Year 9 Mini-lessons

Supporting the Individual

 Year 9 mini-lessons

This is a series of ten mini-lessons designed for individual coaching of Year 9

pupils who are working on the level 4/5 borderline. Each lesson should take
10 – 15 minutes to complete. (They could possibly be useful as whole class
starter activities or with guided groups.)

The lessons use texts A and B from Booster kit, and Text C, “Surfman”, can
be found in the Writing Organisation Progress Unit, Session 4. All other
resources are included.

Each lesson is designed to focus on specific skills needed in the KS3 test,
and is centred on an Assessment Focus for reading or writing.

Reading

1. Information Retrieval AF1: use a range of strategies to read for meaning

2. Information Retrieval AF2: retrieve information, events or ideas from texts

3. Reading for Meaning AF3: deduce, infer or interpret ideas from text

4. Reading for Meaning AF5: explain and comment on writer’s use of language

5. Reading for Meaning AF5: explain and comment on writer’s use of language

Writing

1. Complex Sentences AF5: vary sentences for clarity, purpose and effect

2. Prepositions and AF4: construct paragraphs and use cohesion

Connectives within and between paragraphs

3. When to Paragraph AF3: organise and present whole texts effectively

4. Structuring Paragraphs AF4: construct paragraphs and use cohesion

within and between paragraphs

5. Ordering and Linking AF3: organise and present whole texts effectively
paragraphs
1. Information retrieval You will need Text A.

Skimming – getting a general impression

Let your eyes move quickly over the text without actually reading it.
Which words can you remember?

What do you think the passage might be about?

Scanning – looking for specific information

Questions usually tell you where to look, as well as telling you what type of
information to look for.
e.g. In the opening paragraph, how do we find out the balloon is big?

Answer:

How did you find the answer?

(The teacher will show you how to do this if you are not certain.)

Now find the answers to the following questions:

1. In the first paragraph what became entangled in the anchor rope?

2. In paragraph 3, how far away was the narrator from the balloon?
3. What was the name of the man with the car in paragraph 3?
2. Information retrieval You will need Text B.

In the opening sentence, the writer lists 3 different reactions to a first

balloon flight. What are they?

1.

2.

3.

How did you find these answers?

A) Which word told you where to start looking?
B) What punctuation mark indicated a list would follow?
C) How did you know how many answers to give?

Now place your answers to 1,2,3 in the table below and find an example from
paragraphs 4,5 or 6 to support each one.

Answer Example Explain effect

1.

2.

3.

Complete the table by explaining what each example made you (the reader)
think or feel about ballooning.
3. Reading for Meaning You will need Text A

Read paragraph 3. The first sentence tells us that the “situation came under
control”. Find 3 examples that support this view from the next 3 sentences.

1.

2.

3.

When you give examples from the text, you should explain what they make
you (the reader) think or feel.
In the second half of paragraph 3, how does the writer let us know that the
danger is not yet over?

Quotation Explanation of effect

1. This makes me think/feel that..

2. This makes me think/feel that..

Sometimes writers make non-living things seem to be alive. This is called

personification. What do the following sentences from the text make you
(the reader) think or feel about the thing being described?

Paragraph 3: “The towering balloon wavered and tilted and tugged, but the
beast was tamed.”

Paragraph 4: “The wind renewed its rage in the treetops just before I felt
its force on my back.”
4. Reading for Meaning You will need Text B

To help us to imagine more clearly, writers often compare something we may

be unfamiliar with to more common, everyday objects or events.
When writers make a comparison using like or as –as, then it is called a
simile. A simile works best when it brings out a particular quality about
whatever is being described.
For example, if we wrote: “David has hair like a hedgehog.”, the reader
should get an image of someone with short, brown, very spikey hair.
Look at the simile below taken from text B.
“The fabric of the balloon appears as thin as a shirt.”
This gives us a good picture of the material of the balloon but what else
does it suggest about ballooning?

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Now find another simile from this text and explain what the writer is trying
to make you (the reader), think or feel about ballooning.

Simile____________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

This makes me (the reader) think/feel that ballooning is ______________

_________________________________________________________

because___________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

Try to use similes in your own writing to add interest for the reader.
5. Responding to reading You will
need Text A

Writers choose words carefully to affect the reader in

particular ways.
Complete the table below with examples from the final paragraph from
Text A, and then explain the effect on you (the reader) in the end
column.
Ways to interest a Example Explain the effect
reader
From this I can
clear descriptions which imagine …
allow me to picture the
scene
This makes me feel
short, dramatic that …
sentences to increase
the tension
This creates the
use of alliteration to impression of …
create sounds

This gives the reader

use of personification to the image of …
make something seem
human
Now write down your responses in complete sentences.
e.g. In the final paragraph the writer uses alliteration to describe the
force of the wind: “renewed its rage” and "rippled across its ridged
surface” which creates the impression of the wind trying to pull the
balloon out of the man’s hands.

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

Writing 1: complex sentences.

To make your writing more interesting you can use complex sentences
which contain more than one idea. They are also more interesting because
you can begin them in several different ways.
Sort the complex sentence cards into three groups:
 Beginning with a non-finite clause – verb + ing, verb + ed.
 Embedded subordinate clause – usually within a pair of commas
 Beginning with a connective/subordinate clause

Highlight or underline the subordinate clauses in the text below. (Handy

hint – subordinate clauses don’t make sense on their own!)

Gliding like a cat, the black fox had come through the orchard, a small,
dark, noiseless shadow moving between the trees. Next, she had paused
in the bushes, probably right where we were standing, looked through the
leaves, and seen the turkey on its nest. She had remained there a
moment, still as a statue, watching the turkey, which slept with its head
under its wing.
(“Midnight Fox” by Betsy Byers)

Take the pairs of simple sentences below and combine them in complex
sentences.

1. A. Testing products on animals is wrong.

B. Animals are helpless.

2. A. Harry Potter fell off his broomstick.

B. He was playing quidditch.

3. A. The gardener cut his thumb.

B. The gardener was trimming the hedge.

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

 Complex sentences

Battling against the weather, the

ship entered the harbour.

Tired out, Tom climbed slowly up the

stairs.

To make it work, Mary had to buy

new batteries.

Coming round the corner, the man

was buffeted by the wind.

Although I like to watch television,

sometimes I prefer to read a good
book.

As I walked down the street, lights

came on in several windows.

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

Despite having a good game, the
home team lost.

Simon, who had been ready to play,

was disappointed.

The detective, waiting for the right

moment, watched the suspect from a
distance.

The rescue team, shovelling snow as

quickly as possible, managed to reach
him.

A car, swerving out of control,

headed straight for him.

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

Writing 2: Prepositions and Connectives

You can make your writing more interesting by linking ideas together
using connectives or prepositions.
e.g. I enjoy watching television after I have eaten my tea.
I enjoy watching television because it is very entertaining.

Using the same simple sentence beginning, add on each of the

prepositions and connectives below and finish the sentence so that it
makes sense.

before until unless as long as although

except for despite as rather than in order to

What effect does changing the connective have on the meaning of the
sentence?

Now try placing the connective first in each sentence. This is one way to
make a complex sentence but you must remember to place a comma
between the subordinate clause and the rest of the sentence.
e.g. Although I enjoy watching television, I also like to read a good book.

Try using the prepositions and connectives to make more interesting

complex sentences from the following simple sentences.

1. Chocolate is good to eat.

2. Football is my favourite sport.
3. The dog was not allowed in the kitchen.

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

 after before until

as long as although unless

except for despite because

as rather than in order to

I enjoy watching television

Chocolate is good to eat

Football is my favourite sport

The dog was not allowed in the kitchen

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

Writing 3: When to paragraph.

There is no rule as to how long a paragraph must be: it could be ten

sentences or just a single sentence. The time to begin a new paragraph is
when something changes:
Fiction: change of …
 Time
 Place
 Speaker
 Viewpoint

Non-fiction: change of …
 Topic
 Point
 Time
 Viewpoint

Read through Text C, “Surfman” which is a piece of fiction writing and

decide why the writer has begun each new paragraph.

Now look at Text B about ballooning. This is a non-fiction text.

Just read the first few words of each paragraph.

How has the writer structured his writing? (When does he begin a new
paragraph?)

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

Writing 4: structuring paragraphs

In order to help the reader follow our ideas we have to write them down
in a logical way.

One thing we can do is to begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that
states the main point of that paragraph.

The rest of the sentences in the paragraph add detail to the main point.

e.g.

Bombay is a city unto itself and hits you with an intensity all its own.
It’s distinctly tropical, with pockets of palm trees and warm, salty
breezes that keep you aware of the Arabian Sea. Its weathered Victorian
mansions, some still privately owned, and grand public buildings, many
beautifully lit at night, stand as a lingering reminder of the days of the
British Raj. Bombay’s culture is new, vibrant, and often aggressive,
reflecting the affluence and energy of a busy city of 10 million people.

Card sort activity

Here is a paragraph divided up into individual sentences. Identify which
sentence is the topic sentence and then decide in what order to place the
supporting sentences.

Below are some points about the possible dangers to children of using
mobile phones.
 They give off radiation.
 The skull stops the radiation from reaching the brain.
 Children’s bone is much thinner than adults.
 Radiation could damage the brain and nervous system.

Decide what the main point to make is and write a topic sentence,
followed by one or two supporting sentences to complete the paragraph.

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

Paragraphs: topic sentences

Most of our rubbish is taken to large holes

in the ground called landfill sites.

Landfill sites in the UK are filling up quickly

and we are running out of places to put our
rubbish.

Your waste could be taken hundreds of

miles to a landfill site.

For example, most rubbish in Bristol is

taken by diesel train to a site in
Buckinghamshire an hour and a half away.

Just think of all that fuel being wasted!

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

Writing 5: ordering and linking paragraphs

If the reader is to understand our writing, it is important to order our

ideas in a logical manner.

You will be given several paragraphs about ‘vegetarianism’. Sort them into
what you consider to be the best order. It might help you to know that
we usually begin with general information and then go into more detail,
finally ending with some sort of decision or conclusion.

It also helps the reader to understand our ideas better if we can link
them in some way. Try to think of some connecting words or phrases to
link the paragraphs together, e.g. Furthermore, in addition, however,
despite.

Beginning with the topic sentence for an opening paragraph of an

information text about ghosts:
Many people say that there are no such things as ghosts, but others are
convinced that they exist.

Write topic sentences for the next 4 paragraphs beginning with these
links:

Para 2: In the first place …

Para3: Furthermore ……..

Para4: However ….

Para5: Perhaps …

What do you notice about the way different links signal to the reader the
type of idea that is coming next?

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04

Almost 7 million people in the UK are now vegetarian, or
have cut down to eating meat just once or twice a
week. A vegetarian lifestyle is more popular than ever,
with an estimated 5,000 people deciding to become
vegetarian every week.

An interest in food and health, concerns over animal

welfare, and concerns about the environment, are
three reasons some people give for choosing a
vegetarian diet.

A vegetarian diet can provide all the nutrients and

energy you need provided you get the right balance of
foods. A healthy vegetarian diet contains plenty of
fruit and vegetables, starchy foods like bread and
pasta, dairy products and alternatives to meat such as
pulses (peas, beans, lentils).

‘Vegetarianism’ isn’t just for those who have given up

meat, poultry and fish altogether. Every day people in
the UK buy meat free products or choose vegetarian
option on a menu simply because they enjoy the taste.
A vegetarian choice is one that anyone can make.

KS3 English Consultants, EDS Durham 26/01/04