Writing Resources

Name: Informational Writing Unit
Brand: The Literacy Loft
Price: 20.0 USD
Availability: InStock

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Informational Writing Unit

$20.00

Writing Centers (Volume 1 Informational & Opinion) | Print + Digital

$10.00

Biography Project {Grades 2-5} | Distance Learning | Google Slides

$4.50

Launching Writing Workshop Unit | Distance Learning | Google Slides

$14.00

Writing Centers (Volume 2 Narrative) | Distance Learning | Google Slides

$10.00

Personal Narrative Writing Unit {My Life is a Story}

$11.00

Rubrics, Charts, & Checklists, OH MY!

$6.00

Narrative, Opinion, & Informational Writing Bundle

$43.00

Opinion Writing Unit (Grades 3-5)

$20.00

Write a Sentence Task Cards

$3.00

Christmas Persuasive Writing {Candy Cane Mix-Up}

$5.00

Current Event Newspaper Assignment-What's the SCOOP? | Google Slides + Print

$3.00

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Informational Text Set {Polar Bear Problems} | Distance Learning | Google Apps

$6.00 $3.00 Save $3.00

Writing Charts

$2.00

Informational Writing-Animal Research Project

$2.00

Reading & Writing Bundle

$64.80

Raving Reviews - Sampler Opinion Writing Unit on Book Reviews

$2.00

Reading and Writing Notebook Charts (Ultimate Bundle)

$44.00

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Opinion Text Set {College Athletes Debate} + Digital Option

$6.00 $3.00 Save $3.00

Christmas Writing {Rudolph's Missing!}

$5.00

Poetry

$8.00

Writing Complete Sentences Digital Activity

$3.00

Literary Response Opinion Essay Unit Grades 3-5

$7.00

Writing Process Signs {Calming Blue}

$2.00

Narrative, Opinion, & Informational Writing Bundle-JUST the Notebook Charts

$11.00

Research Writing Unit Notebook Charts

$6.00

Poetry - JUST the Notebook Anchor Charts

$4.00

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Opinion Text Set {Homework} | Distance Learning | Google Slides

$6.00 $3.00 Save $3.00

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Rubrics, Charts, & Checklists, OH MY!

$6.00

This mini-bundle of resources includes:
Informational Writing Student/Peer Checklist
Informational Writing Teacher Rubric for grading purposes (2 versions)
Narrative Writing Student/Peer Checklist
Narrative Writing Rubric for grading purposes (2 versions)
Opinion Writing Student/Peer Checklist
Opinion Writing Rubric for grading purposes (2 versions)
Language Arts Short Response Rubric
Character Feelings and Traits Notebook Charts
Transitional Words and Phrases Notebook Chart
Words We All Should Spell Correctly Chart
Writing an Opinion Essay Chart
Writer’s Celebrate! 3-2-1 Style

This product is one that I see myself continuously updating and adding new material. hope you enjoy and I would love to hear your feedback about this product! I am always open to ways I can improve my products:)

How to use the Checklists:
The checklists are used to help students understand what is expected of them as they move through the writing process. In addition, the checklist requires them to reflect on themselves as a writer. In my classroom, I introduce the checklist shortly after we have started the unit so they can monitor themselves as we go along. As we move towards publishing our final draft, the “I’m done” declarations dwindle. I have found the checklist reiterates specific things students can work on as a writer. Furthermore, they are required to consult one another through peer editing and revising.

The Rubrics
Reading and Writing grades are not so quick and easy anymore. Although I have the abstract mind of a Language Arts Teacher, when it comes time for grades and assessments- the “measurement” of my student’s progress can be a bit gray and I have struggled with giving my students’ a fair grade. The Writing rubrics included in this product are aligned to the checklists and allow you as the teacher to attach a grade to their final writing piece in an objective manner.

The Language Arts Short Response Rubric is a new one I am trying out this year and am very excited about!!! No longer are our assessments simply multiple choice-you got it or you don’t, a quick and easy grade. Questions and tasks are open-ended, which requires students’ to think more critically. In many standardized district or state assessments, students are required to respond to a task in an essay form AND ALSO a short response. As a teacher, assigning grades isn’t so easy anymore. I have often wondered how my classroom assessments are aligning to the district and state assessments as well as the standards overall. Alas, this product was born.

I don’t know about your students, but when my kiddos get a short response it is…definitely short!! They either answer in 2-3 words or a sentence or two that may or may not answer the question.  No more! This rubric will help you get students in the habit of answering short responses in complete sentences and require them to efficiently and quickly reflect on their work. Because after all, it is a SHORT response I use these at least once a week with a question about the current text or Read Aloud we are using in the classroom. They respond in their Reading Response Journal (or Reading Notebook). An added bonus is that throughout the year you can watch your students grow and become not only better readers, but also better writers

The Charts
Charts, charts, charts-I Love Charts. The problem is that we run out of wall space in our classrooms. I have found that students are sometimes more likely to use charts when they are at their fingertips- in their notebooks. I try to create the charts that they can continually refer to in their Reading and Writing work into half sheet versions they can simply glue into their notebooks. This product includes charts students can use in both Reading and Writing as well as a sample of charts found in the product My Opinion Matters!

🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.

Let’s connect!

The Literacy Loft Blog

The Literacy Loft on Instagram

The Literacy Loft on Pinterest

The Literacy Loft on Facebook

Writing Charts

$2.00

These charts are for students’ use in their writing notebooks, but also for teachers! At the beginning of the year, one of the most important things we can do for our students is teach them how to get ideas for their own personal narratives. This will lead to better writing in other genres. More importantly, this will get students excited about writing! I like to focus on these key points at the beginning of the year:

Volume, Stamina, & Confidence

This chart is a simple tool students can glue into their notebook as a reminder of ways they can generate ideas for entries, drafts, or stories. Also, teachers can use these as teaching points for mini lessons at the beginning of the year. I would strongly advise teachers to teach students HOW to use this tool & model ways to get ideas, before giving to students. I have included 4 copies:

One half-page (so 2 on a page) for students with my examples
One half-page (so 2 on a page) for students with a blank t-chart
One full page with a blank t-chart
One cute colorful one which could be displayed in the writing center or however you choose.

By giving students a resource to get ideas, you may be less likely to hear, “I don’t have anything to write about…”
And when you do, you have a simple response:

“Let’s take a look at some ways writers get ideas…”

This chart could also be displayed in the classroom for students in the writing center. I would love to hear how this works for you! I appreciate any feedback

🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.

Let’s connect!

The Literacy Loft Blog

The Literacy Loft on Instagram

The Literacy Loft on Pinterest

The Literacy Loft on Facebook

Happy Writing!
Jessica

Informational Writing-Animal Research Project

$2.00

What this Product Includes:

1. Teaching Points for the Unit - These are suggested teaching points you could use to teach this project. They do not need to be taught in this order and you may find your students need different teaching points. Please note this does NOT include full lessons, only teaching points aligned to standards

2. What Should my Field Guide Include? - a Content Guide for students (and teachers) to help guide the research and the content of the field guide

3. My Research Notes - a graphic organizer to help students record what they learn about the animal. This will also help students to organize their research, thus organize their writing.

4.My Research Notes with Guiding Questions - This version of the graphic organizer includes questions from the Content Guide to help students think about what to include in each section.

5. My Research Notes BLANK - This version allows students to think more critically and could be used with other projects. Students would determine what that category would be.

6. Field Guide Template - This is a template you can use for the rough draft of the Field Guide. You could also use this as the students’ actual field guides if you wanted to. In our classrooms, we used this as a template for the rough draft and then used large 11 x 18 in manila paper to recreate the template in a larger format.

7.Field Guide Pictures - Classroom photos to help you and your students see the end product.

8.My Field Guide Rubric - This is included to make your grading life easier!!! Writing can be so subjective sometimes- hopefully, this rubric will help you zip through grading students’ final projects!

9.Writers Celebrate! 3-2-1 Style - These cards can be used at the end of the unit as part of a gallery walk. Students can lay out their final masterpieces on top of desks or in a display area. Students walk around leaving comments for other classmates.

This is a resource to help you integrate Writing into the content area of Science or vice versa. Additionally, you might be able to integrate technology by using websites and videos to support your students’ research. Another possible way to use this resource is by having students create their final product in a power point presentation. There are NOT supplemental resources included in the product, but this may give you some ideas on how you can suit this resource to best fit your classroom‘s needs.

In order to implement this into your classroom, students will need to choose an animal to research. You may choose to limit the choices your students’ can make or limit to only wild animals or limit to animals found only in your state. One teacher tip I have for you is that if you do not want your students to choose pets, state that at the beginning of the unit. I gave my students a little too much freedom and some of the field guides became about pets. You might be okay with this if you are using this unit to get your kids writing! In my 4th grade classroom, we aligned this to various animals we discussed in class. As we began this unit, I noticed my students needed more guidance with topics an informational writer might discuss when writing about an animal. The questions we came up with are included in the “What should my field guide include?” page.

This is also meant to be a research project. Students will need to have access to books, articles, or websites about their particular animals. Whenever we begin any type of unit in my classroom, I head to our school library and fill baskets with that type of text. For this unit, you might want to choose two types of texts:
1)Texts based on the topics your students are writing about
2) Texts that students can use as a mentor text. I also suggest you choose a Mentor Informational Text to teach the lessons and model the writing techniques.

On Day 1 of the Unit, you might collect brochures, field guides, magazines, and other informational texts to help define the characteristics of Informational Text. Through your class discussion or minilesson create a classroom chart. Doing this simple study together will help set the foundation for the rest of the unit and create a point of reference for you and your students.

Another thought about implementing this into your Informational Writing curriculum is using the research to create an Informational Essay. In this way, you are still meeting the writing standards, in a fun and innovative way! Your students will have fun teaching their others all about their topic! If you use 11x18 paper to fold into the field guide as shown in the pictures, there is a spot for a sheet of paper 8.5 x 11 or notebook paper.

🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.

Let’s connect!

The Literacy Loft Blog

The Literacy Loft on Instagram

The Literacy Loft on Pinterest

The Literacy Loft on Facebook

Please know the there is a blank template for notes and the field guide. This might allow you to use the field guide and teaching points for other informational writing topics. Have fun and Happy Writing!!