Year Two

Non-Fiction Writing Fun – Animal Researchers!

This term, Year Two students have been busy becoming animal researchers! Connecting to our current Unit of Inquiry where we have been investigating the conceptual understanding, Survival requires living things to adapt to their environment, we have been exploring non-fiction writing in Text Study lessons. We began by reading The World’s Most Pointless Animals by Phillip Bunting. We had a lot of fun learning about some unique animals and enjoyed how the author used humour to make the writing entertaining. 

We investigated a range of animals using non-fiction books from our library and Epic as a digital resource. We learned how to use contents pages, headings, diagrams, captions and other non-fiction text features to locate information quickly and efficiently. We then practised recording the most important information in our own words, taking notes under four key headings: appearance, habitat, diet and fun facts. We also created detailed labelled diagrams, carefully selecting features to label and using information from our research to help us share our learning clearly.

Last week, students had the opportunity to choose an animal of their own to research. Using Epic, they independently searched for information, recorded notes and used their research to create an informative animal poster. Students carefully organised their information using titles, subheadings and labelled diagrams, while selecting interesting facts to share with their audience. It was fantastic to see students applying the research skills they had developed and becoming increasingly independent in finding and presenting information.

Come and visit our classrooms to see some of our great learning in English this term!

The Year Two Team

Skye Bailey, Fiona O’Reilly, Molly Todd and Nicola Veneris