Informational Anthology Outline Unit Overview Part 1: Writers write lots about the things they know. Goals for this section: thinking carefully about what to teach, gathering ideas and choosing paper types. Part 2: Making our writing clear and easy to read. Goals for this section: organization, table of contents, and modeling mentor authors. Part 3: Adding more. Goals for this section: asking what questions the reader might have and making revisions and additions to writing based on this knowledge. Part 4: Revising and writing longer sections to include lots of information and text features. Goals for this section: adding features such as close ups, labels, captions, glossaries, diagrams, etc, revising as you go and making comparisons. Part 5: Making final revisions and adding other types of writing to transform information books into an anthology. Goals for this section: using anchor charts to help with revisions, adding narratives, opinions, and poetry, editing for punctuation and spelling. Launching the Unit Lesson 1 Teaching Point: Before an information writer can begin writing they need to think about the things they know a lot about. They might write these things down in their idea notebooks and then choose the topic that they are most excited to write AND that they know lots and lots about. They plan what they know across their fingers and then get started writing.!! 1
Connection: Getting Ideas Writers, let s just stop for a moment and think about all that you have learned about writing this year. When we began the year some of you were just beginning to write sentences! Now you know how to write stories, opinions, and writing that teaches. It s time to start our last unit of study for first grade. We will be working on Informational Anthologies. An anthology is a collection of writing about one topic. It has a lot of information about a topic, but it also might include opinions about the topic and even stories that connect the author to that topic. Today I want to teach you that before an information writer can begin writing they need to think about the things they know a lot about. They might write these things down in their idea notebooks and then choose the topic that they are most excited to write AND that they know lots and lots about. They plan what they know across their fingers and then get started writing Teaching: Teach as Model Watch me as I think of ideas that I could write about. I need to think about topics that I know A LOT about. (Think aloud topics that you might like to write about and you know a lot about, and some that you are interested in but do not have a lot of knowledge about. These should be topics that the kids might relate to such as gardening, picnics, baseball, etc so that they might spark ideas for the kids. You may even choose topics that the whole class might know a lot about such as recess or school buses. Be sure to draw attention to the fact that some of these topics are interesting to you, but you do not think that you know enough about it to fill a whole book with information.) Sample conversation: So I could write about gardening because I plant one every spring with my dad. Yes. That would be a good topic. I will write that one in my idea notebook. I could write about baseball because my son loves to watch it on tv but I don t really know that much about baseball. No, I couldn t write a whole book about that. I won t write that one down. I was also thinking about recess. I played at recess when I was a kid and I am outside with you every week. Yes, I think that idea will go in my notebook!! 2
Well I have a few choices to pick from. I will choose to write my first book about. Now I need to plan across my fingers what I will write. (Demonstrate this by holding up a finger and telling a type of page i.e. How to, or parts of ) Active Engagement: Discussion with a Partner Now it is your turn to think about a topic that you know lots about. Close your eyes and think of something that you know so much about that you could write a WHOLE book about that topic. Thumbs up when you have it Good. Now turn to your writing partner and tell them your topic. Then plan across your fingers telling all the different things that you know about that topic. Think about the different kinds of pages that you will write on this topic. Link: You Can Do It! So, remember before an information writer can begin writing they need to think about the things they know a lot about. They might write these things down in their idea notebooks and then choose the topic that they are most excited to write AND that they know lots and lots about. They plan what they know across their fingers and then get started writing. And then they write, write, write until their book is finished. Happy Writing! Unit Celebration Getting Ready For the Museum Now that the writing of the book is complete the writing workshop will turn into an exhibit building workshop. This will take a few hours spread out over days. This is a sample of a break down of tasks... Task 1: Collecting Materials for the Exhibit Board Send a note home asking for help in collecting pictures for the exhibit board. These can be pictures from magazines, photographs, hand drawn pictures, or pictures off the Internet. In class have the students create a title for their board!! 3
and display pieces from their book. They may choose to recreate a diagram page or how to page from their book...or more than one! Engage the help of the art teacher and create works of art using the topic of their book as the subject. Also, have each student write a fact two about their topic to include on the board. Task 2: Planning the Layout of the Exhibit Board Once all the pieces are assembled have the students lay them out on their boards and rearrange until they find a layout that looks nice and covers the board. Then have them glue the pieces to their board. At this point they could add additional drawings to their board if needed. Task 3: Setting Up the Exhibit Have the students bring in items from home that relate to their topics. These items might be balls, trophies, uniforms, toys or other items that connect with the topic of their exhibit. Then give the students time and space to arrange their boards, books, and items into an attractive display. Consider arranging like exhibits in the same location. Possible areas for the exhibit could be: animals, sports, science and technology, history, and arts and hobbies Task 4: Rehearsing for the Exhibit Opening Before the parents, or other honored guests arrive, you will want to give your students time to practice what they will say to visitors of their exhibits, and to get comfortable sharing their work with others. Choose a practice audience (possibly a kindergarten class, or each other) and give the students time to practice while you can be there to coach and help them if they get stuck on what to share. Ideally each student will teach their guests about their topic by talking though their display boards or reading a few pages of their book. Model this for your students before the practice audience arrives.!! 4
Celebration: Night at the Museum For this celebration the students will not only be showing off all their hard work, but they will also learn just what great teachers they are. Give each of your guests a stack of the learning slips to fill out as they tour the museum. After each guest visits an exhibit they should be instructed to ask the exhibitor questions about their topic. Then they should write down what they learned from that exhibitor along with the name of the exhibitor. They can turn these in for a prize drawing or just give them to the exhibitor to collect and read later.!! 5