Nonfiction Writing Research

 We recently wrote our nonfiction research papers and my kiddos did not disappoint!  This post seems long, but it's a fast read with lots of pictures.

I like to spread this out over a couple of weeks and I like the "I Do/We Do/You Do" approach when I teach writing.   I model what I want them to do, then we do it together, and then they do it independently.

I Do:

First, I read the story "Ladybugs" and modeled how to take notes as I read. 

Note:  Each box on the "note" page is a page of their book and it is listed on their  Table of Contents page.

Next,  I made an anchor chart to go over the nonfiction pages that I expected them to have in their book.  I showed them my nonfiction ladybug book pages that I had already drawn illustrations on (to save time) and I modeled using my "notes" sheet to write my sentences on each page.

We Do:

I  read the book "Sea Urchins" and while reading we filled out one "note" sheet together as a group.  

I gave them their blank nonfiction writing book and put our "notes" page under our document camera and they used the information to write their sentences.

"Looks Like" example pages:

"Eats" example pages:

"Habitat" example pages:

"Interesting Fact" example pages:

 

You Do:

I provided different books that I checked out from the library for the students to choose their topics.  I gave them a "note" sheet to take notes on while they read their book.  We then worked on one or two pages a day depending on how much time we had.  I love how they turned out.

Note sheet examples:

Finished Book examples:

Happy Teaching Friends!

Nonfiction Writing: Texas Symbols

Hi Friends!
I know it's been awhile since I posted anything here and there is a reason.  This school year, I moved to a new town and a new school.  I now teach first grade at Woodland Heights Elementary in Brownwood, Tx.  I have been busy adjusting to a new house, new school, and  making supplemental activities for the new Into Reading HMH adoption.  I have been saving some things that I have been doing with my class (my camera roll on my phone is FULL) to share with you when I get a chance and that is what I am here to do today.

This past week, we were learning about Texas Symbols and I needed to get in some nonfiction writing so I combined the two.
Here is a finished product from one of my firsties:

We completed these in one week.  

On Monday, I went over the nonfiction features we would put in our book.  These were:  

Title Page, Table of Contents and a "fun fact" that needed to be included on at least one symbol.

I used two nonfiction books that had these features and we went over them.

On Tuesday, we read about Texas symbols. I used a  PowerPoint I purchased on TpT by Cheryl Martin.  If you are interested in the one I used, you can check it out HERE.

Then, I had the students fold a piece of white paper into fourths and draw 4 symbols they wanted to write about.  (To save time, as they were working, I went around and spelled/wrote the name of their symbol for them)  Here are a few samples of our prewriting:

On Wednesday and Thursday, we wrote our books.

On Friday, my students shared their booklets with each other.

You can grab a copy of the booklet by clicking on the picture below.

Happy Teaching!

Nonfiction Writing First Grade Style

We recently used the Shadow Puppet App to share some nonfiction writing.  Here is one of my students reading his nonfiction writing.

{By the way - this writing activity ties in beautifully with the story "How Leopard Got His Spots" that is in the first grade Journeys reading series.}

Day 1

Zebra Writing

We read and discussed the book shown below and then we made a class word bank for students to refer to when writing.

Student then wrote several sentences about zebras and illustrated their pictures.

Day 2

Leopard Writing

  We read and discussed the book shown below and then we made a class word bank for students to refer to when writing.

Day 3

Title and Table of Contents

I gave my students their title and table of content pages.  We assembled the books,  they added a title and filled  in their table of contents page with the page numbers.

Note:  If we would have had more time, I would have added a giraffe page to their books.  And next time we do this, I will have my students add some labels to their illustrations as well.

 Here are a couple more student examples and if you go to the bottom of this post you can grab the nonfiction writing template {free} to use with your students.

You can grab yourself a copy at this link:

Nonfiction Writing

Happy Writing!