Skill companion: Communicating for an Audience (Year 6)

← Back to the unitTip: in the print dialog choose “Save as PDF”.

Skill companion · Year 6 Science Inquiryseegongsik /au

Communicating for an Audience: a skill companion

A small set of reusable sheets that grow one inquiry skill: sharing a finding so that it does a job for a reader, by choosing the text type and the order of its parts for the purpose, and the words, numbers and pictures for the reader. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.

AC9S6I06

write and create texts to communicate ideas and findings for specific purposes and audiences, including selection of language features, using digital tools as appropriate

What a skill companion is

Inquiry skills are not a topic of their own. They grow inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as Habitat Conditions and Survival; Earth, Sun and the Day-Night Cycle; Electrical Circuits and Energy; and Reversible and Irreversible Changes. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the skill on its own first.

Start here: five minutes

Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows which scaffold fits which science lesson.
Print the message planner whenever a class shares a finding, and the data-to-message sheet once per child.
Cut out the job cards once. They are reused all year whenever a class writes up a finding.
Open the free interactive unit on your board when you want a worked example of the skill.
Run the one-page mini-lesson first if you want to teach the skill before folding it into a topic.

No science background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each scaffold explains itself in plain words, and the answer sheet gives a model chart caption, recommendation and sign for the worked finding, the card key, a model text for every Year 6 topic, and a quick three-level guide. In Year 5, children wrote one finding for two readers. The step up in Year 6 is the purpose and the parts: whether a text should inform, explain or persuade decides its type and the order of its parts, and a text that asks a reader to act says how we know and how sure we are.

On the board

This pack is the printable half of a free interactive unit. On screen, children choose a format in “Pick the format that fits the audience”, sort sentences with “Clear” and “Not clear” in “Which sentences communicate the finding well?”, and switch between “Table” and “Bar chart” in “A chart communicates the result”. Each scaffold in this pack turns one of those moves into something children do on paper.

seegongsik.com/au/y6/inquiry/AC9S6I06

Aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9 (AC9S6I06). This pack is original material from seegongsik, independently produced and not endorsed by ACARA. Curriculum content descriptors are (c) ACARA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Free to print and use in class.

Where the skill fitsPairing map

Slot the skill into your science lessons

Every science unit ends with a finding worth sharing. This map shows a finding from each Year 6 topic, who could read it and why, the text type that suits that purpose, and which scaffold to reach for. You do not run these as extra lessons; you fold them into the science you teach.

When you teach	Finding	Who reads it, and why	Text type	Scaffold
Habitat Conditions and Survival (AC9S6U01)	Lettuce seedlings stayed healthier under shade cloth in a hot fortnight	The garden committee, to decide what to buy; the Year 2 gardeners, to know why	A recommendation; a garden sign	The data-to-message sheet is this finding
Earth, Sun and the Day-Night Cycle (AC9S6U02)	Hours of daylight fall from January to June, then rise again	Families, to plan after-school sport; the junior class, to see why	A newsletter paragraph with a line graph; a labelled globe diagram	Message planner, then the job cards
Electrical Circuits and Energy (AC9S6U03)	In a torch, energy stored in the cells is transformed into light and heat in the bulb	The junior class, to explain how a torch works	A labelled diagram with arrows, or a short video	Message planner
Reversible and Irreversible Changes (AC9S6U04)	Salt water makes iron nails rust faster, and rusting cannot be undone	The maintenance team, to protect metal; the whole school, at assembly	A recommendation with a chart; one slide	The mini-lesson, then the job cards
Any science topic	The class’s own finding	Children choose the reader and the purpose first	The purpose picks the text type	Message planner first, every time

The three moves, and the picture that backs each one

When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit and use the picture that matches the move children are working on.

Choose a text type for the reader and the purpose: “Pick the format that fits the audience”.
Choose clear, precise sentences that report the finding: “Which sentences communicate the finding well?”.
Show the result so the reader sees it at a glance: “A chart communicates the result”.

How the scaffolds build the skill

The message planner asks who will read, what the text should do for them, which text type and parts suit that purpose, and which language features and digital tool suit the reader. The data-to-message sheet turns one lettuce finding into a chart with a caption, a recommendation for the garden committee and a sign for young gardeners. The job cards sort sentences into what we found, how we know and how sure we are, then build them into short reports.

Scaffold 1 · Message plannerOne per child

Who is it for, and what should it do?

NameClassDate

Before you write, decide who will read it and what you want it to do for them. The purpose picks the text type and the order of its parts; the reader picks the words, the pictures and how exact the numbers are.

Our finding, in one sentence:

Who will read it, and what do they already know?

What should it do for them?

inform them □explain why it happens □persuade them to act □show them how □

Which text type suits that purpose?

poster □report □recommendation □labelled diagram □slide □newsletter article □letter or email □short video □

The parts, in order

Persuading someone to act usually runs: what we found, how we know, what we recommend, how sure we are.

First
Then
Then
Last

Language features we will use

Science words	such as irreversible, conductor, habitat □
Numbers with units	exact, such as 17 of 20 or 31 mg □
Comparing words	more than, twice as many, the least □
Cause-and-effect words	because, so, as a result □
Careful words	suggests, in our test, we are not sure yet □
A picture that does work	a labelled diagram, a graph or a table □

The digital tool we will use, and how it helps the reader:

Read it as your reader. What would they still ask?

Scaffold 2 · From data to messageOne per child

One finding, three jobs

NameClassDate

A class planted 20 lettuce seedlings under each of four covers in the school garden for a hot fortnight in December, then counted the seedlings still healthy: green, upright and not wilted. Turn the finding into a chart, a recommendation and a sign.

Cover	Healthy after two weeks
No cover (full sun)	7 of 20
30% shade cloth	14 of 20
50% shade cloth	17 of 20
70% shade cloth	16 of 20

A. A chart for the newsletter

Title:

Caption (the finding, with numbers):

B. A recommendation for the garden committee

What we found
How we know
What we recommend
How sure we are

Word bank:shade clothwiltedhealthymore than twice as manywe recommendbecausein our test

C. A sign for the Year 2 gardeners

Why it suits them:

Scaffold 3 · Job cards (cut out)Reuse all year

What job does each sentence do?

Cut out the cards. Lay down the three grey heading cards, then place each sentence under the job it does in a science text. Next, put each finding with the cards that back it. One evidence card has no finding: write that card yourself.

Says what we foundThe finding, in wordsHeading

Shows how we knowEvidence: what we measured, with unitsHeading

Says how sure we areWhat we did not test, or how far it goesHeading

Shade cloth kept more lettuce seedlings healthy through a hot fortnight.Card A

Under 50% shade cloth, 17 of 20 seedlings stayed healthy; in full sun, only 7 of 20 did.Card B

We tested only one hot fortnight, in one school garden.Card C

The nail in salt water gained 31 mg of rust in five days; the nail in fresh water gained 15 mg.Card D

Salt water makes iron nails rust faster than fresh water does.Card E

Our results suggest this, but we used only one nail in each jar.Card F

The more cells in the circuit, the brighter the bulb glowed.Card G

With 1, 2, 3 and 4 cells, the light meter read 3, 13, 29 and 51 lux.Card H

The stick’s shadow was 138 cm long at 9 am and 67 cm long at noon.Card I

Write the finding that goes with card I.Your card

Teacher note: the piles are not the same size. The key, with which cards go together, is on the answer sheet.

Mini-lesson · Teacher planAbout 30 minutes

Say it so they can use it

Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the skill on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. The class takes the rust finding from the interactive unit and shares it twice: one slide that informs the whole school at assembly, and a short recommendation that asks the maintenance team to protect the metal around the school.

We are learning to

choose a text type, and the order of its parts, for a purpose,
select words, numbers and pictures that suit the reader,
say how we know and how sure we are when we ask a reader to act.

Success criteria

I can write a recommendation that says what we found, how we know, what we recommend and how sure we are.
I can give a chart a title and a caption that states the finding with numbers and units.

You need

the rust readings on the board: over five days, the nail in dry air gained 1 mg, in fresh water 15 mg and in salt water 31 mg,
the message planner (scaffold 1), one per child, and the job cards (scaffold 3), one set per table,
tablets or computers for the slide, if you have them (optional), and the free interactive unit on your board.

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

5 min	What should it do? Show the board (see the box). Name the two readers and what each text must do: inform the school, and persuade the maintenance team to act. Ask: “What does the maintenance team need from us before they spend money on paint?”
5 min	Sort the jobs Tables sort the job cards under the three headings, then put each finding with the cards that back it. Ask: “Which card on your table says how sure we are? Why would a reader want it?”
15 min	Write for a purpose Half of each table makes the assembly slide: a headline, a bar chart and a one-line caption. The other half writes the recommendation in four parts, using the planner’s order. Ask: “Read your text as your reader would. What would they still ask?”
5 min	Swap and check Each half reads the other’s text and checks it against the planner’s language-feature list. Ask: “What stayed the same in both texts? What changed, and why?”

Running it shorter? Stop after the sort, and write the two texts in your next science or English lesson.

On the board

For a worked example, open the unit and switch “A chart communicates the result” from “Table” to “Bar chart”: the same numbers, but the salt-water bar shows the finding at a glance. Then choose each format in “Pick the format that fits the audience” and read what it gains and what it gives up.

seegongsik.com/au/y6/inquiry/AC9S6I06

Watch for these ideas

Writing every text the same way, only longer or shorter, whatever its purpose.
Leaving out the numbers, units or comparison a reader needs to see how big the difference is.
Claiming more than the evidence shows, such as ‘salt destroys all metal’, from one nail in each jar.

Make it easier, make it bigger

Easier: give sentence starters, such as ‘We found that ...’, ‘We know because ...’ and ‘We recommend ...’.
Bigger: turn the recommendation into a 30-second spoken report for the school podcast, and say which language features changed.

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has a model caption, recommendation and sign for the lettuce finding, the job-card key, a model text for each Year 6 topic, and a quick three-level guide.

Answers · For the teacherModel responses

Answers and look-fors

From data to message: the lettuces

A. Title: ‘Lettuce seedlings still healthy after a hot fortnight, under four covers’. Bars of 7, 14, 17, 16 on the scale from 0 to 20. Caption: ‘More than twice as many seedlings stayed healthy under 50% shade cloth (17 of 20) as in full sun (7 of 20).’

B. The recommendation for the garden committee, part by part:

What we found	Shade cloth kept many more lettuce seedlings healthy through a hot fortnight.
How we know	17 of 20 seedlings stayed healthy under 50% shade cloth and 16 of 20 under 70% shade cloth, but only 7 of 20 in full sun.
What we recommend	We recommend 50% shade cloth over the lettuce beds each summer: it did as well as 70% shade cloth and lets in more of the light lettuces need to grow.
How sure we are	Fairly sure: we tested one hot fortnight in one garden, and 50% shade cloth and 70% shade cloth were only 1 seedling apart.

C. Sign: ‘Hot sun wilts lettuces. The shade cloth keeps them healthy.’ It suits Year 2 readers: two short sentences, everyday words and one idea, best with a picture of the cloth over the bed.

Job cards

Card	Job	Goes with
A	Says what we found	B and C
B	Shows how we know	A and C
C	Says how sure we are	A and B
D	Shows how we know	E and F
E	Says what we found	D and F
F	Says how sure we are	D and E
G	Says what we found	H
H	Shows how we know	G
I	Shows how we know	Your card

Your card, a model: ‘A stick’s shadow is shortest around noon, when the Sun is highest in the sky.’ It says what we found, so it goes under the first heading.

What a good text sounds like

Topic	Reader and purpose	A text at standard
Habitat Conditions and Survival	Garden committee, to persuade	‘We recommend 50% shade cloth over the lettuce beds each summer. In our test, 17 of 20 seedlings stayed healthy under it, against 7 of 20 in full sun.’
Earth, Sun and the Day-Night Cycle	Families, to inform	‘Daylight in our town fell from about 14 hours in January to about 10 hours in June, so after-school sport runs out of daylight sooner in winter.’
Electrical Circuits and Energy	Junior class, to explain	‘The cells in a torch store energy. When you switch it on, the circuit carries the energy to the bulb, and the bulb turns it into light and heat.’
Reversible and Irreversible Changes	Maintenance team, to persuade	‘In five days, our nail in salt water gained 31 mg of rust, about twice as much as in fresh water. We recommend painting the metal benches, and we would test more nails to be surer.’

A quick three-level guide

Move	Working towards	At standard	Beyond
Choose for the purpose	picks a text type without saying what it should do	chooses a text type and an order of parts that suit the purpose and the reader	explains how the parts would change for another purpose
Select language features	gives a vague comment or an opinion	uses precise words, numbers with units, and comparing or cause-and-effect words	chooses careful words that match how sure the evidence makes us
Show and share	adds a picture that does not show the finding	adds a chart or labelled diagram with a title and a caption that states the finding	uses a digital tool to make one version for each purpose

A child at standard chooses a text type and its parts for the purpose, selects words and numbers that suit the reader, and says how we know and how sure we are when asking someone to act. The skill grows all year, so keep the scaffolds coming back in every science topic.