The Naughty Bus - Learning Sequence

The learning sequence for 'The Naughty Bus' extends over six weeks and is meticulously planned to encourage students to interact with the text and language in various ways. In the initial three weeks, students explore unfamiliar vocabulary and secure their understanding, which is then recorded in a class dictionary or on a working wall. Role-play resources are developed to deepen engagement with the story. As the class reads through the book, they examine the use of language, such as exclamation marks and blurred text, and discuss the characters' reactions. Predictions are made about the bus's adventures, settings are discussed, and descriptive language is gathered, particularly from a scene involving beans. The focus throughout is on writing accurate and meaningful sentences.

During weeks four to six, students delve deeper into the narrative structure by identifying main events and retelling the story using a timeline or story map, incorporating time adverbials to sequence the events. Games are played to reinforce sentence structure and conjunction use. Students also get the opportunity to develop their own night-time adventure for the bus, adding it to the story map and orally retelling it. The sequence includes evaluating and proofreading their writing with a 'zero tolerance check' to ensure clarity and sense. Additionally, the sequence involves comparing 'The Naughty Bus' with other books, observing different types of transport, and creating a fact file on buses. Towards the end of the unit, students explore poetry through reading and discussing poems from 'Vroom Vroom', focusing on rhyming, language patterns, and rhythm, with the option to learn and perform a poem.