Teacher notes for this lesson. Two sides of A4, not for pupils.Mild sheetMedium sheetSpicy sheetAnswers
Teacher notes · not for pupils Grammar sequence

The Hidden Doer

Active and passive voice

Lesson 17 of 17
Year 6 45 min

Objective

Distinguish active from passive, convert between the voices, and explain why a writer might choose the passive, including to leave the doer unknown or unnamed.

Board title: Active and passive  ·  Say it: “Today we're turning sentences round, the chef cooked the soup becomes the soup was cooked, and we'll ask every passive sentence who it is quietly hiding.”

Curriculum

  • Y6: using passive verbs to affect the presentation of information in a sentence
  • Y6: terminology for pupils, subject, object, active, passive
  • Y6: the difference between informal and formal speech and writing (link)
  • Terminology: active · passive · subject · object

Success criteria

  • turn an active sentence passive, and back again
  • spot was, were, is or are doing the passive's work
  • say who has gone missing from a passive sentence
  • give a reason for choosing active or passive

Key vocabulary

active · passive · voice · subject · object · doer · by-phrase

Run of the lesson

5 min
Starter: The window was broken v The window was broken by Leo. Who broke it? Leo, but notice only ONE card says so. Do not name the voices yet.
10 min
Model the turn in three steps and watch the doer fade: The chef cooked the soup → The soup was cooked by the chef → The soup was cooked. Run last lesson's subject-object routine on the active chips first so the twin feels familiar. Then the honest uses: unknown doer, unimportant doer, science writing.
8 min
Name the Part on the whiteboard, Medium band, its two levels are today exactly: level 1 sorts active from passive, level 2 sorts told-who from not-told-who. Let the game raise the hiding-the-doer idea, then you name it. Say the active twin of every passive aloud.
5 min
The trap, the blame-dodger's voice: The plate was broken, so nobody is to blame. Politicians love mistakes were made, name the trick and they spot it for life. Then the four votes, doer named or hidden before each reveal (answers: a-left, b-right, c-right, d-left).
14 min
Worksheet, independent. Circulate on Task 3: the reason matters more than the rewrite, ask WHY a writer would hide this doer. On Spicy, watch the was-is-not-proof-of-passive line, The soup was cold has no hidden doer at all.
3 min
Plenary: two children read a Task 3 pair, active twin and passive twin, class votes which a head teacher's letter would use and why. Then the class quiz: what is Polpetta's incident report, The last cannoli was eaten, hiding?
On screenSPAGhetti → Name the Part → Medium. One screen only; no pupil devices needed. Level 1 sorts active from passive; level 2 sorts told-who from not-told-who, the hiding-the-doer idea is in the game itself, so let the game raise it and you name it. ~8 items in 10 minutes with discussion.
SPAGhetti · Grammar sequence · Lesson 17 of 17  ·  Teacher notes 1 of 2
Teacher notes · not for pupils The Hidden Doer · side 2

On the day

If the tech failsSkip the game entirely. Task 1 is the same content on paper, read the four pairs aloud and vote with thumbs. Then turn three sentences on the board: active, passive with by, passive alone. The lesson still works.
If they're on devicesLesson code PSSVF (on the worksheet footer) opens the right game, locks the café until 10 items are done, then unlocks it as the reward.

Misconceptions to watch for

Passive means past tense. Both use was, that is the whole confusion. The soup was cold is past but not passive; cold is not a verb, and nothing was done to the soup. The test is the hidden doer: can you add by someone?

Every passive needs its by-phrase. They 'correct' The order was cancelled by inventing a doer. The doer-less passive is legal and useful, that is exactly why writers reach for it. The by-phrase is optional evidence, not a missing part.

A vague doer makes it passive. Somebody ate the last cannoli feels passive because the culprit is vague, but somebody is doing the eating, up front. Vague is not the same as hidden; the shape decides, not the mystery.

The passive is simply bad writing. Some arrive pre-taught that passive is forbidden. It is a tool: right when the doer is unknown or beside the point, shifty when it is dodging blame. Judge the use, not the voice.

The three sheets

Same four tasks on every sheet, in the same order, with the same look. Only the demand changes. Print the one each child needs; nobody does two.

Mild

Same four tasks as every other sheet, same order, same look, the demand is lower, not the dignity. Shorter passage in Task 2, and in Task 3 a word bank or words to tick, with printed sentence starters. Give it to anyone who needs a way in, and expect them to move up.

Medium

The core sheet. Give this to most of the class. No word bank; in Task 3 pupils choose from a few close options, then use one in a sentence of their own.

Spicy

Same four tasks, more demand, a longer passage with a subtler error, and Task 3 asks for two things at once. Not extra work; harder work. Nobody should be doing Spicy and the Medium sheet.

Adaptive teaching

  • Support: sorting only, active or passive, no rewriting. Task 1, then Task 3 orally with a scribe. Game on Medium level 1.
  • SEN: gentle mode on; act the sentences out, one child does, one is done-to, before any labels.
  • Stretch: Task 3 extension, one event reported twice, once to a friend and once in a formal notice, and a line on why the voice changed.
  • EAL: several languages build the passive differently or barely use it. Anchor everything to the two questions: who did it, and are we told?

Play it

Lesson code PSSVF at playspaghetti.com. The code is printed on the bottom of every pupil sheet with a QR, and Class Quiz in your dashboard opens the plenary quiz for this lesson pre-picked.

SPAGhetti · Grammar sequence · Lesson 17 of 17  ·  Teacher notes, not for pupils 2 of 2  ·  Ludora