Informational Writing tied into Speaking and Listening

Today was my formal observation day….I use to get sooo nervous on these days!!!  Now after 20 years I can happily say I go in with more calmness and confidence…thank goodness.  We get observed 2x’s every 3 years.  How often do you get observed?  I almost always do a guided reading group because I think that is my strong suit and I feel that’s where I shine the most.  I started thinking though since I only get observed every 3 years I should do something else and glean some insight on writing.

Sometimes this is how I feel during observation week though to be honest:

So ~ Informational Writing it was!  I introduced it last week.  I had each child bring in a stuffed animal from home ( my awesome friend Tammy’s great idea ).  We took notes and discussed facts about our animal.  I wanted to move from an inanimate object to a person as our writing assessment in December will be on ‘me’.  So I created a few anchor charts:

Here is the graphic organizer from my Informational Writing Pack that worked { perfectly } for this lesson.

I know they could’ve written right on the paper but they loved taking notes on a sticky note and I had a couple kids I gave an extra sticky note to because they wrote more. :o)

I broke this lesson down into a step by step version…I modeled the first square on the anchor chart about my mom and then transferred the notes to my sticky note.  Then I had the kids THINK and write and then this is where the speaking and listening came in…

They took out their talking sticks { thank you to Pinterest and Tammy Williams } and took turns sharing what they wrote.  I had the ‘listening’ kiddos REPEAT back to the speakers what they heard them say about their moms.  It was great!  I loved hearing the dialogue in my class and they were all engaged.

A rough draft – I love her closing sentence…my mom is a lovely woman. :o)

If you like any of these ideas ~ Check out my informational Writing Pack – I also have a bundled pack with informational, opinion and narrative.  How are you doing with informational writing this year?

and here is the link to the { bundle }.

Leave a comment about how you think his pack can help you in your classroom and I will pick a winner later this week.