This article continues where the previous one left off. I had suggested that teachers at the elementary and middle school levels need to be more nurturing when training children how to write forms, especially the research report form. I have heard many stories about children at the intermediate level and up who have been told to do research reports without ever having been taught how to do them.
Each year I model a nonfiction writing report for the children that ties with one of our themes. Typically I will use the Look Once, Look Twice science series by Creative Teaching Press because they are the perfect length and complexity for modeling. I had started off by introducing the terms source and bibliography, discussing what a bibliography is and why we use one when we write nonfiction/ informational reports. Then I gave each small group a copy of the book The Pond and had them research various pond organisms as presented in the book for a report on "Organisms of the Pond." Once I gathered the information on an overhead that they recorded in their notes I presented a second source to them, which gave them more information about pond organisms. In this case it was a simple article that again they shared in small groups and took notes on. I collected their information and moved forward with the first draft.
At the overhead, I walked them through the process of taking their notes and writing them into report form, paying attention to paragraphing, introductory sentences, closing, and transitional vocabulary like "also" "In addition to" "First," "Next" and "Finally." Of course the overhead sheets I used were photocopies of loose leaf paper so they could see how writing is appropriately organized on regular paper.
In the end, I pointed out all the details we needed to get from the two sources and organized that information into a Bibliography. For the first time children saw how an informational report is put together with a bibliography. After they have seen the model I give each of them a new book from the Look Once, Look Twice series and had them do their own, making sure that they found one additional source of information.
Once I have completed the modeling activity after two sessions I begin to enourage them to use these skills to write on nonfiction topics of interest in Writers Workshop. Short research reports, books of facts, or how books all fall into this category and make good Writers Workshop choices.
