Years 3 and 4 English · Key Stage 2 · Writing – composition

Years 3 and 4 story writing: drafting and paragraphs

Drafting is the stage where a plan becomes writing. In Years 3 and 4 children learn to say their sentences aloud before they write them, to build a richer vocabulary and a wider range of sentence structures, to organise paragraphs around a theme, and to create settings, characters and plots in stories. In non-fiction they use simple devices such as headings and sub-headings to organise their ideas.

Drafting sentences, paragraphs and stories, explained

A draft is a first full version, written to get ideas down, with the expectation that it will be improved. The curriculum expects children to see their teacher think aloud, draft and reread, so they learn that good writers change their minds, cross things out and try again. The word “rehearse” matters here. Children are taught to compose a sentence out loud, listen to it, adjust it and only then write it. That includes dialogue, since a character’s words are easier to get right when they have been spoken first.

Alongside this, children build a richer vocabulary and a wider range of sentence structures. They draw on the Years 3 and 4 grammar they are learning: a greater range of conjunctions, fronted adverbials, and nouns with extra detail. The aim is variety and fit, not decoration. A child who changes “big” to “enormous” has improved the sentence only if enormous is the word they mean. Starting every sentence with “Then” or “He” is a pattern teachers often ask children to break.

Paragraphs are the next skill. A paragraph groups sentences about one theme, and a new paragraph starts when something changes, such as the time, the place, the topic or the speaker. In a story, a paragraph might describe a setting, show a character arriving, or deal with one event. In dialogue, a new speaker starts a new line. In non-fiction, each paragraph covers one theme, which makes the text easy to find your way around.

In stories, children create settings, characters and plot. A setting is where and when the story happens, and good ones use the senses: what can be seen, heard, felt or smelled. Characters are shown through what they look like, say, do and feel, rather than simply being told. Plot is what happens. At this age a story usually centres on one clear problem, with an opening, a build-up, the problem itself, a resolution and an ending. Many schools use a story mountain or a similar picture to organise this, though that is the school’s choice.

In non-narrative writing, such as reports, explanations and instructions, children use simple organisational devices. Headings and sub-headings are the main example given in the curriculum. A report on volcanoes might have a title, sub-headings such as “What is a volcano?” and “Where are volcanoes found?”, and a short paragraph under each. The same skill, grouping ideas and labelling them, supports writing in every subject.

Words your child will hear

Draft: A first full version of a piece of writing, which can be improved later.
Rehearse: Say a sentence aloud, and adjust it, before writing it down.
Paragraph: A group of sentences about one theme, starting on a new line.
Setting: Where and when a story takes place.
Plot: The events of a story, including the problem and how it is solved.
Dialogue: The words characters say to each other.
Sub-heading: A smaller heading that labels one part of a longer text.

What the National Curriculum says

In Years 3 and 4, pupils should be taught to:

Draft and write by composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures (English appendix 2)
Draft and write by organising paragraphs around a theme
Draft and write narratives by creating settings, characters and plot
Draft and write non-narrative material using simple organisational devices

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: drafting a story opening

A child plans a story set in a lighthouse during a storm, and writes: “There was a lighthouse. It was old. It was windy. A boy was in it.” How can they draft a stronger opening paragraph?

Rehearse aloud. Before writing, the child imagines being there and says what they can see, hear and feel: waves on the rocks, wind in the dark, cold stone stairs.
Choose the theme. This paragraph is about the setting only. The boy can arrive in the next paragraph, so he is left out for now.
Combine and vary the sentences. The three short sentences about the setting become one longer one using a conjunction and a fronted adverbial of time: “All night, waves crashed against the rocks, and the wind howled around the old lighthouse.”
Add detail from a second sense, and a place: “Inside, the spiral stairs were damp and cold, and the lamp at the top swept its beam across the dark sea.”
Read it aloud, then check that every sentence is about the setting. End the paragraph with a short sentence that makes the reader want to go on, and start a new paragraph for the character.

“All night, waves crashed against the rocks, and the wind howled around the old lighthouse. Inside, the spiral stairs were damp and cold, and the lamp at the top swept its beam across the dark sea. Far below, a door banged.”

Common mistakes and how to help

Believing a first draft has to be perfect

Children who worry about spelling and neatness stop after a few words, or rub out constantly, and lose their ideas.

What helps: Say the sentences aloud first, then write quickly. Remind your child that a draft is meant to be messy, and that changing it later is part of writing.

Stringing sentences together with “and then”

“And then” is how children tell stories out loud, so it comes naturally. It also feels safe, because there is no need to work out how ideas relate.

What helps: Ask what the link really is: cause (because), time (when, after), or contrast (although). Practise saying the sentence a different way.

Packing the story with too many characters and events

Ideas come thick and fast, and children want to use them all. The story rushes and the ending never arrives.

What helps: Aim for one setting, one or two characters and one problem. Ask: what is the one thing the reader will remember?

Starting a new paragraph for every sentence, or not at all

Children are not sure what a paragraph is for, so they either break the page up at random or write one block.

What helps: Explain that a paragraph is about one theme, and that the theme changes when the time, place, topic or speaker changes. Look together at paragraphs in a favourite book.

How to help at home

Tell it before you write it. Ask your child to tell you the story or the explanation out loud first, in the car or over tea. Ask what happens next, and who is speaking. Spoken practice makes the writing easier.
Describe a place with the senses. Choose a place you both know, such as a kitchen, a bus stop or a garden, and take turns adding one thing you can see, hear, smell or feel. Then write three sentences from the best ideas.
Story chain. Make up a story together, one sentence each. Agree a character and a problem at the start, and aim to solve the problem within ten sentences.
Make a mini-booklet. Choose a topic your child knows well, such as a hobby or a pet. Fold a few sheets of paper into a booklet, give each page a heading and write a short paragraph under each one.

Builds on

Leads on to

Years 5 and 6: Planning for audience and purpose
Years 5 and 6: Drafting: grammar, narrative and précis
Years 5 and 6: Cohesion and organisational devices
Years 5 and 6: Editing for effect, tense, agreement and register
Years 5 and 6: Proofreading and performing writing