Y05W08WR Wild Weather Explained
Part 1
How to Write
An explanatory text makes a concept, process or system understandable to a reader who is encountering it for the first time. It is written for someone who wants to genuinely understand how or why something works. The tone should be clear and patient — building understanding step by step without assuming prior knowledge.
- Ideas & content: Select the most important information needed to understand the topic. Focus on how and why — explanation is about building genuine understanding, not just describing what exists.
- Structure & cohesion: Move from the general to the specific. Introduce the concept, explain how or why it works, then give examples or consequences. Use cause-and-effect connectives to show relationships between ideas.
- Voice & audience: Write as a knowledgeable guide. Define terms as you introduce them. Avoid jargon without explanation. Your reader should feel guided through the topic, not overwhelmed by it.
- Language choices: Use precise vocabulary and define technical terms clearly. Write in the present tense for ongoing processes. Vary sentence length — shorter sentences help when ideas are complex.
- Conventions: Spell technical vocabulary accurately. Use commas, colons and semicolons to manage complex explanations. Keep sentences clear even when the ideas are demanding.
Common pitfalls: Describing what something is without explaining how or why it works — readers need to understand the mechanism, not just the label. Including too many facts without connecting them into a clear explanation that builds understanding progressively.
Part 2
Your Task Plan for Today
Question: Write your section for the booklet. You have space for an introduction and three body paragraphs. Choose and organise the facts that best explain how these weather events form and what makes them dangerous. Write clearly for readers your own age.
Stimulus: A local emergency services organisation is creating an information booklet for primary school students about weather emergencies. They have asked students to write one section explaining how storms and floods form and why they can be dangerous.
Task Analysis: Choose four or five simple facts that explain storms and floods. Organise them clearly. Explain what happens in order: warm air rises, clouds form, rain falls, water floods. Keep sentences short and clear.
Quick Plan
Before you write, plan:
- How storms form — warm air and cool air collide
- What happens during a storm — rain, lightning, wind
- What causes flooding — too much rain falls too fast
- Why flooding is dangerous — water moves fast and is hard to stop
Define the key concept
Open by saying what you will explain: ‘Storms and floods are weather events that can be dangerous. Here is how they happen.’ Make it clear from the start.
Paragraph focus
Give each paragraph one main idea. Paragraph 1 might be about storms. Paragraph 2 might be about floods. Paragraph 3 might be about safety. Do not mix ideas.
Tone & voice
Write like a friendly teacher explaining something important. Use simple words. Explain technical words when you use them. For example: ‘Lightning is a huge spark of electricity between a cloud and the ground.‘
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Opens in a new window.