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)
- Free Plan
Explanation Text Writing Task – Why Do Volcanoes Erupt?
A scaffolded writing task for students to complete when learning about the explanation text type.
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Editing Passage Task Cards - Year 6
A set of 20 editing passage task cards with answers.
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Action, Saying, Thinking and Relating Verb Poster
A poster giving the definition and examples of action, saying, thinking and relating verbs.
- Free Plan
Persuasive Text Planning Template (Using OREO)
A planning template for students to use when writing a persuasive text.
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Metaphors Worksheet
Practise identifying and using metaphors with this differentiated metaphors worksheet.
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The Wonders of the Human Body – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for an information report from the Year 6 magazine (Issue 2).
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Readers' Theatre Script - Pet Rescue
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 8 years and over.
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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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Elements of Poetry Workbook
Explore the wonders of poetry with this set of poems and accompanying worksheets designed specifically for children.
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NAPLAN-Style Assessment Rubric - Narrative Writing
A NAPLAN-style rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' narrative writing.
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Developing Narrative Features PowerPoint - Year 5 and Year 6
A 26 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about the features of narrative texts.
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Writing An Explanation Text Poster
Display this poster in your room as a visual reminder of the structure of an explanation text.
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Types of Clauses Posters
A set of five posters examining the structure of independent and dependent clauses.
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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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The Moon Landing - Historical Recount Structure Sorting Task
A sorting task to help students learn about the structure of a historical recount.
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Summarising Teaching Slides
Teach students all about summarising with 15 teaching slides of summarising goodness.
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Text Connectives Posters for Upper Primary Students
Display this set of 8 grammar posters to remind students the types and examples of sentence connectives and conjunctions.
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Informative Writing Bump It Up Wall – Year 6
A visual display for your classroom to help students ‘bump up’ their informative writing.
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Everyday Grammar Punctuation Warm Ups - Upper Years Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 44 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the upper years classroom when learning about grammar and punctuation.
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Recount Writing Scaffold
A one page scaffolding sheet which can be used to write a recount.
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Morphology Match-Up
Consolidate your morphology lessons by ensuring students understand word parts terminology and the meanings of different word parts.
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Fossicking for Fossils – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for an information report from the Year 5 magazine (Issue 2).
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Advertisement Worksheet – K-9ine the Robot Dog
A comprehension worksheet for a persuasive magazine advertisement about a robotic dog.
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Epic Editing Workbook (Upper Primary)
An editing workbook for upper primary students containing 20 topical texts.
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Reading Comprehension Strategies PowerPoint - Questioning
A 15 slide editable PowerPoint template explaining the reading comprehension strategy of questioning.
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Informative Texts Writing Task - Cars
A writing activity to help students construct an informative text based on factual information.
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Informative Texts Writing Scaffold
A scaffolding sheet which can be used to write an informative text.
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The Discovery of Tutankhamen's Tomb – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for an information report from the Year 6 magazine (Issue 3).
- Free Plan
Biography Writing Checklist – Structure, Language and Features
A checklist for students to use when proofreading and editing their biography writing.
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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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Reading Comprehension Strategies PowerPoint - Visualising
A 12 slide editable PowerPoint template explaining the reading comprehension strategy of visualising.
- Plus Plan
Past Tense, Present Tense and Future Tense Posters
A set of four posters providing simple descriptions and examples of past, present and future tense.