Exploring Kenya Facts

Overview

This 40-minute lesson introduces Year 1 students to retrieving information from a non-fiction text about Kenya. It develops early reading and writing skills linked to the National Curriculum for English Key Stage 1. Children will engage in collaborative learning, oral rehearsal, and fact-finding activities to build knowledge about Kenya’s animals, places, and food.

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National Curriculum Links

English (Key Stage 1, Year 1)

Reading – Word Reading and Comprehension

• Pupils should be able to:
• Participate in discussions about a non-fiction text that introduces unfamiliar information.
• Identify and organise facts from simple non-fiction texts.
• Demonstrate understanding of texts by responding to questions and using new vocabulary.

Writing – Composition

• Pupils should be able to:
• Write simple sentences by saying out loud first (oral rehearsal).
• Use capital letters and full stops correctly as simple sentence punctuation.

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Learning Objectives (WALT)

• WALT retrieve information from a non-fiction text.
• WALT discuss and share facts about Kenya using full sentences.

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Success Criteria

• I can talk about what I already know about Kenya with my partner.
• I can find facts about animals, places, and food in the book.
• I can share at least one fact about Kenya using a complete sentence.
• Stronger writers can add details to their facts using descriptive words.
• I can use capital letters and full stops when writing my fact.

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Materials

• Book: Kenya: Our World My Roots (age-appropriate, dyslexia-friendly font where available)
• Fact Hunt sheets divided into three categories: Animals, Places, Food (with pictures)
• Colour-coded visuals to support lower ability pupils (e.g., pictures with matching coloured borders)
• Whiteboards and markers or lined paper and pencils
• Sentence starters displayed (e.g., "Kenya has...", "One animal in Kenya is...")
• Interactive whiteboard or large print copy of a fact page for class reading

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Lesson Structure

1. Introduction (5 minutes)

• Greet children and introduce the unit “Discovering Kenya Through Writing.”
• Explain WALT and success criteria clearly, using child-friendly language and visuals.
• Conduct a brief ‘think-pair-share’ activity: Ask children what they already know about Kenya (animals, places, or food). Encourage them to tell their talk partner.

2. Exploring the Text (10 minutes)

• Read a selected short section from Kenya: Our World My Roots aloud to the class, showing pictures on the interactive board.
• Pause regularly to discuss unfamiliar words and explain the non-fiction text features such as headings and labelled pictures.
• Point out how facts are grouped in categories (Animals, Places, Food).

3. Fact Hunt Activity (15 minutes)

• Explain the fact hunt: Children will work with their talk partners to find facts in the book using printed Fact Hunt sheets.
• Differentiation:
• Lower ability: Use colour-coded visuals alongside the fact hunt sheets for easier identification and comprehension.
• Medium ability: Use fact hunt sheets to find and write at least one simple fact in their own words.
• Stronger writers: Encourage adding adjectives or extra information for more detailed sentences.
• Circulate the classroom to support as needed, prompting oral rehearsal before writing.

4. Sharing and Oral Rehearsal (5 minutes)

• Invite some pairs to share their favourite Kenya fact aloud in full sentences.
• Provide sentence starters as scaffolds and praise use of capital letters/full stops.

5. Plenary and Review (5 minutes)

• Summarise the lesson by revisiting the WALT and success criteria.
• Display a couple of excellent student facts and discuss what made them successful.
• Introduce what will happen in the next lesson (e.g., writing a simple fact file about Kenya).

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Differentiation and Inclusion

• Lower ability: Provide extra support with colour-coded visuals; sentence starters; paired reading; verbal explanations; allowed to write keywords only if forming full sentences is difficult.
• Medium ability: Encourage writing simple full sentences with correct punctuation.
• Higher ability: Prompt detailed facts with adjectives and conjunctions; encourage writing two or three related facts independently.
• Dyslexia-friendly strategies:
• Use dyslexia-friendly font like OpenDyslexic for printed materials.
• Provide coloured overlays if requested.
• Break reading into manageable chunks.
• Support vocabulary with pictorial cues and word banks.

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Extension Activity

• Children who finish early can create a simple illustrated ‘Kenya Fact Poster’ by drawing one Kenyan animal, place, or food and writing two facts about it using full sentences. This can be done in pairs to encourage peer feedback and collaboration.

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Assessment Opportunities

• Observe oral contributions during ‘think-pair-share’ and fact sharing.
• Review written facts for comprehension, sentence structure, and punctuation.
• Use notes from fact hunt support and differentiated tasks to identify who may need additional scaffolding in future lessons.

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Teacher Reflection Notes

• Monitor if children understand the non-fiction text layout and vocabulary to inform future lessons on text features.
• Adjust scaffolding based on observed needs, especially for sentence writing and punctuation precision.
• Consider using technology (audio books or interactive reading apps) in future lessons to support diverse learners.

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This lesson plan brings the world to Year 1 pupils while building essential reading and writing skills in a fun, interactive, and culturally enriching way.