teaching resource

Elephants Fact File and Report Writing Scaffold

Updated: 10 Jul 2024

Support your students in writing an information report about elephants with this fact file and writing scaffold.

Editable: Google Slides
Non-Editable: PDF
Pages: 4 Pages
Years: 3 - 4

Curriculum

VC2E3LY11

Create narrative, informative and persuasive texts, written and spoken, with ideas grouped in simple paragraphs, using topic-specific and precise vocabulary and multimodal elements as appropriate <ul> <li>gathering information and ideas about a topic in preparation for writing, which may include information and ideas from online and digital sources</li> <li>researching a topic to prepare an oral or multimodal presentation</li> <li>planning the sequence of ideas and information using techniques such as storyboards or a simple flow chart</li> <li>explaining ideas to a peer when planning a presentation</li> <li>selecting an appropriate text structure for a writing purpose, and sequencing content for clarity and to have an impact on an audience</li> <li>using appropriate simple and compound sentences to express and combine ideas</li> <li>using vocabulary, including topic-specific vocabulary, relevant to the type of text and purpose</li> <li>using digital tools to plan, sequence, compose and edit texts</li> </ul>
VC2E3LY12

Re-read and edit texts for meaning, appropriate structure, grammatical choices and punctuation <ul> <li>using print and online dictionaries and spellcheck to edit spelling, realising that spellcheck accuracy depends on understanding the word function, for example ‘there’ or ‘their’ and ‘rain’ or ‘reign’</li> <li>checking for correct use of apostrophes for contractions and to indicate possession</li> </ul>
VC2E4LY10

Create narrative, informative and persuasive texts, written and spoken, using relevant, linked ideas for a range of audiences and using multimodal elements as appropriate <ul> <li>using research to gather ideas for writing and integrating information from a range of sources, which may include those found online</li> <li>selecting text structure and planning how to group ideas into paragraphs to sequence content</li> <li>using topic-specific, precise and varied vocabulary</li> <li>choosing a variety of appropriate words and phrases, including descriptive words and some technical vocabulary, to communicate meaning accurately</li> <li>using grammatical features, including different types of verb groups, noun groups and adverb groups/phrases, for effective descriptions and details according to purpose</li> </ul>
VC2E4LY11

Re-read and edit texts for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure <ul> <li>collaborating with a peer to edit literary texts by sharing feedback about choices made to develop storylines, characters and settings</li> <li>revising written texts to improve the selection of words used to connect ideas and to improve the cohesion of the text</li> </ul>

teaching resource

Elephants Fact File and Report Writing Scaffold

Updated: 10 Jul 2024

Support your students in writing an information report about elephants with this fact file and writing scaffold.

Editable: Google Slides
Non-Editable: PDF
Pages: 4 Pages
Years: 3 - 4

Support your students in writing an information report about elephants with this fact file and writing scaffold.

Write an Elephant Information Report

Experienced teachers understand that scaffolding is essential for success when teaching students to write a new type of text.

This scaffolded writing activity, crafted by our expert teaching team, aims to assist your students in composing an information report about elephants. The activity guides students in transforming dot points from a fact file into full sentences, which they then use to construct a comprehensive report. Encourage students to include any additional relevant information they know about elephants in their report.

The fact file contains the following information about elephants:

Classification
Size and Appearance
Habitat and Lifestyle
Diet and Eating Habits

The resource download includes:

Fact file
Writing sentences from dot points worksheet
Report writing scaffold

This resource downloads as a:

Full-colour PDF
Black-and-white PDF
Google Slides (containing both a colour and a black-and-white fact file)

Teach the Skills for Writing an Information Report

This informative writing activity has been designed by our experienced teacher team to teach your students the skills they need to write a well-structured information report.

Writing Sentences from Notes—The ability to write complete sentences from research notes is a vital skill when writing an information report. This resource allows students to practise writing clear and concise sentences from the provided dot points.
Categorisation – In an information report, related ideas are placed together in paragraphs. This resource teaches students this important skill as they group like information together, e.g. appearance, lifestyle, diet.
Using a Writing Scaffold – The scaffold included in this resource teaches students the structural components of an information report and helps them organise their ideas according to these conventions.

Download to Teach Information Report Writing

Use the dropdown menu on the Download button above to access your preferred version of this resource. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides template before accessing it.)

Keen to save paper? Why not project the fact files on your interactive whiteboard rather than making copies for students? The environment will thank you for it!

More Informative Writing Activities

Looking for more activities to get your students writing information reports independently? Look no further! Click below to explore a sample of our informative writing activities, perfect for primary school writing lessons!

[resource:73406] [resource:4995408] [resource:78206]

Curriculum

VC2E3LY11

Create narrative, informative and persuasive texts, written and spoken, with ideas grouped in simple paragraphs, using topic-specific and precise vocabulary and multimodal elements as appropriate <ul> <li>gathering information and ideas about a topic in preparation for writing, which may include information and ideas from online and digital sources</li> <li>researching a topic to prepare an oral or multimodal presentation</li> <li>planning the sequence of ideas and information using techniques such as storyboards or a simple flow chart</li> <li>explaining ideas to a peer when planning a presentation</li> <li>selecting an appropriate text structure for a writing purpose, and sequencing content for clarity and to have an impact on an audience</li> <li>using appropriate simple and compound sentences to express and combine ideas</li> <li>using vocabulary, including topic-specific vocabulary, relevant to the type of text and purpose</li> <li>using digital tools to plan, sequence, compose and edit texts</li> </ul>
VC2E3LY12

Re-read and edit texts for meaning, appropriate structure, grammatical choices and punctuation <ul> <li>using print and online dictionaries and spellcheck to edit spelling, realising that spellcheck accuracy depends on understanding the word function, for example ‘there’ or ‘their’ and ‘rain’ or ‘reign’</li> <li>checking for correct use of apostrophes for contractions and to indicate possession</li> </ul>
VC2E4LY10

Create narrative, informative and persuasive texts, written and spoken, using relevant, linked ideas for a range of audiences and using multimodal elements as appropriate <ul> <li>using research to gather ideas for writing and integrating information from a range of sources, which may include those found online</li> <li>selecting text structure and planning how to group ideas into paragraphs to sequence content</li> <li>using topic-specific, precise and varied vocabulary</li> <li>choosing a variety of appropriate words and phrases, including descriptive words and some technical vocabulary, to communicate meaning accurately</li> <li>using grammatical features, including different types of verb groups, noun groups and adverb groups/phrases, for effective descriptions and details according to purpose</li> </ul>
VC2E4LY11

Re-read and edit texts for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure <ul> <li>collaborating with a peer to edit literary texts by sharing feedback about choices made to develop storylines, characters and settings</li> <li>revising written texts to improve the selection of words used to connect ideas and to improve the cohesion of the text</li> </ul>

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