Writing Unit 1: Text Innovation - De and Danielle

About this teaching resource

The Five Pillars of Effective Writing Instruction

Unit 1: Text Innovation — Planning and Critical Features Pack

Developed by Danielle Monique and De Ludlum, Fairview Primary School

What does genuinely purposeful writing instruction look like from the inside? This resource answers that question directly, placing into teachers' hands the actual planning documents behind one of the most joyful and ambitious writing units you will find in a Year 6 classroom.

The Text Innovation Planning and Critical Features Pack contains the complete unit overview for When Animals Collide: The World's Most Bizarre Creatures — a five-week writing unit built around Philip Bunting's picture books, in which students mash two animals together to create an entirely new creature. Alongside the detailed day-by-day planning grid sits the critical features document that students themselves receive at the outset — a transparent, student-facing map of the full unit, including learning intentions, success criteria, and staged submission points.

Together, these documents reveal what backwards planning, front-end loading, and high expectations actually look like in practice — not as theory, but as a living, breathing classroom reality.

Designed for Years 5 and 6, this pack is an invaluable starting point for any teacher ready to plan boldly, teach with purpose, and trust every student to produce something truly worth publishing.

Listen to Podcast 1: Purposeful Planning here

Read the Blog: Purposeful Planning here