Help Year 5 children find their voice on one of the world's most urgent environmental issues. This English topic pack guides pupils from initial research through to a performed persuasive speech — covering key KS2 writing and oracy skills across nine carefully sequenced lessons.
Pupils explore rainforest issues, develop powerful vocabulary, analyse persuasive language, and practise debate through conscience alley role play — before planning, writing, and delivering their own speech.
Included Resources +
This pack includes nine lesson plans with accompanying activity sheets developing persuasive writing and oracy skills, using the rainforest as a compelling real-world context.
Key Details +
• Year Group: Year 5 (ages 9–10)
• Key Stage: KS2
• Subject: English & Literacy
• Resource Type: Activity Sheets + Lesson Plans
• Format: Instant PDF Download
• Number of Activities: 9
Curriculum Alignment +
Aligned to the KS2 English National Curriculum. Covers identifying the audience and purpose of writing, selecting vocabulary and grammatical structures that reflect the level of formality required, using devices to build cohesion, performing compositions with appropriate intonation and volume, and using punctuation accurately including commas, brackets, and dashes.
Teaching Tips +
The Conscience Alley role play (Lesson 6) works particularly well as a drama and PSHE link — children debate both sides of the deforestation argument before committing to a viewpoint. The Fact vs Opinion lesson pairs well with a guided reading session on environmental texts. The speech planning and writing lessons (8 & 9) work best across two sessions with peer feedback built in.
Find more resources for this topic on the [Vanishing Rainforest topic page](https://hands-oneducation.com/...).
