Here are some of the texts that I used last term for Y4 LH:

FICTION: HISTORICAL STORIES


Sutcliff, R. 1981. Eagle’s Egg in Eagle’s Honour, London: Red Fox.

Well-constructed short story set in Roman Britain. Truly appropriate to Y4, unlike a lot of other historical stories. I serialised this and extracted bits for further consideration.
Geras, A. 1995. A Candle in the Dark, London: Black.

Simple enough story set in WWII. Not particularly satisfactory ending but successfully 'carried' the Lit. Strat. content. I serialised this too: it's short enough to do this.

FICTION: PLAYSCRIPTS

Lucas, G. 1997. Star Wars: A New Hope, London: Faber & Faber.
Gardner, J. J. 1997. Star Wars: A Storybook, London: Reed Books, Children’s Publishing.
Lucas, G. 1997. Star Wars Special Edition (video), Twentieth Century Fox.
The Star Wars screenplay showed all the text features I wanted. We compared the way the scenes looked in the script with a storybook re-telling and were able to watch the way they turned out in the film.

NON-FICTION: INFORMATION BOOKS (I know this wasn't really term 1 stuff...)

Wilson, L. 1995. Daily Life in a Tudor House, London: Hamlyn.
Brilliant book stuffed with factual information that complemented our History project and which exemplified all the text features I could have wanted...

POETRY: Based on the theme of 'School'

Foster, J. (ed.) 1993. School Poems, Oxford: OUP.
"Teacher Said…" in Nicholls, J. 1985. Magic Mirror, London: Faber & Faber.
"Rodge Said" in McGough, R. & Rosen, M. 1979, You Tell Me, London: Puffin.
"Sarky Devil" and "Zimmer’s Head Thudding Against the Blackboard" in Benson, G. (ed.) 1990. This Poem Doesn’t Rhyme, London: Puffin.

I chose these because they were mostly humorous and engaging, though "Zimmer's Head.." was a contrast!

POETRY: Based on 'Ordinary events that are worth remembering'

"Space Shuttle" in Nicholls, J. 1985. Magic Mirror, London: Faber & Faber.
"I share my bedroom with my brother" in Rosen, M. 1974. Mind Your Own Business, London. Fontana.
"Shed in Space" and "Sally won’t you walk with me?" in Owen, G. 1985. Song of the City, London, Young Lions.
Reading these was the prelude to writing about ordinary things that we remember - little family stories, things like that. Gareth Owens' Song of the City is a bit of a favourite, especially "Sally...".

Tim Heath
Charter School, Chippenham