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Year 3 - English

Planning a persuasive letter

'The Day the Crayons Quit': reading and writing persuasive letters

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils write a persuasive letter, using the picture book 'The Day the Crayons Quit' by Drew Daywalt as their starting point. They learn about persuasive writing devices, including flattery and rhetorical questions. Pupils learn and apply a variety of conventions of letter writing.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to plan the main paragraphs of a persuasive letter.

Key Notes

  • When rehearsing and planning for a persuasive letter, we do so in the first person from the character's perspective.
  • A plan is written in note format using bullet points to capture the most important information.
  • Persuasive letters have distinctive linguistic features in order to achieve their purpose.
  • The subordinating conjunction 'because' is used to give a reason for why a character is feeling a certain way.
  • First person perspective is the point of view where the writer is the 'I' character.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • perspective: the way someone thinks, feels or sees something
  • plan: a framework that writers create before they write a section or whole text
  • notes: written out of full sentences

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Pupils may find it difficult to write in the character of the red crayon.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

When rehearsing and planning for a persuasive letter, we do so in the first person from the character's perspective. A plan is written in note format using bullet points to capture the most important information.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'perspective'

the way someone thinks, feels or sees something.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: Pupils may find it difficult to write in the character of the red crayon. Correction: Ensure that you have additional resources like word banks for pupils to refer to that reference 'I', 'me', 'my', 'we', 'our' and 'us' words.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 3 English guide library.