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
Writing a Speech Poster
A poster highlighting the main parts to a speech.
- Plus Plan
Comprehension Task Cards - Recognising Cause And Effect
A set of comprehension task cards to help students recognise cause and effect when reading.
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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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Fiction and Non-Fiction Cloze Activities
A set of 7 fiction and non-fiction cloze worksheets with answer sheets.
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Reading Response Template – Inferring and Predicting
Guide your students to make inferences and predictions with a piece of text using the one-page template.
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Plant and Animal Adaptations - Reading Comprehension Passage
Boost reading comprehension skills with a comprehension passage, with questions, about structural, behavioural and physiological adaptations.
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Word Building Bricks - Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots Activity
Build, read and write multi-syllable words using prefixes, suffixes, and base words with a fun word-building literacy activity.
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Figurative Language Telephone Game
Play this figurative language game with a group to practise recognising and inventing metaphors, similes and personification.
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Main Clauses and Subordinate Clauses Poster
A poster explaining main clauses and subordinate clauses.
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J. K. Rowling Biography – Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a biography from the Year 5 magazine (Issue 2).
- Free Plan
Advertisement Text Type Poster With Annotations
A poster about advertisements, including an annotated example.
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Readers' Theatre Script - Dog Park Days
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 10 years and over.
- Free Plan
Partner Sentence Challenge Worksheet
A teaching resource to help students consolidate the students’ knowledge of grammar and brainstorm vocabulary for writing.
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Comprehension Task Cards - Compare And Contrast
A set of comprehension task cards to help students compare and contrast when reading.
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Informative Texts Writing Task - Gemstones
A writing activity to help students construct an informative text based on factual information.
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Cause and Effect - Comprehension Task
A task to use when teaching your students reading comprehension strategies.
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Introduction to Historical Recounts PowerPoint
A 17 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching older students about the structure and language features of historical recounts.
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Writing Checklists - Various Genres
Use these Writing Checklists to ensure that your students have everything they need in their pieces of writing.
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Year 6 Magazine – What's Buzzing? (Issue 3)
Issue 3 of our beautifully designed, 24-page reading magazine specifically designed for Year 6 students.
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Finding The Main Idea - Comprehension Task (Turtles)
Explore the wonderful world of turtles with this comprehension task focusing on the main idea.
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Writing a Simile Poem - Worksheet
Experiment with similes by writing a simile poem about a special person.
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Explanation Texts Writing Scaffold
A scaffolding sheet that can be used to write an explanation text.
- Free Plan
Explanation Text Research Template
A research template for students to use when writing an explanation text.
- Plus Plan
Everyday Grammar Parts of Speech Warm Ups - Upper Years Interactive PowerPoint
Learn and consolidate noun groups, adjectival phrases, adverbial phrases and more with this 44-slide interactive PowerPoint.
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Spelling Task Cards
A set of 57 spelling task cards.
- Plus Plan
Readers' Theatre Script - Solar Force Five
A script which can be used during readers' theatre or Drama sessions, aimed at students 8 years and over.
- Plus Plan
Cause and Effect - Scenario Worksheet
A worksheet and answer sheet to use when teaching students the cause and effect comprehension strategy.
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Reading Comprehension Strategies PowerPoint - Predicting
A 14 slide editable PowerPoint template explaining the reading comprehension strategy of predicting.
- Plus Plan
Author's Purpose Pie
A pie that shows the three main reasons an author writes a piece of text.
- Plus Plan
5 Historical Recount Stimulus Sheets
Writing stimulus sheets with a historical recount focus.
- Plus Plan
Types of Sentences Posters
A set of 7 posters outlining the structure of various types of sentences.
- Plus Plan
Figurative Language Posters – Onomatopoeia
Help young readers and writers recognise onomatopoeias with a set of onomatopoeia classroom posters.