Your Year 4 students know things. They know about animals, sport, places, hobbies, and a hundred things no one has asked them to teach yet. This unit gives them the structure to turn that knowledge into real informational writing — organized, factual, and written for a real reader.

Fifteen lessons across three weeks. A consistent four-part structure every day: Hook · Mini-Lesson · Independent Practice · Share & Close. Speaker notes on every slide. Open Monday morning and teach.

Note: This unit is aligned to the Australian Curriculum v9.0 and is suitable for Year 4 teachers across all Australian states and territories — NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, NT, ACT, and TAS.

WHAT’S INCLUDED
✓ 140 editable lesson slides — 15 lessons with detailed teacher speaker notes on every slide (PPTX + PDF)
✓ Worksheet 01: Strong Informational Writing Hunt — find 3 real informational pieces and record topic, fact, and why it stuck
✓ Worksheet 02: Mentor Article Craft Hunt — annotate 4 craft moves in a published article using different colors
✓ Worksheet 03: Text Feature Spotter — identify and explain 5 text features in a sample article
✓ Worksheet 04: Topic Audit — brainstorm 5 topics, self-assess prior knowledge, and choose the strongest
✓ Worksheet 05: Topic Tower Planner — plan the full piece using the 4-part Topic Tower structure
✓ Worksheet 06: Drafting: Strong Introductions (page 1) — try 3 hook strategies, choose the strongest, write full opening
✓ Worksheet 06: Drafting: Body Floors (page 2) — draft body floors with heading, facts, and SO WHAT? explanation
✓ Worksheet 07: Peer Feedback Sheet — structured feedback for all 5 rubric criteria using I noticed / I wonder / I suggest
✓ 5-criteria informational rubric — 1 Not Meeting / 2 Approaching / 3 Meeting / 4 Exceeding · /20 total
✓ 16-page unit overview — cover page and one lesson per page with AC codes, materials, differentiation, and teacher tips
✓ 2-page summative task — Topic Tower plan, full article writing space, before-you-submit checklist, self-assessment
✓ Editable parent letter — introduces the unit, explains the Topic Tower structure (DOCX)
✓ Product cover JPG

THE TOPIC TOWER FRAMEWORK
Year 4 informational writing needs a structure that is visual, memorable, and easy to check. The Topic Tower gives students exactly that — four parts they can name and find in every piece they read and write: Foundation (introduction — hook + topic statement), Body Floors (2–3 body sections with headings, facts, definitions, and SO WHAT? explanations), and Roof (conclusion that wraps up and reveals why the topic matters). Every lesson in the unit refers back to the same four parts.