Explanation Text Writing Unit | Years 5 & 6 | UKS2

Updated for May 2026

Fifteen lessons leading pupils through the features, language and structure of explanation texts, culminating in their own published piece. The fictional product at the centre of the unit - telescopic glasses - gives pupils something to write about without requiring prior subject knowledge. Before writing begins, pupils design their own pair, which means their explanation text describes something genuinely theirs. The unit works well alongside a Science topic on Space, or as a standalone writing block.

Three differentiated model texts about telescopic glasses are used throughout the unit, giving pupils a consistent reference point for features, language and register. The first ten lessons build knowledge of the text type and develop the sentence-level skills pupils need; the final five move into planning, drafting, editing and publishing. Differentiated activities and success criteria are included throughout.

Lessons covered:

• Hook lesson: introducing the telescopic glasses and their purpose - pupils design their own pair
• Creating diagrams with technical language: drawing and labelling diagrams of their glasses
• Identifying features of explanation texts using the differentiated model texts provided
• Using parenthesis, including relative clauses: exploring examples in the model texts before writing their own sentences
• Writing with conjunctions: comparing, contrasting, explaining and describing, using the model texts as a starting point
• Using cohesive devices: repeated words and phrases, rhetorical questions and conjunctions - activities include highlighting and editing for cohesion
• Certainty and modal verbs: exploring how modal verbs convey confidence in explanation texts, with an optional subjunctive form extension for Year 6
• Formal writing and passive voice: when formal register is used in explanation texts and when it isn’t
• Layout devices: writing ‘Did you know?’ boxes, glossaries and instructions sections
• Planning lesson: structuring the full explanation text before writing begins
• Five lessons to draft, edit and publish the finished explanation text

All lesson activities are provided as downloadable PDF files.

A fully sequenced UKS2 explanation text unit - fifteen lessons from hook to published piece, built around a fictional product pupils design themselves.