An informative and explanatory writing unit for Years 7 to 9 that each student plays on their own device. Students learn to explain something so clearly that a reader who knew nothing could understand it, or fix it: precise words, text structures, definitions, step-by-step explanations and signposting, then a full report. It runs in a browser with no logins, works offline, and gives feedback on every piece of writing.
Teaching from one screen instead? The Informative Writing Teacher-Led Edition is 12 lessons you run from a projector, TV or interactive whiteboard while students write in their books, with a Lesson Guide page for every lesson. It is in the Star Class Academy store, and so is the bundle of all four Teacher-Led Editions.
HOW IT WORKS
- Students make a cadet whose ship has crash-landed, and play at their own pace. Progress saves as they go.
- The crash site: three missions. Explain what the water reclaimer does and why it matters; match technical terms to plain definitions; match signal words to the relationship they show.
- Six skill bays, each with three tiers that unlock as students earn reputation. Each tier has three prompts picked at random, so a replay is a new task.
- The Briefing Lab: a report introduction in three stages (background, purpose statement and roadmap). It works for any topic.
- The Full Report: each student picks a piece of recovered equipment (a life-support regulator, a distress beacon or a data core) and explains it, answering the follow-up question a reader would ask.
THE SIX SKILL BAYS
- Precision Bank: cutting vague language, with a Vague Word Lockup where 12 vague words turn red while they are still in the draft
- The Organisation Lab: choosing a text structure (chronological or process, cause and effect, compare and contrast, problem and solution)
- Definition & Example Bay: defining a term, giving an example and saying why it fits
- Explainer Bay: explaining how something works with the HOW method (Here's What Happens, Order the Steps, Why It Matters)
- The Relevance Wheel: saying why a fact matters, who it affects, what it connects to and what changes
- Signposting & Flow Bay: revising a passage so a reader can follow it, with the LINK method
FEEDBACK ON EVERY PIECE
After every bay task, written mission and the report, a crew member gives a short debrief: up to two things that are working, quoting the student's own words, and one next step. Revise It reopens the task with the draft, and the first draft is kept. The debrief reads words and patterns, not ideas, and tells students so.
SEEING YOUR CLASS'S WORK
Students press Hand In My Work to save one file with everything they have written. Drop the class's files into the teacher console's Class Work tab to see who has done what, the next steps the class got most often and the exit-ticket lines left unticked, and to read, print or download each student's work. The files are read on your computer only.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
- The game: one HTML file, with its artwork, music and sound
- The teacher console: present any task full screen, the Class Work tab, daily class codes and curriculum links for every lesson
- A Teachers Guide (PDF, 14 pages) and a START HERE read-me
SAVING AND PRIVACY
Progress saves in the browser on that device, including drafts as students type. A Cadet ID moves a student to another computer. Nothing is uploaded, there is no login, and no student data is collected.
CURRICULUM
Common Core has its own informative and explanatory writing standard, W.2, and the bays map onto its lettered parts (W.2.a to W.2.d) for Years 7 to 10, with W.4 as well. Each bay is also linked to Australian Curriculum v9 English, Cambridge Lower Secondary English, IB MYP Language and Literature, and the UK National Curriculum (KS3), with a note on how close each match is.
ACROSS SUBJECTS
Nothing here needs a set text. The HOW method and the four structures suit a science write-up, a design justification or a cause-and-effect answer in humanities.
MORE FROM STAR CLASS
The free Informative Writing Worksheets cover report planning, topic sentences and transitions on paper. The Informative Report Planner is a single-file planning tool for any report.
Licensed for one teacher and their own classes.
Questions? starclassacademy.com/help?ref=sh or hello@starclassacademy.com
