Inspired by: The Disgusting Sandwich - Week 3

In a series of engaging activities, children are introduced to the importance of using capital letters for names and predicting outcomes based on the story's context. The lesson starts with an emphasis on capitalisation, particularly for naming characters. Children are presented with a scenario where 'Bertie the Badger' is eagerly approaching a sandwich. They are encouraged to think about Bertie's actions and to extend the sentence starting with "Bertie is...". Further exploration into the use of names is achieved by comparing sentences with and without proper nouns, prompting discussions on the differences and the personalisation that names bring to a story. Students are then asked to give names to other characters and write sentences about them, reinforcing the lesson's focus on capitalisation.

Children's prediction skills are put to the test as they contemplate what might happen to Bertie as he races towards the sandwich, unaware of the banana skin ahead. This 'Banana Skin Alert' activity not only stimulates imagination but also integrates comprehension skills as children infer potential outcomes based on the narrative so far. In another activity, children explore dialogue and expression through role-play, imagining themselves as quarrelsome squirrel siblings fighting over the sandwich. This encourages them to verbalise their thoughts before writing. The 'Delicious Sandwich' activity introduces the concept of using conjunctions to join words and clauses, as children contemplate the fate of a sandwich that's now unappetisingly adorned with pondweed. Lastly, in 'Goopy Green', children discuss the meaning of vivid descriptive words like 'squished', and are invited to think of other words that convey similar meanings, such as 'a clump of trees', enhancing their vocabulary and understanding of language.