How Rainbows Form Informative Writing

Print the page and read the directions with your child: Read the fact card. Then, write a paragraph that teaches the topic, using the facts in your own words. Afterward, talk about what they wrote or drew.

Informative writing teaches the reader true facts about a topic. The fact card, How rainbows form, gives every fact a child needs: A rainbow can appear when sunlight shines through raindrops. Each raindrop bends the light as it passes through. The bending splits white light into many colors. The colors always appear in the same order, red to violet. To see a rainbow, the sun must be behind you. Children write on ruled lines. The directions on the page read: Read the fact card. Then, write a paragraph that teaches the topic, using the facts in your own words.

Yes, both. We made it for 3rd Grade writing topics, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with informative writing. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

CCSS W.3.2 asks third graders to introduce a topic, group related facts, develop the topic with facts and details, and end with a concluding statement. Headings and boxes on these sheets help students group facts.

To compare is to tell how things are alike, and to contrast is to tell how they are different. A three box organizer works well: alike in the middle, and different on each side.

The date, a greeting, the body, a closing and the signature. The friendly letter sheet has students write each part and check that all five are present.

Yes. All four sheets include a key with a marking guide and a model response.

Good 3rd grade writing prompts give a clear topic and a reason to write: an opinion on homework or the best class pet, a story about a surprise visitor, facts about how magnets work, or a reflection on a goal for the year. Each sheet here turns one topic into a page with a plan and lines, so the prompt becomes finished writing.

Persuasive topics work best when 3rd graders know both sides: should kids get homework, which animal makes the best class pet, should recess be longer, or should students pick their own seats. Students state an opinion, give reasons linked with because and also, and end with a closing sentence (CCSS W.3.1).

Third graders write opinion pieces with linked reasons (CCSS W.3.1), informative texts that group facts (W.3.2) and narratives with dialogue and description (W.3.3). They also plan, revise and edit their work (W.3.5) and use capitals, commas and quotation marks correctly (L.3.2).

Teach a hook for the first sentence, like a question to the reader, and a conclusion that restates the main idea in new words. The hook and conclusion sheets give an example and a checklist.

22 of the 36 sheets include an answer key with a marking guide or a model response, among them the 4 friendly letter pages. The 14 two-page reflective writing and reading response sheets have no key, since each student writes about their own life or book.