Primary English: Writing types
31st January 2020
Top ways of exploring different writing techniques with your primary classes
As students are getting to grips with different types of writing, the very best way to help them fully understand the vocabulary and literacy tricks being used is to try it out for themselves! That's why we've gathered a selection of tried-and-tested activities, plus a few out-of-the-box ideas, to give your class the inspiration and support they need to write in a variety of styles.
Writing to describe
Poetry Train
Poetry Train is a teachers pack of activities, poems and advice for teaching poetry in primary schools. David Harmer and Roger Stevens share proven approaches for use in the classroom, based on brilliant poems by top poets such as Carol Ann Duffy and Jackie Kay.
Pirate Treasure Island - Descriptive Writing VCOP
A VCOP warm up lesson that leads into a descriptive piece of writing. The lesson is introduced through a letter in a bottle (I printed and tea stained it). The powerpoint illustrates a journey taken through a desert island to find hidden treasure. I also had a treasure chest with relevant props for each group to handle and look at to help generate ideas e.g rusty lantern, rope, parrot feathers, keys, ancient statue, shells etc...
N.B The VCOP word cards came from another TES resource that I have linked to.
SLOW WRITING - SUSPENSE WRITING - COMPLETE LESSON
A complete lesson based around David Dadau’s inspirational’SLOW WRITING’ technique.
Aimed at upper KS2 and differentiated fully (3 ways) The lesson develops children’s ability to write precisely and consciously to create a vibrant and vivid description of a suspenseful scene in a story.
Resources includes a full lesson plan, detailed PowerPoint and three levels of task based around a series of images. All resources and PowerPoint are fully editable.
All images and video clip are sourced from PIXABAY
Slow Writing Task Cards
Slow writing is a great way to progress:
Writing skills
Punctuation skills
Writing meta-cognition
Self-assessment skills
Peer-assessment skills
Slow writing fully engages students in the process of writing. It encourages them to spend more time constructing each sentence and encourages them to go back to and edit sentences as necessary.
These task cards can be used as warm-ups, to teach grammar, punctuation and writing techniques and as a form of assessment.
Some teachers choose to laminate these and use them others, myself included prefer to print off the relevant cards for my lesson and have students glue the task into their jotter for easy reference and assessment.
Please provide feedback and if you do have any suggestions or requests please contact me.
Writing skills
Punctuation skills
Writing meta-cognition
Self-assessment skills
Peer-assessment skills
Slow writing fully engages students in the process of writing. It encourages them to spend more time constructing each sentence and encourages them to go back to and edit sentences as necessary.
These task cards can be used as warm-ups, to teach grammar, punctuation and writing techniques and as a form of assessment.
Some teachers choose to laminate these and use them others, myself included prefer to print off the relevant cards for my lesson and have students glue the task into their jotter for easy reference and assessment.
Please provide feedback and if you do have any suggestions or requests please contact me.
Writing to persuade
Persuasive writing and letter writing.
I wanted to enrage my Year 3 children in order to encourage them to do some brilliant persuasive writing, so I mocked up a letter from 'Bruce Boggington&', the chief director of a pickled onion factory, who wrote to the children explaining that he would be building his new factory all over their school field. The children were suitably outraged by the letter and produced some great writing, with lots of good points!
Persuasive Writing - school uniform
This is a handout that I produced to assist in the writing of a persuasive letter about banning school uniform.
The handout includes arguments for and against, as well as some facts and figures about school uniform and a small bank of persuasive techniques.
The handout includes arguments for and against, as well as some facts and figures about school uniform and a small bank of persuasive techniques.
PERSUASIVE WRITING: TECHNIQUES SCAVENGER HUNT
Teach students 20 persuasive techniques of the persuasive writing genre with this interactive fun resource. This pack includes 20 Scavenger Hunt cards, 1 Recording Sheet, and an Answer Key to equip students with necessary content information on persuasive writing techniques that they can apply to their own persuasive essays.
The persuasive techniques featured in the 20 hunt cards are:
✓ adjectives
✓ adverbs
✓ alliteration
✓ anecdote
✓ sarcasm
✓ connotations
✓ metaphor
✓ exaggeration
✓ evidence
✓ expert opinion
✓ inclusive language
✓ rhetorical question
✓ simile
✓ emotive words
✓ tone
✓ repetition
✓ imagery
✓ cliché
✓ logic
✓ pun
ACTIVITY
Place the 20 information cards on Persuasive Writing Techniques around the classroom. Students can work individually, in pairs, or in small groups to find the answers to all 20 questions on their recording sheets. They must read the information on each card to find the answer for each corresponding question on their recording sheets.
EVIDENCE OF LEARNING
♦ After the hunt, discuss the answers as a class. I have the pdf version of the hunt open on the interactive whiteboard, so students refer to the information card for each question on their recording sheets.
♦ The interactive nature of the hunt makes it fun for students to learn the persuasive techniques characteristic of a persuasive essay. Students will be more confident to use these techniques when writing.
Please note that the 20 Hunt cards feature just a definition of each technique type. Students need to read the definition and identify the persuasive technique. This will enable you to assess prior knowledge and also enable students to consciously think of the answer prior to responding or to make an educated guess.
Wish you and your students a successful year!
The persuasive techniques featured in the 20 hunt cards are:
✓ adjectives
✓ adverbs
✓ alliteration
✓ anecdote
✓ sarcasm
✓ connotations
✓ metaphor
✓ exaggeration
✓ evidence
✓ expert opinion
✓ inclusive language
✓ rhetorical question
✓ simile
✓ emotive words
✓ tone
✓ repetition
✓ imagery
✓ cliché
✓ logic
✓ pun
ACTIVITY
Place the 20 information cards on Persuasive Writing Techniques around the classroom. Students can work individually, in pairs, or in small groups to find the answers to all 20 questions on their recording sheets. They must read the information on each card to find the answer for each corresponding question on their recording sheets.
EVIDENCE OF LEARNING
♦ After the hunt, discuss the answers as a class. I have the pdf version of the hunt open on the interactive whiteboard, so students refer to the information card for each question on their recording sheets.
♦ The interactive nature of the hunt makes it fun for students to learn the persuasive techniques characteristic of a persuasive essay. Students will be more confident to use these techniques when writing.
Please note that the 20 Hunt cards feature just a definition of each technique type. Students need to read the definition and identify the persuasive technique. This will enable you to assess prior knowledge and also enable students to consciously think of the answer prior to responding or to make an educated guess.
Wish you and your students a successful year!
KS2 Persuasive Travel Writing Complete Unit of Work . Incl: WAGOLL, Reading and Writing Tasks.
KS2 Persuasive Travel Writing Complete Unit of Work on Chester.
Content:
- W.A.G.O.L.L. Persuasive Travel Text (typed up A4 version with photographs).
- W.A.G.O.L.L. Persuasive Travel Text (Hand written brochure version with children’s drawings increase to A3)
Reading
- Vocabulary Task.
- Retrieval Task.
- Author’s Choice Task.
- Main idea Task.
Writing
- Planning Template.
- Writing Brochure Template
- Line Guide.
- Useful Vocabulary Sheet.
Assessment
- Success Criteria.
Writing to inform
Dragon sighting newspaper report
A newspaper report about a dragon sighting in a school, complete with pictures of dragons and damage inflicted. Name of school etc can be changed. Used as a stimulus to get newspaper writing started in Year 3.
Informative writing leaflet&checklist
A5 template for informative leaflet, differentiated for two groups. Also includes checklist for CHN using the template.
Biography homework
Homework to help the chn research information about someone famous.
Non-Chronological Report Writing - The Lion
Lions are a popular topic for children when writing a non-chronological report. Here I have provided materials that will help you to capture your children's attention.
Here is a resource that both challenges the upper ability and helps children who are emergent writers to achieve in class. An extensive bank of writing frames and activities for writing a non-chronological report on these majestic animals. Useful for class projects or cross-curricular links. It will supplement your unit of work. Extra stand-alone writing frames and activities to fit in with your planning or extension or project work
*** Updated November 2018
Ready to go writing frames
This Pack includes:
* Detailed 5 days worth of planning
* Detailed information on the lion
* Kid safe videos links provided for lions (for flip the classroom activities)
* Pre input activities
* Lions in the wild
* Lions in captivity
* Question cards
* 'What if' questions to encourage discussion
*Mini Flip books (differentiated) and varied
* Detailed word mat - one with vocabulary / one blank
* Writing frames for all aspects of writing a non-chronological report
*Question generator writing frames
*Facts about the lion – different approaches
*Heading and subheading and topic planner
*Non-chronological report planner - different versions
*Step by step sub-heading planner
*Themed writing paper for display or creative writing
*Distributions of lions past and present
* Original clip art for display or role-play
*Report writing checklist
* Pros and Cons – differentiated versions
* Supports EAL
* ICT linked activities using a range of programmes such as Skitch, Popplet etc
It can also be used as a persuasive writing follow-on.
Supports the following curriculum standards for Year 3:
En3/3.4 Vocabulary, grammar & punctuation
En3/3.3a Plan their writing by:
discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar
discussing and recording ideas
En3/3.3b Draft and write by:
organising paragraphs around a theme using simple organisational devices
En3/3.3c Evaluate and edit by:
assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements
proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences
En3/3.3d proofread for spelling and punctuation errors
En3/3.3e read their own writing aloud, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear.
Here is a resource that both challenges the upper ability and helps children who are emergent writers to achieve in class. An extensive bank of writing frames and activities for writing a non-chronological report on these majestic animals. Useful for class projects or cross-curricular links. It will supplement your unit of work. Extra stand-alone writing frames and activities to fit in with your planning or extension or project work
*** Updated November 2018
Ready to go writing frames
This Pack includes:
* Detailed 5 days worth of planning
* Detailed information on the lion
* Kid safe videos links provided for lions (for flip the classroom activities)
* Pre input activities
* Lions in the wild
* Lions in captivity
* Question cards
* 'What if' questions to encourage discussion
*Mini Flip books (differentiated) and varied
* Detailed word mat - one with vocabulary / one blank
* Writing frames for all aspects of writing a non-chronological report
*Question generator writing frames
*Facts about the lion – different approaches
*Heading and subheading and topic planner
*Non-chronological report planner - different versions
*Step by step sub-heading planner
*Themed writing paper for display or creative writing
*Distributions of lions past and present
* Original clip art for display or role-play
*Report writing checklist
* Pros and Cons – differentiated versions
* Supports EAL
* ICT linked activities using a range of programmes such as Skitch, Popplet etc
It can also be used as a persuasive writing follow-on.
Supports the following curriculum standards for Year 3:
En3/3.4 Vocabulary, grammar & punctuation
En3/3.3a Plan their writing by:
discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar
discussing and recording ideas
En3/3.3b Draft and write by:
organising paragraphs around a theme using simple organisational devices
En3/3.3c Evaluate and edit by:
assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements
proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences
En3/3.3d proofread for spelling and punctuation errors
En3/3.3e read their own writing aloud, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear.
Writing to discuss
How to write a book review
Powerpoint going through key elements of a book review with examples. Worked really well with y4 class but could be for any ks2year group.
Useful phrases for balanced arguments
Children stuck this small sheet into their workbook to encourage the use of appropriate language when writing a balanced argument.
Book Review Template Differentiated
A generic book review template which can be used for any fiction book. Differentiated twice.
Now including editable Word document
