New
New
Year 2
Writing the second entry of Florence Nightingale's diary
I can write the second entry of Florence Nightingale's diary.
New
New
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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Lesson details
Key learning points
- A diary is an informal piece of writing.
- One of the features of informal writing is contracted words.
- 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.
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.
Teacher tip
Licence
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.
Q2.
Where was the hospital that Florence worked in located?
Crimea
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
Q4.
When writing about what Florence did to improve the conditions at the hospital, you'll be using lots of...
future tense verbs.
present tense verbs.
Q5.
Which of these is a past tense verb?
scrub
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.
Exit quiz
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6 Questions
Q1.
True or false? A diary is a formal piece of writing.
Q2.
Informal writing contains more of the writer's ...
drawings.
personal details.
Q3.
Who is the intended audience of a diary entry?
children
adults
Q4.
What does the word 'contract' mean?
to pull apart
to split up
Q5.
What two words have been contracted to make the word 'couldn't'?
did not
would not
Q6.
True or false? An apostrophe usually takes the place of the letters that have been removed from the second word.