Twelve no-prep informative and explanatory writing lessons for Years 7 to 9 that you teach from one screen: a projector, TV or interactive whiteboard. Students learn precise terms, choosing a structure, defining with examples and signposting, and finish with a full explanatory report. A Lesson Guide page for every lesson means it also suits a relief day.
Runs in a browser. Nothing to install, no account, and it works offline. Students write in their books: no student devices, no logins.
WHICH EDITION DO I NEED?
- Teacher-Led Edition (this one): 12 lessons you run from one screen. Students write in their books. No student devices, no logins, no prep. A Lesson Guide and an optional student booklet are included.
- Student Game Edition: each student works on their own device, with six skill bays, a capstone and a teacher console. Choose it if your class has laptops or tablets.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
- The lesson app: one HTML file with all 12 lessons, the artwork, music and sound effects built in
- Lesson Guide (PDF, 14 pages): one page per lesson with every step and its minutes, teacher notes, answers and curriculum links
- Cadet Logbook (PDF, 17 pages): an optional printable student booklet, one page per lesson
- A START HERE read-me
HOW A LESSON RUNS
Most lessons follow the same rhythm, so students know what's coming:
- Today: learning intention and success criteria
- Story: a short story beat or a crew member's request
- Warm-up: a timed word game in books
- Learn: explicit teaching of one skill, with weak and strong examples and a quick check
- Model: think aloud through a strong example, and each press of the arrow reveals the next move, so the class can predict it first
- Together: you type the class's ideas on the live board, and in the skill bays the tool beside it responds as you type (a checklist that ticks, words that light up or a meter, depending on the bay)
- Your turn: students write against the timer, with sentence starters for support and stretch tasks for fast finishers
- Check: success criteria, an exit ticket and a share
Some lessons add a matching task, a decoding game or a Choose step, and the planning and report lessons at the end leave some steps out. Lessons run 39 to 56 minutes, and the Lesson Guide shows the time for each step and the total for each lesson. In the six skill bay lessons you choose Cadet, Officer or Commander level for the class.
THE 12 LESSONS
- Crash Landing: explaining what something does and why it matters
- The Abandoned City: precise technical terms and what they mean
- The Shoreline and the Signal: signal words that connect ideas
- Precision Bank: specific vocabulary instead of vague words
- Choosing a structure: process, cause and effect, compare, problem and solution
- Definition & Example Bay: defining a term and backing it with an example
- Explainer Bay: explaining how something works with the HOW method
- The Relevance Wheel: showing the reader why it matters
- Signposting & Flow Bay: revising for flow with the LINK method
- The Briefing Lab: background, purpose statement and roadmap
- The Full Report: a full explanatory report that answers the reader's follow-up questions
- Final Review: revising so every idea connects
The story runs across the whole unit. Your class are cadets whose ship has crash-landed, and each lesson moves the mission forward, finishing with a full report filed and revised.
EASY TO RUN
- Keys: arrows or Space to move, T for the timer, R to reveal answers, H for a hint from Nova, F for full screen, M for music, ? for teacher notes
- Works with a presentation clicker
- Music is off when you start, and the sound effects have their own button
- Nothing about students is collected or saved. The browser remembers only the class's progress, on your own computer.
CURRICULUM
Australian Curriculum v9 English, Years 7, 8 and 9, and Common Core W.2 and W.4 for Years 7 to 10. The codes for each lesson are in the Lesson Guide.
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All four Teacher-Led Editions (narrative, persuasive, informative and analytical writing) come as a bundle in the Star Class Academy store. The Informative Report Planner is a one-lesson planning tool, and the free Informative Writing Worksheets cover report planning, topic sentences and transitions on paper. Star Class HQ is free too: a classroom hub with a behaviour tracker, name pickers and reward games, running in a browser.
Licensed for one teacher and their own classes.
Questions? starclassacademy.com/help?ref=sh or hello@starclassacademy.com
