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Year 3 - English

Writing the first paragraph of 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 write the first paragraph of a persuasive letter.

Key Notes

  • A persuasive letter is written mainly in the present tense, including the simple, progressive and perfect present forms.
  • Persuasive letters have distinctive linguistic features in order to achieve their purpose.
  • An adverbial complex sentence has a main clause and an adverbial clause that starts with a subordinating conjunction.
  • Fronted adverbials of time are sentence starters that tell the reader when something happens.
  • First person perspective is the point of view where the writer is the 'I' character.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • present tense: tells the reader the action is happening now
  • first person: the 'I/we' perspective
  • complex sentence: a sentence formed of at least one main clause and a subordinate clause
  • text flow: how a text is written to keep the reader engaged

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Pupils may shift into writing from the third person perspective.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

A persuasive letter is written mainly in the present tense, including the simple, progressive and perfect present forms. Persuasive letters have distinctive linguistic features in order to achieve their purpose.

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

tells the reader the action is happening now.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: Pupils may shift into writing from the third person perspective. Correction: Pause at regular intervals during the writing process and have pupils read back and check for use of the first person.

More Lessons In This Unit

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