Informative Writing in Third Grade
“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” The ever-popular phrase that paperboys used to yell while selling newspapers on the street. Newspapers are such great examples of informative writing. Nowadays, I don’t really read the newspaper...ever...but I do like to watch interviews online. I love seeing who or what I can learn more about. And, like many teachers, this gave me some inspiration for a writing lesson. Interviews got my thinking about authentic ways for my students to do informative writing. So, without further adieu, here is what I came up with for teaching informative writing in third grade.
Text: Teaching Informative Writing: A creative lesson for third grade that makes students junior reporters!
Image: A camera is displayed on a filmmaking set.
Setting the Scene
This lesson is a fun twist of informative writing as the students are the ones gathering the information firsthand.
First, we have to introduce our writing lesson in a creative way. Make it exciting! Set the stage, by having students imagine themselves as TV interview hosts. Show YouTube clips of reporters on the scene interviewing, or news anchors giving an interview. I like to find local human-interest pieces that the students can relate to. Or show them some celebrity interview for a movie they have all seen or heard of. It’s your job as the teacher to really “sell” this part.
During this step, it’s also important to define the term “informative writing”.
Informative writing teaches a reader new and true information.
Then look for examples of that in the interviews you watch. Make an anchor chart to track how the reporter sounds, who they are interviewing, and what information the audience learned through the interview. Track any else you want your students to be focusing on as well.
Brainstorm Interview Candidates
After watching some sample interviews and discussing them, it’s time to brainstorm. Come up with a list of people that the students can interview. There really isn’t a wrong answer, but here are some ideas to get you started:
A family member (mom, dad, sibling, grandparent, uncle, etc)
Someone who works at the school (principal, librarian, custodian, teacher, etc)
A friend
A community worker (librarian, coach, police officer, nurse, etc)
Make sure there’s an alternative for students who might not have someone. For instance, if students are interviewing grandparents...well...not all kids have grandparents who are alive. Or, here’s another thought. Instead of doing the interviews outside of class time, you could partner students with their classmates so everything gets completed during classroom time.
Work on Interview Questions
Before students get to the interviews, it’s important to do a lesson about what makes a good question. A good question should require more than a one or two word answer. Thus, any question that can be answered with a “yes” or a “no” is NOT a good question. Make an anchor chart of good questions and bad questions. Some bad questions might include, “Do you like chocolate?” or “Do you have a brother?”. Some good questions might include “What are your plans for winter break?” or “What do you like to do when you go home from school?”
Have students write out their questions before conducting their interviews. Then teach students how to take note of their partner’s responses to the questions.
Write the Report
After conducting the interviews, it’s time for students to write their reports. Do a guided writing lesson to teach students how to turn their interview notes into a script. They will have to turn it into a third person script that could be read on the news. If you feel up to it, it’s also fun to teach them some of the news lingo like “In breaking news” or “Thank you for joining up this evening.”
Share Your Findings
There are fun ways for students to share their reports. They could write a newspaper article. They could write an informative essay. My favorite way for students to share their final essays is in an “Evening News Broadcast” style where they sit at a desk and share what they’ve learned about the subject. If you have access to a camera, it’s fun to film these so students can watch themselves later. You could even upload these onto your student’s online portfolios so parents can watch them as well. This helps to integrate media or technology into the project!
Grab the whole Junior Reporters Unit!
This is such a fun project to do with students and if this sounds like something that’s up your alley, let me help you with some of the prep. I’ve created a Junior Reporters: Informative Writing in Third Grade” unit which contains lesson plans, planning pages for interview pages, final report templates (for either news anchor scripts and newspaper articles), and assessment checklists, interview script pages, good copy newspaper. Let me help you with the planning so you can spend more time with your students.
Spend Less Time Planning!
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Informative writing lessons don’t have to be boring. They can come to life by adding some authentic flavor, such as news clips or interview clips. If you try this in your classroom, let me know how it goes!
