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
Emotive Language Task Cards
Get students exploring emotive language examples with this set of task cards perfect for your persuasive writing unit.
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Comprehension Task Cards Summarising
Practise summarising text with these relevant events-based texts.
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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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Comprehension - What are Earthquakes?
A comprehension activity about 'What are Earthquakes?'
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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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Summarising a Story Graphic Organisers
Use these graphic organisers to help students when summarising a story.
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Vivid Verbs Poster Pack
Teach your students to omit boring, overused verbs from their writing with a classroom set of vivid verb posters.
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Informative Text Checklist - Structure, Language and Features
A checklist for students to use when proofreading and editing their informative texts.
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Prefixes and Suffixes PowerPoint
Learn prefix and suffix concepts with an interactive teaching presentation.
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Elements of Poetry PowerPoint - Year 5 and Year 6
A 25 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when introducing students to the elements of poetry.
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Distinguishing Between Fact and Opinion - Comprehension Task
A task to use when teaching your students reading comprehension strategies.
- Free Plan
Editing Passage Task Cards - Year 6
A set of 20 editing passage task cards with answers.
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Earth Watch – Drowning in Plastic Reading Comprehension Worksheet
A comprehension worksheet for a magazine article about plastic pollution in our oceans.
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NAPLAN-Style Assessment Rubric - Informative Writing
A NAPLAN-style rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' informative writing.
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Figurative Language Poster Pack
Remind your students about the most common types of figurative language with this set of classroom display posters.
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5 Persuasive Writing Prompts
Inspire your students through these relevant persuasive writing prompts.
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Roll and Write – Simple, Compound and Complex Sentences
An interactive activity to help students practise writing simple, compound and complex sentences.
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Writing Narrative Texts PowerPoint - Year 5 and Year 6
A 20 slide editable PowerPoint template to use when teaching your students about the structure and language features of narrative texts.
- Free Plan
Persuasive Writing Checklist (Simplified Version)
A checklist for students to use when proofreading and editing their persuasive writing.
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Informative Paragraph Starters - Topic Sentence Cards
20 topic sentences to be used at the beginning of an informative paragraph.
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Biography Text Type Poster With Annotations
A poster about the biography text type, including an annotated example.
- 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.
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Giant Squid Reading Comprehension Worksheets - Year 5
Read and learn about the features and adaptations of the giant squid with reading comprehension worksheets for years 5 and 6.
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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.
- Free Plan
Metaphors Worksheet
Practise identifying and using metaphors with this differentiated metaphors worksheet.
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Everyday Grammar Sentence Structure Warm Ups - Upper Years Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 44 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the upper years classroom when learning about grammar and sentence structure.
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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.
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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.
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Types of Sentences Posters
A set of 7 posters outlining the structure of various types of sentences.
- Plus Plan
Informative Texts Writing Task - Firefighters
Guide your students through writing an informative essay about Firefighters with a printable Fact File writing prompt and writing scaffold worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Common Spelling Rules PowerPoint
Boost your students' spelling skills with an instructional slide deck teaching the different spelling rules.
- Plus Plan
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.