One of the most wonderful things about working with first graders is their deep curiosity about the world. They love to share their knowledge about topics they are passionate about. These topics range from insects, to countries they have visited, to sports they play and beyond.
Our Information Unit is our second unit of study in reading and writing workshop. This unit allows children to view themselves as experts in a topic and write to teach others all about it. To launch this unit, we discuss the difference between facts and opinions and why this is important for information writing. The teachers then help the students start the writing process by giving them tools to guide their planning. For example, the children use their fingers to “touch and tell” their story before writing. They may also utilize a graphic organizer to plan out their chapters. We encourage them to choose a topic they feel they are “experts” in and write all the facts they know about that topic across several pages. They use their fingers to structure, plan, and sequence their information books with transition sentences such as: One thing I know about my topic, Another thing I know, Also, One more thing, and finally. They also think about their reader or target audience. “Who am I teaching?” is the question they ask themselves throughout this process. They also ask themselves, “What will my reader ask?” or “What do they need to know?”.
They also study text features from books they have been reading from our library. These features include labels, zoom-in boxes, bold print, expert words along with a glossary, how-to pages, parts-of pages, and of course a table of contents. First graders learn to be independent writers and expand their thinking as they write multiple chapters on a topic for the first time.
In addition to writing tools and modeling, writers often need the company of a partner to revise and enhance their writing pieces. Amid the pleasure and buzz of working together as writing partners, the children are able to edit their own pieces and make suggestions to their partners’ writing pieces. Once they have completed all their chapters, their information book is taken through the publishing process of editing, revising and rewriting. We end the unit with a writer’s celebration/publishing party.
The writing units in first grade are rooted in the students’ interests, experiences, and background knowledge which promotes a meaningful and enjoyable writing process.
