Writing Unit of Study

1st Grade – Writing a Sequence of Instructions: How-To Books, Unit 3

Table of Contents

Background Section

Abstract...... 3

Unit Section

Resources and Materials Needed...... 4

Why a Script?...... 6

Overview of Sessions – Teaching and Learning Points...... 7

On-Demand Assessment: How-To pre-write (optional)...... 8

Immersion Phase...... 9

Lesson Plans...... 23

Resource Materials

See Separate Packet

Copyright © 2010-2014 by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators and Oakland Schools.Last updated 8/11/13 jac.

Writing Unit of Study

1st Grade – Writing a Sequence of Instructions: How-To Books, Unit 3

Abstract

Students don’t enter your classroom as blank slates. They enter with daily lives rich with activities and experiences. This unit on How-To will focus on students as experts, enticing and motivating them to teach their area of expertise.

How-To, the procedural writing taught in this unit, aligns with the Common Core State Standards. The nature of procedural writing, which requires explicitness, clarity and sequence will help students navigate the challenges of both reading and writing informational texts. Understanding and writing procedural texts will support students as they work in content areas.

While the immersion activities in the unit focus on written material, teachers should incorporate everyday experiences to demonstrate that procedure is a part of everyday living (e.g. doing a summersault, craft project, making a lunch choice, recess games, etc.). Following up these life experiences with a shared writing activity will enrich the immersion phase. As in previous units, paper selection and expectations will be essential. It will be important to encourage the use of longer booklets since students may havewritten a How-To book during their kindergarten year.

As the students move out of the immersion phase into writing, writers remember that authors plan. Writers are taught that their readers must be able to read and follow their directions. This includes adding an introduction that sets up the book, plus a closure that ties the ends together. These sections are also highlighted in the Common Core State Standards. Inclusion of more sophisticated features and the focus on the tone of their word choice will lift the level of How-To texts too. Writers will also learn that there are certain ordinal words, or words that indicate a sequence, to help cue the reader to follow the steps.

The final days of the unit are spent on revision, editing, and a final celebration with another classroom.

Expectations:

The following suggestions and expectations are from Calkins(2011). A Curricular Plan for the Writing Workshop

Grade 1 (Unit Four Procedural Writing – How-To Books). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Please read this resource for

in-depth information.

  • Following immersion, expect young writers to generate many How-To topics and move quickly through the writing process: selecting a topic, rehearsing and planning, then drafting. Students should apply what they’ve learned from kindergarten as they writeHow-To text.
  • After concept II in the MAISA unit, look for writers to have many How-To pieces (five or more). If the volume is low, spend additional time teaching students to write more.
  • Concepts III and IV are designed to lift the level of their How-To books, applying strategies to existing work and new pieces
  • Students will select one (or two) pieces to take to final publication

Resources and Materials Needed

  • Anchor Charts – See Immersion Information
  1. What Makes a How-To-Text?
  2. How-To Book Ideas
  3. Teaching Words
  4. How Steps Are Written
  5. Writing Process Steps
  6. Steps to Writing a How-To
  7. Teaching or Precise Words
  8. Noticings Chart
  9. Working with Your Partner

Mentor or Teaching Text

  • Mentor Text- See Resource Materials Packet
  • Procedural writing from real world – e.g. cookbooks, instructions for games, new toys, craft projects, directions a pharmacist writes on a medicine bottle, sign on an elevator informing passengers what to do in case of an emergency, etc.
  • Teacher and class sample story/stories – The following items will be targeted in the unit, so write a variety of text that lend themselves to teaching into these items:
  1. Session 2 – Sketches and materials page
  2. Session 3 – A.)General word to a precise word example, B.) adding additional words to be clearer
  3. Session 4 – missing step or unclear step
  4. Session 5 – A.) add clear and precise words, B.) add clear and precise pictures (teaching pictures)
  5. Session 6 – Add text features such as title, materials, pictures that teach especially close-up picture, #s for steps
  6. Session 6 - Mid-workshop teaching point – commas in a series and one with materials listed in a column-like format
  7. Session 7 – Simple sentence that could be expanded using how, where, or why; Mid-Workshop Teaching Point - adding numbers or sequencing words to indicate step order
  8. Session 8 – Introduction
  9. Session 9 – Conclusion, Share – cautionary note, warnings or pieces of advice
  10. Session 10 – Misc. text features found in mentor text (e.g. diagrams, captions, lines and arrows, bold faced words, etc.)
  11. Session 12 – Teacher text that needs revision work, see checklist

Resources and Materials Needed, Continued

Resources and Materials

  • How-To Booklets – See Resource Materials Packet
  • Revision strips/additional pages
  • Revision toolkits: Staples, staplers, staple removers, tape,special pens, flaps, extra How-To pages, blank pages, etc.
  • Sticky notes for active engagement
  • Blank half sheets of paper (used to add charts, diagrams to How-To books)
  • Chart paper and markers
  • Select Celebration Idea before starting the unit. See Session 14 for possible options. Explain to students early on how their work will be shared. This should motivate them to do their personal best.

Professional Resources

-Calkins, Lucy. (2011-2012). A Curricular Plan for the Writing Workshop, Grade 1. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

-Calkins, Lucy and Pessah, Laurie. (2003). Nonfiction Writing: Procedures and Reports. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

-Calkins, Lucy. (2013). Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing Elementary Series: A Common Core Workshop Curriculum. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Why a Script?

Teachers, whether new to the profession, Writing Workshop, or to the Common Core Standards can benefit from scripted lesson plans. A script serves as a “writing coach” by guiding instruction to include routines, procedures, strategies, and academic vocabulary. The goal over time is that teachers will no longer need scripted lessons because they will have studied and gained procedural knowledge around writing workshop, the Common Core, and the units of instruction. The script is a framework from which teachers can work -- rewrite, revise, and reshape to align with their teaching style and the individualized needs of their students. Furthermore, the scripted lessons can also be easily utilized by student teachers or substitute teachers.

Additional lesson information:

Share Component –

Each lesson includes a possible share option. Teachers may modify based on students’ needs. Other share options may include: follow-up on a mini lesson to reinforce and/or clarify the teaching point,problem solve to build community,review to recall prior learning and build repertoire of strategies,preview tomorrow’s mini lesson, or celebrate learning via the work of a few students or partner/whole class share (source: Teachers College Reading and Writing Project). See Resource Materials Packet for more information – Some Possibilities for Purposeful Use of the Share Time.

Mid-Workshop Teaching Point –

The purpose of a mid-workshop teaching point is to speak to the whole class, often halfway into the work time. Teachers may relay an observation from a conference, extend or reinforce the teaching point, highlight a particular example of good work, or steer children around a peer problem. Add or modify mid-workshop teaching points based on students’ needs.

Assessment –

Assessment is an essential component before, during and after a unit to determine teaching points and plan for individual and small group work. See Assessment link on Atlas Rubicon for more detailed information and options (e.g. on-demand procedures and analysis, proficiency checklists for product, behaviors and process, formative assessment strategies, writing continuums, see and hear observational sheets, etc.)

Independent Writing and Conferring - Following the mini-lesson, students will be sent off to write independently. During independent writing time teachers will confer with individual or small groups of students.

Balanced Literacy Program (BLP) - A Balanced Literacy Program which is necessary tosupport literacy acquisition

includes: reading and writing workshop,word study, read-aloud withaccountable talk, small group, shared reading and

writing, and interactive writing. Teachersshould make every effort to include all components of a balanced literacy

program into theirlanguage arts block. Reading and Writing Workshop are only one part of a balanced literacy

program. The MAISA unit framework is based on a workshop approach. Therefore, teachers will also need to include the

other components to support student learning.

Overview of Sessions – Teaching and Learning Points

Alter this unit based on students’ needs, resources available, and your teaching style. Add and subtract according to what works for you and your students.

Part One:On-DemandAssessment: How-To pre-write (optional)

On-Demand Assessment: How-To pre-write (optional)

Assessing 1st Grade Writers: Informational CCSS

Session / This assessment should be conducted prior to starting of first informational unit. It should be done before the Immersion Phase.
Materials
  • Writing booklet suggestion: Use paper from informational unit. Students should have access to additional pages if needed.

Assessment Explanation

It is suggested teachers conduct an on-demand writing assessment. The purpose of this assessment is to see what kind of writing students can produce on their own. Therefore, teachers do not guide students through the process. This is not a teaching day, but a day for students to show what they know about going through the steps of writing an informational piece. Teachers will then analyze these writing pieces using a continuum or rubric. Please see K-2 Assessment Packet located in Atlas Rubicon underAssessment Tasks for on-demand guidelines, continuums links and rubrics. Data collected from analyzing this writing will allow teachers to begin to develop insight into what their young writers know and can do on their own; where they need additional help; and possible next teaching points.

Assessment Timeline

The following are guidelines. They may be adapted to meet building and district assessment plans.

Grade / Informational Pre-Assessment / Informational Post- Assessment
1st / Prior to Unit 3- How-To / After Unit 7- Informational Writing About Science

Assessment Suggestion

Review these pieces alongside the informational continuum that shows the developmental stages of writing, and names the qualities of writing that define each stage (see the K-2 Assessment Package, LucyCalkins’new book Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing Lucy Calkins withColleagues fromthe Reading and Writing Project and for continuums. Locate the child’s on-demand writing within the scale. Use the continuum to develop future goals for your young writers.

Growth Comparison

Pre and post measures: Compare students’ pre-assessment on-demand, final piece from final Informational unit, and the post-assessment administered after the final informational unit to note growth over time.

The pre/post on-demand assessments show what students are able to do on their own. The final piece for the unit shows what students can do with teacher guidance. All three writing samples provide valuable information.

Immersion Phase

Background Information

The purpose of the Immersion Phase is to help students develop a thorough understanding of the type of text they will be writing. The goal is to move students from explorers of a particular text type to writers of that text type. In this particular unit,students will learn the purposes of How-To text as well as the characteristics of well-written How-To books. Basically, during this phase, students are thinking, “How do these kinds of text tend to go?” The goal is to move students from explorers of How-To books to writers of How-To books.

Concept I is considered the immersion phase of the unit. The immersion phase should be completed before starting the mini-lesson sequence (Concepts II-V). It is recommended that teachers spend several days on immersion activities prior to starting the unit. The writing unit is based on the assumption that students, through immersion, have developed background knowledge of How-To piecesand have begun collecting topic ideas, either on Idea sheet or in their Writer’s Notebooks. Teachers will want to keep their own collections of topics so they can model leading a “Writerly Life,” and use them as a resource when they decide to write their own How-To books.

It is suggested that most immersion activities take place during reading. These activities may be done during read aloud, shared reading, or reading workshop. Students should continue to work in writing workshop on completing the previous unit of study while this immersion work is done. However, if time is available or needed in writing workshop, immersion activities may be conducted during that time too.

Most of these lessons follow an inquiry approach. Teachers should follow the lead of their students – notice, restate, and negotiate what they say in order to bring meaning and understanding. This is a time for students to notice the characteristics of How-To text and view them through a writer’s lens. Text selection should include published books as well as student authored work. Text should always be read first as a reader and discussed. Then, students reread the same text to study it through a “writer’s eyes.”

Through reading How-To pieces, student will develop a greater understanding of these areas:

  1. Definition and purpose of How-To text
  1. Characteristics of How-To books – Basically, during this phase, students are thinking, ”How do these kinds of text tend to go? Chart findings.
  1. General “noticings”
  2. How do introductions tend to go? What is included?
  3. How does the middle or body tend to go? What is included?
  4. How do conclusions/endings tend to go? What is included?
  5. Author’s Craftsmanship - Discover author’s craft, unique to or typical of How-To books
  1. Possible How-To topics and identify how writers gather ideas (lead a “Writerly Life” – always searching for things to write about from our everyday lives
  1. Teaching (precise) words and ordinal or sequence words often found in How-To text

Immersion Phase, Continued

Additional important ideas to focus on during this phase and throughout the unit:

  • Reading like Writers – Writers first “read like readers” – read to enjoy and comprehend a text. Then, writers reread familiar text to study how the author wrote it – what are interesting things we notice about how the author crafted words; how did the author chose to structure different parts of the text; how did the writer include qualities of good writing; etc. In other words, students “read like writers” and discern what an author did and why. In simple terms, we guide students in charting the following: A.) Notice – What do you notice the author did? , B. Name – What is this called? , C. Why - Why did an author intentionally make that decision? (More advanced students may also discuss if they had ever seen that technique before and where, as well as try the technique with a class or student sample.)

Shared Writing

It is also recommended that a class How-To piece be started during immersion. The class will add to the text as the unit progresses. Consider doing a shared class experience as the basis for this book.

Summary of How-To Immersion Activities (3-5 days):

  1. Chart noticings from reading and studying mentor text (see A-B above)
  2. Chart possible ideas for How-To books (topic selection)
  3. Engage in a shared class How-To experience that leads to creating a class How-To book (shared writing)
  4. See possible sample activities next couple of pages

For more information on immersion and the teaching of craft, read the following professional resources:

  • Calkins, Lucy. (2013). Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing Elementary Series: ACommon Core Workshop Curriculum. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
  • Calkins, Lucy. (2009). A quick guide to teaching second-grade writers with units of study. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. (Especially chapter October – Raising the Level of Narrative Writing with Authors as Mentors.)
  • Calkins, Lucy and Amanda Hartman. (2003). Authors as Mentors. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
  • Ray, Katie Wood. (2006). Study driven: A framework for planning units of study in writing workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
  • Ray, Katie Wood and Lisa Cleaveland. (2004). About the authors: Writing workshop with our youngest writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. There is also an About the Authors DVD.
  • Ray, Katie Wood. (1999). Wondrous words: Writers and writing in the elementary classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. (top priority)

Immersion Phase - Sample Sessions

Immersion Session 1Writers read mentor texts as readers.

Immersion Sessions 2 & 3Writers reread mentor texts as writers, noticing and naming the components that

How-To books have;Writers start gathering ideas of possible How-To text they could write.

Immersion Session 4Writers reread mentor texts and tell how components help the reader or writer.

Immersion Session 5Writers reread mentor texts noticing teaching and ordinal words.

Shared Writing/Interactive Writing- During the immersion phase, engage in one or two shared experiences with your students and write one or more How-To pieces during shared/interactive writing. The class will revise the text as the unit progresses.