Informational report

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Home : 2002 : March : 28

Informational report
By Debbie

Hi Mandy,
I used several sources for lessons on research writing...if you want the titles of the books for better explanations of these minilessons just post or email.
Essentially the mini lessons I did were:
K-W-H-L
chart-what do you Know, what do you Want to know, How will you find out, and what have you Learned?
How to take notes-we jotted one interesting or unusual fact on each 'card' (cut 8 1/2 X 11 scrap paper into quarters), they need to learn how to put information into their own words
Categorizing the information-all cards go in a pile then read the first and put it down on a large

piece of butcher paper (gather the class on the floor around it), read the next fact and let them decide whether or not it goes with the first one or should a new pile be started...continue til all notes are in sorted piles then decide upon the headings
Outlining-deciding how the information should be presented, this could be a bullet/dash type or more formal outline with numbers and letters (as a third/fourth grade teacher, they learned an informal one)
Developing a topic sentence-use all the categories to help decide upon a lead that will hook the reader (use other nonfiction books as examples-I typed several lead sentences to project on the overhead after we'd read some in various books)
Writing a paragraph
Transitional words and phrases appropriate for nonficiton writing
Writing a satisfying conclusion (similar to the lead sentence using examples from nonfiction books)
Best of luck, post or email if you need specifics. ;-D