Grade by Grade
D. Composition: Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts · Writing for Real Audiences

Planning: Purpose, Audience and Choices That Carry Meaning

D1.1 A2.5 A1.1About 40 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can name the topic, purpose and audience for a text I plan to create.
  • I can choose a genre, form and medium on purpose.
  • I can explain how my choices will help my audience understand my message.

Words to know

topic
What a text is about.
purpose
Why a text is created: to entertain, inform, explain, persuade, instruct or express feelings. A text can have more than one purpose.
audience
The people who will read, hear or watch a text.
genre
A kind of text with its own features, like mystery, fantasy, realistic fiction, informational or persuasive.
form
The shape a text takes, like a letter, report, poem, comic, speech, blog post or podcast episode.
medium
The way a text reaches its audience: paper, spoken aloud, slideshow, audio, video, email or a website.
meaning
The message or main idea the audience should take away.

Remember from Grade 4

In Grade 4 you planned every text with four questions: What is my topic? Why am I writing (purpose)? Who is my audience? How will I share it (genre, form and medium)? You explained why your choices fit.

In Grade 5 you will go one step further. You will explain how each choice will help your audience understand your meaning. Writers think: If I choose this, what will my reader notice, feel or learn?

One message, many choices

Imagine your school is starting a compost program. Food scraps like apple cores and banana peels will go into green bins instead of the garbage.

Your meaning is: Composting is easy, and it keeps food waste out of the landfill.

How can your choices carry that meaning?

  • A how-to poster with three numbered pictures beside the bins shows students exactly what to do in a few seconds, right when they need it.
  • A one-minute video for the school website lets families see the bins and hear students explaining, so it feels real and friendly.
  • A formal letter to the school council asks for money for more bins. It uses polite, serious language because the audience is adults making a decision.
A green kitchen compost bin with its lid open, full of apple cores, banana peels and eggshells.
Apple cores, banana peels and eggshells can all go in the green bin. A photo like this could help a younger audience understand your compost message. AI-generated image
Meaning: composting is easy andkeeps food waste out of the landfillHow-to posterfor students at the bins3 numbered pictures:shows what to do fastOne-minute videofor families at homesee the bins, hearstudents: feels friendlyFormal letterfor the school councilpolite, serious words:fits adults deciding
One message, three choices. Each form and medium fits a different audience, and helps that audience understand the meaning.
A Grade 5 planning chainTopicWhat?PurposeWhy?AudienceWho?Genre,form,mediumMeaningHow willit help?Each choice should help the next one.
A planning chain: topic, purpose, audience, then genre, form and medium, and finally the question: how will these choices help my meaning?

Choices and what they do

Every choice changes how the audience receives your message.

  • Pictures and diagrams help readers see an idea, especially younger readers or people still learning English.
  • Sound (a voice, music) can show feelings like excitement or calm.
  • Short texts work when the audience is busy or reading on the go.
  • Longer texts with headings work when the audience wants to learn a lot and can read slowly.
  • Formal language shows respect and seriousness. Informal language feels friendly.
  • Print on paper reaches people who don't use the internet. Online texts can reach many people far away, quickly.
PlanChoiceHow it helps the meaning
Thank the crossing guard (express thanks)Handmade card, signed by the classEach signature shows that many students are grateful.
Explain how maple sap becomes syrup (explain)Flow chart with arrows on a posterArrows show the steps happen in order, one after another.
Convince families to walk to school (persuade)30-second audio message on the school phone lineFamilies hear a real student's voice, which feels personal.
Teach Grade 2 students a playground game (instruct)Video showing students playingYoung students can copy what they see instead of reading rules.
Grade 5 writers explain how a choice helps the audience understand.
Worked example

Let's plan a text and explain how our choices carry meaning

Topic: the new accessible playground at the park, with ramps, a wheelchair-friendly swing and a sensory wall. You want people in your neighbourhood to know it is open for everyone.

  1. Purpose: to inform people that it is open and to persuade them to visit.
  2. Audience: families in the neighbourhood, including families with children who use wheelchairs or have other disabilities.
  3. Meaning I want them to take away: This playground was built so every child can play together.
  4. Genre and form: an informational and persuasive brochure with photos, a map and short sections.
  5. Medium: printed copies at the library and community centre, and the same brochure as a web page on the community website.
  6. How the choices help the meaning: Photos show children using the ramps and swing, which proves the message instead of just saying it. The map helps people find it. Offering both print and online versions means more families can get it, which matches my message that the playground is for everyone.

A brochure on paper and online, with photos and a map. The choices show the message of inclusion, not just tell it.

Worked example

Let's fix a plan that doesn't fit

A student plans to remind Grade 1 students to wear mittens at recess by writing a three-page report and emailing it to them.

  1. Ask: Who is the audience? Six-year-olds. Most can read only short, simple words, and they don't have their own email.
  2. Ask: What is the purpose? To instruct and remind, quickly.
  3. The form (a long report) is too long. The medium (email) doesn't reach them.
  4. Better choice: a poster at the classroom door with a big picture of mittens and three words: Mittens on. Warm hands! Or a short song sung with the Grade 1s.
  5. Explain: The poster is at the door, right where they get dressed. The picture carries the meaning even for children who can't read every word yet.

A picture poster at the door (or a short song), because it reaches Grade 1 students at the exact moment and place they need the reminder.

Just for fun

What if you reminded the Grade 1s about mittens with a three-page report sent by email? By the time anyone finished page two, it would be spring and nobody would need mittens anymore! 🧤

The Grade 5 planning sentence

Finish this sentence before you start drafting:

I am creating a ___ (form) for ___ (audience) so they will ___ (purpose). I chose ___ (medium) and ___ (special feature) because they will help my audience ___.

The last part is the key: say how your choice helps the audience understand or feel your message.

Hands-on activity

Plan one message three ways

You need: 3 sheets of paper, a pencil, and a few flyers, cereal boxes or magazines from your recycling bin.

  1. Look at two texts from the recycling bin. For each one, name the topic, purpose, audience, form and medium. Find one choice the creator made (a picture, a colour, a big word) and say how it helps the message.
  2. Now choose your own message, such as Turn off lights when you leave a room or Our family's favourite winter meal.
  3. On each sheet, plan it for a different audience: a younger child, a grown-up, and someone who speaks a different language from you.
  4. For each plan, write your Grade 5 planning sentence from the tip.
  5. Share the plans with a grown-up. Ask: Which plan would work best on you? Why?
  6. Keep the plans. You may use one later in this unit.

Your turn

1

Name the topic, purpose and audience: A speech at the Remembrance Day assembly about why we wear poppies.

2

Is fantasy a genre, a form or a medium?

3

Is a podcast episode a form or a medium? What is its medium?

4

A text can have more than one purpose. Name two purposes of a poster for a school bake sale.

5

Why might a video explain how to tie a skate lace better than a written paragraph?

6

Your grandfather reads French better than English. How could your choice of language help your meaning in a birthday card for him?

7

Finish the planning sentence for a slideshow about local birds for your class: I chose a slideshow because ___.

More practice: warm-up

1

What does purpose mean?

2

Name the form: Dear Mayor, ...

3

Name the medium: a story recorded on a tablet so you can listen to it.

4

Who is the audience for a lunch menu in a school cafeteria?

5

Which purpose fits a recipe: entertain or instruct?

More practice: on your own

1

Name the purpose, audience, form and medium: A comic strip posted on the class website to teach students how to stay safe online.

2

Why would a map help in an invitation to a family picnic at a large park?

3

A student wants to share a funny story with a cousin in Nova Scotia. Suggest a medium and explain how it helps the meaning.

4

Why might formal language be better than informal language in a letter asking the principal for a new bike rack?

5

The same topic, spring flooding, can have different purposes. Write one inform idea and one entertain idea.

Challenge

1

Plan a text about why our school should have a quiet room at recess for an audience of the school council. Give purpose, genre, form, medium, and explain how one choice helps the meaning.

2

A museum makes the same text about Inuit art as a printed panel, an audio guide and a website page. Explain why it might do this.

3

Explain how changing only the medium can change a message's meaning. Use an example.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

What does the medium of a text mean?

2.

Which is a genre?

3.

What new question do Grade 5 planners add?

4.

A poster for Grade 1 students should mostly use...

5.

Why might a creator offer a text both on paper and online?

6.

Which choice best fits a letter asking the mayor for a new skatepark?

For parents and teachers

Big idea (D1.1): Grade 5 writers name the topic, purpose and audience, and explain why the chosen form, genre and medium suit them and how they will help communicate meaning. This connects to Strand A: how form, message and audience work together (A2.5), and communication as a transferable skill (A1.1).

How to help at home:

  • When you see any text (a flyer, an ad, a road sign, a package), ask: Who is this for? Why was it made? What choice did the creator make to help the message?
  • Before your child writes, ask them to say the planning sentence out loud.
  • Push gently for the how: How will that picture help your reader?

Common difficulties:

  • Mixing up form and medium. Form is the shape (letter, poem, podcast episode); medium is how it travels (paper, audio, website).
  • Reasons about themselves ("because I like slideshows"). Redirect: "How does a slideshow help your audience?"
  • Forgetting that a text can have two purposes. A poster can inform and persuade.