Year 4 - English
Analysing features of a diary entry
'Into the Forest': diary writing
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils write a diary entry based on the picture book 'Into the Forest' by Anthony Browne. Pupils use the book as a starting point from which they write a diary entry, focusing on using the first person perspective consistently and practising the skill of varying tense accurately.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to identify and analyse the layout and linguistic features of a diary entry.
Key Notes
- The purpose of a diary entry is to recount important experiences and express feelings.
- A diary entry has a specific layout, it is written in the first person and it uses informal language.
- Simple past and progressive past tenses recount what the writer experienced and felt.
- Fronted adverbials of time support in sequencing events in a recount chronologically.
- The present tense is used towards the end of a diary entry to show how the writer is feeling now.
Vocabulary To Learn
- purpose: the aim of the text
- recount: a piece of writing that recalls an event or experience
- layout: the way a text is structured
- linguistic feature: a structure of language that uses words
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Children may find it difficult to identify informal language.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
The purpose of a diary entry is to recount important experiences and express feelings. A diary entry has a specific layout, it is written in the first person and it uses informal language.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'purpose'
the aim of the text.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: Children may find it difficult to identify informal language. Correction: Spend some time examining different ways informal language appears in the model diary entry (e.g. exaggeration, contractions, capitalised words, informal vocabulary).
More Lessons In This Unit
- Engaging with the plot of 'Into the Forest' Study Guide
- Generating vocabulary for a diary entry based on 'Into the Forest' Study Guide
- Planning a paragraph of a diary entry based on 'Into the Forest' Study Guide
- Planning the final paragraph of a diary entry based on 'Into the Forest' Study Guide
- Writing a paragraph of a diary entry based on 'Into the Forest' Study Guide
- Writing the final paragraph of a diary entry based on 'Into the Forest' Study Guide
- Writing the opening of a diary entry based on 'Into the Forest' Study Guide
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