Your Year 5 students know things. They know sport, animals, science, places, and a hundred things no one has asked them to teach yet. This unit gives them the structure to turn that knowledge into genuine informational writing — organised, evidence-based, and written for a real reader.

Fifteen lessons across three weeks. A consistent four-part structure every day: Hook · Mini-Lesson · Independent Practice · Share & Close. Speaker notes on every slide. Open Monday morning and teach.

This unit introduces Boxes and Bullets — a Year 5 planning upgrade that teaches students to distinguish between a body section (the box) and the evidence inside it (the bullets). One bullet per box means the floor isn't strong enough yet. It is a rule students remember and apply independently.

Note: This unit is aligned to the Australian Curriculum v9.0 and is suitable for Year 5 teachers across all Australian states and territories — NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, NT, ACT, and TAS.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

✓ 140 editable lesson slides — 15 lessons with detailed teacher speaker notes on every slide (PPTX + PDF)

✓ Worksheet 01: Strong Informational Writing Hunt — find 3 real informational pieces and record topic, fact, and why it stuck

✓ Worksheet 02: Mentor Article Craft Hunt — annotate 4 craft moves using different colours

✓ Worksheet 03: Text Feature Spotter — identify and explain 5 text features in a sample article

✓ Worksheet 04: Topic Audit — brainstorm 5 topics, self-assess prior knowledge, and choose the strongest

✓ Worksheet 05: Boxes and Bullets Planner — plan the full piece with foundation, 3 boxes with bullets, and roof

✓ Worksheet 06: Drafting: Strong Introductions (page 1) — try 3 hook strategies, write full opening with roadmap

✓ Worksheet 06: Drafting: Body Floors (page 2) — draft floors with topic sentence, evidence, and SO WHAT? explanation

✓ Worksheet 07: Peer Feedback Sheet — structured feedback for all 5 rubric criteria using I noticed / I wonder / I suggest

✓ 5-criteria informational rubric — 1 Not Meeting / 2 Approaching / 3 Meeting / 4 Exceeding · /20 total

✓ 16-page unit overview — cover page and one lesson per page with AC codes, materials, differentiation, and teacher tips

✓ 2-page summative task — Boxes and Bullets plan, full article writing space, before-you-submit checklist, self-assessment

✓ Editable parent letter — introduces the unit, explains the Topic Tower and Boxes and Bullets method (DOCX)

✓ Product cover JPG

THE BOXES AND BULLETS FRAMEWORK

Year 5 writers need a planning method that matches their growing sophistication. Boxes and Bullets gives them exactly that: each BOX represents a body floor (one big idea), and each BULLET is a piece of evidence that supports that idea. The one-bullet rule — if a box has only one bullet, drop it — teaches students to self-evaluate their own evidence. The method works alongside the Topic Tower structure students have seen before, adding a layer of rigour appropriate for Year 5.

YEAR 5 INFORMATIONAL WRITING SKILLS TAUGHT

Naming three hallmarks of strong informational writing: clear topic, verified facts, reason it matters

Naming and explaining the four parts of the Topic Tower: foundation, body floors, roof, why it matters

Reading and annotating a mentor article to identify four craft moves

Naming and explaining five text features: headings, captions, sidebars, diagrams, fact boxes

Identifying audience and explaining how audience changes vocabulary, examples, and detail level

Choosing a topic with genuine prior knowledge using the Topic Audit

Finding facts from at least two sources and applying three trust questions to each source

Planning a complete informational piece using the Boxes and Bullets method

Writing an introduction that hooks the reader, states the topic, and provides a roadmap

Drafting body floors with topic sentence, evidence, and SO WHAT? explanations

Using linking words with variety: add, contrast, cause and effect, example

Replacing vague language with precise domain-specific vocabulary

Writing a conclusion that wraps up and reveals why the topic matters to the reader

Giving and receiving rubric-based peer feedback using I noticed / I wonder / I suggest

Polishing and publishing a final informational article with at least one purposeful text feature

THE 3-WEEK ARC

WEEK 1 — UNDERSTANDING INFORMATIONAL WRITING: L1 What Makes Strong Informational Writing? · L2 The Topic Tower · L3 Reading a Mentor Article for Craft Moves · L4 Text Features That Teach · L5 Audience and Purpose

WEEK 2 — RESEARCHING AND DRAFTING: L6 Choosing a Topic You Know · L7 Finding Trustworthy Facts · L8 Boxes and Bullets — Planning Your Tower · L9 Strong Introductions · L10 Drafting Body Floors

WEEK 3 — REVISING AND PUBLISHING: L11 Linking Words That Connect Ideas · L12 Precise Language and Domain Words · L13 The Roof — Endings That Matter · L14 Peer Feedback with the Rubric · L15 Polishing and Publishing

HOW TO USE

1. Project the lesson slides during your 55–60 minute writing block.

2. Use the Unit Overview PDF to prep each lesson in under 2 minutes.

3. Print Worksheets 01–03 in Week 1, Worksheets 04–06 in Week 2, and Worksheet 07 in Week 3.

4. Use the rubric for the Lesson 14 peer feedback session and the Lesson 15 summative task.

5. Students publish their 400–600 word informational article for a real audience.

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM v9.0 CONTENT DESCRIPTIONS

AC9E5LY06 — Plan, create, edit and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive written and/or multimodal texts

AC9E5LE03 — Explore how informational texts use language and structures to achieve purpose

AC9E5LY05 — Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning about key ideas in texts

AC9E5LY07 — Plan, create, rehearse and deliver short oral and/or multimodal presentations

AC9E5LY01 — Identify how texts convey experiences and may be created for similar purposes but different audiences

AC9E5LY04 — Locate, select and use information from a range of sources for different purposes

AC9E5LA07 — Understand how conjunctions and connectives create cohesion by linking ideas across sentences

AC9E5LA10 — Understand how vocabulary choices contribute to meaning; words with similar meanings

AC9E5LA11 — Understand how grammar and vocabulary choices impact meaning

Aligned to Australian Curriculum v9.0 — NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, NT, ACT, and TAS.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Year 5 classroom teachers across all Australian states and territories

Teachers who want a structured, evidence-based planning framework (Boxes and Bullets) students can apply independently

Teachers who want domain vocabulary and source evaluation built into the unit — not added on

Teachers looking for a non-fiction writing unit that raises expectations from Year 4

Made by a real classroom teacher  ·  DeskMade