Recount Writing

To retell past experiences.

Purpose:

Personal

Factual

Imaginative

Framework

Setting:

Who? What? When?
Where? Why? How?

Events:

In time order

Concluding Statement:

**Recount writing is always
written in time order**

Examples:

 My School Tour
 St. Patrick’s Day

Language Features:

 Specific participants
 Linking words to do with time, e.g. later, after, before
 Paragraphs in time order sequence
 Action verbs
 Simple past tense

Report Writing

To present factual information.

Purpose:

Objects

People

Places

Animals

Framework

Classification:

What is it?

Description:

Size? Shape? Features?

Place/ Time:

Where? What?

Dynamics:

What does it do?

Summarising Comment:

Example:

 Frogs

Language Features:

 Generalised participants
 Impersonal objective language
 Timeless present tense
 Subject specific vocabulary

Procedural Writing

To list steps to follow in making/doing something

Purpose:

 Give instructions on how to operate something e.g. washing machine
 Show steps for making and doing e.g. baking a cake, playing a game
 List sequences of actions e.g. find a location

Framework:

Aim:

What is to be done

Requirements:

List of what is needed

Method:

How to do it

Evaluation:

Was it successful?

Examples:

 Cooking
 Directions

Language Features:

 Detailed factual description
 Reader referred to in a general way or not mentioned at all, e.g. draw a line
 Linking words to do with time e.g. after, as soon as
 Tense is timeless
 Action verbs often begin each sentence

Persuasive Writing

To persuade others in argument or debate

Purpose:

 persuade readers to agree with one point of view
 show all points of view and reach conclusion e.g. debate
 argue a case

Framework:

State Problem/ Argument

Arguments for and supporting evidence

Arguments against and supporting evidence

Conclusion

Example:

 Mobile phones should be banned

Language Features:

 Generalised participants
 Passives to help text structure
 Linking words associated with reasoning e.g. therefore
 Nominalisation (actions become things) e.g. to pollute becomes pollution

Explanatory Writing

To explain how things work or came to be.

Purpose:

 Explains how things occur e.g. how does a rainbow occur?
 How things work e.g. how do engines work?
 Why things are or happen

Framework:

Definition:

What is it?

Parts:

Describe

Operation:

How it works

Application:

When/Where it works, how it’s used

Interesting Features:

Comment:

Evaluation:

Example:

 How erosion occurs

Language Features:

 Generalised non-human participants
 Cause and effect relationships
 Some passives e.g. is driven by
 Timeless present tense e.g. soil is deposited

Narrative Writing

To tell an imaginative story, but this may be based on fact.

Framework:

Title:

Setting:

Who? Where? When?

Initiating Event:

How did the characters get involved?

Problem:

What is the problem? What is the conflict?

Resolution:

How was it solved?

Examples:

• Fairy tales
• Novels
• Fables

Language Features:

 Usually past tense
 Defined characters
 Dialogue
 Descriptive language to create images
 Linking words to do with time

Predicting is like being a detective.

I can make predictions before and during reading.

I think about the information I know from the cover, pictures and the story.

I think about what will happen next and listen to the author’s clues.

It doesn’t have to be right!!

“I predict that …”

Explains why

Use prior knowledge

Use evidence and clues

What has happened so far?

What is the reason for your prediction?

Why do you think that?

What clues are you using to predict?

What will happen next because of this event? Why do you think this will happen?

We can ask questions anytime!

They help us to think more about what we read.

Sometimes we can find answers to our questions in the story or using our background knowledge.

Sometimes the author leaves us wondering!

Asking questions helps us to “solve” the story by putting all the pieces together.

“I wonder …?”

“Here” questions have obvious answers

What? When? Where? Which? How?

“Head” questions

Use your own thoughts, feelings and opinions

Use prior knowledge to make connections

Was it something that happened that made you think that?

Do you need to infer?

“Hidden” Questions

Try to use all the clues from the story so far.

Think about the characters in the story and the things they are doing

Why do you think he did that? How do you know?

Why do you think she felt that way? How do you know?

Why do you think he said that? How do you know?

Picture / movie in your head

We use our “movie” to help us picture the story inside our heads.  Smells, sounds, taste and touch can make your movie better.

The words are like the script.

Change your movie as you get more information.

Everybody will have a slightly different movie.

Are you connecting with something?

My picture is slightly different …

Why did that picture come into your head?

Can you describe what you saw in the film of you head while reading?

Can you describe something you could see? / feel? / touch? / hear?

We can make connections at any time.

You think about something that happened in the story that reminds you of something else in:

The Story – Text to Text

Your Own Life – Text to Self

The World – Text to World.

Our background knowledge is very important here.

It makes the story come to life and you can imagine it better.

“It reminds me of …”

Did you make a connection with this text?

Did it remind you of anything?

What type of connection is that?

This strategy encourages readers to constantly ask themselves what is important in a sentence, phrase, paragraph, chapter or whole text.

I can understand the main ideas of the text and what the author’s message is.

The text was mostly about…

The important details were…

I will underline the key words ….

I think … and … are important

Who, what, when, where, why …

Famous Five Key Word Search

What’s Your Story

Main Idea Pyramid

Summarising is the ability to reduce a larger piece of text so the focus is on the most important elements of the text.

When I summarise I can think about what I have read and then focus on the most important elements.

First, next, finally, then…

I think the purpose of this text was to…

I can think about the most important parts and retell them in my own words…