Unit of Study: Informative/Explanatory
Grade: 2
Title: Unit 3
Length of Study: 6 to 7 weeks
Genre Description: What is informative/explanatory writing?
Priority Standards:
Supporting Standards:
W.2.3.2.b
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic,
use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or
section. (CCSS: W.2.2)
W.2.3.2.d
W.2.3.2.c
lists
Write letters and ―how-to’s (procedures, directions, recipes) that
follow a logical order and appropriate format
Organize informational texts using main ideas and specific supporting
details
W.2.3.2.e
W.2.3.2.f
Organize ideas using a variety of pictures, graphic organizers or bulleted
Use relevant details when responding in writing to questions about
texts
W.2.3.3.a.vii Produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound
W.2.3.3.a.v Use adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on
sentences (e.g., The boy watched the movie; The little boy watched the movie; The
action movie was watched by the little boy). (CCSS: L.2.1f)
what is to be modified. (CCSS: L.2.1e)
W.2.3.3.a.vi
Apply accurate subject-verb agreement while writing
W.2.3.3.b.ii
W.2.3.3.a.ix
Spell high-frequency words correctly
Use commas in greetings and closings of letters. (CCSS: L.2.2b)
W.2.3.3.c
With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic
and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing. (CCSS: W.2.5)
W.2.3.3.d
With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools
to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. (CCSS: W.2.6)
Essential Questions:
Mini Lesson Concepts/Topics
Day 1: Pre-Assessment
Have students write a letter to an adult
in the building.
The reason that this is chosen for the preassessment is that it would be very
difficult to use a research topic to pre
and post with. At the end of this unit
they should have this format down, as
well as the correct punctuation.
Resources
Mentor Text
Unit of Study: Informative/Explanatory
You could also choose to ask students
to write a procedural piece to see
where their skills are in terms of
writing tasks, as well as the transition
words and phrases needed to communicate
the process being described.
Letter Writing
This portion of the unit should take one
week. (standard w.2.3.2.c)
Letter Format
Introduce the main parts of a letter:
heading, greeting, body, closing,
and signature
Possible activities:
Write a letter to the class.
Share a letter you have received.
Compose a letter together.
Students love to put letters into a mailbox.
Bringing a real mailbox in for their letters
is a fun thing for them to do.
Since letters are a person form of writing
This might be a good time to reinforce the
Use of strong adjectives. If students are
Familiar with using adverbs, this could be a
Good time to review their use.
(standard w.2.3.3.a.v)
Punctuation in Letters
Month-by-Month Trait- Based Writing
(standard w.2.3.3.b.ii)
Instruction by Maria P. Walther & Katherine
Write a letter to the students without the
A. Phillips (p.96)
punctuation marks.
Show a letter from a mentor text and point
out the punctuation.
Dear Peter Rabbit (Ada, 1994)
Yours Truly, Goldilocks (Ada, 1998)
With Love, Little Ren Hen (Ada, 2001)
Click,Clack,Moo: Cows that Type
(Cronin, 2000)
Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters From
Obedience School
(Teague, 2002)
Unit of Study: Informative/Explanatory
Procedures, Directions, and Recipes
This section should take about two weeks.
(standard w.2.3.2.c and w.2.3.2.e)
Recipes
Read books to students that contain a
recipe.
Talk about how they are broken into
ingredients and the process.
Month-by-Month Trait- Based Writing
Chicks and Salsa (Reynolds,2005)
Instruction by Maria P. Walther & Katherine The Giant Carrot (Peck, 1997)
(p.110)
Thunder Cake (Polacco, 1990)
Have students write a recipe for a favorite
sandwich. Have them share with a
partner to let them see if their recipe
makes sense.
Commas in a series.
Discuss how using a number of items can
be written as bulleted items in a list or
as a list in sentence form.
Nonfiction Writing: Procedures and
Reports (Lucy Calkins and Laurie
Pessah)
How to Write a How to Book
Choose a topic
Plan the steps on paper
Sketch the steps
Show what things will be needed
Tell the steps in order
If students are not doing well with
transition words and phrases this would
be a good time to review these skills.
When these directions or procedures
are edited, students should know that
high frequency words are expected to
be spelled correctly and subjects and verbs
should agree.
(standards w.2.3.3.d ,w.2.3.3.c ,
w.2.3.3.a.vi,and w.2.3.3.a.ix)
http://jc-schools.net/write/transition.htm
This page has a good list of transition
words to use in a variety of writing
pieces.
Sentence Combining
This is a good time to get students to
focus on how they present the steps
in their procedures. Sometimes putting
Make It Real Strategies for Success with
Informational Texts by Linda Hoyt (p.263)
The book, Fluffy and Baron, by Laura
Rankin is a good personal experience
book that has a number of transition
words and phrases.
Unit of Study: Informative/Explanatory
several steps together can help the
flow. (standard w.2.3.3.a.vii)
Informative Writing
This should be four weeks in length.
Two weeks should be Expert Books where
students write about topics that they
know about, and two weeks should be
simple research activities.
Students will do more advanced research
during the Informative Revisit during
third quarter.
(standard w.2.3.2.b)
Introduce Nonfiction Text Features
Table of Contents, Titles, Captions,
Headings, Subheadings, Bold Face Text,
Glossary, Diagrams and Illustrations
Students can be exposed to Indexes,
Charts and Tables, but they will not
be expected to use these until third
grade.
Some activities that you can try:
 After reading several books as a
group, have students do scavenger
hunts through NF books to look for
the key features learned so far.

Show a feature on the classroom
document camera, and ask
students to identify which
feature it is. (This might be
a fun team game.)

Have students check out NF books
from the library and then identify
which features their book has.
 Students can create a collection
of features by reading NF books
and recording the features that
their book had and also the
purpose of that feature.
Month-by-Month Trait- Based Writing
All About Sharks (Arnosky, 2003)
Instruction by Maria P. Walther & Katherine Bugs Are Insects (Rockwell, 2001)
(p. 152 to 163)
Mystery Fish: Secrets of the Coelacanth
(Walker, 2006)
http://it.pinellas.k12.fl.us/Teachers3/
What’s Up, What’s Down?
gurianb/wus.html
(Schaefer,2002)
Many other books including any by Gail
The Nonfiction Features Posters (Look for
Gibbons can be helpful.
Blue Ribbon) This is a GREAT set of
Seymour Simon books are also great.
Posters!
Scholastic has a set called Science
Vocabulary Readers that have most of
Another source for Nonfiction Features
these text features.
Can be found at ReadingLady.com.
www.readinglady.com
Once there, you can search for Nonfiction
Conventions Notebook. This is a
Worksheet format where students
can collect information about texts
that they are reading or to help
to record information from a text that
they are using for their project.
Month-by-Month Trait- Based Writing
Instruction by Maria P. Walther & Katherine
(p.155) This mini lesson shows how to
go about collecting text features. Page
Unit of Study: Informative/Explanatory
187 in the appendix shows a simple way
to record their thoughts. They name
the feature, draw and write what they
see, and label the bottom of the page
with the feature’s purpose.
Introduce the idea of being an expert.
A class poster can be made that shows
a list of things that students think that
they know a lot about. (This might help
reluctant students see some things that
they might not have thought about.)
Start with a simple project.
Have students choose an expert topic to
write about. Tell them that they will need
to choose 3 or 4 NF text features to use in
this writing piece. Have students
create simple books or posters that
display their knowledge.
Make It Real Strategies for Success with
Informational Texts by Linda Hoyt
(pages 289-314)
The ideas in this section of the book
discuss how students can present
information on a poster in something
called an investigation. The students
write facts, create illustrations with
captions, or diagrams with labels. They
can create bold faced words and have an
overall title for their work.
The second project should be an actual
research activity for the final two weeks.
(standards w.2.3.2.b and w.2.3.2.d)
Getting Started with Research
What does it mean to do research?
Possible Ideas
 Vote on a topic to research together.
 Use online resources and books
from the library.
 Create a list of student questions
prior to reading any information.
(w.2.3.2.f)
 Create a poster with facts that are
learned about the topic
 As a group use the facts collected
America’s Choice -- Report (Grade 3)
(note taking) Amazing Snakes
“What do we already know about reports?”
by Alexandra Parsons
page 15
(table of contents) Whales
“Using subheading to organize” page 92
by Deborah Hodge
“Using boxes, photographs,illustrations,
(labeling picture) Feathers for Lunch
and/or diagrams to highlight specific
by Lois Ehlert
information” page 95
The Honey Makers
by Gail Gibbons
Nonfiction Craft Lessons, by Joann
Sea Turtles
Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher,
by Gail Gibbons
Note taking, pages 23-25
(making diagram) Bugs by Nancy Winslow Park
Writing a table of contents, page 29
and Joan Richards Wright
Unit of Study: Informative/Explanatory
to start a sample project. Create a
Table of Contents, choose the first item
listed in the Table of Contents and
create the first page of the book. Also,
create a diagram with labels.
This can be used as a reference for
students when they get started on
their own projects.
This is a two to three day
introduction to the process.
Labeling a picture, page 31
Making a diagram, page 32
Nonfiction Mentor Texts, by Lynne
Dorfman and Rose Cappelli,
Building Content with Diagrams and Labels,
pages 60-61
http://it.pinellas.k12.fl.us/Teachers3/
gurianb/index.html
This site has a number of different
resources.
(Nonfiction Book Writing Paper)
There is a 13 page teacher created form
for a student book. It includes space for
illustrations and page numbers. There
is a glossary form and choices for
diagrams. An index form is also
included if that is wanted.
There is also a teacher created book
that has been made up as a sample
that could be printed or projected
for a preview.
Students can record their facts on
a planning sheet of some sort.
They can make lists, a web, or
use some other form that you have
used in the past.
Skills to Reinforce during this piece:
 Vary sentence beginnings
 Spelling high frequency
words correctly

Capitalization and punctuation
 Liven up the text with
adjectives and adverbs
A Place for Wonder Reading and Writing
Nonfiction in the Primary Grades by
Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough
My Map Book
by Sara Fanelli
Stargazers
by Gail Gibbons
Surprising Sharks
by Nicola Davies
All About Frogs
by Jim Arnosky
From Seed to Sunflower
by Dr. Gerald Legg
Unit of Study: Informative/Explanatory
This would also be a good time to review
the idea of staying on topic. Each page
that they write should be focused on
one idea so that their Table of Contents
and the pages of their book actually
match up when they are finished.
The next step would be to have students
use this information to write their own
pieces including the following NF text
features: title, table of contents,
subheadings, boldface text, diagrams and
illustrations with captions, numbered
pages, and a glossary.
Students should choose three to four
of these text features for this project.
They will need to use all of them on
their 3rd quarter project.
On Demand Writing Prompts:
You can do another letter at the end of
this unit to check for retention of form
and punctuation.
Students could also write another
procedural piece that demonstrates
their ability to label the steps of a task.
Common Formative Assessment Tasks:
Checks for Understanding
http://it.pinellas.k12.fl.us/Teachers3/
gurianb/index.html
Show the sample project from this
site to keep students on track.