Explanation Texts

#TheCompleteSeries7lessons

This Explanation Texts scheme of work allows your Year 6 class to become confident experts in a topic of their choice as they choose an area to explain to a suitable audience. They have the opportunity to remind themselves of several grammatical features of this genre, including parenthesis and passive voice before practising their researching skills.

This complete pack comes with all the lesson plans, PDF lesson slides and printable resources, including several model texts, for you to deliver and enjoy seven lessons to your Year 6 class.

#Lesson1FeaturesofanExplanationText

In this initial Year 6 Explanation Texts lesson, the children will use their existing knowledge of features of writing to establish which features they think would be suitable for this genre of writing. Through discussion and exploration of the provided Model Texts, the children will identify common features of an explanation text, including their purpose and audience.

This complete lesson pack comes with a detailed lesson plan, engaging PDF lesson slides, differentiated activity ideas as well as all the printable resources that you will need to support the children's independent learning.

#Lesson2OralExplanations

This Explanation Texts KS2 lesson pack guides your class as they try using some of the features they picked out in the previous lesson. The aim of the lesson is to 'have a go' at explaining using video voice overs.

Using the provided videos - a more sensible ""Why do we need exercise?"" and a tongue-in-cheek ""Why do teachers need coffee?"" - the children will draft a script using as many of the main features of explanation texts as they can. This will then become the foundation for edits and improvements as the lessons progress through the sequence.

Downloading this individual Explanation Texts KS2 lesson pack will provide you with a detailed lesson plan, PDF lesson slides, differentiated activity ideas with accompanying printable resources as well as two videos to engage your class in their oral explanations.

#Lesson3Parenthesis

In this lesson the children will explore the use of parentheses to add extra information in their non-fiction writing.

The lesson helps revise the different punctuation that can be used to demarcate parenthesis and the different effects that this may have on their writing. They will have the opportunity to practise identifying, punctuating, and writing their own nonfiction parentheses.

This lesson comes with ready-to-use PDF lesson slides as well as a detailed lesson plan, differentiated activity ideas as well as all the printable resources that you'll need to support your class' independent work.

#Lesson4PassiveVoice

This lesson revisits the passive voice and looks at how it can be used within a non-fiction genre. The children will identify the object, subject and verb in a sentence and use this knowledge to swap sentences between the active and passive voice.

The children will also discuss how choosing the different voices can affect the focus of the sentence. They will then discuss which best suits the genre of writing.

This lesson comes with ready-to-use PDF lesson slides as well as a detailed lesson plan, differentiated activity ideas as well as all the printable resources that you'll need to support your class's independent work.

#Lesson5Research

This lesson reminds the children in your class about some of the research skills and recording techniques that they could use as they choose and research a topic for their final piece of writing.

Children will be asked to discuss the different sources of information they could use as they research their topic, including non-fiction texts and different reliable internet sources. The children can be pressed further into thinking about what makes a source reliable and how they can sift through different sources that might be less reliable. The lesson also touches on staying safe as they use the internet for research and how they can make effective notes to prepare for their own non-fiction writing.

This lesson comes with engaging PDF lesson slides as well as a detailed lesson plan and differentiated supporting materials.

#Lesson6PlanninganExplanationText

In this lesson the children can begin to organise and plan the layout of their final piece of writing. The plans can act as a first draft or be written in note form for the children to refer to as they write in the next lesson.

The lesson focuses on the structural features of an explanation text and what the children would like to include in each section. They will use the facts and other information researched in the previous lesson to populate each section before evaluating if they need any further research.

This planning lesson comes with all the printable resources you should need for the children's independent work as well as a detailed lesson plan, differentiated activity ideas (including an alternative activity) and PDF lesson input slides.

#Lesson7WritingandExplanationText

In this final Year 6 Explanation Texts lesson the children will apply all they have discussed throughout the unit as they write their final draft of their own explanation text.

The children will be given the opportunity to self-assess their writing from earlier in the unit and give themselves a target or focus for their writing in this lesson. This focus can be on one of the features of an explanation text that you will have looked at within the unit, or a more personal writing target that the child wants to achieve.

Support your class's independent writing with all the included printable resources as well as differentiated activity ideas, a detailed lesson plan and PDF lesson slides to guide the discussions in this final lesson.

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Curriculum Objectives covered

• identifying and discussing themes and conventions in and across a wide range of writing
• asking questions to improve their understanding
• summarising the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph, identifying key details that support the main ideas

• identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own
• noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary
• selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning
• using further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader [for example, headings, bullet points, underlining]
• assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing
• proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning
• ensuring the consistent and correct use of tense throughout a piece of writing

• using brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis

• ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge
• give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings

• Use of the passive to affect the presentation of information in a sentence [for example, I broke the window in the greenhouse versus The window in the greenhouse was broken (by me)].
• Layout devices [for example, headings, sub-headings, columns, bullets, or tables, to structure text]