A 3-week, fully resourced primary literacy unit based on The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson. KS1 Fiction. National-Curriculum-aligned grammar, WT/ARE/GD differentiation, and ready to teach.

What’s inside

This complete English unit gives you everything for three weeks of high-quality teaching, designed to match the standard of leading primary schemes (Literacy Tree, Write Stuff, Power of Reading).

• 15 lesson PowerPoints — illustrated cover slides, success criteria, vocabulary previews, modelled writing, “big questions” (Bloom’s-laddered), differentiation tiers, plenary, and reflection.
• 15 differentiated resource sheets — Working Towards, Age-Related Expectations, and Greater Depth, with sentence frames, word banks, and writing frames.
• Complete teacher unit plan — unit overview, key themes, model texts, full session-by-session plans, key questions, assessment focus, and vocabulary focus.
• Child-friendly mark scheme — “I can…” success criteria for the final writing piece, ready for self- and peer-assessment.
• 3 weekly exit tickets — 5 multiple-choice questions per week, with teacher answer keys.

Final writing outcome

A short narrative about a child who feels different in a new place and finds the courage to speak first, told in the past tense and using ‘when’ and ‘because’ to join ideas, with expanded noun phrases describing the children and their different stories.

Grammar features (Year 2 NC-aligned)

• Subordination using ‘when’ and ‘because’ (Year 2).
• Expanded noun phrases and commas in lists (Year 2).

Themes explored

Feeling different in a new place, The bravery to share your story first, Finding the common thread between us, Kindness across difference.

Key vocabulary

Different, brave, lonely, shimmering, story, begin, stranger, belong.

Format & compatibility

• Editable PowerPoint (.pptx) and Word (.docx) files.
• UK English spelling.
• One printer-friendly A4 page per resource sheet.
• Compatible with Literacy Tree, Write Stuff, and Power of Reading planning approaches.

Year groups & key stage

• Year 2 (KS1).
• 15 sessions over 3 weeks (≈45–60 minutes per lesson).

Tags

KS1, Year 2, English, fiction, Jacqueline Woodson, reading and writing, complete unit, differentiated, NC-aligned, lesson plans, resources, the day you begin