This Real Writing unit for Year 2 introduces pupils to How Kangaroo Got Her Pouch, an original retelling of a traditional Australian folk tale written by published children’s author Margaret Bateson-Hill.
Over two to three weeks, pupils read, explore and write their own Australian folk tales, learning how traditional stories use structure, repetition and moral lessons to engage their audience.
Every unit in the Real Writing collection follows a carefully mapped framework and includes detailed lesson planning, teaching slides and all supporting resources, allowing teachers to deliver high-quality writing lessons with confidence.
This unit can also support cross-curricular learning: it links naturally with geography (continents and oceans), art (Aboriginal-inspired art), and PSHE (kindness and community).
Key skills and curriculum links
- Form adjectives using the suffixes –less and –ful
- Use coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or) to create compound sentences
- Punctuate sentences using question and exclamation marks
- Use expanded noun phrases to describe and specify
- Apply the past tense consistently
- Reread and proofread writing for accuracy and sense
- Read writing aloud to an audience
Vocabulary
Pupils explore a rich bank of vocabulary drawn from the story and its setting.
Common exception words: poor, kind, even, after, could, again, told, path, many, both, father, water, hold, behind, grass
Tier 2 words: apron, beliefs, creature, native, traditional
Tier 3 words: Aboriginal, Australia, billabong, dingo, emu, kangaroo, wombat
Resources included
- Model text (How Kangaroo Got Her Pouch) in plain, illustrated and annotated PDF formats
- Annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint slides
- Teaching notes and detailed lesson plans
- Story map templates and sequencing cards
- Vocabulary and definition cards
- Folk tale poster
- Common exception word cards
- Image cards of Australian animals
- Kindness worksheet
- Writer’s checklist and planning sheets
Activities and teaching sequence
1. Hook and exploration
Begin by asking pupils what they know about Australia. Use Aboriginal artwork from the resource pack to inspire discussion and creative responses.
2. Reading and retelling
Read the model text aloud and identify key features of a folk tale. Pupils use retelling cards and small-world play to orally retell the story, exploring its moral message about kindness.
3. Vocabulary and sequencing
Teach Tier 2 and Tier 3 words using matching and image-based activities. Pupils build understanding through discussion and visual support before sequencing the events of the story using sentence cards.
4. Grammar and writing practice
Teach suffixes (–less, –ful), coordinating conjunctions, and sentence punctuation through modelled and guided writing. Pupils apply these in short writing tasks about the story’s characters and themes.
5. Planning and writing new folk tales
Pupils plan their own Australian folk tale using story maps and idea sheets, changing the animal, problem and resolution while keeping the story structure. They then write, check and share their finished stories.
Outcomes
By the end of the unit, pupils will:
- Identify key features of a traditional folk tale
- Use suffixes –less and –ful correctly in their writing
- Create compound sentences with coordinating conjunctions
- Sequence and retell a story using visual and oral prompts
- Write and edit an original folk tale about an Australian animal
- Read their writing aloud with expression and confidence