This Year 3 writing unit from our Real Writing collection is built around an original model text by Ross Montgomery, featuring a series of fictional product reviews about buying a brick.
All texts in the collection are written by published children’s authors and follow a carefully mapped framework covering Year 3 writing objectives. The model text is available as a PDF in three versions – plain, illustrated and annotated – along with annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint presentations.
Over two to three weeks, pupils will read a collection of persuasive reviews, exploring technical vocabulary related to buying and selling, and learning the features of persuasive writing. The unit culminates in pupils writing their own product reviews for a different familiar item.
Key curriculum skills
Vocabulary
Pupils will use comparative and superlative adjectives. They’ll revisit adjectives, sort them into comparative and superlative forms, and apply them in sentences to strengthen descriptive and persuasive writing.
Grammar
Pupils will identify and use the present perfect tense. They’ll sort sentences, understand formation rules and write paragraphs using the present perfect to describe products persuasively.
Revisited skills
The unit also revisits subordination, using commas for lists and apostrophes for possession and contraction. Pupils will extend sentences with a wider range of conjunctions, use adverbials and prepositions to express time, place and cause, and include organisational features such as headings and subheadings.
Vocabulary
- Tier 2 words: regret, recommend
- Tier 3 words: product, purchase
- Year 3/4 statutory spellings: consider, complete, favourite, heard, build, occasion, often, thought, decide, enough, weight
Teaching activities
The unit begins with a playful “Dragon’s Den” hook, where pupils sell a random classroom object to the class, practising persuasive speaking and exaggerating features for effect. They’ll then read the model text, recognising persuasive features, tense variation and person. They'll also revisit punctuation, conjunctions, adverbials and pronouns.
Pupils will explore key vocabulary using word cards and matching activities, consolidating Tier 2, Tier 3 and statutory spellings. They’ll then write short letters reflecting on a product they ‘bought’ in the Dragon’s Den activity, expressing dissatisfaction politely and giving reasons for requested action.
Next, pupils will plan their own collection of persuasive product reviews using a margin planner. They’ll cover a range of opinions, including positive and negative reviews, and plan opportunities to use the present perfect tense.
Over several sessions, pupils will draft, proofread and edit their reviews, focusing on persuasive vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. They’ll rehearse reading their writing aloud to enhance clarity and impact.
Outcomes
By the end of the unit, pupils will produce clear, persuasive product reviews, demonstrating confident use of comparative and superlative adjectives, accurate tense use and effective planning, drafting and editing skills.