Support your Year 2 students in developing persuasive writing skills with our Persuasive Writing Assessment: Review. This engaging task encourages students to write a persuasive review explaining why their favourite book is the best. By combining structured scaffolds with creative expression, the assessment helps learners practise stating clear opinions, supporting their ideas with reasons, and using descriptive detail to convince an audience. The fun, real-world context of reviewing books makes the task meaningful and accessible to all learners.

Through the use of prompts, planning templates, and writing guides, students are guided step by step through the process of writing an introduction, developing three connected reasons, and finishing with a conclusion that reinforces their opinion. The activity also supports the development of technical writing skills, including punctuation, spelling, and sentence fluency. By drawing on familiar texts they enjoy, students can engage deeply with persuasive writing while strengthening their vocabulary and descriptive language skills.

Aligned with Year 2 Australian Curriculum outcomes, this resource can be used for formal assessment, as part of a persuasive writing unit, or for evidence gathering to support reporting. The included editable rubric provides clear guidance for assessing student work, while also allowing teachers to adapt criteria for individual classroom needs.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ State a clear opinion about a chosen book
• ✅ Provide three persuasive reasons with descriptive support
• ✅ Use persuasive and descriptive language effectively
• ✅ Structure writing with an introduction, body, and conclusion
• ✅ Apply foundational technical accuracy in punctuation, spelling, and grammar

What’s Included:

• Black and white student prompt strips
• Colour prompt for whole-class display
• Planning templates to help organise opinions and reasons
• Writing templates with clear structure for exposition writing
• Editable versions to customise for class needs
• Rubric aligned with Year 2 Australian Curriculum outcomes

Materials Needed:

• Printed planning and writing templates
• Pencils and erasers
• Optional: classroom library books for reference
• Rubric copies for teacher assessment

How to Use:

1. Distribute a prompt strip, planning template, and writing template to each student. Display the colour prompt on the board.
2. Students select their favourite book and record three reasons, supported by descriptive detail, on the planning template.
3. Using the writing template, students draft their review with an introduction, three reasons, and a conclusion.
4. Encourage the use of persuasive and descriptive language to strengthen their arguments.
5. Students reread and edit their work for punctuation, spelling, and clarity.
6. Assess writing samples using the rubric to evaluate structure, vocabulary, and technical accuracy.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Begin with a class discussion about what makes a book enjoyable or unique
• 💡 Model a short persuasive review to demonstrate structure and word choice
• 💡 Create a “Book Recommendations Wall” to display student reviews
• 💡 Use in literacy rotations for independent persuasive writing practice
• 💡 Encourage oral sharing of reviews to practise fluency and presentation skills

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Provide scaffolds such as word banks and sentence starters for students needing extra support
• 💛 Encourage students to reference characters, themes, or illustrations to enrich their reviews
• 💛 Extend confident writers by having them compare two books or write additional reviews

Our Year 2 Persuasive Writing Assessment: Review is a flexible, curriculum-aligned tool that helps students practise persuasive writing while reflecting on books they love. With its clear scaffolds, editable rubric, and engaging format, it is an excellent resource for early assessment, report preparation, or classroom projects.