3rd Grade · Grammar · W.3.2.A, W.3.2.B, W.3.2

Informative Writing Lesson Plan for 3rd Grade

A ready-to-teach informative writing lesson for 3rd Grade, built around planning informative paragraphs from fact cards, using headings, steps and diagrams, asking research questions, taking short notes, choosing sources and writing biographies and comparisons. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 45 minutes

Learning objective

Write an informative paragraph with a clear topic sentence and details
Organize facts logically to explain a topic to the reader
Close an informative paragraph with a sentence that restates the main idea

Materials

Writing informative paragraphs
Adding facts and details
Compare and contrast paragraphs
Research practice
Research writing
Biography writing
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Notice it first (5 min)
Put two sentences on the board, one that uses informative writing correctly and one that does not. Ask students which sounds right before you name any rule. Noticing comes before naming.
2. Name the rule (I do) (8 min)
Now name informative writing and state the rule in one sentence. Write it where it can stay all week. Model correcting the broken sentence from the warm-up.
3. Fix them together (we do) (12 min)
Work through four or five sentences as a class. Mix in one that is already correct, because students who are pattern-matching rather than thinking will "fix" it anyway and reveal themselves.
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "Writing informative paragraphs". Students work independently. Circulate and watch for the students who can do the exercise but cannot explain the rule, since that gap shows up later in their writing.
5. Apply it to real writing (5 min)
Students find one place in their own writing folder where informative writing applies, and fix it. This is the step that moves the rule from worksheet to writing.

Check for understanding

Read the last two sentences of each student's independent work. Applying informative writing correctly in their own sentence matters more than getting the exercise items right.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild informative writing with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own informative writing problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand informative writing.

Skills covered in this lesson

Writing informative paragraphs · Adding facts and details · Compare and contrast paragraphs · Research practice · Research writing · Biography writing · Informative writing prompts

Questions teachers ask about teaching informative writing

What do 3rd grade informative writing worksheets cover?

Planning paragraphs that teach facts, like how frogs grow or why leaves change color, plus how to directions, news articles, biographies and comparisons. Research pages practice questions, notes and sources.

What is a fact card planner?

The page prints a short list of true facts, and children plan a paragraph using only those facts. It lets them practice organizing and writing in their own words before they research on their own.

Which standards do these sheets support?

They support W.3.2, writing informative texts, along with W.3.7 for short research projects and W.3.8 for taking brief notes and sorting information.

Do these worksheets have answer keys?

11 of the 42 sheets have an answer key, mostly the research notes and source pages. The planners and open writing pages have none, since children write in their own words.