Unit 6, Mini-Lesson 1: Introducing How-To Books
Materials: How-to paper, How-to book I wrote: How to Make Cinnamon Toast
First I get two pieces of toast, some cinnamon, sugar, butter, and a knife.
Then I butter the bread on one side. Then I mix together three spoonfuls of sugar and ten shakes of cinnamon. At last I pour that over the bread. If it doesn’t stick, I use the knife to push the mixture into the batter. Then I eat it!
Connection / Tell students that they will be graduating to a whole new level of writing (explain significance of graduating – moving on to something harder but something they are ready for)– they will not just be writers, they will be teachers. They will be teaching lots of people in this school about something but writing books that teach.Teaching / Show kids How-to book I wrote. Tell them to study the steps I took and be ready to list them across their fingers. 1. List possible topics and pick one (Possible topics: Do a handstand, Make cinnamon toast, Play the card game “Go fish” – Select “Make cinnamon toast”) 2. Get How-to paper 3. Plan the steps on the paper 4. Sketch each step 5. Then write the steps in the right order – tell what things you will need
Active Engagement / Have kids turn and talk to their partners about steps to make a How-to book. They should list steps above. So if we were writing “How to Write a How-to Book”, what steps would we write? Plan out “How to Write a How to Book” and have kids tell each step as I point to each box on the How-to paper.
Link / So writers, let’s get started doing the things you just listed. Remember that first you must list things you can teach people to do and choose one thing. (Tell kids you have examples of How-to books if they need some ideas for topics)
Mid Workshop Teaching Point: Check to make sure topics make sense for How-To writing. Ask kids to touch each box and plan the steps for “How to Ride a Bike” (a good topic) vs. “Why My Dog is Pretty” (not good – would not have steps)
When conferencing… Make sure kids are writing How-to (instructional) writing and not a story
Sharing
Share story of student who realized they were not writing How-to writing and then changed what they were doing. Have one partner share with the other and say the steps in order. The partner should check to make sure that the writer is writing a How-to book.
Unit 6, Mini-Lesson 2: Checking for Clarity
Materials: “How to Write a How-to Book” from previous session, Student writing that I can use to try to follow the steps (but not completely clear – will need to be revised a bit)
Connection / List some good topics students came up with from the previous session. Express excitement about how great it will be that we will learn how to do these things! Tell students that today you will teach them to check whether their directions will work.Teaching / Add a new step to “How to Write a How-to Book”: After you write, recheck your directions with a partner. Read example of student’s writing and act out their directions (for example: How to Do a Somersault – have student read steps and try to follow directions) The student will probably realize he/she needs to revise directions. Remind everyone of the importance of our new last step we added to the chart.
Active Engagement / OK, let’s try out another set of directions for ____ and I’ll follow them. Have kids tell me directions so that I can follow them – make sure they are including necessary details. Tell students they are getting better at realizing the details their readers will need – you are thinking about your reader and trying to say the steps in a way that will work.
Link / Today instead of going write back to our desks, let’s head to our book nooks and start reading the directions we’ve already written to our partners – the partner should try to follow the directions. (Tell students we won’t have all the equipment here – if its “How to Make Scrambled Eggs”, they should pretend to do the steps). Think ‘Would I do the right thing if I follow the directions the writer is giving?’ In 5 minutes, we’ll start writing and rewriting.
When conferencing…
Make sure kids are underway writing a How-to book – they will need one started for the next few minilessons. If they seem to be waiting for personal assistance, remind them that they can ask a friend for help.
Sharing
Have a student read writing aloud and rest of students picture themselves doing each step. Thumbs up if you were able to see the steps of that happening. Have partners meet – one partner reads steps and other partner listens and pictures themselves doing each step. Are the directions clear? Do you know what to do first and next and next? Tell one student you will try out how-to directions tonight (such as how to cook something) and let them know how it goes tomorrow – necessary for next minilesson.
Teaching / Tell story of trying out one child’s How-to book last night. Act out reading steps and looking confused when information was left out or not clearly explained. Have the author clarify what he/she meant and appear to now understand (Oh! Now I get it!) Writers, whenever we write How-to writing we need to try hard to read them in such a way that we find the confusing parts – then add sticky notes to parts that are unclear to remind ourselves to revise it.
Active Engagement / Writers, sometimes confusing sections are easy to fix (such as adding a part about buying pizza dough from a story) but sometimes there are parts that aren’t easy to explain (such as how to throw/twirl the pizza dough correctly). Explain that these parts can be shown/explained in pictures.
Link / Writers, whenever we write How-to books, you need to pretend you are the reader and read your own writing, thinking, ‘What’s confusing?’ Then revise those parts to make sure your teaching is clear.
Unit 6, Mini-Lesson 3: Revising Words and Pictures
Materials: Unclear How-to writing from yesterday that I tried at home, Sticky notes
Sharing
Remind writers that in real life they won’t always be there to read the how-to directions out loud to a reader – they need to write so that a reader can read it themselves. It can’t take 10 minutes to figure out the next step because it might be too late for that step to be completed (such as when making pancakes – can’t wait ten minutes to figure out that it says “flip the pancakes” – they’ll be burnt by then). So you really need to try to spell correctly so that readers can read your writing. Help a student respell a word listening for and spelling it in chucks. Then have students meet with partners and have the partner read the writers writing – work together to fix parts that are hard to read.
Connection / Tell students they already know that when they write, there are things they can add that will help readers know how to read their writing (such as an exclamation mark – read this like it’s exciting!) Today I want to tell you that when we write How-to Books, there are things we can do to help readers read and follow our directions.Teaching / Show students page from a How-to book and point out “helpers” the author used: 1. Titles the writing in ways the help readers predict (“How to Carve a Pumpkin”), 2. Tells what things you will need to get started, 3. Pictures show just what the words say. The pictures teacher the reader what to do. Show list of these 3 helpers on chart paper.
Active Engagement / I’m going to pass out some How-to Books. Would you and your partner look at these books and see if your How-to book includes the same helpers or different ones? Add other helpers to chart – such as “Numbers for each step – 1, 2, 3 etc.”)
Link / Remember today when you write a How-to Book, it’s smart to check it by trying it out on a reader. Be sure to find the confusing parts in your first drafts and use our list of helpers to make sure you give your readers helpers like those on our list.
Unit 6, Mini-Lesson 4: Incorporating Features of How-to Writing
Materials: Examples of How-to Books (such as Gail Gibbons’ The Pumpkin Book), Chart: How-To Helpers
Sharing
Have students take out How-to writing and check it together using the How-to Helpers chart – did students include each of these things?
Did any of you use helpers that weren’t on the list? (such as captions under pictures or labels for important parts of pictures) Add these to list.
Unit 6, Mini-Lesson 5: Revising: Learning From a Variety of How-To Writing
Materials: How-To Book (such as Gail Gibbons’ The Pumpkin Book) and a variety of other How-To texts (such as directions inside a board game, instructions from a pharmacist, etc.)
Connection / Inform children that they are smart to be using their charts to revise their writing because we will be getting ready to publish soon. Tell them we will look at what other authors have done to help remind us of our goals for How-To writing. Show example of another How-To writing that is a different format (such as a memo from the office about fire drills) How-To writing comes in many different formats and we can learn from all of them as writers.Teaching / How-To writing doesn’t always come in steps with numbers with a picture next to it. Read students example of How-To writing. Introduce that How-To writing often contains a cautionary message, or warning (Have an adult help you, Always cut away from yourself, etc.) Tell students that today they might want to try to include a cautionary message in their writing or try writing procedural text in a different format than what we’ve been doing. Remember that we can always make our writing better by using charts to guide us or by noticing that the world is full of the kind of writing we want to do.
Active Engagement / Either hand out various examples of How-To writing for partners/groups to look at, or hold up and read different examples. Tell students to study what the author has does and look for ideas that they could do as they begin to get their writing ready for publication. (*See CD-ROM for suggestions of different How-To writing)
Link / Put How-To writing in a basket for students to continue studying if they would like to. Remind them to look for How-To writing everywhere – at a store, in a restaurant, at home. See what you can learn from these authors and bring something in to add to our collection if you would like.
When conferencing… Encourage students to study/emulate How-To writing, such as in The Pumpkin Book. Help them to realize each step of the instructions “sounds the same” and “matches” (First you need to get, Second you need to buy, Third you need to mix, etc.)
Sharing
Have students share who noticed something in a How-To book and tried to do it in their own writing.
Connection / Tell students today they’ll be fixing up their writing to get it ready to be published – we will be making a class book of their published writing. Show them their How-To Helpers chart as a checklist to help them edit their pieces. Tell them that today you want to teach them one more thing How-To writers think about: punctuation.Teaching / Show students enlarged version of How-To text that includes the punctuation they should try to use – periods, parenthesis, colons. Ask students what they notice about the punctuation. Remind them that periods say, “Take a little breath when you read this”. Intro term “parentheses” – Writers use parentheses when they want to pause for one second and add one little point, or to say one more thing. Show/read another example of parentheses in How-To writing
Active Engagement / Make copies of students work to help him/her add periods in. Read writing and have students put periods where they think they should go, then go through it again, this time having them help me add periods in enlarged copy and checking their work. Then repeat with student’s writing who wants to add a little more information about something (add using parentheses).
Link / Tell students that today they will 1. Pick the piece they will publish, 2. Reread it, checking off items from the chart you’ve done, 3. Check your spelling of word wall words, 4. Check your punctuation. Remember to see if you need to use any parenthesis.
Unit 6, Mini-Lesson 6: Editing: Using Periods, Parenthesis, and Colons
Materials: 2 examples of How-To writing with punctuation, Copies/enlarged version of student’s writing to add periods and another student’s writing to add parenthesis, Copies of How-To Helpers chart rewriting as a checklist (yes/no)
When conferencing…
If you find yourself repeating the same thing over and over to several students, stop the class for a mid-workshop teaching point. Remember to teach the writer, not just improve this one piece of writing.
Sharing
Have a student share his/her writing and have the class check it in 2 ways – 1. Picture themselves doing each step, Does it include all the important steps? 2. Which helpers did the writer use?
Unit 6, Mini-Lesson 7: Introducing All-About Books
Materials: Chart paper, Examples of All-About books, Paper for listing possible topics
Connection / Writers, for the past few weeks we have learned from and written books that tell how to do something. Today I want to tell you that writers can also teacher readers all about a subject – for the next few weeks we’ll learn how to write All-About books.Teaching / Tell students that when they want to learn how to do something new, they often can learn from the pros – so today we’ll study what other authors have done who have written All-About books. Hold up one to demonstrate – All About books often have a title that tell about the big topic of the book, different sections for each subject the book will talk about (all fitting under the same big topic), and a How-To page. List these 3 features on chart paper titled “All-About Books Often Have” (1. A big All-About title, 2. Chapters or sections, 3. A How-To page)
Active Engagement / Compare All-About books to a hand: the palm is the big topic and each finger is a different section. Give partners All-About books and ask them to study if their book has the 3 things we listed. Did anyone else find something that we can add to our chart about All-About books? (add Headings and Table of Contents to chart)
Link / Tell students you know they will want to spend more time studying the books you have given them – today they will keep the book and spend time studying it during WW. After they’ve studied what the pros do, they should get paper to list possible All-About topics.
Unit 6, Mini-Lesson 8: Structuring All-About Books: The Table of Contents