Information Reports

Well yesterday was the last day of Term 2 and I am now officially on school holidays!!!

In saying that I am a little bit crazy and am going on consecutive Vinnies camps so I am actually only a free elf for 1 day but 1day is way better than no day!!

This term we have been looking at non-fiction texts during our big book time and information reports. I decided to incorporate animals as much as I could because my class just LOVE animals especially sharks!!! - Surprise! Surprise!

This year I only had 6 weeks in total so was quite fast tracked.

At the beginning of each writing lesson we go through our structure warm up!

We then go into writing!

Below is a basic outline of my teaching topics:

	Topic	Teaching
Week 1	African Elephants	Breakdown of the structure Structure cut and glue Examining an exemplar of an information report Examining the grammatical features of an information report.
Week 2	Dugongs	Creating an exemplar text together about our class animal Dugongs
Week 4	The Great White Shark	This week we researched information together, then I modelled a paragraph and they had a go at changing my information a little and inserting their own.
Week 5	My Alien	This week students had a go at writing their own report about an alien they created. I modelled sections about my alien and then they wrote about their own alien.
Week 6	Free Choice (Animal)	This week students wrote their reports independently without any modelling. I decided to link in our knowledge about non-fiction texts and reports to create a non-fiction book about their chosen animals.

This was the first year we created books as examples of information books and I love it! I will b doing this every year because it was just so much fun - for both me but more importantly the kids!

Here is what we did…..

1.      1. First students picked their animals and I recorded what it was so I could find books and information about their chosen animal!

2.      2. Then I brought in animal books galore which he students went through to find their information. I gave them a quick reference guide to fill in with guiding words such as the animal’s habitat.

3.      3. Next we began constructing our book. During each writing lesson students completed one page of their book. They made sure to include a heading, a paragraph of information and a labelled diagram, map or sketch.

4. Finally once the report part of the book as finished we began looking at the other features of a no fiction text to include. We created a cover and a contents page telling people what page each chapter of information was on.

5.      I extended a few students in the class to include a glossary page. They went through their text and outlined words in black text they thought readers may not understand. They then used dictionaries to write the definitions on the back.

      To keep up the motivation we made dioramas of our animals in their natural habitats!

Next term we are going to invite all the parents into class to read our texts and look at our habitats! We are all very nervous but excited!!! Now I just need to find a way to display their habitats because they are currently sitting on my classroom floor!

I have made up an information reports packet which you can grab from my TPT store by clicking here

Well I am off to get ready for my first camp! Happy Holidays Everyone!!! J