Animal research projects are the way to go when it comes to teaching informational writing. Kids LOVE animals and have so much fun learning and writing about them.
But teaching writing is hard. I feel ya.
My team felt is was especially hard to teach informational writing including the need for conducting research.
That’s A LOT for a 3rd grader, y’all!
After some trial and error, I’ve developed templates to use with my students to walk them through the informational writing process.
Research
We start with a recording sheet to help students track and organize information as they research.
I model this for students first. I show them how to read an article and record the information in appropropriate sections. I like to use bullet points because it helps eliminate students copying sentences word for word.
This takes a lot of modeling and a lot of practice! It definitely takes a few days, at least, for students to successfully complete their research pages.
In addition to checking out books from the school library, here’s what my students use for research:
BrainPop & BrainPop Junior (subscription required)
PebbleGo (subscription required)
Epic! (free for educators but must create an account)
Ducksters.com
KidRex (kid-friendly search engine)
I like to link all of the websites on Symbaloo for easy access.
Drafting
After students finish their research, I once again model the process. I show them how to turn their bullet points into complete sentences.
I have my students write a rough draft in their writing notebooks, but it’s totally up to you depending on the time that you have! Writing in a notebook first allows students to go back to revise and edit before “publishing.”
Publishing
I ask my students to get their rough drafts approved by me before they can write the final copy. We do this one page at a time. So for example, a student will use the research page to write a paragraph about the animal’s habitat. Then, the student will revise and edit their own draft. (This requires direct instruction and modeling, too!) The student will then bring me the paragraph for approval, and I give them the page that they need for the final copy. Then, they repeat the process until all pages are complete.
More About Blank Books
If you’re able and interested, you can find some blank books in the Target Dollar Spot for your students to use to publish their books.
I love the blank books almost as much as my students do. I use them for almost every final draft writing project, and my students get so excited about “publishing” books. It truly increases motivation and engagement, and I always love the final products!
You can find my animal research books here and all of my other mini book templates here.
Read more about managing mini books here.
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