Real Writing Year 2 - Unit 17
Model text: Amazing Animals by Dan Smith
Curriculum links: Science, geography
Unit overview
This writing unit for Year 2 is built around an original text by Dan Smith - a report about animals around the world. The example text is available as a PDF in three versions (plain, illustrated and annotated); annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint presentations are also included.
In this two-week unit, pupils will learn the features of a non-chronological report and will organise information using the subheadings in the text. Pupils will learn the spelling rules used when adding the suffixes -er and -est and how these can be added to adjectives to create comparatives and superlatives. Pupils will explore statements, questions and exclamations and practise writing different sentence types. In the final writing task, pupils will write their own non-chronological report about animals around the world.
1. Key curriculum skills
Two fully-resourced lessons are included for the following Year 1 English objectives, which can form part of the unit or be taught discretely:
2. Vocabulary: to use sentences with different forms: statements, questions and exclamations
Pupils will: revisit the spelling rules when adding the suffix -er and -est to adjectives and then use these suffixes to create comparative and superlative adjectives. Pupils will then use adjectives ending in the suffixes taught to write sentences that describe animals.
3. Grammar: to sentences with different forms: statements, questions and exclamations
Pupils will: learn the different grammatical patterns of different sentence types, identifying whether they are a statement, question or exclamation. They will write different sentence types, linked to the theme of amazing animals.
Additional teaching points to teach or revisit:
- using noun phrases
- writing in the present tense using subordinating and coordinating conjunctions
- rereading writing to check that it makes sense
- proof-reading to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation
- reading aloud what they have written.
Year 2 words: featured vocabulary
Common exception words: find mind wild most cold fast move every(where) could because even eye
Tier 2 words: common, communication, disease, emotion, malaria, microscope, radiation,
smartest, survivalist
Tier 3 words: amphibian, bird, carnivore, fish, herbivore, mammal, omnivore, predator, prey, reptile