An Australian Animal — Information Report — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 4 informative writing writing prompt.
Year 4 · English · Informative Writing
An Australian Animal — Information Report — Answers
The prompt
Choose an Australian animal, such as the wombat, the cassowary, the sugar glider, the saltwater crocodile or the bilby. Find out about it from a book or a trusted website, then write an information report to teach a reader who has never heard of it.
A good information report has:
• A title and a general statement that says what the animal is (for example, 'The wombat is a burrowing marsupial found in south-eastern Australia').
• Subheadings such as Appearance, Habitat, Diet, Behaviour and Threats.
• Facts written in the present tense and the third person (it, they), not 'I think'.
• Technical words such as nocturnal, marsupial, habitat, predator.
• A short concluding statement with an interesting fact or why the animal matters.
Plan
Use this table to organise your research notes before you write.
Answer: The wombat is a large burrowing marsupial that lives in south-eastern Australia and Tasmania.
Answer: Up to about one metre long, stocky, with short legs, strong claws for digging and coarse brown or grey fur.
Answer: Forests, woodlands and grasslands. It digs long burrows with several entrances and sleeps in them during the day.
Answer: Grasses, roots and bark. Wombats are mostly nocturnal and come out at night to graze.
Answer: Threats include cars, habitat loss and a skin disease called mange. Interesting fact: wombat droppings are cube-shaped.
Write
Model answer: The Common Wombat. The common wombat is a large burrowing marsupial found in the forests and grasslands of south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. Appearance: Wombats grow up to about one metre long and have a stocky body, short powerful legs and strong claws, which they use for digging. Their fur is coarse and ranges from grey to brown.
Success criteria:
- Title and a clear general statement that classifies the animal
- At least four subheadings, each with accurate facts
- Written in the present tense and third person
- Uses at least four technical words correctly
- No personal opinions or story-telling; the voice is factual
- A concluding statement with an interesting fact
- Correct spelling of the animal's name and key terms
Marking tips
- Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
- For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
- Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.