This Year 1 writing unit from our Real Writing collection centres on an original text by James Nicol, a simple non-chronological report comparing the seaside now and in the past.
All texts in our Real Writing collection are written by published children’s authors, ensuring engaging, high-quality content. The model text is available as a PDF in three versions – plain, illustrated and annotated – and comes with annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint presentations to support teaching.
Over two to three weeks, pupils will read the report, practise using capital letters and full stops to punctuate sentences, and learn how the conjunction and can join words and clauses to create compound sentences.
For the final task, pupils will write their own short reports comparing the seaside now and in the past, drawing on observations and historical understanding.
Curriculum links and objectives
This unit supports key Year 1 English objectives:
- Vocabulary: Pupils add suffixes (-ed, -ing, -er) to words where no change is needed to the root word, developing word-building skills.
- Grammar: Pupils learn to join words and clauses using and, practising how to combine simple sentences into compound sentences.
- Punctuation: Pupils punctuate sentences with capital letters and full stops, and revisit exclamation marks and sentence spacing.
The unit also provides opportunities to teach broader writing skills, including saying aloud what pupils plan to write, reading and writing compound words, re-reading for sense and reading aloud their own writing.
Vocabulary
Pupils will encounter rich vocabulary throughout the unit:
- Tier 2 words: bathe, bathing suit, beach, camp, caravan, cockles, crab, fibres, hotel, seafood, shrimp
- Tier 3 words: bathing machine, Victorian
- Common exception words: today, was, there, of, the, is, go, by, are, a, you, to, has, they, be, your
Resources
The unit includes all resources needed for a complete teaching sequence:
- Model text PDFs and PowerPoint presentations
- Victorian beach poster and seaside sorting cards
- Planning sheets and writing sheets
- Vocabulary and common exception word cards
- Writer’s craft instruction sheets and checklists
Key teaching activities
Begin by using a Victorian beach poster to discuss differences between the past and present seaside. Pupils will add labels and orally compose sentences. They'll read the model text, identifying key features of reports such as headings and technical vocabulary.
Activities include comparing swimming costumes from Victorian times with modern ones, sorting information for “then” and “now”, and planning sentences using headings from the model text.
Pupils will practise adding suffixes, joining sentences with and, and punctuating correctly. More confident writers can extend their work by organising sentences under headings and adding their own information.
Pupil outcomes
By the end of the unit, pupils will:
- Recognise and use seaside-related vocabulary in context
- Punctuate sentences correctly with capital letters and full stops
- Use the conjunction and to create compound sentences
- Orally compose sentences before writing
- Compare the seaside now and in the past, organising information under headings
- Read and check their own writing for sense
- Produce a short report incorporating technical vocabulary and historical understanding
This unit combines historical enquiry, cross-curricular links and structured writing practice, giving Year 1 pupils a clear, engaging pathway to develop their report writing skills while exploring the seaside.