This week Israel started to work on informational writing during writer’s workshop. He absolutely LOVES writing stories, but he usually sticks with fictional stories. I was surprised to see how much he enjoyed putting together an informational piece!
He was asked to do a “cold write” where he had 45 minutes to put together an informational writing sample. There wasn’t much prep involved because it was used as more of a pre-assessment tool. Even without much planning, he put together a pretty good writing piece, so I thought I would share it with you!
First up, Israel decided that he wanted to write about lions. It’s something that he knows a lot about because we observed many many lions on our safari trip in Kenya. I thought writing about lions was a great plan! He came up with his title:
Might King of the Savanna
Next, Israel decided what information he wanted to share. He was so excited to make a Table of Contents (which he calls Table of Continents, ha!). He titled his pages: Mighty Mammals, Raising Cubs, Hunting with a Grip, What!!! A Lion Sleeps in the Day!
Then it was time for Israel to begin writing his information. Having pages about being a mammal, raising cubs, hunting, and sleeping really helped him stay on track. At first he was trying to jump all over the place, but he reigned himself in and stuck to the topics.
Page 1: Mighty Mammals
What has a mighty roar? What is a… LION! A lion is a cat like a cheetah or a tiger, even a leopard. Lions live in Africa. A lion has a strong body.
Page 2: Raising Cubs
A female lion takes care of the cubs. If a hungry hyena comes, she will fight off the hyena. A cub drinks milk from its mom. Top thing that a cub does is slam down one another.
Page 3: Hunting with a Grip
Snap!!! A lion just caught a mongoose. Top food that a lion eats: mongoose, meerkats, buffalo, giraffe, gazelle, antelope, cows, goats, chickens. A lion has a good grip with its jaw.
Page 4: What!!! A lion sleeps in the day!
HAAAAAA ZZZZZZZZ. It is the end of the day. Do you think a lion sleeps at night? NO!!! A lion sleeps in the day. Most of the time it sleeps in the day. At night a lion hunts, killing animals that sleep.
Isn’t that just the best?! I thought that was pretty stinkin’ good to have done without any instruction or prep time! Next time we are going to work on closing the story out and adding a glossary.
Since I created these informational Writing Templates for Israel, I figured that I would share with you too!
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!
5 Responses
Hi Amy!
Great things you are publishing! I’m such a fan. Thank you for all you do! These are templates are going to be great for my young writers.
Hi Amy!
Great things you are publishing! I’m such a fan. Thank you for all you do! These are templates are going to be great for my young writers. Do you have templates for opinion writing and narrative?
I do! Check out my Write On! Units here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amy-Lemons/PreK-12-Subject-Area/Writing
Thanks!
Thank you!