Year 4 English Scheme of Work
In Year 4, pupils develop confidence and fluency as readers and writers across a broad range of text types. Reading comprehension develops to include summarising, predicting and inferring character feelings and motivations. Grammar teaching focuses on using fronted adverbials and pronouns for cohesion, and on apostrophes for possession.
Writing in Year 4 becomes more ambitious, with pupils expected to sustain a piece of writing across a series of lessons. Pupils learn to use paragraphs consistently, to vary sentence length and structure for effect, and to consider their audience and purpose when making writing choices.
Expected prior knowledge
- ✓Ability to write complex sentences using a range of conjunctions
- ✓Knowledge of inverted commas for direct speech
- ✓Ability to organise writing into paragraphs
- ✓Understanding of noun phrases, adjectives, verbs and adverbs
Units across the year
Six half-term units covering all strands of the KS2 English programme of study.
Fronted Adverbials
- –Using fronted adverbials, followed by a comma
- –Using adverbs and adverbial phrases to indicate time, place and manner
- –Identifying adverbials in shared texts and exploring what information they add
- –Practising moving adverbials to the front of sentences and adding a comma
- –Classifying adverbials by type: time, place, manner, frequency
- –Rewriting a passage to include a variety of fronted adverbials for effect
Persuasive Writing
- –Discussing and recording ideas in preparation for writing
- –Using organisational and presentational devices including paragraphs
- –Reading and analysing a range of persuasive texts to identify rhetorical techniques
- –Identifying the AFOREST techniques: anecdote, fact, opinion, rhetorical question, emotive language, statistics, tripling
- –Planning and drafting a persuasive letter or speech on a class issue
- –Presenting persuasive speeches to class and evaluating effectiveness
Possessive Apostrophes
- –Using apostrophes for singular and plural possession
- –Distinguishing between apostrophes for possession and for contraction
- –Distinguishing between apostrophes for contraction and possession using colour coding
- –Practising placing apostrophes for singular possessives
- –Exploring irregular plurals and where the apostrophe goes with plural nouns
- –Proofreading and correcting errors in model texts containing apostrophe mistakes
Pronouns for Cohesion
- –Using pronouns and noun phrases for cohesion and to avoid repetition
- –Understanding the difference between subject and object pronouns
- –Identifying overuse of nouns in a model text and replacing with appropriate pronouns
- –Sorting pronouns by type: personal, possessive, relative
- –Writing a character description using a balance of nouns and pronouns
- –Discussing ambiguity that can arise from unclear pronoun reference
Paragraphing and Text Organisation
- –Using paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme
- –Using appropriate organisational features for different text types
- –Cutting and sorting a model text into paragraphs and discussing the organising principle
- –Identifying topic sentences and how they signal the content of a paragraph
- –Planning a non-chronological report using a paragraph plan with topic sentences
- –Writing and editing a multi-paragraph report, checking paragraph cohesion
Reading for Meaning: Inference and Retrieval
- –Drawing inferences such as inferring characters' feelings, thoughts and motives
- –Identifying main ideas and retrieving and recording information
- –Using the inference equation: text evidence + background knowledge = inference
- –Practising retrieval questions using skimming and scanning techniques
- –Responding to reading journals to explore character motivation
- –Taking part in a structured discussion about a class reading text
Progression into Year 5
In Year 5, pupils will encounter more sophisticated grammar including relative clauses, modal verbs and parenthesis. Writing will become more formal and technical, and pupils will read a wider range of challenging texts including those from other cultures and historical periods.
Individual lesson plans
Full lesson frameworks — learning objectives, vocabulary, lesson structure, and common misconceptions — for each unit in this scheme.
View all Year 4 English lesson plans →