Information Writing in 4th and 5th Grades
10/04/2013 / Mary Golden, NBCT
5th Grade
Russell Ranch Elementary
Why History Day?
History Day is a project-based experience in which students engage in historical research on a topic of their choosing based on the nationally defined theme for the year. In conducting their research students are required to work with primary sources as well as secondary sources of information.The College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for writing include:
- (2) Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
- (7) Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
- (8) Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
- (9) Draw evidence from literary and/or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
2014 NHD Theme: Rights and Responsibilities in History
Process
- Choose a topic
- Do some background reading and narrow the topic
- Form an essential question based on the NHD theme
- Conduct formal research and take notes
- Locate relevant primary sources related to the topic
- Analyze and interpret the information to determine the topic’s significance in history
- Develop a thesis statement that answers the essential question
- Write a flash draft of the essay elaborating on and defending the thesis statement
- Revise, revise, revise
- Write an annotated bibliography
- Publish the essay and the annotated bibliography
- Create a poster that communicates the thesis visually according to the NHD-CA rules for 2-D Displays
- Showcase the work by presenting the poster in class
Resources
Sacramento County History Day website:This website is the only one you need for History Day details. It includes sections for educators, students, parents, and judges. You will find lots of sample 4th-5th grade posters from past years which double as topic ideas for your students. There are also links to the National History Day and CA History Day websites
Resources (cont’d)
Harvey, Stephanie. Nonfiction Matters: Reading, Writing, and Research in Grades 3-8. Stenhouse Publishers, 1998.In this 200+ page book, Stephanie Harvey shares practical tips for helping students conduct primary research mostly in terms of personal interviews which can be helpful in teaching them how to approach librarians, museum docents, local historians, and individuals who may have first-hand knowledge of their topic. She also has a chapter dedicated to note-taking (including note cards and two-column notes), and then using those notes to synthesize information and build paragraphs.
Portalupi, JoAnn and Ralph Fletcher. Nonfiction Craft Lessons: Teaching Information Writing K-8. Stenhouse Publishers, 2001.
This book contains a series of 27 mini-lessons for grades 3-4 and 26 mini-lessons for grades 5-8. Both sections have some great craft lessons including topics like Narrowing Your Focus, Coming Up with Good Questions, Writing in Paragraph Form, Making Transitions Between Paragraphs, Using Supporting Details and Examples, Using Strong Verbs, Including Quotations, and Sharpening Your Lead.
Library of Congress website especially for kids and families:
This section of the Library of Congress is more accessible for students. The link to America’s Library takes one to easy-to-read, high level summaries of American history aimed at elementary and middle school students. This website is a good resource for primary source images and documents.
Ducksters – History and biographies for kids:
This website is aimed at upper elementary middle school grades. It is a good place to do some background reading and begin to narrow topics. The History section includes broad areas like Native Americans, the American Revolution, Westward Expansion, the American Civil War, World War II, the US Government, and Art History. The Biographies section is huge and includes World Leaders, Inventors and Scientists, Civil Rights Heroes, Women Leaders, famous people in Sports and Entertainment, and famous Musicians. Every Duckster page has an MLA-type citation listed at the bottom making it easy for students to include in their annotated bibliographies.
Sacramento Public Library:
The barcode on their library card gives your students access to an incredible array of online resources. Click on Students (K-12) on the Research page.
Calisphere website:
This treasure trove of primary source documents and images related to California history is designed for classroom use by the University of California. The site contains photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diary entries, and more.
Mary Golden’s SchoolWires classroom website:
Find the requirements document for students and parents explaining the project and defining milestone due dates, a project contract, bibliography format, essay scoring rubric, poster rules, index card note samples, and poster scoring rubric. Help yourself!
Information Writing in 4th and 5th Grades
10/04/2013 / 1