Informational Writing from Personal Expertise
A large section of writing standards in second through eighth grades includes informational writing. The CORE standards in particular require students to choose a topic of personal expertise and turn that into a book complete with informational text features. This sounds like an overwhelming task for any grade. So, I've created a handout for students that take them step by step through this process and make your life much easier!
This writing packet guides students through the key points of informational writing:
Writers choose topics by considering areas of expertise, audience and focus.
Writers plan and draft their information in an organized way.
Writers reread and revise using a toolbox of elaboration strategies to increase the amount of information they give.
Writers reread and revise using a toolbox of elaboration strategies to add a variety of information.
Writers prepare to publish by revising and editing select pages.
The following pages are ready to use tomorrow. Print pages 3-34, copy double sided, and give to your students. There really isn’t a reason to give the students the publishing pages (pages 35-36) since that will be by teacher preference.
You could print and use the plastic binding combs, or three-hole punch and put in duotang folders to make the packet more durable as students will be working on this project for many weeks. What to do with the child who loses his packet and has to start over? Good question!
Lessons that precede this writing are in the immersion of informational text and students learning to identify and use text features.