Litbridge Junior — Course at a Glance (Years 3–4)
An 8-week, classroom-ready creative narrative unit. Includes a 6-week compact option.
Who & When
- Year band: Years 3–4
- Duration: 8 weeks / 8 × 60-min lessons
- Timetabling: inside the English/literacy block
Uses Litbridge’s printable worksheets; online activities are optional supports.
Big Ideas (Narrative)
- Stories have a goal, problem, and solution.
- Readers feel the story through setting detail and character action.
- Clear writing uses sentence sense, capitals/full stops, and cohesion.
Outcomes (Curriculum Language)
Students will:
- plan, draft and publish a short narrative for an audience
- use cohesive devices (time connectives, pronouns) to link ideas
- select language features (precise verbs, noun groups, simple imagery)
- edit for capitals, full stops, sentence sense and common spelling patterns
Maps to AC: English — Audience & Purpose; Text Structure; Language Features; Creating Texts; Editing (Y3–4).
Weekly Flow (8-Week Version)
- W1: What is a story? Goal, problem, stakes
- W2: Characters with wants; planning
- W3: Setting with senses (show, don’t tell)
- W4: Plot mini-map (beginning, middle, end)
- W5: Dialogue basics; cohesion (time words, pronouns)
- W6: Draft 1 — opening, problem & attempt
- W7: Edit pass — sentences, capitals/punctuation; neat copy
- W8: Publish & share; author reflection
6-Week Compact: Merge W2+3, combine W5 editing with W6 drafting; keep publish & reflection.
Lesson Pattern (each 60 min)
- Warm-up (5) — quick write/reading aloud
- Teach & Model (15) — short example, think-aloud
- Guided Practice (20) — worksheet or planning step
- Independent (15) — writing / editing
- Reflect (5) — exit ticket / pair share
Assessment & Evidence
- Diagnostic (W1): quick write (story start)
- Formative (W4–6): plan & Draft 1 checkpoint (ideas, structure, cohesion)
- Summative (W7–8): neat narrative copy with light rubric (structure, sentences, punctuation, vocab)
Student self-assessment checklist recommended.
Differentiation (built-in)
- Scaffolds: sentence starters, cloze, word banks
- Supports: paired oral rehearsal; scribe options
- Extensions: second attempt/solution; varied openers; stronger verbs
- Access: print-friendly pages; dyslexia-friendly font option
Materials
- Teacher slides (mini-lessons, worked examples)
- Student booklet (planning sheets, drafting, editing pages)
- Model texts (short annotated narratives)
- Rubrics & checklists (diagnostic, checkpoint, summative)