Overview: this is just a quick writing unit for the first month of school. It's very basic. I just want students to wrap their brain about how to use artificial intelligence, how to use Google, how to follow a rubric, and how to bust out a quick essay.  Other units of mine are longer and more intensive, but this is just a quick short introduction to informative writing.  It all circles around the topic of California's geography, and demographics and how it has changed over time.  

DAY ONE:  Introduction to Non-Fiction

Why do we read non-fiction? 

Before we start a unit on how to write informative, we need to know WHY readers read informative pieces.  I like to start with a large chart and say "How do you learn new things?"  There are a lots of wonky answers you will get: Watch a youtube video, ask someone else, read a book.... This is a good time to guide the discussion into the different structures of writing, like how-to, cause and effect, sequential.  End the conversation with something like "All good writers know what their readers want to know and present that information in an easy way." How do we read non-fiction?

This is a good time to change setting: if kids were on a carpet, head back to desk; if you are at desks, head to the library.  Now, students will be thumbing through informative texts and make some observations.  

Give students some non-fiction texts about the ... and this scavenger hunt list.  They need all different types of non-fiction books, including articles you printed, your math book, your science book, some ones you got from the library, just a big stack.  And a highlighter and a pencil.  If we want kids to use text features in their writing, they have to observe some text features!  This can take fifteen minutes or forty-five, totally on how on you run it.

DAY TWO:  Introduction to Main Idea

This year, my class really struggled with main idea and writing paragraphs that reflected the main idea.  So, I threw some reading of informative texts right before we start so students have some strong models to follow.  These articles are taken from the Article of the Week page, if you wanted to know more.  (Maybe you teach these article during your reading block and then come back here for writing?)

California Entrepernuers California Entrepreneurs

Wild West: Coming West Slides for Coming West

Wild West: Settling Down Slides for Settling Down

DAY THREE & FOUR:  Describing different regions

Using their writer's notebooks, or just a blank piece of paper, have each student watch a portion of the video, and then write for about five minutes.  Then, students can go back over that quick draft with a highlighter to highlight the very best describing sentence they have.  This will become part of the second paragraph of their final draft!  When each video is done, ask your writers the question, "What is the main idea you are writing?"  The idea can be "California deserts are vast," or "California's Valley is mostly agriculture." Students might see some causes and effects, such as "California mountains send water to the valleys" or "People in coastal areas live in more crowded areas than people of the Central Valley."

DAY Five:  Describing different regions, in reference to indigenous tribes

Today's work leans towards the PBL about California communities.  Here is where students connect their learning about the regions to the tribe they are going to be researching.  This quick video gets kids thinking about how the regions can change the lifestyle of the people who live there.  

DAY SEVEN:  Write a quick 3 paragraph essay

With their notes and thoughts done, we can do a quick essay.  Follow this guide and can you probably rock out an essay in one or two class periods.  You can use the slideshow if your class needs to be told step-by-step.  

DAY EIGHT:  Knock it out into a bulletin board

And now, since they all want their writing graded right away, you got this little art activity as a time filler: Make a bulletin board about the four regions of California!

Rubrics