Year 1 Persuasive Writing Unit | Stage 1 Persuasive Texts | Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus Mentor Text | 10 Lesson Writing Unit

Looking for an engaging Year 1 persuasive writing unit that builds confidence in early writers while saving you hours of planning?

This Stage 1 Persuasive Writing Unit uses the much-loved mentor texts Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and Do Not Open This Book to teach students how authors use persuasive language to convince the reader.

Across 10 structured lessons, students explore persuasive techniques, sentence types, dialogue, and persuasive arguments while creating their own persuasive stories and comics.

This low-prep persuasive writing unit includes an engaging PowerPoint, printable worksheets, writing scaffolds, and a final comic writing task — making it perfect for Year 1 classrooms, Stage 1 literacy lessons, and explicit writing instruction.

Students will love analysing the hilarious pigeon while learning how to express opinions, give reasons, and persuade an audience.

What’s Included

✔ 10 explicit PowerPoint lessons

✔ Printable persuasive writing worksheets

✔ Persuasion anchor chart

✔ Dialogue writing lesson and checklist

✔ Persuasive sentence starters

✔ Argument building worksheets

✔ Storyboard planning templates

✔ Comic strip writing task

✔ Drawing the pigeon activity

✔ Student writing scaffolds

Everything is designed for early writers in Stage 1 (Year 1) with clear instructions, structured support, and engaging activities.

Lesson Overview

Lesson 1 – What is persuasion?

Lesson 2 – Punctuation in persuasive texts

Lesson 3 – Writing dialogue

Lesson 4 – Planning a persuasive story

Lesson 5 – Drawing and writing the pigeon story

Lesson 6 – Comparing persuasive texts

Lesson 7 – Sentence types

Lesson 8 – Acting persuasive language

Lesson 9 – Planning a persuasive comic

Lesson 10 – Publishing the comic

Mentor Texts Used

📘 Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! – Mo Willems

📘 Do Not Open This Book – Andy Lee

Students explore how characters try to convince the reader using persuasive language, humour, and emotion.

Why Teachers Love This Unit

⭐ Low prep lessons – just open the PowerPoint and print the worksheets

⭐ Highly engaging mentor texts students love

⭐ Clear scaffolds for early writers

⭐ Perfect for explicit writing instruction

⭐ Builds confidence in persuasive writing

This resource is ideal for:

✔ Stage 1 classrooms

✔ Year 1 literacy lessons

✔ Writing units

✔ Whole class teaching

✔ Literacy rotations

Skills Students Learn

Students will learn to:

✔ identify persuasive language

✔ express opinions with reasons

✔ use punctuation correctly

✔ write dialogue

✔ plan and create persuasive texts

✔ present ideas in a comic format

Perfect For

✔ Year 1 teachers

✔ Stage 1 writing units

✔ Persuasive text units

✔ Early writing instruction

✔ Literacy centres

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