This term in Year Two, we have been working hard on a type of non-fiction text called explanations.
We have learnt that an explanation text often explains how to do something. We had some great fun this term learning the class explanation text called ‘How to be a teacher’. It has made us laugh a lot hearing how “Teachers need fuel like cars or rockets! They drink five litres of coffee a day and scoff 30kg of biscuits. Without these, a teacher just will not make it through the day.” We especially liked the “How to tell off children” section, just ask us all about it!
We have learnt that an explanation text needs some specific features such as a title and headings, for example “How to take the register.” and “Why the coffee and biscuits?” Also, time words (first, next, then, finally) help to order the sections and subordinating conjunctions (when, if, that, because) add more information to a sentence.
It is also important to ensure we have grasped the meaning of the explanation text so we answered some comprehension questions to check what we had learnt and remembered from the text; we worked really hard to answer in full sentences.
Finally, we have compared our class explanation text to other texts. We explored a few different examples and then decided to compare it specifically with one called How Marcus Rashford became a Footballer (lots of us knew a bit about him already). We studied both texts and compared the similarities and differences between them to see if it had any features we had not spotted in our text yet. We decided we would need some pictures added to our next one!
We have now begun innovating our class text and have decided to change it to “How to be a child” which includes a heading called “How to tell off mummy and daddy!” We can’t wait to show it to you next week; it has given us lots to laugh and get excited about!
How to help at home
- Explore some explanation texts at home for example “How to make…”
- Can your child tell you about subordinating conjunctions and use them in a sentence?
- Ask your child to tell you the beginning of our new one called “How to be a child.” Lets see if you find it as funny as they do!