This Year 5 Real Writing unit follows a clear, mapped framework built around an original magazine report by published children’s author Anita Loughrey. The unit matches Year 5 writing objectives.
Over two to three weeks, teachers guide pupils through the text to see how non-fiction writers inform and organise ideas with headings, pictures, glossaries, precise nouns and relative clauses.
Pupils then research a habitat of their choice and use these techniques to plan, draft and refine their own magazine-style reports.
Curriculum links
- Year 5 English: vocabulary choice, relative clauses, paragraphing, sentence variation
- Science: living things and their environments
- Geography: world regions, climate, biomes and habitats
Vocabulary used in this unit
- Tier 2 words: release, abundant, influence, population, mound, humid
- Tier 3 words: habitat, desert, rainforest, polar, region, continent, environment, adapt, survive, species, climate, predator, offspring
- Common exception words: individual
Resources included
- Three versions of the model text (plain PDF, illustrated PDF, annotated PDF)
- Annotated and non-annotated teaching slides
- Teacher notes for every phase
- Vocabulary cards and matching activities
- Headings worksheet
- Habitat cards and research sheets
- Report margin planner
- Writing skills check
- Pupil activity sheets for vocabulary, grammar and conjunctions
Activities and teaching sequence
Familiarisation
- Read and annotate the model magazine report, identifying headings, subheadings, captions, pictures, glossaries and bullet points.
- Build a class list of layout features needed in a pupil-written magazine article.
- Explore Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary and match key terms to definitions.
- Use headings to organise information and locate facts quickly.
- Revisit sentence structure by exploring how subordinating clauses change sentence openings.
Teaching and rehearsing
- Investigate overall structure using the report margin planner.
- Research chosen habitats using books or online resources, gathering facts on climate, plants and animals.
- Plan reports with clear headings, introductions and conclusions.
- Write, refine and edit magazine-style articles using precise nouns and relative clauses.
Application
- Publish final reports, adding chosen layout features such as headings, glossaries, pictures and captions.
Outcomes
By the end of the unit, pupils will:
- Write an informative magazine article about a chosen habitat
- Use precise nouns confidently to add clarity
- Include relative clauses to enhance meaning
- Organise information using headings, paragraphs and visual features
- Research effectively using a range of sources
- Edit and publish writing with increasing independence