Expository writing is a skill that students use throughout their academic life and sometimes into their careers. I teach my first graders how to thoroughly research topics of interest. First, I take an inventory of what the students are interested in. Once I have a few options, I look into what state standards I can tie in and what is on our scope and sequence at the time of the project. Another thing I look at are what resources I have available.
This year my kiddos are REALLY interested in animals. So choosing to research habitats was a no brainer! It ties in adaptations, environments, life cycles, food chain, predators and prey, plants, flowers, non-living things, and so much more!
Before we ever started, we spent about two weeks learning how to write a topic sentence using Christine Statzel's unit "Write Right Part One" I swear by this unit! My kiddos really gain the skill of hooking their reader and making sure their sentences are all on topic.
I write each habitat I plan on having my students study on the white board and let students write their names under their number one pick. I limit them by saying only 4 students per habitat. Once I have grouped my students based on their habitat interests, I provide them with an abundance of books from the library. Most of these books are way beyond my first graders reading levels, so I modeled how to look at pictures and photo captions as a primary source of gathering information. Keeping in mind the standards to I want to teach, I instructed my students to look for the weather, plants, and animals that live in their habitats. They were able to work in groups and write their information on a white board. Each child had a job whether they were in charge of writing, finding information, material manager, etc.
Once each child has their graphic organizer completed, we start the writing process. The first day I only have them write their topic sentence. I do this for a few reasons, research can be stressful and overwhelming so the more spread out it is, the better, and because I am expecting really good sentences so if they only are writing one, they know it must be their best. The next day, I have them draw and label their details (relating it back to their picture research using one detail about the weather, one about an animal that lives there, and one about a plant that lives there). The last step is to write their supporting details using Christine Statzel's "Wright Right Part Three".
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This year my kiddos are REALLY interested in animals. So choosing to research habitats was a no brainer! It ties in adaptations, environments, life cycles, food chain, predators and prey, plants, flowers, non-living things, and so much more!
Before we ever started, we spent about two weeks learning how to write a topic sentence using Christine Statzel's unit "Write Right Part One" I swear by this unit! My kiddos really gain the skill of hooking their reader and making sure their sentences are all on topic.
I write each habitat I plan on having my students study on the white board and let students write their names under their number one pick. I limit them by saying only 4 students per habitat. Once I have grouped my students based on their habitat interests, I provide them with an abundance of books from the library. Most of these books are way beyond my first graders reading levels, so I modeled how to look at pictures and photo captions as a primary source of gathering information. Keeping in mind the standards to I want to teach, I instructed my students to look for the weather, plants, and animals that live in their habitats. They were able to work in groups and write their information on a white board. Each child had a job whether they were in charge of writing, finding information, material manager, etc.
Here are some of the desert group members:
Here's what the pre-research looks like:
After the groups have collected research from books and have written the main ideas down on the white board, I provide each student with a habitat graphic organizer from Miss Hellen's Hippos unit "Habitats and Landforms for the Beginner". This is to make sure each child is held accountable for the information gathered and so they have all of their information at hand for the next step.
Here is a picture of the unit:
Once each child has their graphic organizer completed, we start the writing process. The first day I only have them write their topic sentence. I do this for a few reasons, research can be stressful and overwhelming so the more spread out it is, the better, and because I am expecting really good sentences so if they only are writing one, they know it must be their best. The next day, I have them draw and label their details (relating it back to their picture research using one detail about the weather, one about an animal that lives there, and one about a plant that lives there). The last step is to write their supporting details using Christine Statzel's "Wright Right Part Three".
This is an example of a student's rough draft:
Since this is one of our published pieces of writing, I edited their rough drafts. I modeled how I wanted them to write their finals drafts. Once their final drafts were completed, we had a mini-lesson to learn how to write a conclusion sentence that relates back to our topic sentence. Next time, I will make their final draft paper with a thinner line thickness! My kiddos kept saying that looking at the paper was making them dizzy... Whoops!
This is an example of a student's final draft:
The last step of this project was to make a triorama. I can not tell you enough how much I LOVE trioramas. This was a two-day activity. The first day we made the habitat's plants and depicted the weather. They were not allowed to draw any animals this day. The second day the were able to choose 2-3 animals they wanted to replicate. I had printed a variety of animals that live in each habitat the students were studying. The hardest part of the project was making the animals pop up! I personally made more than 60 little squares to tape on to the backs of each animal... If y'all know an easier way please let me know! Last year, I used popsicle sticks, but they stuck out from the bottom of the trioramas and it didn't look as nice. It's a learning process! Hopefully, I find something more efficient than this! Needless to say, they turned out so stinking cute!!
This is an example of a student's triorama:
