Writing Lessons for an Expository Expert Book Grade 2, CRM 3, Arcs 1-4

(4 Weeks of Lessons)

Recommended Mentor Texts:

Gail Gibbons Books

Eyewitness Series

Seymour Simon Books

Let’s Learn About Series

All About Series

Time for Kids articles in Treasures adoption

Scholastic News magazines or Time for Kids magazines

Additional Resources:

Nonfiction Writing: Procedures and Reports by Lucy Calkins and Laurie Pessah

The Conferring Handbook by Lucy Calkins

NOTE: Adjust these mini-lessons and student writing times as appropriate for

your students. Some lessons may take more than one day to complete.

Unit Materials:

Mentor texts, chart paper, markers, colored pencils, crayons, all previously made

anchor charts, student writing booklets, publishing paper, writing process chart,

student writing journals, writing folders, non-fiction texts, table of contents

template, copies of student work, highlighters, post-its, index cards

For the following lessons, provide template pages for students to use to plan

specific types of pages:

Day 3 – Blank Table of Contents sheet

Day 5 – How To paper and ‘Teaching’ paper

Days 7-8 – ‘Parts Paper’ for labeled diagrams

Suggested templates can be found at the end of this unit.

Teaching Notes:

In this unit, we help students recognize that they are experts on a variety of topics

from playing soccer, to using the classroom library, to riding scooters. Encourage

them to write about subjects they are truly interested in and want to know more

about (in order to teach others about their chosen topic).

Day 1: Introducing the Genre

1. Tell students that today they will begin a new writing project that is informational or

expository. Tell them this writing piece will teach the reader all about a subject.

2. Tell them that, like other projects, one of the best ways to learn about a new genre is by

studying examples.

3. Show students examples of informational texts and ask them to observe and point out the

various elements.

4. Point out: I see that this book is titled The Pumpkin Book. This tells me right away that this

book will be all about pumpkins.

5. Point out: I also see that this book is divided into sections. This section is about how to plant

pumpkins, this section is about carving a pumpkin…

6. Create a chart, “Expository texts have…” (a title that tells what the whole book is about,

different sections or chapters, a section or chapter that teaches…this will vary, depending on

the mentor text you choose to use.)

7. Have students work in pairs to examine texts and look for the features you just outlined and

other features they notice.

8. Call students back to the carpet. Have them quickly share if they found the same elements.

Ask them what other features they found. (Hopefully, you can add ‘heading’ and ‘table of

contents’ to your chart.)

9. Provide time for students to continue to examine and talk about informational books.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 2: Expository Texts Have…

Have an example editorial letter ready to read aloud for today’s lesson.

1. Remind students that yesterday they began to look at expository text features. Tell them

today you want to talk about two different features they noticed yesterday.

2. Using a book or news magazine as an example, point out different headings on the page.

Explain to the students what those headings are for.

3. Tell students they also noticed that expository books have a Table of Contents. Explain how

a Table of Contents works, how the page numbers are listed beside the chapter titles, and

how each chapter is related to the main topic. (You can also use the science or social studies

textbook to point this out.)

4. Tell students you want to show them another feature of expository texts: pictures and

captions. Talk about how the pictures match the information in the text and the captions

explain how the picture is related to the text.

5. Provide more time for students to examine model texts.

6. Today all students should also begin to think about topics for an expository book. The book

they will write will be ‘an expert book’, a book about a topic they know very well or a topic

they feel they are experts on. Make a few suggestions, such as sports, hobbies, collections,

and jobs they do on a regular basis, at home or at school.

7. Allow time for students to talk about and share ideas with partners and with the whole class.

8. Gather the whole group together to share.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Conference Topics

¿En qué eres experto?

¿Cuáles son algunos temas posibles

sobre los cuales podrías escribir?

¿Qué sabes acerca de esta tema que

podrías enseñarles a los demás?

¿Qué podrías escribir en tu tabla de

contenidos?

Day 3: Brainstorming your topic (Creating a Table of Contents)

1. Ask students to share their possible topic or topics.

2. Tell them today you will talk about making sure they pick a “just right” topic.

3. Tell the students that when you are thinking of a writing topic you usually try it on, just like

when you go shopping for shoes or clothes.

4. Write on the board or chart paper three to four possible topics. (i.e. playing piano, running,

training for a marathon)

5. Talk through each possible topic as you “try it on.” (i.e. “Ok, piano. Well, I played when I

was little but didn’t play for very long. I remember trying to play a song but don’t remember

which keys are which. Hmmm…I don’t really know that much about pianos. I can’t think of

any chapters I would write. That tells me that playing the piano is not a good topic for me to

write about.”)

6. Talk through the next two topics as well. Brainstorm the chapters and tell students that both

topics are good fits. You will just need to see which is better as you begin writing using

these topics.

7. Have a student share one of their possible topics. As a class, help this student brainstorm

some possible questions that the class would want to know about the topic. Each of these big

questions could possibly become a chapter in the Table of Contents of the expert book.

8. Have students share their possible topics with a partner. Tell students if they have a topic

they think would be a good fit, then they can get a blank Table of Contents sheet and begin to

fill it in with possible chapters.

Gather the whole group together to share their Table of Contents.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 4: Choosing Sections or Chapters

1. Tell the students that you are very excited about their topics and the new information you are

going to learn from them.

2. Show your students your model Table of Contents with possible chapters.

3. Have one of your chapters be a “How to” section (i.e. How to get ready for a run.)

4. Tell the students you would like them to include one “How to” chapter in their books.

5. Allow students time to continue working on their Table of Contents.

6. If students finish their Table of Contents, have them create the cover of their book with a title

and picture. Remind them that the title needs to tell what the whole book will be about.

7. Gather the whole group together to share their Table of Contents.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Conference Topics:

¿Qué preguntas sobre este tema podría

tener un lector? ¿Podemos crear un

capítulo que enseñe esta información?

¿Qué podrías escribir en tu tabla de

contenidos?

Miremos un ejemplo de texto para

conseguir ideas para nuestras carátulas.

Day 5: Structuring Our Book

1. Show students an example non-fiction text such as Gail Gibbon’s Pumpkin or Apple book.

2. Tell the students that, as you were reading this book, you noticed that different chapters were

organized differently. Show students the “How To” section. Show them that this section

was titled “How to Carve a Pumpkin.” Show them how it is written out in steps with pictures

to match each step. Tell them that as they are writing this section in their book they should

use special paper you have set out for them.

3. Then show them a teaching page such as different kinds of apples. Tell them that, for this

type of chapter, they will use special “teaching paper” you have provided.

4. Model going back to your Table of Contents and deciding which type of paper each chapter

needs. On post-its, write next to each chapter the type of paper.

5. Have students work with a partner to reread their Table of Contents and label the type of

paper needed for each chapter. Provide post-its for them to label each chapter.

6. If students don’t yet have a How To section, have them brainstorm with their partner to

decide what part of their topic they can explain how to do.

7. Students may begin writing the How To section or any of the “teaching pages” of their expert

books.

8. Ask students to share their Table of Contents or any writing they worked on today. Ask if

they have chapters that don’t fit the three categories of paper. If so, encourage them to create

their own paper.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Writing Conventions: Yo y mi, tú y ti Teacher should provide explicit instruction and modeling of the writing conventions during Modeled and Shared writing. In addition, teacher should keep anecdotal notes to guide further instruction in small group and individually.

Day 6: Structuring Our Text

1. Show students another topic you have chosen to write about (e.g., wrapping a present.) Tell

them you need their help brainstorming chapters.

2. Write down possible chapters. Be sure to include a couple of teaching chapters and a How

To chapter. (Different types of gifts you might wrap--birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day,

etc.; Things you need to wrap a present; How to wrap a present; Why wrapping a present is

important.)

3. Together choose which paper is appropriate for each chapter and briefly explain what you

will write for each chapter.

4. Have students revise their Table of Contents, if needed.

5. They can begin drawing or drafting the details of a chapter. Have them use a model text for

guidance.

6. Choose a few students to share their work from today with the whole group.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 7 - 8: Making Labeled Diagrams

1. Tell students that last night you were looking over the Apple book (or another book that

includes a labeled diagram) and saw a page that showed the different parts of an apple. Tell

them you got really excited and wanted to include a page like that in your new book about

wrapping a present.

2. Tell them this page will show the different parts of a present (e.g., the box, the tissue paper,

the wrapping paper, the bow). Show them the new paper they will use for this type of

chapter called the Parts Paper.

3. Model how you would fill in this page with a careful drawing and labels. Tell students that

this page will be included in your final published piece, so you are going to take your time to

do your best work. Their drawing should be big enough to fill the entire Parts Paper.

4. In addition, as you begin to write your labels you are going to use resources such as the word

wall and dictionary to check your spelling. Suggest using a ruler to make straight lines that

connect to the part of the drawing.

4. Have students think of their topic and brainstorm a “Parts” page they could include.

5. Allow time for students to add their Parts page to their Table of Contents. Students can begin

writing this page using the template paper or other pages of their book.

6. Choose a few students to share their work with the whole group.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 9: Choosing Text to Teach

1. Tell students that you took home their books last night to study them. Tell them that you’re

really excited about how they’re going to be the teachers and teach about their writing

subject, but you have a few concerns.

2. Ask how they’d feel if they went to school and the teacher said, “I’m going to teach you

about dogs. Dogs are fun. Dogs are furry. Dogs are really, really cute. Some dogs are black.

Some dogs are white. I like dogs. Class over.”

3. Ask if they think that would be a good class. Remind them that, when they’re writing

expository books, they are the teachers.

4. Model by asking yourself, “What do I have to teach that my reader may not already know?

What are some things that most people don’t know about my topic?” Model choosing new,

interesting information to add to your book.

5. Have the children return to their writing and count how many new items they included in one

section of their book.

6. Allow them to work with a partner to teach about yesterday’s topic and add new information.

7. Provide time for students to continue writing their expository text.

8. Choose a few students to share the new information they added to their expert book today

with the whole group.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 10: Using Questions to Add Information

1. Over the next few days students will be drafting their expository text. Use this time to re-

teach various mini-lessons either in a small group or, if needed, with the whole class.

2. Use a chapter of your writing that includes only a few basic facts and not many details. Read

it aloud and ask the students what additional questions they have about this chapter.

3. Record their questions on a chart, answering each question orally after you write the

question.

4. After you’ve gathered a few questions, model for them how you add the answers to their

questions into the body of your text, using a caret (^) to insert words or phrases or drawing a

line out to the side to add information in the margin.

5. Be sure to talk about how the writer needs to decide whether he/she feels the answer to the

question provides important information for the chapter being written. Perhaps the

information belongs in another chapter, or maybe it does not need to be added at all.

6. Provide clear directions for writing time today: Students will work with a partner. One

writer will read his/her paper and the listener will ask questions. The writer will answer the

questions and decide where to insert the answer into their own writing. The listener may

give suggestions, but only the writer writes on his/her own paper.

7. Then, writing partners will switch roles allowing the other writer to read and add information

to his/her own writing.

8. Choose a few students to share with the whole group how they revised their information.

Mini Lesson

Partner Writing

Peer Sharing

Days 11 - 13: Drafting

1. Over the next few days, students will draft their expository text.

2. Use this time to re-teach various mini-lessons either in a small group or, if needed, with the

whole class. Teacher should also use this time to conference with students. Use conference

guiding questions or create questions based on students’ needs.

3. Also over the next few days, remind students about different non-fiction text features they

studied earlier this year. Pull out previously made anchor charts and encourage students to

include a few different features in their drafts.

4. Throughout this week, students will be working independently on their writing. Allow

students time to work with partners and with small groups if needed.

5. At the end of each day have students share their writing. Be sure to emphasize that writers

write new, interesting information.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Teacher Tip:

When reviewing your student’s work, remember that

when they are incorporating new techniques and

strategies you have two choices. Teachers can say,

“Ok, they’ve got it. That’s done.” or teacher can say,

“That’s good. What’s next?”

Continue to develop concepts and to teach children not

only the basics of writing but also the art of writing. For

example, if children are including new information,

teach them how to order that information, how to reflect

on facts, or how to include different kinds of information

(i.e. numbers, quotations, definitions, history, warnings,

or instructions.)

Conference Questions:

Haz una película mental de tu página de instrucciones. ¿Están claras las instrucciones?

¿Qué escribirás en tu tabla de contenidos?

¿Qué información nueva estás enseñando en esta página?

Haz de cuenta que estás leyendo tu

libro a alguien que no sabe nada

acerca de tu tema. ¿Qué preguntas

podrían hacer? ¿En qué parte de tu

libro puedes incluir esta información?

Peer Sharing

Writing Conventions: El pronombre posesivo

Teacher should provide explicit instruction and modeling of the writing conventions during modeled

and shared writing. In addition, teacher should keep anecdotal notes to guide further instruction in

small group and individually.

Day 14 - 15: Revising: Learning from Each Other’s Work

1. Tell students that last night you took their books home to read and just couldn’t put them

down. Tell them you know that everyone will be very excited to read their expert books,

and, therefore, you would like to put them in the school library. Tell them that you want to

have them published and ready to go by next Friday and therefore we have to start revising

and preparing for publishing.

2. Remind them that we know publishing means “making our work fancy” and that one way to

do this is to emulate other authors.

3. Tell students that recently you were reading a non-fiction book, and you noticed some truly

great writing. Tell students you went back to reread because you wanted to figure out what

worked so well.

4. Ask the class to look at a passage from a mentor text with you (written on chart paper or

displayed). Tell them the title of the book and the author. (You may also use a piece of work

from a student.) Offer copies of the text and ask them to study it with you.

5. Model how you go back and look at the text and reflect on what works.

6. Have the children work in small groups to read the next bit of writing and discuss what

works about how it is written. Have the children share their thoughts.

7. Have the children work with a partner to reread a page from their book and try to revise their

work using the previously discussed strategy. Stop and highlight any student’s work you see

today that attempts to include something learned from the mentor text or another classmate.

8. Have students share how they revised their work today. Add to the “Expository Texts

Have…” chart. Remind students to check this chart as they revise and edit.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Textos expositivos tienen:

Un título que indica de qué se trata el libro

Una pagina con instrucciones

Capitulos o secciones

encabezamiento

Tabla de Contenidas

Un pagina con un diagrama

Elementos de texto de no ficcion

Day 16: Revising: Organizing Details within Chapters

1. Tell students that you are proud of the way they have been revising their work. Tell them

today you want them to check to make sure their writing is organized.

2. Ask a student to come up and read their expository book out loud. After they read the first

sentence, stop them and have them ask, “Does my sentence fit my chapter?” If it matches,

congratulate the student and have him/her continue reading.

3. If a sentence does not match, discuss as a class why. Then, together, brainstorm where

would be a better place to fit that sentence.

4. Have students begin to reread their work following this same process. Remind them to first

read the chapter title and then read the information. They may have to cross out information

or move things around.

5. Send them off to work independently on this process.

6. Allow students to share how they revised their writing.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Writing Conventions: Contracciones al,del

Teacher should provide explicit instruction and modeling of the writing conventions during modeled

and shared writing. In addition, teacher should keep anecdotal notes to guide further instruction in

small group and individually.

Day 17: Editing: Becoming Word solvers

1. Tell students you are really proud of the way they are revising their work.

2. Tell them that today they need to begin to edit their work. Remind them that when we edit,

we make sure others can read our work.

3. One element we need to edit is our spelling. Tell students you’ve noticed that many of them

are using big, interesting words that may be hard to spell. Tell students that one way they

can spell these words is by sounding out the word and listening carefully to each syllable.

They can write the sounds they hear in each syllable, and write the syllables together to form

the word.

4. Choose a word and model for the students segmenting this word into syllables and sounding

out each syllable as you combine the syllables to create the word. Read the entire word aloud

after you have spelled each part, sweeping your finger under the word as you read it aloud.

5. Model this process again with another multi-syllable word (perhaps a word from a student’s

writing.)

6. Call on a child to try to be a word solver with a big word. Lead the child through the

process.

7. Have the students follow this process with the words in their books.

8. Have students edit their punctuation, capitalization, and spacing, using an editing checklist

9. Remind students to make sure their titles are also edited.

10. Allow students to share how they edited their writing.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

By the end of 2nd Grade, students are expected to:

Use capital letters and end punctuation in sentences

Use capital letters for the names of people and proper nouns

Spell base words and endings correctly

Spell high-frequency words correctly.

Note: You should only have your students edit their drafts for the mechanics

and editing skills you have already taught them. The above list is a reminder

of the expectations for 2nd graders at the end of the year.

Day 18 - 19: Publishing

1. Use the next two days for students to revise and edit to create a final, published piece.

2. Be sure to provide special paper, glue, construction paper, access to computers, and pens for

student use.

3. Teacher should use this time to create a rubric with the students for assessment.

Day 20: Celebrating Our Work Celebrate your student’s hard work today. Invite friends and family members to participate in

this special occasion.

One suggestion is to hold a graduation-like ceremony. Play a special song while your students

ceremoniously place their finished book in the school library.

Allow students and participants to leave positive feedback on sticky notes for each author.

Provide sentence stems such as “Me gusta cómo tú …” and “Algo que aprendí de tu libro fue …”

Remember to provide time for reflection. Allow your students to reflect on what they have

learned in this unit and what strategies they can apply to other genres and forms of writing.

Mini Lesson

A rubric might include following:

1. Planning - plans topic and organization appropriate to genre

2. Genre - writes in the form of the genre

3. Productivity - writes for 30-40 minutes without interruption

4. Graphophonics - uses strategies to spell difficult words

5. Writing process - outlines project in table of contents, plans chapters,

uses appropriate paper, matches text to chapters

6. Qualities of good writing writing is clear, explicit and organized

7. Language - writer uses language related to the topic

Título del libro: _________________________________

Tabla de contenidos

Título del capítulo: Página:

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Título del capítulo: Cómo _________________________

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‘Teaching’ Page

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Parts Paper (for labeled Diagrams) - Note: Lines will need to be adjusted to fit each diagram. It

will be best for the teacher to model how to create this page, rather than to print it for student

use.

Partes de ___________________________