In this Year 3 writing unit from our Real Writing collection, you'll guide pupils through an engaging biographical recount written by published children’s author Loretta Schauer. The model text focuses on the life and art of Queenie McKenzie, the celebrated Aboriginal artist and activist from Australia.
You'll receive the text in three PDF versions (plain, illustrated and annotated), plus fully annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint slides to support whole-class reading and teaching.
Introduce pupils to a carefully mapped teaching sequence that follows our Real Writing framework. Across two to three weeks of detailed lesson planning, you'll teach a complete biographical recount unit with clear links to Year 3 writing objectives.
The unit also connects to other curriculum areas, particularly art and design, where pupils learn about great artists and explore Aboriginal heritage, pigments, landscape art and dreamtime stories.
Curriculum links
Pupils will build a rich and varied vocabulary by exploring synonyms and checking word choices with a thesaurus. They'll also learn to group related information into short, cohesive paragraphs and use topic sentences confidently.
You'll also revisit essential Year 3 skills such as subordination, correct tense use and apostrophes for singular possession. Children will also practise their control of conjunctions, adverbials and prepositions to express time, place and cause.
Featured vocabulary
Spelling words: earth, interest, woman/women, continue, natural, often, decide, favourite, knowledge, popular
Tier 2 words: heritage, activist
Tier 3 words: pigments, landscape, dreamtime, Aboriginal, indigenous
Resources included
You receive:
• Teacher notes outlining the full teaching sequence
• Model text in three PDF versions
• Annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint slides
• Vocabulary cards and matching activities
• Activity sheets for composition and vocabulary work
• Recount planners, posters and writing checklists
Key teaching activities
Begin by exploring Queenie McKenzie’s artwork and discussing the earthy colours, simple shapes and dotted outlines she used. If possible, pupils should create their own painting in her style.
Then read the model text together and investigate its structure, tense choices and organisational features. Pupils can highlight examples of past tense verbs, possessive apostrophes, conjunctions and adverbials. They'll also take part in vocabulary investigations using the Tier 2, Tier 3 and statutory word cards.
Guide pupils through expanded noun phrase work, paragraph grouping tasks and research activities using additional sources. Pupils will then plan their own recount using the margin planner and apply skills from the ‘How to write a recount’ poster.
Expected outcomes for pupils
By the end of the unit, pupils will:
- write a clear, well-structured biographical recount of Queenie McKenzie
- organise paragraphs around a clear theme
- apply a varied vocabulary, including common exception words and specialist Tier 2 and Tier 3 terminology
- demonstrate accuracy in grammar and punctuation
- plan, draft, edit and improve their own writing with increasing independence
- deepen their understanding of Queenie McKenzie as an important indigenous artist