Recount Writing Guide

Texts that describe an event that has already happened are known as recounts. In our everyday life, we read lots of recounts; newspaper reports, letters, and biographies, for example.

Recounts can tell people about an event if they weren’t there and they want to know all about it. They can also be used to remind the writer what happened.

Teach your children about recount writing using our handy topic guide!

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Teaching Ideas

This recount template for winter break can be adapted for your own use at any time of year.
Find a report of an incident in your local area and ask children to write it as a recount.
Write a witness statement for a historical event, or an event in the book you are reading.
Write a diary entry.
Ask children to review their work and check that the reader can answer all of these questions from the text: Who, what, when, where, why?
Give children copies of a recount to analyse; how do you know it is a recount? What features does a recount have?
Collect words that are useful in a recount, such as time connectives and causal connectives.

Resources

Download our Recount Writing Pack for lots of resources and ideas.

Literacy Wagoll is a good source of example recounts
This list of recount ideas is a great help if you need an idea for a recount.

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Recount Facts

A recount is a text that describes events that have happened in the past.
Recounts are written in the past tense, as they describe events that have already happened.
Recounts are written in chronological order.
First or third person can be used in a recount, depending on whether it is told by someone who was there or not.

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