Cross Curricular
ICT Unit 4A To use ICT to organise, reorganize and analyse ideas and information to edit text and use a variety of presentation techniques
Linked to English Year 4 and Design and Technology Year 4
Integrated Task 3
Ask the children to work in pairs to recall the steps they took when making their product in design and technology. Explain that they will be producing a set of clear instructions so that someone else could carry out the same task. Remind them of the conventions they have come across in their reading. Consider the target audience, eg younger children in another class, parents reading the school magazin e, and remind children of the need to ensure that their presentational style reflects this.
Discuss the key features of instructional texts, eg an informative title, a list of the materials needed, clear instructions, appropriate diagrams. Remind the children of the need to use imperative verbs at the beginning of sentences, eg put, take, cut, and to use time markers, eg next, after, meanwhile.
Ask the children to expand and refine their instructions, and to use appropriate effects to engage the reader’s attention, eg illustrations (such as digital camera images taken while making the products).
Ask the children to work together to make numbered notes of the steps in the activity, and to save their work. They should review work in progress and modify it, based on discussion with their partner.
Show examples of work in progress to the whole class, using a data projector, and ask children to evaluate each other’s work. Have any steps been missed out? Are the instructions clear and easy to read? How could they be improved?
Learning Outcomes
- organise and reorganise text on screen
- use appropriate techniques to ensure that their instructions are clear, well presented and free from errors