Year 3 English · Writing non-fiction · Lesson 11.2

Year 3 English: Information texts: headings, sub-headings and present-tense facts

Part of the Year 3 English writing non-fiction chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page

11.2

Information texts: headings, sub-headings and present-tense facts

Year 3
Organise non-narrative writing with simple devices such as headings and sub-headings, Write facts in the present tense

Story. Mei is writing a page for the class book about snails. She wants each part of her page to be easy to find, so she puts a heading at the top and a sub-heading above each part.

An information text gives facts about one topic. A heading names the main part of the text. A sub-heading is a smaller heading, and it names one part inside the main part. Headings and sub-headings help a reader find the facts they need.

The facts in an information text are written in the present tense, because they are true now: Snails live in damp places. Do not change a fact to the past tense.

Garden snails (information text)

All about garden snails

What a snail looks like

A garden snail has a soft body and a hard, round shell on its back. The shell protects the snail and helps stop its body from drying out.

Where snails live

Snails live in damp places, such as under stones, in piles of leaves and in gardens. They come out most when the weather is wet.

How snails move

A snail moves slowly on a large, flat foot. It leaves a silvery trail of slime behind it, which helps it glide over rough ground.

What snails eat

Most garden snails eat plants. They scrape up their food with a tongue covered in rows of tiny teeth.

A heading, two sub-headings and the paragraphs under them.

Key ideas

A heading names the main part of an information text.
A sub-heading names a smaller part, under a heading.
Headings and sub-headings help a reader find facts quickly.
Write facts in the present tense, such as: Snails live in damp places.
Each paragraph should sit under the sub-heading that describes it.

Worked example 11.2.1

Copy the main heading of the snail text.

Method. Find the biggest heading, at the top of the text.

Find the key words in the question. These words tell us where to look: main heading.
main heading
Find the words in the text that answer it. The text says:
All about garden snails
Write the answer.
All about garden snails

Check. The main heading is at the top and names the whole text. ✓

Watch out. A sub-heading is smaller, and names one part only.

Worked example 11.2.2

Which sub-heading should go above the paragraph that starts "Snails live in damp places"?

Method. Find the sub-heading that names the topic of that paragraph.

Find the key words in the question. These words tell us where to look: sub-heading.
sub-heading
Find the words in the text that answer it. The text says:
Where snails live / Snails live in damp places
Write the answer.
Where snails live

Check. The paragraph is about where snails live. ✓

Worked example 11.2.3

Change this sentence to the present tense, so that it states a fact: Snails ate the leaves in the garden.

Method. Change the verb to the present tense, and keep the rest of the words.

Find the verb. Ate is the past tense of eat.
ate
Change it to the present tense. The present tense of eat, for a plural subject, is eat.
eat
Write the sentence. Put the new verb in place of ate.
Snails eat the leaves in the garden.
Write the answer.
Snails eat the leaves in the garden.

Check. The fact is now in the present tense. ✓

Watch out

Watch out: a sub-heading is not a second heading for the whole text. It names one part, and the paragraphs under it should be about that part only.

Exam tip

Grown-up tip. Look at a non-fiction book together. Ask your child to point to a heading, then a sub-heading, then to one fact. Ask them to say the fact in the present tense.