Explain How It Works — Explanation Writing — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 6 informative writing writing prompt.
Year 6 · English · Informative Writing
Explain How It Works — Explanation Writing — Answers
The prompt
Choose a natural process or system that you understand well, and write an explanation text that answers the question How does it work? or Why does it happen?
Some ideas: how the water cycle works, how bees make honey, why we have day and night, how a bushfire spreads, how a seed becomes a plant, how recycling turns a bottle into a new bottle.
A good explanation text has:
• A title written as a question or a 'How...' statement.
• A general statement that introduces the process and why it matters.
• A sequence of stages in order, each explaining what happens and why it happens.
• Cause-and-effect connectives: because, as a result, this causes, therefore, which means.
• Sequencing words: first, next, then, after that, finally.
• Technical vocabulary, defined the first time it is used.
• Written in the present tense and the third person; no opinions.
Plan
Put the stages in the right order before you write.
Answer: How does the water cycle work?
Answer: The water cycle is the continuous movement of water between the oceans, the air and the land. It supplies all the fresh water that living things depend on.
Answer: 1. The sun heats water in oceans and lakes, so it evaporates into water vapour. 2. The vapour rises, cools and condenses into droplets, which form clouds. 3. When droplets become heavy, they fall as precipitation (rain, hail or snow). 4. Water runs off into rivers or soaks into the ground, and flows back to the sea.
Answer: evaporation, condensation, precipitation, run-off
Answer: The same water has been cycling for millions of years; the water in your glass may once have fallen as rain on a dinosaur.
Write
Model answer: How does the water cycle work? The water cycle is the continuous movement of water between the oceans, the atmosphere and the land. It never stops, and every drop of fresh water on Earth depends on it. First, the sun heats the surface of oceans, lakes and rivers. As a result, liquid water turns into an invisible gas called water vapour. This process is called evaporation.
Success criteria:
- Title written as a question or 'How...' statement
- General statement introduces the process clearly
- Stages are in a logical order with sequencing words
- Each stage explains why it happens using cause-and-effect connectives
- At least four technical terms are used and defined
- Written in present tense, third person, with no opinions
- A concluding statement finishes the explanation
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.