Use this Year 2 Real Writing unit to teach instructional writing using a model text. Over two to three weeks, pupils explore the text, How to Bake Bread, by author Margaret Bateson-Hill. The children read, rehearse and follow the steps to make their own loaf.
The unit links to design technology, teaching healthy diets and practical food preparation. Pupils practise imperative verbs, command sentences, time adverbials and forming adverbs with -ly.
Pupils plan, draft, rehearse and redraft their writing, revisiting grammar skills such as expanded noun phrases, commas in lists and present tense. Photographs, sequencing cards and text maps support organisation and independence.
At the end of the unit, the children write instructions for bread or another dish, developing technical accuracy and producing purposeful writing that others can follow.
Resources included
- Model text by a published children’s author (PDF: plain, illustrated, annotated)
- Annotated and non-annotated PowerPoints
- Teaching slides and teacher notes
- Activity sheets and sequencing cards
- Vocabulary cards and matching activity
- Utensils word mat
- Writer’s craft and checklist sheets
Curriculum links
- English: instructional texts, command sentences, time adverbials, suffixes, expanded noun phrases, proofreading, oral rehearsal
- Design Technology: preparing dishes safely, exploring healthy diets, using utensils
- Speaking and Listening: reading aloud, giving oral instructions
- Vocabulary development: exploring Tier 2 and Tier 3 subject-specific language
Key teaching activities
- Hook with real bread and ingredient prediction
- Identify features using annotated model text
- Explore imperative verbs and command sentences
- Sequence instructions using time adverbials
- Build vocabulary through matching tasks
- Create text maps and orally retell steps
- Describe utensils using adjectives
- Plan instructions using visual prompts and photos
- Draft and improve writing using a writer’s checklist
- Proof-read, edit and read aloud for meaning
Vocabulary
Common exception words: most, after, last, prove, water, again, half, people, sugar, golden, should
Tier 2 words: double, hollow, loaf
Tier 3 words: dough, grams, ingredients, knead, mix, oven, pour, preheat, prove, stir, tablespoon, teaspoon, utensils, weigh
Outcomes
By the end of this unit, pupils:
- write a clear instructional text using command sentences
- apply imperative verbs accurately
- sequence steps using time adverbials
- form adverbs using the suffix -ly
- use commas to punctuate simple lists
- check, edit and read their writing aloud
- write for a real-world purpose across the curriculum