READING HANDWRITING GUIDED READING
(DAILY 5) (DAILY 5)
12:15

Lunch Time
1:45 LITERACY
(NARRATIVES)
2:30
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SEQUENCING lessons
AC: English LINKS:
Week Lesson Focus and Activity Resources to be General Capabilities
used Cross-curriculum Priorities
Curriculum Integration
PRE- ASSESSMENT
1 A pre-assessment task will be completed prior to beginning the unit to determine
what level of readiness the students are at when it comes to Narrative writing. This
will be completed as one of the activities they undertake in Guided Reading (Daily
5). Students will be asked to write a story (it will be explained that the proper term
is Narrative which is another word for a story. This is for the students who may
already have prior knowledge on the structural elements of a narrative and
therefore provides more clarity on the task).
This will help provide insight into the level of readiness the students are at when it
comes to Narrative writing which will help guide the unit.

Phase 1.1: Building the field: Introducing Narratives

Learning Intention: As a result of engaging in this phase students will understand Understand that the purposes texts serve
what a Narrative is and the purpose of it which is a story to entertain. They will shape their structure in predictable
also be able to construct a simple orientation of a Narrative consisting of the ways (ACELA1447 )
‘when, where, who’ elements of a narrative.
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Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity:

The phase will begin with the students being read the story Goldilocks and the Big book of General capability
Three Bears. Goldilocks and the Critical and Creative Thinking.
Class discussion: 3 Bears
What kind of book is this? Discuss features of plot, character and
How do we know it is a story? setting in different types of literature
What is the purpose? and explore some features of characters
Narratives are for entertainment and is another word for story. in different texts (ACELT1584)

Discuss how Narratives have elements that create the story. Engage in conversations and
Write ‘When Where Who What Why’ on the board (when in green, where in blue, discussions, using active listening
who in red, what in purple and why in pink). behaviours, showing interest, and
Use Goldilocks as the example and ask the students what the who (characters) are contributing ideas, information and
in the story and write these on the board. questions (ACELY1656 )
Repeat for the other elements.
Brainstorm as a group a list of other ‘When Where Who’s’ and explain these are
included in the orientation of the narrative.
As a class, build a sentence using one of the when, where and who’s they have
brainstormed.

Students will then in their books, build their own sentence using one of the when,
where and who’s from the list or they can create their own. They will then
underline the when in green, the where in blue and the who in red.
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Once the students have built their own sentence, students who volunteer can share
their sentence to the class.

Students will then complete an Exit Card.

This helps the students assess their level of learning and provides the teacher with
an insight of the students perceived knowledge of what they learnt about
Narratives.

Phase 1.2: Building the field: teaching Narrative structure

Learning Intention: As a result of engaging in this phase students will know the
structure of a Narrative is the orientation, complication and resolution.
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity:
This phase will begin by recapping the elements of a Narrative (when, where,
who, what and why) on the board.

An enlarged visual image of a burger that outlines the construction of a Narrative

will be showed to the class. Enlarged visual
It will be explained how this outlines the structure of a Narrative. image of Narrative
Goldilocks will be used as the example to fill out the burger as a class (the structure burger
orientation and resolution is the bread and the filling is the complication). (see appendix).
3 Little Pigs will be read to the class.
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Students will then fill out their own hamburger using the plot of The 3 Little Pigs. Big book of The 3
They can do this in pairs or individually. Little Pigs

At the end of the phase, a class discussion will take place.

Students will be asked to give a thumbs up, thumbs down or in the middle to
express if they think the burger structure helps them to understand how they would
structure a Narrative.

Phase 1.3: Building the field: teaching Narrative structure

2 Learning Intention: As a result of engaging in this phase students will know the
structure of a Narrative includes the orientation, complication and resolution and
the elements of a Narrative including ‘who, what when’.
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity:
Students will construct a narrative orientation and complication as a group on the
floor. Collection of
One student will pick out a card which has a character on it, one student will pick laminated assorted Engage in conversations and
out a card which has a setting and another will pick out a card which has a time. ‘who’ ‘what’ discussions, using active listening
From this information students will then construct a sentence for an orientation. As ‘when’ topic cards behaviours, showing interest, and
a class, a complication will then be created. contributing ideas, information and
The students will then use this orientation and complication and fill out their own X26 burger questions (ACELY1656 )
hamburger structure sheet independently. They will be required to create and write structure sheets
their own resolution in the burger.
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Volunteers will share to the class how they resolved their story. This will give the
teacher an insight into whether or not the students have grasped the concept of a
Narrative structure.

Phase 1.4: Building the field: teaching setting

Learning Intention: Students will understand the element of setting in a
Narrative.
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity:
Students will have the opportunity to look at The 3 Little Pigs again. Engage in conversations and
This time the teacher asks the students to take note of the setting of the story. discussions, using active listening
Discuss as a class how they would describe the setting using descriptive words. Image of a setting behaviours, showing interest, and
Show an image of a setting with no context. Ask the students to describe this with no context contributing ideas, information and
setting (brainstorm on board). questions (ACELY1656
Students now have the opportunity to create their own setting.
At their desks, they will draw a setting and then underneath write a few sentences
describing the setting.
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Phase 1.5: Building the field: teaching character Discuss how authors create characters
3 Learning Intention: As a result of this lesson, students will understand how to using language and
build the element of character in a Narrative. images (ACELT1581
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity:
An image of the big bad wolf from the story The 3 Little Pigs will be displayed on General capability
the board. Critical and Creative Thinking.
Students will be asked to brainstorm words that could describe the wolfs character Image of the Big
traits such as appearance and personality traits. Bad Wolf
Students will then have the opportunity to create their own character either real or
imaginary and write an in-depth description about their characteristics.

Students are able to look up images of their character on the class laptop. This Class laptop General capability
supports students who may need a visual image to refer to when describing their Information and communication
character. technology

Phase 1.6: Building the field: teaching the complication and resolution
Learning Intention: Students will understand the purpose of the complication and
resolution of a Narrative. Discuss characters and events in a range
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity: of literary texts and share personal
As a class, students will analyse each of the stories that have been looked at. responses to these texts, making
Students will be asked to identify what the complications are and what the connections with students' own
resolutions are of the stories. experiences (ACELT1582
The class will brainstorm alternative resolutions for the stories which have been
looked at.
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In their book’s they will then choose a different story from either a book or a
Narrative and write an alternative ending to the story.
Students will have the opportunity to share to the class what they have created.

Engage in conversations and

4 Phase 2: Modelling the text: deconstructing Narratives discussions, using active listening
Learning Intention: Students will be able to identify the structural elements of a behaviours, showing interest, and
Narrative. contributing ideas, information and
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity: questions (ACELY1656
Students will be put into groups of 3 based on readiness levels determined by
ongoing formative assessment of notetaking throughout the unit so far. 8 short stories cut Use comprehension strategies to build
Each group will be given a Narrative (length and complexity depending on group up in segments (3 literal and inferred meaning about key
readiness levels) which has been cut up into segments and jumbled. different stories) events, ideas and information in texts
As a group students will work together to put the Narrative back into the correct that they listen to, view and read by
structure. drawing on growing knowledge
The completed Narrative will be stuck onto a piece of paper and each segment of of context, text structures and language
the Narrative will be labelled (orientation, complication, resolution). features (ACELY1660
Roles will be delegated: 1 group leader who ensures each person has a role, 1
person who physically puts the Narrative together and 1 person who is the scribe.
This activity will help the teacher formatively assess the level the students are at
and if they require further work on the structure of Narratives.
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Phase 3: Guided Practice: teaching descriptive sentences

Learning Intention: Students will know how to turn a sentence into a descriptive
sentence.
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity: Explore differences in words that
Introduce to students’ descriptive words and explain how descriptive words make represent people, places and things
sentences more interesting. (nouns, including pronouns),
Write up a sentence on the board i.e Sally went for a walk. happenings and states (verbs), qualities
Ask the students to make this sentence more interesting. (adjectives) and details such as when,
After joint construction of adding and editing, the sentence could potentially look where and how (adverbs) (ACELA1452
like: ‘This morning, Sally went for a slow walk, in the sunny park’.
Other sentences will be made more descriptive as a class.
Students will then pull out a ‘who, what and where’ from a collection and create
an interesting sentence from those details in their books.

5 Phase 4.1: Independent construction: Narrative writing

Learning Intention: Students will begin to plan and construct their own Narrative
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity: Create short imaginative and
The teacher will recap the elements to Narratives they have learnt in previous informative texts that show emerging
lessons (orientation, complication and resolution and who, what, when, where, use of appropriate text
why). structure, sentence-
Students will start to plan their own Narrative using the burger structure sheet. X26 burger level grammar, word choice, spelling,
They can use the setting and characters they have created in previous lessons or structure Narrative punctuation and appropriate multimodal
create new ones. sheets
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Once they have planned out the structure of their Narrative, they can begin writing elements, for example illustrations and
it. diagrams (ACELY1661
Phase 4.2: Independent construction: Narrative writing
Learning Intention: Students will write their own Narrative
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity:
Students will continue on working on their Narrative.
Reinforce to students to ensure they have included all elements of a Narrative,
used the appropriate structure and included descriptive words.
They will be provided with a checklist to ensure they have all the elements.
X26 Narrative
checklists

6 Phase 4.3: Independent construction: Editing their Narratives

Learning Intention: Students will learn how to draft and edit their work. Re-read student’s own texts and discuss
Teaching Strategy/Learning Activity: possible changes to improve meaning,
As a class, students will edit a paragraph presented on the board and identify errors Paragraph with spelling and punctuation (ACELY1662
and how they can correct them. This will help them learn how to edit so they can errors
then edit their own work.
They will then have the opportunity to edit their own Narrative.

Phase 4: Independent construction: Editing their Narratives and producing a final

copy.
Learning Intention: Students produce a final Narrative.
Teaching Strategy/Learning activity:
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Once students have finished editing their Narrative they can then produce a good
copy on a new piece of paper and draw a picture at the end of it. X26 lined paper

The final Narrative piece will be used as a summative assessment following the
assessment rubric (see appendix)
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APPENDIX

ASSESSMENT RUBRIC
Uses appropriate Includes characters, a Uses capital letters and
Narrative structure setting and events. full stops and form all
(orientation, complication upper- and lower-case
and resolution) letters correctly.

Y = Yes
GT = Getting there
N = No