Informational Writing Unit | Terrific Writing 2nd Grade Curriculum Unit 3

Are you struggling to teach writing? Do your students hate writing lessons?

 

Does your school not provide you with a writing curriculum? Or worse, is it awful? Many teachers say that their big box curriculum is “open ended and vague”, “not teacher friendly and too wordy”, or “too difficult for the kids”.

 

But what if there was a way for your writing lessons to be engaging for students and enjoyable for you to teach?

 

In this curriculum, your students will develop a love of writing. The graphic organizers, interactive notebooks, and final ‘All About’ book will engage students much more than a blank piece of paper.

 

The final writing piece asks students to write about an animal of their choosing! After all, students love to write about things that they are interested in.

 

Are you short on time?

This 5-week unit has EVERYTHING you need, because let’s be honest, teachers are time poor.

Let’s get your evenings and weekends back, my friend! Take a break from lesson planning and searching for engaging materials. It’s all right here.

 

What’s included in this 2nd grade Informational writing unit?

• 25 step-by-step scripted lesson plans (one-page plans that are NOT wordy)!
• 18 posters
• 15 expository writing graphic organizers / worksheets
• 2 interactive notebooks and 1 ‘All About’ book
• 6 original mentor texts (so you don’t have to source any)!
• 24 tasks cards extension activities (for your high flyers)
• 1 assessment – information writing rubric

 

The lessons follow a simple format of mini lesson, think and share, and independent writing time.

 

Students are NOT told to just ‘go off and write’ as if that will magically make them good writers! In this unit, each concept is explicitly taught and students learn all about the structure and features of informative writing.

 

Here’s everything else that’s included in this grade 2 writing unit –

• First, a video overview to help organize and implement the unit
• Then, a list of common core standards that align with this unit
• Next, suggestions for differentiation and lesson times
• Also, a unit scope and at-a-glance calendarLesson materials list
• Student book/folder cover (3 versions – journal, notebook, or folder)
• 1 writing prompt pre-assessment
• 4 lined pages (for first drafts)
• 2 checklists
• 1 set of compliment notes (2 versions – b&w, color)
• 2 certificates (boy and girl, each in 2 versions – b&w, color)
• Teacher directions, examples, and elaborations for the rubric
• Video with tips for using the rubric
• Folder of example photos of the student printables and ‘All About’ book

 

Here’s a breakdown of the information writing lessons –

First, lessons 1-5:

• What is informational writing?
• Is it informational writing?
• I am an expert
• Choosing subtopics
• What is a definition?

Then, lessons 6-10:

• What is a fact?
• Paraphrasing
• Illustrations and annotations
• The butterfly life cycle
• The introduction

Lessons 11-15

• The rainforest
• The conclusion
• Paragraphs
• Subheadings
• Table of contents

Lessons 16-20

• Brainstorming
• Researching
• Planning
• The first draft part 1
• The first draft part 2

…and lessons 21-25

• Time to revise
• Time to edit
• The final draft part 1
• The final draft part 2
• Publishing party

 

How do you teach a 2nd grader to write a non-fiction writing essay? Grab this 2nd grade expository writing unit today and find out!

 

Check out the preview to get a closer look. What are you waiting for?! 🙂