Inspired by: Meerkat Mail - Medium Term Plan

The Year 4 curriculum offers an engaging and comprehensive exploration of the book "Meerkat Mail" by Emily Gravett, with a focus on enhancing literacy skills over a six-week module. In the first week, students delve into a variety of literary genres, including fiction and non-fiction, while also learning to read their writing aloud with clear intonation and controlled tone. They are introduced to using fronted adverbials, with teacher ideas such as exploring facts about the Kalahari Desert and the character Sunny to contextualise learning.

Subsequent weeks build on these foundations, with week two focusing on information retrieval from non-fiction sources and the use of organisational devices like headings. Grammatical terminology becomes a key part of the learning process, as students start to understand its application in both reading and writing contexts. As the module progresses, students engage with poetry, play scripts, and letter writing, each time concentrating on different aspects of language such as adverbs, direct speech, and verb inflections. By week six, the aim is for students to read their work with confidence and to have an understanding of how to create interest in their writing through word choice and the use of varied sentence structures. The medium-term plan is designed to foster a deeper appreciation of language and storytelling, using "Meerkat Mail" as a stimulating and educational anchor.