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Year 2

Writing the second entry of Florence Nightingale's diary

I can write the second entry of Florence Nightingale's diary.

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New
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Year 2

Writing the second entry of Florence Nightingale's diary

I can write the second entry of Florence Nightingale's diary.

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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. A diary is an informal piece of writing.
  2. One of the features of informal writing is contracted words.
  3. When writing informally, we use apostrophes for contraction to show two words connected together.

Keywords

  • Apostrophe for contraction - a punctuation mark used to contract two words together

  • Contraction - two words pushed together

  • Informal - a style or manner that is casual, relaxed, or not bound by strict conventions

Common misconception

Pupils may inaccurately use an apostrophe for contraction by not removing letters and just putting the words together with an apostrophe.

Teach them that the apostrophe indicates where letters have been omitted. Give children examples and non-examples to sort and explain why they are right/wrong.


To help you plan your year 2 english lesson on: Writing the second entry of Florence Nightingale's diary, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Teach apostrophes for contraction using the children and mini whiteboards. Get children up to the front to hold a letter on a whiteboard from the word that is going to be contracted. Then, they can physically see the letters being removed when the words are contracted & the apostrophe is added.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
True or false? To write from Florence Nightingale's perspective, you'll need to have good knowledge of her life.
Correct Answer: true, True
Q2.
Where was the hospital that Florence worked in located?
Crimea
Correct answer: Scutari (Turkey)
Russia
Q3.
Why were the soldiers lying on the floor in the hospital?
because there weren't any beds
because the doctors thought it would help
Correct answer: because there weren't enough beds
Q4.
When writing about what Florence did to improve the conditions at the hospital, you'll be using lots of...
Correct answer: past tense verbs.
future tense verbs.
present tense verbs.
Q5.
Which of these is a past tense verb?
scrub
Correct answer: scrubbed
scrubbing
Q6.
Which of these sentences is not written in the past tense?
I scrubbed the floors all day.
I cleaned the bed sheets straight away.
Correct answer: I will organise the medical equipment tomorrow.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
True or false? A diary is a formal piece of writing.
Correct Answer: false, False
Q2.
Informal writing contains more of the writer's ...
drawings.
Correct answer: personality.
personal details.
Q3.
Who is the intended audience of a diary entry?
children
adults
Correct answer: the person writing it
Q4.
What does the word 'contract' mean?
to pull apart
Correct answer: to push together
to split up
Q5.
What two words have been contracted to make the word 'couldn't'?
did not
Correct answer: could not
would not
Q6.
True or false? An apostrophe usually takes the place of the letters that have been removed from the second word.
Correct Answer: true, True