Planning for Quality Texts: Naughty Bus

These documents are intended to support the planning of effective literacy units based on high quality books. They are not intended to be lesson plans, but offer a menu of possible ideas for teachers to use as starting points to plan for purposeful learning and give pupils reasons for writing as well as the skills they need to write with impact on their reader. They follow a learning sequence:

  • a hook to fully engage and interest the children
  • responding to reading activities to allow immersion in and exploration of the text, including picture exploration, book and writer talk
  • capturing ideas activities which include drama and talk to support understanding of the text and to develop vocabulary, language and ideas for writing
  • possibilities for the contextualised teaching of grammar
  • sentence games to develop creativity, vocabulary, language and grammar
  • links to guided reading
  • a range of writing tasks which may be final unit outcomes or incidental opportunities during the unit

Specific mention is made of the writing sequence:

  • modelled writing - teacher models the writing process aloud and the decisions writers make about sentences, paragraphs etc to create impact on the reader. This can also include the modelling of planning and spelling strategies.
  • shared writing - collaborative composition with discussion and suggestions about what to write and how to write it to create the intended effect. At this point children may write a sentence/s, often in pairs, on whiteboards which are then discussed.
  • guided writing - small group sessions based on specific needs of a specific group of children. The session may address misconceptions, bridge gaps or extend learning and can take place at any point during the unit.

Possible Written Outcomes or Incidental Writing Opportunities
  • Thank you letter
  • Retell of story or one event
  • Recount of bus ride or visit
  • Bus tickets
  • Bus pass
  • Speech bubbles for characters at the bus stop before and after the bus goes past
  • Add new event for the bus that takes place at night
  • Photo story of bus adventure round the school - labels, captions, text as appropriate
  • Instructions - How to catch a naughty bus
  • Non -fiction writing on other types of transport - fact files
  • Calligram class collection
  • Poem based on The Wheels on the Bus
/ Year 1
/ 1. Responding to the Text
  • Visual literacy: What kind of pictures are there in the book? Do you know any other books like this? Do you like the pictures in the book?
  • Book talk:Who is talking in the book? How do we know?
  • Book talk:Do you think it is the bus that is being naughty?
  • Book talk: Why do we not see the boy properly until the end of the book?
  • Book talk: Which part of the book do you like best? Can you say why?
  • Book talk: Have you got any questions you would like to ask the naughty bus?
  • Writer talk:Spot the different sentence types
  • Writer talk: The writers have written some of the words and sentences in different ways. Can you find some of them?
  • Writer talk: Can you choose one example and say why you think the writers have written the word or sentence differently? Do you think this helps us to understand the story better?

Hook
  • Bus ride
  • Visit to a bus station
  • Children discover a wrapped gift containing a toy bus

2. Capturing Ideas
  • Role play area set up as bus
  • Make a picture sequence or story map
  • Retell story orally from picture sequence or story map
  • Add time adverbs to the map and incorporate in retell
  • Role play the characters at the bus stop before and after the bus goes past
  • Find other places the naughty bus might go? What might happen?
  • Think of places it might go to at night. What might happen?
  • Use small world resources to create and role play a night time or additional event
  • Take photos of new event and sequence
  • Look at some other examples of calligrams and give children some words to create their own. For example - cold, messy, dangerous, skidded, speeded, crawled.
  • Add calligram/s to the sequence of new event
/ Sentence Games (use throughout unit)
  • Sentence not a sentence game
  • Chain writing with a focus on strong verbs, correct tense formation
  • Adjectives with talent game - choosing the best adjective for sentences about the bus
  • Naming the noun using different types of transport
/ 3. Contextualised Grammar Teaching
  • Reinforce concept of a sentence
  • Different sentence types - statement, question, exclamation
  • Choice of verbs to describe the bus’ movements
  • Time adverbs to sequence events

Guided Reading Possibilities
  • Explore The Naughty Bus in detail - opportunities to look at calligrams, use of font and sentences as well as responding to and discussing book.
  • Non-fiction books about buses and other forms of transport
  • Identify and discuss features of text type for final written outcome. Level of text can be pitched at each groups’ level, ensuring bothaccess and challenge.

4. Modelled Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing
Independent Writing
MAKING LINKS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
Geography/Science/History
• Routes and maps - plan a new route for the
naughty bus
• Give directions for bus to follow
• Investigate a local bus route - how else could you
reach the destination
• Look at older buses and trams / Maths
  • Counting people at the bus stop
  • Cost of bus ticket - buying and selling tickets, giving change
/ ICT
  • Create the naughty bus’ route and use Beebot to follow it

PSHE / Useful links

Art/DT
  • Create townscape for the naughty bus
  • Paint backgrounds for the naughty bus’ adventures
  • Use different tyres to create prints and patterns
/ Year 1 Geography/History:
Where did and do the wheels on the bus go?
Author: Jan and Jerry Oke
Publisher: Little Knowall Publishing
ISBN- 978-0-954-7921-1-4