Explanation Text Writing Unit – Years 3 and 4

Students spend time at the start of the unit designing their own plant watering robot/machine (there is also an option to write about the ladybird robot in the example texts provided). This allows them to focus on how to write an explanation text, without becoming bogged down in exactly how a specific product works, they can tell us!

This would make a great unit to be taught alongside a Science unit on plants or living things and their habitats, or as a way to revisit Scientific knowledge.

This unit begins with ten lessons exploring the text type and sentence level work. The final five lessons allow them to write their explanation text. The unit uses three differentiated example text types about a ladybird-shaped plant watering robot to supports students’ understanding.

Where appropriate, each lesson is differentiated and carefully planned to suit different students’ needs.

Lesson order:

• Hook lesson: introducing the ladybird robot and its purpose. Students design their own watering robot/machine.
• Questions, students answer questions in more detail about their watering robot/machine to have enough detail for their explanation text.
• Creating diagrams with technical language, students draw and label diagrams of their robots/machines using technical language.
• Identify features of explanation texts, students explore the key features of explanation texts and find examples in the texts provided.
• Writing appropriate noun phrases, students will explore appropriate description for an explanation text and practise writing descriptions of their robot/machine.
• Using prepositions to clearly describe different parts of the robot.
• Writing with fronted adverbials, focussing on fronted adverbials to express time and cause.
• Writing with conjunctions, students will use a range of subordinating and coordinating conjunctions to add information or to explain.  
• Understand and using bullet points, students will explore how they are used and practise writing a list or adding extra information with bullet points.
• Introducing headings and sub-headings, students will use these to plan their explanation texts in preparation for writing.
• Writing the introduction and second paragraph (explaining what the machine does in more detail), looking at examples and creating a shared write as a class.
• Writing the third paragraph (explaining how the machine works).
• Writing the conclusion.
• Students can practise editing using our ‘explanation text to edit’ before editing their own work.
• Publishing texts, including adding detailed diagrams.

Looking for more? Try our newspaper writing units, available for Years 3&4 and Years 5&6.