Lesson Planning
Non-fiction
English Year 5/6 Autumn Biographies
The Undefeated
Starting with the excellent Undefeated explore the biographies of black sports people, activists and authors. Learn about cohesion and explore the subjunctive in formal writing before studying Coming to England and writing a short biography of Floella Benjamin.
Start with the core unit to introduce key texts. Then select from comprehension, SPAG and composition units.
Unit 1 Core: Introduction to biographies: Jesse Owens and The Undefeated
(suggested as 5 days)
SPaG: Grammar and Punctuation
There is no spelling and grammar presentation for this unit.
You Will Need
Essential Texts
Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson
Young, Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson
Optional Texts
Little Leaders – Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
Little Leaders – Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison
Black Heroes: A Black History Book for Kids by Arlisha Norwood
Weblinks
Kwame Alexander reads from The Undefeated
Biography of Jesse Owens on the Olympics website
Unit 2 SPaG: Devices to build cohesion between and within paragraphs
(suggested as 3 days)
Lesson Planning
SPaG: Grammar and Punctuation
You Will Need
Essential Texts
Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson
Young, Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins
Weblinks
Brief biography of Althea Gibson, from the History Channel
Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington perform ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing’
Brief video of the context for the 1963 March on Washington, from the History Channel
Unit 3 SPaG: Formal language including use of subjunctive
(suggested as 2 days)
Lesson Planning
SPaG: Grammar and Punctuation
You Will Need
Essential Texts
Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson
Young, Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins
Weblinks
BBC Newsround video about the Windrush Generation
Short BBC interview with Floella Benjamin
Unit 4 Reading autobiography and writing biographies – Coming to England
(suggested as 5 days)
