Describing Wandi Clearly

Overview

In this sixth lesson of Wandi’s Word Adventure, students revisit Wandi and the surrounding environment from the shared class text or illustrations. They identify adjectives and expanded noun groups, then use these features to create and edit a detailed character description with an illustration.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• identify adjectives in descriptions of Wandi and the environment
• build expanded noun groups to give precise information
• write several connected sentences for a familiar audience
• edit capitals and end punctuation in their writing
• use phoneme–grapheme knowledge to spell familiar and topic-specific words

Success criteria

• I can choose adjectives that help my reader picture Wandi.
• I can expand a noun group, such as “the small, curious wombat”.
• I can write sentences that begin with a capital letter and end with correct punctuation.
• I can reread, edit and illustrate my description.

Curriculum links

• Creating and editing short imaginative and informative texts using appropriate vocabulary, noun groups, sentences and punctuation.
• Using phoneme–grapheme knowledge, including vowel digraphs, consonant clusters and common two-syllable words, when reading and writing.
• Manipulating, blending and segmenting sounds to support spelling unfamiliar words.
• Using spelling patterns and word parts to write words that are not completely predictable from their sounds.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Reconnect with Wandi. Teacher displays a familiar image or passage about Wandi using the opening Wandi image and lesson question and asks, “What can we notice about Wandi and the place where Wandi lives?” Students share observations with a partner, then contribute precise describing words. Teacher records student suggestions in two columns: Wandi and environment.

2. 7–17 min · Notice adjectives and noun groups. Teacher revisits examples on the adjective and noun-group examples and models improving “Wandi walked” to “The small, curious wombat walked through the leafy forest.” Teacher explains that the noun is the naming word and the expanded noun group adds detail before or after it. Students identify the noun and describing words in examples, then suggest improvements to “the animal”, “the place” and “the path”.

3. 17–27 min · Sort and build phrases. Teacher gives each student a small selection of cards from the word class sorting cards and models sorting words into useful groups, focusing on words that can describe nouns. Students work together to identify suitable describing words and orally build noun groups, such as “the smooth, grey stones” or “a cool, shady cave”. Teacher prompts students to explain which noun each adjective describes and checks that their phrases make sense.

4. 27–35 min · Shared sentence construction. Teacher uses the sentence-building and punctuation slides to model writing three connected sentences: one about Wandi’s appearance, one about Wandi’s actions or feelings, and one about the surrounding environment. The teacher thinks aloud while checking a capital letter, spaces, spelling and an appropriate full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. Students help compose one shared sentence and orally rehearse their own ideas.

5. 35–51 min · Write and illustrate. Teacher distributes the Wandi character-description worksheet and reminds students to use the class word bank and the shared text or illustrations as evidence. Students write a detailed description of Wandi and the environment, aiming for at least three sentences, including two expanded noun groups. They draw and colour an illustration that matches their writing. Teacher conferences individually, prompting students to stretch and segment sounds, use known spelling patterns and reread each sentence.

6. 51–58 min · Edit with a partner. Teacher displays the editing checklist and partner-share prompt and models reading a sentence aloud slowly. Students read their descriptions to a partner, who checks for a capital letter, spaces, an end punctuation mark, clear describing words and a matching illustration. Writers make at least one improvement, such as adding an adjective, changing a repeated word or correcting punctuation.

7. 58–60 min · Share and close. Teacher invites two students to read a strong sentence and explains why it helps the reader create a picture. Students hold up or point to their best expanded noun group and complete the oral reflection: “My description is clearer because I used…”.

Resources

• the complete Wandi description slide deck
• the Wandi character-description worksheet
• the word class sorting cards
• Familiar Wandi’s Word Adventure text, image or illustrations
• Whiteboard and markers
• Pencils, erasers and coloured pencils
• Individual mini-whiteboards or scrap paper
• Enlarged teacher model of a noun group and edited sentence

Assessment

• During discussion and card sorting, listen for students identifying adjectives, nouns and expanded noun groups accurately.
• During writing conferences, check whether students orally segment tricky words, apply known spelling patterns and construct complete sentences.
• Collect the worksheet to check for at least three sentences, two expanded noun groups, appropriate topic vocabulary, capital letters, end punctuation and an illustration that matches the description.

Differentiation

• Support students with a visual word bank drawn from the shared text, orally rehearsed sentence frames such as “Wandi is a ___, ___ animal”, and a reduced target of two carefully edited sentences. Scribe ideas or provide letter tiles where handwriting or transcription is a barrier.
• For EAL learners, pair each useful adjective or noun with a gesture, image or oral example; explicitly model pronunciation and allow rehearsal before writing.
• For students needing additional support, highlight the noun in a model sentence and ask them to add one adjective at a time. Use frequent teacher check-ins and read instructions aloud.
• Extend confident writers by adding a compound sentence using and, but or so, varying sentence openings, or replacing a general word with a more precise topic-specific word.