Y05W34WR How Plants Grow

Part 1

How to Write

Explanatory – Explanation text

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

The brief

Question: Write a simple, clear explanation of how plants grow for kindergarten-aged children to take home. You have space for one short introduction and three key points. Choose and organise the facts that are most appropriate for that age group. Write in language a five-year-old could understand when read aloud by a parent.

Stimulus: Your school garden has just been planted. A teacher from a local kindergarten is visiting and wants something written that her children can take home explaining how plants grow.

Task Analysis: Write for five-year-olds and their parents. Use very simple words. Three key ideas: seeds, water and sun, and growing big. Avoid technical words. Make it fun and easy to understand.

Quick Plan

Before you write, plan:

  • How plants start — from a seed
  • What plants need — water, sun, soil
  • How plants grow big — slowly, day by day
  • What plants give us — flowers, food, oxygen

Define the key concept

Open very simply: ‘Plants grow from tiny seeds. Here is how.’ That is all you need. Kindergarteners do not need a long explanation first.

Key details to include

Use simple, clear language. Not: ‘Photosynthesis’ or ‘roots absorb water.’ Instead: ‘The tiny root hairs drink water from the ground.’ Use words kindergarteners know.

Tone & voice

Write like you are talking to a five-year-old. Use short sentences. Sound interested and warm. Maybe even use a little rhyme. Make it fun to read aloud.