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Explanation Writing Structure Planning

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Explanation Writing Structure Planning

Plan a clear explanation for a younger reader: How does rain form? Use the information on this page to organise your ideas. You do not need to do extra research.

Information to plan from

The Sun warms water in oceans, lakes and damp ground. Some of this liquid water changes into an invisible gas called water vapour and rises into the air. Higher in the atmosphere, the air is cooler. Water vapour cools and changes into tiny liquid droplets. These droplets gather around tiny particles in the air, such as dust, and form clouds. The droplets bump into one another and join, becoming larger and heavier. When they are too heavy to stay suspended in the air, they fall as rain. Rainwater may soak into the ground, flow into streams and rivers, or return to the ocean. Then the cycle can begin again. Wind can move clouds, so rain may fall far from where the water first evaporated.

Identify the writing job

Plan an explanation titled “How Does Rain Form?” The audience is Year 5 readers. What is the main purpose of this text?

1.Number these events from 1 to 4 to show how rain forms: droplets join and grow heavier; the Sun warms water and vapour rises; cooled vapour forms tiny droplets in clouds; heavy droplets fall as rain.

2.Suggest three section headings that would group the information logically. Include at least one key idea that belongs under each heading.

3.Which opening best introduces an explanation for Year 5 readers? Choose one and give one reason.

Rain is water that falls from clouds, and it forms through a repeating process involving warming, cooling and growing droplets.
Have you ever noticed that some umbrellas are much brighter than others?
Yesterday, I saw a cloud that looked a bit like a dog.
Rain is annoying, so people should stay indoors.

4.Write a reader-friendly meaning for “evaporates” that would help a Year 5 reader understand this explanation.

5.Complete the sentence with a cause-and-effect connector: “The tiny droplets join and become heavier; , they eventually fall as rain.”

6.Choose two transition words or phrases that would clearly signal the order of stages in your explanation.

First
Next
On the other hand
For example, my favourite…

7.A writer plans to explain evaporation, then cloud formation, then how heavy droplets fall. Why is this order helpful to the reader?

8.Write a one-sentence main idea for your explanation, then list three paragraph topics in a logical order. Include one important detail under each topic.

9.True or false: An explanation is easier to follow when its paragraphs are grouped by stages and arranged in a logical order.

TrueFalse