Informational writing in 3Z

        The class is hard at work on informational writing about plants and animals. We  worked in Core  Groups researching and writing about the life cycle of plants. The class a whole watched a few videos and read a few books on plants. During this time we created notes on the life cycle of plants. Finally, each Core Group wrote a chapter on the life cycle of plants. The five chapters are similar but each has its own voice.

      Next we  broke off into pairs or individuals to research the life cycle of an animal of choice. Each child was provided with a graphic organizer to help collect the stages of the life cycle and at least 3 details about each stage. Most groups are done or close to done with this.

       Our current step is to come back together to research the parts of a plant. We will follow the same process we did for the life cycle. When this is complete the pairs or individuals will research and then write their about the structure of their animal. As you can tell this is a way of scaffolding away from support and allowing the students to experience the research and writing process. Each student will end up with 2 pieces of writing one on plants and one on the animal of their choice.

      Be sure to ask you student what they are writing about!