Writing is so important in grades one and two, and children enjoy writing for authentic audiences. Report writing may be taught step-by-step using the format of questions such as what do lions do, what do lions eat, what is their habitat, and so on. Books selected from the library for student research should be appropriate for children, have large enough text for them to read, have beautiful pictures if possible, have a table of contents, an index, and a glossary. While researching, nonfiction text features should be pointed out as they are essential for finding information in books. Students might bookmark such features and be prepared for small group reading with their bookmarks in place.
Reports are easy to display or even have on hand for special events parents might attend. If nothing else (oh, say, during a pandemic) they could at least be shared at parent-teacher conferences.
Below are sample pages from the free eMember download. You may join here, and log in here. Just check the “free” option to access our resources at that level.
The lion writing pages and extra paper with a lion theme may be used as the morning or end-of-the-day quick writes. They may also be used for full story writing by beginning with lion stories perhaps read aloud by the teacher, use of the drawing, or writing/drawing planning pages. Rubrics just for story writing are included in the PDF.
Report writing is best taught as a step-by-step process. The first report will probably be a full class project with everyone writing a report on the same topic as large group instruction.
After students become familiar with the process, they may wish to select their own animals to research. The school library may not have enough books that lend themselves to report writing, and the public library might need to be used.
Story writing prompts, extra paper, planning map, and rubrics are included.
Story writing prompts, extra paper, planning map, and rubrics are included.
The rubrics provided are for both the story writing if it develops into a full project, and the report writing.
Extra paper may be used for narrative or expository writing. The report writing pages with full lines on the paper are provided for more independent writers. Emergent writers might rather draw, color, and write about their animals.
Thank you for reading, Carolyn
