This fully resourced 3-week literacy unit blends reading, writing and oracy using The Explorer by Katherine Rundell as a rich stimulus. Pupils explore rainforest description through carefully chosen extracts before creating their own non-chronological report about a made-up rainforest creature, applying ambitious vocabulary, formal tone and cohesive structure.

Planned for a mixed Year 4/5 class, the unit is easily adaptable across KS2.
What’s included (everything you need):

** Reading & Comprehension**

Carefully selected extracts from The Explorer (Chapter 3 focus)
Unseen text for independent reading practice
Retrieval, inference and discussion activities
Big Question tasks to deepen understanding
Comparison tasks between fiction and non-fiction

Writing & Language Development

Model non-chronological reports (including The Jade-Eye Mosslurker)
Clear teaching of report structure:
Introduction
Appearance
Habitat
Diet
Survival skills
Interesting facts
Sentence-level work focusing on:
Precise verbs
Formal language
Expanding detail
Cohesive devices
Paragraph structure and topic sentences
Shared writing and modelled examples
Independent writing lessons
Edit and improve lesson with examples and prompts
Final publishing lesson

Oracy & Vocabulary

Explicit vocabulary teaching (MTYT approach)
Word banks and vocabulary activities
Talk-rich partner and group tasks
Justifying choices and explaining reasoning
Formal vs informal language matching activities

Creative & Planning Resources

Creature cards and rainforest animal examples
Visualisation and sketching tasks
Planning templates for non-chronological reports
Comparison grids
Sentence starters and scaffolds
Learning outcomes

Pupils will:

Read closely and analyse language for effect

Develop ambitious, subject-specific vocabulary

Understand the purpose and features of non-chronological reports

Write formally for a clear audience and purpose

Use cohesive devices to link ideas across paragraphs

Create an imaginative creature adapted to rainforest survival