This Year 1 writing unit from our Real Writing collection is designed to engage pupils with clear, practical lessons that build essential English skills.
All texts in our Real Writing units are written by published children’s authors, ensuring high-quality, age-appropriate material. This unit focuses on a non-chronological report titled Types of Houses by Gabrielle Kent, exploring different types of houses and the vocabulary needed to describe them.
Unit overview
Over two to three weeks, pupils will explore how headings organise information and how technical vocabulary supports clear writing. This unit links seamlessly with geography, enabling pupils to describe their locality and key human features such as houses, shops and other buildings.
Pupils will finish the unit by writing their own short reports about houses and homes, applying their developing knowledge of English and geography.
Curriculum links
This unit directly addresses the following Year 1 English objectives:
- Vocabulary: adding the suffix -s to create plural nouns
- Grammar: joining clauses using ‘and’
- Punctuation: using capital letters and full stops
In addition, the unit revisits essential writing strategies, such as saying out loud what they are going to write, leaving spaces between words, rereading writing to ensure it makes sense and reading aloud confidently.
Key vocabulary
Pupils will learn and use a range of vocabulary to enhance their writing:
- Common exception words: has, a, the, are, one, of, they, some
- Tier 2 words: house, home, building
- Tier 3 words: detached, mansion, semi-detached, terraced, town, city, flats, lift, bungalow, cottage, village, countryside, thatched roof
Resources
The unit includes everything teachers need to deliver engaging lessons:
- Model text PDF in three versions: plain, illustrated and annotated
- Annotated and non-annotated PowerPoint presentations
- Types of houses match cards
- Vocabulary cards and activities
- Planning sheets
- Writer’s craft guidance
- CEW cards for spelling and reading practice
Teaching activities
Phase 1 – Familiarisation
Take pupils on a local walk to identify different types of houses and buildings. Photograph buildings to discuss later, using geographical vocabulary to describe their uses and features. Read the model text and highlight headings and technical vocabulary, linking it to pupils’ observations.
Phase 2 – Teaching and rehearsing
Use lesson activities to teach plural nouns, joining clauses with ‘and’, and correct punctuation. Match headings to pictures, discuss vocabulary cards and practise reading and spelling common exception words. Pupils will draw and label different types of houses, recording key information on planning sheets.
Phase 3 – Application
Pupils will plan and write their own reports about houses and homes. Encourage the use of geographical vocabulary and descriptive phrases, such as house materials or location within a town or village. Pupils will reread their work, check punctuation and sentence structure, and, where appropriate, use a writer’s checklist for self-assessment.
Outcomes
By the end of the unit, pupils will be able to:
- Identify and use headings to organise information
- Use technical and descriptive vocabulary confidently
- Apply plurals, joining clauses and correct punctuation in their writing
- Write short non-chronological reports about houses and homes
- Link English and geography learning to describe local buildings accurately
This unit provides a structured, engaging and teacher-friendly approach to developing Year 1 writing skills while linking literacy and geography in meaningful ways.