This Year 2 writing unit from the Real Writing collection follows a carefully mapped framework and uses an original postcard by published children’s author Margaret Bateson-Hill.
Pupils explore a seaside holiday while developing recount writing skills and applying key grammar and punctuation.
The children will learn to identify the features of a recount and sequence events clearly, and will practise spelling homophones, revisit compound words and use apostrophes correctly in contracted forms. They will also build confidence in using past and present tenses.
Over two to three weeks, pupils plan, rehearse and write their own postcards. The final outcome is an independent recount of a seaside visit, real or imagined, incorporating coastal vocabulary and linking to the geographical features of the coast.
Key curriculum skills
- Spell simple and near homophones
- Use the past and present tense correctly in sentences
- Punctuate contracted words with apostrophes
- Apply expanded noun phrases
- Use subordinating and coordinating conjunctions
- Form compound nouns
- Spell and use common exception words
- Read aloud to check meaning
- Proofread for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation
Curriculum links
- English: recount structure, tense consistency, apostrophes, homophones, conjunctions
- Geography: coastal features including rockpools, piers, coves, cliffs and harbours
- PSHE: communicating with others through postcards
Vocabulary
Tier 2 words: anemone, scuttling, promenade
Tier 3 words: beach, cliff, coast, cove, harbour, pier, rockpool
Common exception words: because, cold, gold, pretty, beautiful, busy, people, water, could, every, after
Resources included
- Model text in three formats (plain, illustrated, annotated)
- Annotated and non-annotated teaching slides
- Teacher notes
- Vocabulary cards and match activities
- CEW cards
- Events sequencing cards
- Recount planning sheets
- Writer’s checklist
- Pupil writing sheets
Key teaching activities
- Hook with real or provided seaside postcards
- Guided reading of the model text to identify recount features
- Vocabulary discovery using word cards and images
- Sequencing and mapping of holiday events
- Mini write: short postcard to a friend
- Homophone investigation
- Past and present tense sorting and sentence writing
- Apostrophe activities for contracted forms
- Conjunction spot and apply tasks
- Common exception word reading and spelling practice
Teaching sequence
- Familiarise pupils with the postcard and coastal setting
- Rehearse and develop sentence-level skills
- Plan and draft postcards using time adverbials and expanded noun phrases
- Edit and check writing aloud
Outcomes
By the end of the unit pupils:
- Write a clear postcard recount using time adverbials
- Sequence events logically across several sentences
- Apply apostrophes in contracted words accurately
- Spell selected common exception words correctly
- Use expanded noun phrases and conjunctions to add detail
- Check and improve their own writing