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English lesson plan · 4th grade (Year 5 in England) · 60 minutes

Author's purpose

Reading Comprehension

CCSS RI.4.8CCSS RI.6.6England: Y5/6 ReadingEngland: KS2 SATs Reading

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Author's purpose.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Main idea and supporting details

Leads to: Rhetoric and persuasive techniques; Why did the author include this detail?

Materials: A short text or extract (one copy each), Highlighters, Question cards, Mini whiteboards, A short model text on the board, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 6 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Main idea and supporting details). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. Exercise is good for your body and your mind. It makes your heart and muscles stronger. It can also help you sleep better and feel happier. What is the main idea? (Sleep is important. / Exercise has many benefits. / Muscles are strong. / Running is fun.) → Exercise has many benefits.Prompt: What is the WHOLE text mostly about, not just one part?
  2. Sloths move very slowly. They hang upside down in trees for most of the day. They even sleep and eat upside down. Moving slowly helps them save energy. What is the main idea? (Sloths eat leaves. / Trees are tall. / Sloths sleep a lot. / Sloths live slow, upside-down lives in trees.) → Sloths live slow, upside-down lives in trees.Prompt: What is the WHOLE text mostly about, not just one part?
  3. Recycling helps our planet. When we recycle paper, fewer trees are cut down. Recycling cans saves energy. It also means less rubbish goes into the ground. What is the main idea? (Rubbish is smelly. / Paper comes from trees. / Cans are made of metal. / Recycling helps the planet in many ways.) → Recycling helps the planet in many ways.Prompt: What is the WHOLE text mostly about, not just one part?

Hook · 6 min

  • Read the first lines of a short text aloud and ask what students predict will happen and why.
  • Share the objective: Author's purpose. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 12 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Every pupil should learn to swim. Swimming keeps you fit, it is fun, and it could one day save your life. What is the author's main purpose?
  • Step 1: The writer's choices show their purpose.
  • Step 2: So the answer is: to persuade
  • Answer: to persuade
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 12 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Come to Sunny Farm this Saturday! Meet the baby goats, ride a pony and taste our famous apple pie. Tickets only $5! What is the author's main purpose? (to describe the weather / to persuade people to visit the farm / to tell a funny story / to explain how goats grow) → to persuade people to visit the farmPrompt: Is the writer mainly trying to inform, persuade, entertain or explain?
  2. Every pupil should learn to swim. Swimming keeps you fit, it is fun, and it could one day save your life. What is the author's main purpose? (to describe a pool / to persuade / to entertain / to explain how to swim) → to persuadePrompt: Is the writer mainly trying to inform, persuade, entertain or explain?

You do: independent practice · 17 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 7 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Every pupil should learn to swim. Swimming keeps you fit, it is fun, and it could one day save your life. What is the author's main purpose? (to persuade / to describe a pool / to explain how to swim / to entertain) → to persuadePrompt: Is the writer mainly trying to inform, persuade, entertain or explain?

Watch out for

  • Answering from memory or opinion instead of evidence in the text.
  • Copying a long quote without explaining what it shows.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Main idea and supporting details.
  • Use concrete materials: a short text or extract (one copy each).
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Move on to: Rhetoric and persuasive techniques; Why did the author include this detail?.
  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/english/grade-4.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

eurekami

Author's purpose

Name

Date

Score/ 8

The Shark on the Motorway

During a storm last spring, a photo exploded across social media. It showed a large shark swimming beside cars on a flooded motorway. Within hours it had been shared more than 80,000 times, often with captions such as "Stay indoors — sharks in the streets!" Fourteen-year-old Amira Haddad saw the photo in her family group chat. Something felt wrong. "The shark looked too sharp compared with the blurry water," she said. "So I decided to check." First, Amira ran a reverse image search. She found the same shark in a wildlife photo published years earlier, on a website about ocean animals. Next, she checked two local news sites. Neither mentioned sharks; both reported flooding and road closures. Finally, she found an article from a fact-checking organisation explaining that the image had been edited and had appeared during several different storms in different countries. Amira posted the fact-check in the group chat. "My uncle had already shared the photo," she laughed. "He was embarrassed, but he thanked me." Fact-checkers say edited images spread fastest when they are shocking and arrive during real emergencies, when people are anxious and want to warn others. Their advice is simple: pause before you share, look for the original source, and check whether reliable outlets are reporting the same thing.

  1. Question 1

    Read "The Shark on the Motorway". What is the writer's main purpose in the final paragraph?

    • A. to criticise Amira's uncle
    • B. to give readers practical advice for checking images
    • C. to make readers afraid of storms
    • D. to describe sharks

  1. Question 2

    1. Fill the pot with water. 2. Bring it to the boil. 3. Add the pasta and stir. 4. Cook for ten minutes. What is the author's main purpose?

    • A. to describe Italy
    • B. to persuade you to eat pasta
    • C. to explain how to cook pasta
    • D. to tell a story about a chef

A Letter to the Council

Dear Councillors, I am writing to ask you not to close Elm Street Library. I am nine years old, and the library is one of the most important places in our town. First, the library helps children learn. Every Saturday, there is a story club where younger children listen to stories and older children like me read aloud. Many families cannot afford to buy lots of books, but at the library everyone can borrow them for free. Second, the library is not just for children. My neighbour, Mr Haddad, goes there every week to use the computers because he does not have one at home. He uses them to apply for jobs and to talk to his grandchildren in another country. Some people say that everything is online now, so we do not need libraries. However, not everyone has the internet at home, and a website cannot give you a quiet, warm place to study or a librarian who helps you find exactly the right book. Please keep our library open. It belongs to all of us. Yours faithfully, Priya Shah

  1. Question 3

    Read "A Letter to the Council". What is Priya's main purpose in writing this letter?

    • A. to describe her favourite book
    • B. to persuade the council to keep the library open
    • C. to explain how to use computers
    • D. to complain about Mr Haddad

Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?

In many parts of the world, autumn turns forests into blazes of yellow, orange and red. But where do these bright shades come from? The answer is hidden inside every leaf. During spring and summer, leaves are busy making food for the tree. To do this, they use sunlight, water and air. A green substance called chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight. There is so much chlorophyll in a leaf that it hides all the other shades. As autumn arrives, the days grow shorter and there is less sunlight. Trees such as maples and oaks begin to get ready for winter. They stop making chlorophyll. As the green fades away, the yellows and oranges that were in the leaf all along begin to show. Some trees, such as certain maples, also make a brand-new red substance in autumn. This is why some leaves turn bright red or purple. Finally, the tree seals off each leaf where it joins the branch. The leaf dries out and falls. Without leaves, the tree uses less water during the cold winter months. In spring, new green leaves will grow, and the cycle will begin again.

  1. Question 4

    Read "Why Do Leaves Change in Autumn?". What is the author's main purpose?

    • A. to describe a painting
    • B. to persuade people to plant trees
    • C. to tell a story about a forest
    • D. to explain why leaves change in autumn

Should Primary Schools Ban Homework?

Every evening, in homes across the country, the same battle takes place: tired children, frustrated parents and a worksheet that nobody wants to finish. It is time for primary schools to ban homework. The most important reason is that, for young children, the evidence for homework is weak. Several large reviews of research have found that homework has little measurable effect on the test results of pupils under eleven. Older students may benefit, but for younger children, the hours spent on worksheets do not seem to pay off. Second, children need time to play, rest and be with their families. Play is not a waste of time; it builds creativity, problem-solving and friendships. A child who has spent six hours concentrating at school deserves an evening to explore, read for pleasure or simply be bored – which is when imagination often kicks in. Some people argue that homework teaches responsibility. This is a fair point. However, children can learn responsibility in many other ways: feeding a pet, helping to cook dinner or practising an instrument they have chosen themselves. Finally, homework can be unfair. Some children have parents who can help them every night and a quiet desk to work at. Others share a small space with siblings or have parents who work late. Homework can widen the gap between these children instead of closing it. Schools should replace homework with something simple: read every day, for fun. That is one habit worth taking home.

  1. Question 5

    Read "Should Primary Schools Ban Homework?". Why does the writer open with a description of an evening 'battle'?

    • A. to grab attention with a situation readers recognise
    • B. to give statistical evidence
    • C. to argue that parents are lazy
    • D. to describe a real war

Should Our School Keep Bees?

Letter A: Yes to bees! Our school should put two beehives on the flat roof above the library. Bees pollinate fruit, vegetables and wildflowers, and in many places their numbers have fallen. A school hive would give local bees a safe home. It would also turn our roof into a living science lesson: we could study how a colony works, measure how much honey it makes, and plant bee-friendly flowers in the playground. Several schools near us already keep bees, and the beekeepers say pupils are never near the hives, because the roof is locked. Letter B: Not so fast. I agree that bees are important, but I do not think hives are right for our school yet. Some pupils and staff are allergic to bee stings, and even a locked roof is close to open windows. Hives also need an expert to check them every week, and no one at school has that training. Instead, we could help bees in safer ways: plant a wildflower strip by the fence, build a bug hotel, and invite a beekeeper to visit with an observation hive behind glass. If, after a year, we find a trained volunteer, we could think about hives again.

  1. Question 6

    Read "Should Our School Keep Bees?". What is the main purpose of both letters?

    • A. to entertain with a story
    • B. to persuade the reader
    • C. to give instructions
    • D. to describe a beehive

How to Build a Junk Robot

Do you have a pile of empty boxes and bottle tops? Instead of throwing them away, turn them into a robot! This project takes about an hour. You will need: one cereal box, one smaller box (such as a toothpaste box), four cardboard tubes, bottle tops, glue, scissors and some tape. Step 1: Ask an adult to help you cut a hole in the top of the cereal box. This will be the robot's body. Step 2: Glue the smaller box on top of the body to make the head. Hold it in place for a minute while the glue sets. Step 3: Tape two cardboard tubes to the sides of the body for arms and two to the bottom for legs. Step 4: Glue bottle tops onto the head for eyes and onto the body for buttons and dials. Step 5: Leave your robot to dry overnight before you play with it. Top tip: Give your robot a name and write it on a label. Robots with names are much more fun!

  1. Question 7

    Read "How to Build a Junk Robot". What is the main purpose of this text?

    • A. to describe a factory
    • B. to persuade people to recycle
    • C. to tell a story about a robot
    • D. to give instructions

The Clever Octopus

If you wanted to design an intelligent animal from scratch, you probably would not start with a creature that has no bones, three hearts and blue blood. Yet the octopus is one of the most remarkable problem-solvers in the animal kingdom. In laboratories, octopuses have learned to unscrew jar lids to reach crabs inside. Some have escaped from their tanks at night, crept across the floor to a neighbouring tank to eat the fish, and then returned home before morning. In the wild, veined octopuses have been filmed collecting coconut shells, carrying them across the seabed and assembling them into a portable shelter – one of the few known examples of tool use by an invertebrate. What makes this intelligence so surprising is how different the octopus brain is from ours. About two-thirds of its roughly 500 million nerve cells are not in its head at all but in its eight arms. Each arm can taste, touch and even make simple decisions on its own. Scientists are still debating what it might feel like to be an animal whose thinking is spread throughout its body. The octopus's cleverness may be linked to its lifestyle. Without a shell for protection, it must outwit predators by hiding, changing colour in a fraction of a second, or squeezing through gaps no bigger than its beak. Survival depends on flexible thinking. Strangely, most octopuses live only one or two years. They have no parents to teach them and usually die soon after laying eggs. Every skill they show, they must largely work out for themselves.

  1. Question 8

    Read "The Clever Octopus". Why does the writer open by describing the octopus's bones, hearts and blood?

    • A. to explain how octopuses breathe
    • B. to argue that octopuses are dangerous
    • C. to compare octopuses with fish
    • D. to show how unexpected its intelligence is

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Answer key: Author's purpose

  1. 1. B. to give readers practical advice for checking images

  2. 2. C. to explain how to cook pasta

  3. 3. B. to persuade the council to keep the library open

  4. 4. D. to explain why leaves change in autumn

  5. 5. A. to grab attention with a situation readers recognise

  6. 6. B. to persuade the reader

  7. 7. D. to give instructions

  8. 8. D. to show how unexpected its intelligence is