Informational Writing

Writing ALL ABOUTS:  

Here's what we're working on in Informational writing:

• How to choose a topic you know a LOT about (without researching)

• Using a plan and sticking with the plan

• Writing facts, not opinions (except for intro and conclusion)

• Organizing similar information into 3-4 separate sections with Headings (example - DOGS: What dogs look like, How to train a dog, how to care for a dog, Breeds of dogs)

• Including more details by answering WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW about a topic

• Writing an introduction that states the topic, defines it and interests the reader to want to read the book

• Using expert words to teach and making those words bold.  Defining those words within the text or in a glossary

• Using teaching pictures with captions and labels

• Adding more details by including different types of facts like: actions, definitions, examples, descriptions, steps, tips, explanations and comparisons.  Having strings of these actions instead of just isolated ones

• Using accurate quantity words (many, most, some, few, all, none, usually, sometimes, always, etc.) when describing if we don’t know a weight, amount or other number

• Concluding by summarizing, reviewing the most important info or connecting the reader to the topic

• Thinking about our audience - constantly rereading and revising by reading to a partner and using their questions and feedback to ADD, CHANGE, SUBSTITUTE or DELETE

• Using a checklist to determine what we are doing well and what should be our next goal

• We’re working on picking up stamina and writing lots of lines across lots of pages 

• Of course, editing review of punctuation and capitalization.  And more…

To celebrate our learning, we’ll be visiting some kindergarten friends in a kindergarten class to read our teaching books to and explain what we know about reading and writing non-fiction.