Informational Writing

Information Writing
Grade 2 Daily Lesson Plans Aligned To
Lab Reports and

Science Books
by
Lucy Calkins
(Calkins, Kolbeck and Knight, Heinemann, 2013)
Mary Wagner 2014
Dear Friend:
Thank you for your purchase of this product! It
has been quite an undertaking to develop, but it is
my goal that it will allow busy classroom teachers to
use the wisdom of Lucy Calkins without having to
spend the time themselves to decipher the lessons
within the manual Lab Reports and Science Books
(Calkins and Kolbeck, Heinemann, 2013).
Before teaching each lesson, it would be beneficial for you to read
the session as it was developed in the manual. There is so much more
to the authors words than I couldor wantedto list here, as my
goal was to take the information and make it practical for you. In
fact, you may find it helpful to peruse the session outline from this
packet first, then read the corresponding session in the book, then
reread the outline so that you are most comfortable with the material
and the supplies needed before you begin teaching.
Please note that the anchor chart suggestions in Appendix I at the
end of this packet are not meant for display as they currently appear,
but rather are intended for your quick reference as you create the
anchor chart yourself before or during the sessions with your
students.
Happy writing!
Mary
Table of Contents
Bend I
Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Session 6
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Bend II
Session 7
Session 8
Session 9
Session 10
Session 1
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Bend III
Session 12
Session 13
Session 14
Session 15
Session 16
Session 17
Session 18
Session 19
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Session 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Page 140
Bend I:
Writing as Scientists Do
Session 1
I. Minilesson:
Writing as Scientists Do*
A. Gist of the Lesson
In this session, youll teach students that scientists study the
world around them, post questions and hypotheses,
conduct experiments, and write about their results in lab
reports. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page iv)
B. Connection
1. With excitement, introduce a new kind of writing:
informational writing.
2. Have students talk with their partner about what kind of
writing they think scientists do, such as:
a. The person who invented jelly beans.
b. The people working to protect the environment.
3. Share some of the conversation you heard from
students with the whole class:
a. Sam said, .
b. Jamal said, .
4. Tell students that scientists:
a. Write to learn more about things in the world.
b. Write to teach others what they have learned.
5. Explain that the students will be writing for these two
purposes throughout this writing unit.
6. Emphasize to the students that they will begin by writing
like scientists who write to learn more. (see point 4a).
Mary Wagner 2014
7. Introduce the idea that when scientists write to learn

more, they first need to collect information. One way
to collect information is by conducting experiments.
8. Tell the students that by the end of the day, they will:
a. Have written their first lab report.
b. Have a sense of the way that lab reports are
written so that they will be able to write their own
lab reports.
C. Teaching Point
Today, I want to teach you that when scientists conduct
experiments to learn about the world, they have a certain
way they usually writethey use a lab report. They record
what they expect to happen in an experiment, they record
what they actually do in an experiment, and then they
record how things go and what they learn. (Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, Page 5) (emphasis
mine)
D. Teaching and Active Engagement

1. Emphasize that scientists begin by asking questions
about the world.
2. Tell the students that for this first lab report, they will
use your (the teachers) question so that they can learn
about the process, but that in the future, they will think
of and write their own questions.
a. Distribute six sheets of lab report paper to each
student.** (Six sheets of paper may be too many
for some, but should allow most to have what is
needed throughout the session without having to
interrupt the process.)
Mary Wagner 2014
b. Have the students write their name on the back or

another out-of-the-way area of the first page.
c. Advise students that the question is always written
on the first page of a lab report.
d. Tell the students about the question that you have,
then model how to write the question on the lines
of page 1 of the lab report: Question: Will a little
toy car go farther when traveling from a ramp
onto carpet, or onto a tile floor? (See the
example in Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
Science Books, page 11although in the
example, I have substituted the word question
for problem.)
e. Have the students begin to follow your example to
write the question themselves on the first of their
lab report pages.
i. While the students are still writing, reiterate that
this is the question that the class will be
working together as scientists to figure out.
ii. Clarify the question: I am trying to determine
whether differences in the floor surfaces
affect how far a toy car will travel off of a
ramp, and if there is a difference, how much
of a difference there is.
3. Have the students stop writing and give you their
attentioneven if they are not finished writing the
question. (They will be given time later to finish.)
a. Tell the students that the next step after writing the
question is to write what they think, or hypothesize,
what the answer might be.
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b. Reiterate that a hypothesis is what you think will

happen considering everything that you know. It
has two parts:
i. What you think the answer will be.
ii. Why you think the answer will be as such.
c. Tell them that a hypothesis begins with words like:
i. I thinkbecause
ii. My hypothesis is.because
4. Model how to begin writing a hypothesis at the bottom
of page 1 in the lab report, starting like this:
Hypothesis: As you begin, encourage the students
to follow your example, finishing the hypothesis
statement with what they think will happen and why on
their own. (After you finish, and as the children write
their own hypotheses, you begin to create an anchor
chart called To Write like a Scientist, indicating the
first steps of the process):
a. (#1) Ask a question about how the world works.
b. (#2) Record a hypothesisa guess.
5. Have students share their hypotheses with their
partners. Listen to their conversations so that you can
share with the class some of the things that you heard.
6. Share some of the things that you heard from students
with the whole class, reiterating that each of these
ideas is a portion of the hypothesis.
a. Many of you think.
b. Some of you said.
7. Tell students that the third step after they (#1) think of a
question, then (#2) make a hypothesis, is to (#3)
consider a procedure that could be used to test the
question. (Dont worry too much about how the
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students write this part of the experiment since they will

be rewriting it in Session 2.)
a. Record step #3: Record your procedure. (How
will you test you hypothesis?) on the anchor chart.
b. Show students the materials that you have
gathered for the experiment. (Although the first
page of the sample lab report on page 11 of
Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books shows an illustrated list of materials needed
for this experiment, that concept is emphasized in
Session 2, and isnt mentioned yet in this session.
The box at the top of this first page of the lab
report should be left blank for now.)
c. Have students talk with their partner about how
they could set up and then complete an
experiment that could test the question.
d. Ask the students to use the story box at the top of
page 2 to sketch the idea they decided upon with
their writing partnerhow the materials will be
used for the experiment. (The lines beneath the
box should be left blank for now.)
8. Call up four volunteers. The volunteers should meet as
a group to quietly confer about what to do, then begin
to set up the experiment while the rest of the students
finish the sketch of their own plans.
9. Have one or more of the volunteers describe and/or
demonstrate their plan step-by-step with the class.
(Guide them to follow the plan that is outlined in the
story box on the top of page two of the sample lab
report in Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 11.) Be sure to emphasize the idea of
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precision, and question the students so as to obtain

precision when/if they do not do so.
10. Tell the observing students that even if they had made
a different plan for how to test the question, they are
going to follow this groups plan today. (Some may
need, then, to begin again on a new lab report page.
If so, have them fold their old sheet in half so as to
mark it for recycling at a later time.)
11. Model how to add to the story box at the top of the
page (if needed) to reflect the plan being described
by the demonstrating students, and then have the
students do so, as well.
12. As the volunteers demonstrate, model how to record
the results within the story box on the second page of
the lab report (the same box in which you made the
model of how to set up the materials) and have the
observing students do the same on their own papers.
(See the example in the story box of page 2 of the
sample lab report, which is found on page 11 of the
manual in Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
Science Books.)
13. After this part of the experiment has been done one
time, introduce the concept of multiple trials: scientists
always test their experiments several times to be sure
that their results are consistent. (Write the 4th point on
the To Write like a Scientist anchor chart: Conduct
multiple trials, and record your results. (Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 7).
14. Select different children to demonstrate a second trial
of the experiment in front of the class one or more
times while observers record the results through
sketches or jotted notes.
Mary Wagner 2014
a. Highlight the fact that it is important for the results

to be similar, but that the results will not likely be
exactly the same.
b. Repeat even once more, if time allows.
15. Focus the students attention upon the anchor chart:
To Write like a Scientist to reiterate the parts of a
scientists writing, encouraging the use of new
vocabulary terms such as question, hypothesis,
procedure, results, and conclusion.
E. Link
1. Remind students that the procedure and data
collected so far only includes what has occurred on the
rug. Have students label the top of page 2 of the lab
report paper with the words Experiment 1: Rug.
2. Emphasize that the experiment is not complete, and
that their question cannot be answered yet because
you have found any results for what the toy car would
do on the tile floor.
3. Tell students that the next step involves repeating the
same steps on the tile floor.
4. Have the students label the top of page 3 with the
heading Experiment 2: Tile.
5. Select a new group of students to replicate the
experiment upon the tile floor while the rest of the
students sketch the set up in the story box on the top of
page 3 in their lab reports.
6. As the experiment is done, have the students record
the results on or near their sketches similar to what was
done when the experiment took place on the carpet.
7. Remind students that scientists often conduct more
than one trial of an experiment to be sure that the
Mary Wagner 2014
results are consistent. Select another group of students

to conduct the experiment again, while the remaining
students record the results in their lab reports.
8. Model how to write sentences that explain the results
shown in the sketches. (Use the lines beneath the story
boxes for the experiment on the rug and also for the
experiment on the tile.)
9. Have the children return to their desks to continue their
work, going back to finish sketches that help to explain
the set-up and results of the experiment, or any part of
other two pages of the lab report.
II. Conferring and Small Group Work:

Supporting Engagement
A. 1-to-1 or Small Group Conferring
Circulate to make sure the students understand the gist of

what you expect, not worrying too much whether or not the
students writing matches your expectations, but rather that
they are working with independence.
1. The most important thing you as a teacher can do at
this point is to show confidence that the children can
do what you are asking. Use voiceovers as they write
such as:
a.You should be on your second page by now.
b. Write like the wind.
c. Say a sentence and then write that sentence
before stopping.
d. Your pen should be flying. (This quote, and
other quotes listed above are from Calkins and
Mary Wagner 2014
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page

8-9.)
2. Celebrate students who chose to use the new
vocabulary words in their writing.
3. Show in every way you can that you are fascinated
with the chance to explore and learn about friction
and gravity.
B. (Whole Group) Mid-Workshop Teaching
1. Tell students that the last page of todays lab report will
be used to analyze their results and write a conclusion
for their experiment. (Add this step to the To Write like
a Scientist chart: Analyze your results and write a
conclusion. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
Science Books, page 10.)
2. Model writing the words Results and Conclusion at
the top of a new sheet of lab report paper, then wait
until all students have done this on their own.
3. Tell students that a lab report always ends with a page
on which scientists analyze the results and write
conclusion***:
a. The first statement on the page should answer the
question that was asked at the very start of the
experiment.
b. The second part of should tell what the scientists
think about what happened.
i. It may list surprises that were discovered.
ii. It may tell why scientists think things
happened as they did
iii. It may include new questions that scientists
have now
Mary Wagner 2014
4. (The Results and Conclusion portion of the lab

experiment will be further addressed in future lessons, so
this is just an introduction to that fact. Dont worry too
much about students meeting any particular criteria in
this portion today.)
III. Share:
Writing Like Scientists
1. Have students come to the meeting place with their

writing, their pen and a Post-it note.
2. Have students number places in their writing that
match the ideas listed on the To Write like a Scientist
chart. (Put a #1 where they wrote the question and so
on.)
3. Have students show their writing partner where they did
each step listed on the chart.
4. Ask students to find the part of their writing that is the
strongestthe part of which they are the most proud,
then mark that spot with a Post-it note.
5. Have student read this strongest part of their writing to
their partner. You (the teacher) should listen to their
conversations as they do.
Supplies Needed:
Paper and markers for writing the anchor chart: To
Write Like a Scientist (Calkins and Kohlbeck, Lab
Reports and Science Books, pages 6 and 10)
Writing partner lists (and seating assignments for the
group meeting place and student desk arrangement)
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10
(You may also wish to assign one student to the role of

Partner #1 and the other to the role of Partner #2 so as
to later be able to define which should share first and
etc. throughout the unit.)
Writing tools and clipboards for each student
Projector for showing your lab report when you model
writing for the students.
Blank lab report pages (with a box at the top and lines
beneath)6 for each student
Materials for the whole-class experiment (one set):
ramp, long carpet, meter sticks/yardsticks/measuring
tape (15 feet or more), and small toy car
Student Post-it notes
*The authors assert that this lesson can become quite complex and time-consuming if you
deliberate too long on any one area. Be swift and concise so as to move through each
component efficiently. (See Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 5.)
**In the manual, it there is some discrepancy regarding the placement of certain features of the
lab report and the overall number of pages included in it. I am using the idea of a 5-page lab
report, but have decided not to staple into a packet until the report is complete, so as better to
accommodate the addition and deletion of pages during a session. This is my interpretation of
how the components of the lab report are to be placed:
a. Page 1: Contains a story box at the top which lists the materials needed (but not until
Session 2). On the lines, students write the problem/question, and their hypothesis.
b. Page 2: Contains a story box at the top (showing a sketch of the set up of the first part of
the experiment and basic results derived from it) and lines below on which students
initially record with words the results of that part of the experiment (done in Session 1)-but beginning in Session 2, the lines are instead used to described the procedure for
completing that part of the experiment. After Session 2, when pages 2 and 3 are used to
explain the procedure, the results are written on page 4 of the lab report.
c. Page 3: Contains a story box at the top (showing a sketch of the set up of the second part
of the experiment and basic results derived from it) and lines below on which students
initially record with words the results of that part of the experiment (done in Session 1)-but beginning in Session 2, the lines are instead used to describe the procedure for
completing that part of the experiment. After Session 2, when pages 2 and 3 are used to
explain the procedure, the results are written on page 4 of the lab report.
d. Page 4: Details the results of the experiment and the scientists conclusion (First used only
to record a conclusion in Session 1). This page is developed to greater sophistication in
throughout the unit.
e. Page 5: Describes further Investigations desired as a result of this experiment. (It is first used
in Session 4.)
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11
***I find it tempting here to create the In Conclusions anchor chart, but the authors do not
indicate its creation until Session 4.
Start to gather mentor informational texts about forces and motions, including books,
photocopied articles, photographs with captions and labels, etc. for use as student reference
materials (enough for each student to have 1 or more at a time alone or with a partner)
beginning with Session 5. (See suggestions in Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 36.)
Be prepared for the sharing of student lab reports with a small group of students during the
Share portion of Session 6. Students will need to have the materials from their supply list and a
small group within a different classroom that can read the lab report and follow it.
Keep in mind that Session 19 centers around a science exhibit, during which students will share
their lab report and their science books. Students are invited to bring items related to the topic
about which they have chosen to write, such as photographs, images, video clips and actual
items themselves and a large, white shirt to represent a lab coat.
Mary Wagner 2014
12
Session 2
I. Minilesson:
Studying a Mentor Text
In this session, youll teach students that writers study
mentor texts when learning to write a new kind of writing,
like procedural writing, asking what the author has done
that they could try, as well. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
Reports and Science Books, page iv)
B. Connection
1. Invite students to the meeting place with their writing
folders and lab reports from Session 1.
2. Tell students that it is important to write experiments in
a way that others could follow in exactly the same way
on their own. Give an example of something that
another might do differently than what was done by
the students in Session 1 if the procedures werent
clearly listed (i.e., starting the car down the ramp a
different way or etc.)
3. Tell the students that one way to learn what scientists
do when they write their procedures is to study how
published scientists have written their procedure
sections.
4. Introduce the students to the question that they will be
researching today: What does a scientist do when
writing the procedure section of his or her lab report?
(Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books,
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13
page 13). In other words, what should we do when

writing the procedure page?
C. Teaching and Active Engagement

1. Tell students that when you (the teacher) want to learn
about how to write in a new way, you study that kind of
writing, looking at it closely to see how it is made.
2. Encourage students to study a procedural text with you
using the book Forces and Motion by Joan B. Graham.
a. Have the students prepare to answer the question:
What is involved in writing a procedure? to find
out what this author did that we can try, too.
b. Turn to the page in the text that describes the
experiment called Floating and Sinking.(You may
wish to project the pages so that the children can
see the materials list and the proceduresor have
enough copies for each writing team)
i. Have the students study the pages of the
mentor text see if they can identify some
things the author did that could be done in
their own procedures
ii. Ask the students to share their observations
with their writing partner.
iii. Listen to partner conversations and coach
students by saying things such as I like how
Jenna and Mark are
3. (As students are perusing the pages, prepare an
anchor chart titled In Procedures) Ask for student
input about what was noticed in the mentor text. Be
sure to write the following key components on the
anchor chart:
a. Make a You Will Need: section.
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14
b. Draw pictures that teach with labels, details.

c. Number the steps.
D. Link
1. Tell the students that they will be revising their original
procedure pages to match what was done in the
mentor text.
2. Distribute two new blank lab report pages.
3. Model how to revise the lab report. Do just a small
amount of each portion so that students can complete
each later on their own. You will need to:
a. Create a materials list in the story box on page 1 of
the lab report. Begin by writing a heading such as
Materials Needed: or You Will Need:
b. Re-create sketches for each experiment, labeling
important parts and clearly marking key results.
c. Use the original or remade sketches to remind
yourself how the experiment was done, then write
sentences below each story box that explains, in
order, how to conduct the experiment.
i. Reiterate the importance of using precise
language by reminding students that they
need to write so that others can replicate their
experiments.
ii. Remind students that they will need to tell the
procedure for both the rug and the tile, so
when they get to the page that describes
actions to take on the tile, they can just write
something like repeat the same steps on the
tile floor.
d. Fold the original procedure pages in half so as to
mark them for later recycling.
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15
4. Have the students return to their work area to continue

writing their procedure pages independently. (Be sure
to highlight where additional sheets of lab report paper
may be found if needed.)

Channeling Students to Use Mentors from Start
to Finish
A. 1-to-1 or Small Group Conferencing
1. Confer with students briefly, encouraging them to use

precise vocabulary and to write sequentially and
specifically.
2. Encourage students to shift back and forth from being
a writer to being a reader, looking for places where
clarification is needed so that someone who is
unfamiliar with the information is able to understand the
directions.
3. If time allows, you may have a small group reread or
peruse other mentor texts, looking for more ideas that
they might use when writing procedures.

1. Introduce the term revision as what the students are
doing right now. The prefix re means to do it again,
and the root word vision means to seeso
revision means to see again. In other words, revision
means to look at the writing again in attempt to find
more than they might have noticed the first time.
2. Show a part of a mentor text that:
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16
a. Includes detailed measurements (2 in.)

b. Tells how to do something (rather than to just tell
what to do).
3. Encourage students to finish their procedure pages,
then go back to look at the other pages of their lab
report to see if there is anything there that could be
revisedmade better by looking at it again.
4. Have students staple all pages of their lab report
together to create a booklet.
III. Share:
Self-Assessment
1. Introduce the Information Writing Checklist for Grades 2

and 3.
2. Model how to use the checklist:
a. Highlight the fact that the checklist includes goals
for Grade 3, allowing students to look at not only
the second grade goals, but also the goals for the
third grade.
b. Tell students that they should begin by checking
their writing to see whether or not they are doing
what is listed on the Grade 2 portion of the
checklist.
3. Have the students begin at the top of the checklist with
the Structure category. Tell them to make a star by
the criterion on the list that they most want to
accomplish.
4. Have the students write the date at the top of the
Information Writing Checklist and store it in their writing
folder.
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Supplies Needed:
Student lab reports from Session 1
Paper and Markers for creating anchor chart titled In
Procedures
Mentor text(s) with procedural pages, especially Forces
and Motion by Joan B. Graham
Enlarged copy of the Information Writing Checklist,
Grades 2 and 3
Individual copies of the Information Writing Checklist,
Grades 2 and 3
Materials for the whole-class experiment (one set):
ramp, long carpet, meter sticks/yardsticks/measuring
tape (15 feet or more), and small toy car.
Extra (single) pages for insertion into the lab report
blank books, as needed
Books, page 36.)
Be sure to take notes each time you confer with a student and to leave the student only after
agreeing upon a skill or area of writing to work on or improve.
a. Second meetings should begin with a statement that indicates that you know what each
student was to be doing as a writer since the last time you met. (I recall the last time we
talked, you agreed to . (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page
42)
b. After indicating the skill that you had discussed at your previous meeting, you may wish to
ask the student to show you examples that s/he has been working to use that skill
effectively.
c. Over time, look for patterns within the students writing, indicating her/his level of
development as a writer.
d. For those who need it, be sure to motivate by providing facts or other types of information
that may be interesting to them relevant to their writing.
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e. Be sure to make the student aware of the ways that s/he is improving as a writer.
small group within a different classroom that can read the lab report and follow it. Sharing
within their own classroom with their usual classmates, however, may also be a possibility.
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Session 3
I. Minilesson:
New Wonderings, New Experiments
In this session, youll teach students that scientists-like
writers-go through a process. And just like writers, scientists
come up with their own ideas for what to write about. They
decide on a question they want to find out about and then
plan and test their question with an experiment, recording
the steps as they go. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports
and Science Books, page iv)
B. Connection
1. Remind students that in the last session, they revised
their first lab report.
2. Tell students that just like they re-wrote their procedures
in a different way (see Session 2), they can also rewrite
experiments in a different way.
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that scientists dont just follow
someone elses recipe to do an experiment. No way!
Scientists come up with their own experiments! They think, I
wonder what would happen if and then they try it! Just
like writers go through a writing process, scientists go
through a scientific process. (Calkins, Lab Reports and
Science Books, page 23)
D. Teaching
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1. Display some materials available for the students to use,

such as blocks, different-sized toy cars, books, math
manipulatives, etc. You may also wish to suggest the
use of long books or other materials as ramps
(individual whiteboards?), with differing amounts of
books beneath one end for students to use to create
ramps of varying heights.
2. Tell students that they be working with their partner
today to plan and conduct a new experiment. They
will begin by recalling the original experiment done in
Sessions 1 and 2, and then change just one thing about
it to make a new experiment.
3. Model the procedure of revising an experiment:
a. Review the original experiment used in Session 1
and 2, recalling the question, hypothesis,
procedure and results of the experiment. (You may
wish to unstaple the pages of your revised version
of the original experiment and display them for
student reference throughout this and future
sessions.)
b. Consider what was learned in the first experiment.
c. Think about one thing that could be changed in
the first experiment that might create a change in
the results of the experiment.
d. Create an I wonder what might happen if
statement that involves the change of one portion
of the original experiment. (Select an item to
change on the class lab report that is less obvious
and/or more complex so as to allow the students
to use others that may be more obvious and/or
easier to use when they do the revising.)
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4. Tell the students that when all of these steps are

complete there is one thing left to do: plan and
conduct the new experiment.
E. Active Engagement
1. Ask the students recount the steps for revising an
experiment. (Refer to the Creating a Revised
Experiment anchor chart in steps 3 and 4 of the
Teaching portion of this session.)
2. Re-emphasize that the students will be changing only
one part of the experiment.
3. Have the student confer with their writing partner,
moving together through all but the last step on the
Creating a Revised Experiment anchor chart.
F. Link
1. (After a bit of student-to-student conferring time)

Distribute a new blank lab report booklet (or 5 blank
sheets of lab report paper) to each student.
2. With reference to the To Write like a Scientist
anchor chart, have the students remain at the meeting
place with their partner while you guide them through
the lab report set-up process. (Give them a bit of time
to get started with each part, but stop them at any
point beyond that, as they will be able to then return to
finish it independently during the session.) They should
follow the structure of their revised experiment to:
a. Write their names on the back of the first sheet of
paper.
b. Write the question that they had discussed with
their partner according to the format discussed
previously.
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c. Write a hypothesis for the question that was

written.
d. Create a list of the materials needed for the
experiment.
e. Take a new sheet of lab report paper to write the
heading Experiment 1:
f. Take another new sheet of lab report paper to
write the heading Experiment 2:
g. Take yet another new sheet of lab report paper to
write the heading Results and Conclusion.
3. Tell the students that they will be given _____ minutes to
complete as much of the experiment and lab report as
is possiblebut should plan to work efficiently so as to
at least complete at least the first 3 pages of their lab
report.

Coaching Partners to Help Each Other
1. Be prepared to use voiceovers frequently to help focus
the students to write as scientists, so that they arent
tempted to race through the activity, forgetting all that
has been learnedespecially when they are writing
the procedure page.
2. Encourage writing partners to respond to each other as
they work.
a. Say, Your job is to envision your partners writing
and to signal if the writing is confusing or unclear
so she knows where she needs to go back and
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revise. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and

b. Stay with the group for a bit as one student reads
her writing.
i. Encourage the writing partner to envision the
steps being told, asking the partner if s/he can
envision what is being said. Encourage
students to tell their partners when something
s unclear or confusing.
ii. Remind students of the importance of
precision and detail in their writing.
iii. Emphasize the value of revision, using flaps,
inserts and etc., as needed.

1. Compliment the students for remembering the concept
of multiple trials to ensure similar results.
2. Remind students to record as much as possible when
conducting an experiment.
3. Encourage the students to review their lab reports,
revising on the fly, fixing any errors they notice when
they reread.
4. Highlight the value of students writing with precision
and detail.
5. (A bit later) Remind students to look at the Write like a
Scientist anchor chart occasionally to keep
themselves on track as they write each step of their lab
report.
6. (As the students are working, select a student
partnership that has finished recording the results of
their experiment. Ask for permission to use her/his lab
report during the Share portion of this session.)
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III. Share:
Interpreting Scientific Results and Developing
Conclusions
1. Tape up the first four pages of the lab report belonging
to one of the partners you selected upon a large, blank
sheet of paper so that the students are able to see all
of its parts. (See the display in Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
Reports and Science Books, page 28) Give each of the
students a pointer.
2. Gather the remaining students back to the meeting
place.
3. Tell the students that scientists often hold symposiums,
during which they talk to other scientists about their
experiments: what they thought about, questioned
and discovered.
4. Encourage the observing students to imagine that they
are at a scientific symposium and that the students at
the front of the class are wearing white lab coats and
waiting to teach about their experiment.
5. Have the students talk their way through the first 3 parts
of their experiment (Question/Hypothesis, Procedure
and for Experiment 1, Procedure for Experiment 2) using
their pointers as they present thee information.
6. Have the students explain the results of their
experiment, including what was written on the page
marked Results and Conclusion
7. While or after the students who are sharing finish
reading their results, see if they can explain why one
thing or the other occurred.
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a. Write the word Why? on a large Post-it note and

place it on the Results and Conclusion portion of
their. Have students share reasons why things may
have occurred as they did in this experiment.
b. Emphasize that the conclusion is all about
answersor attempt at answersto the question
Why?
c. Tell that since answers arent always known, the
conclusion portion of a lab report might also
include new questions the students have.
8. Have students talk with their writing partners about the
results of their own experiments with an emphasis upon
the word why and attempts to identify possible
answers to that question.
9. (After a bit of discussion time) Highlight that scientists
often look to othersother experiments or textsto
help them better understand their results and that they
will be working more on this next time in Session 4.
Supplies Needed:
Student writing folders and lab reports from Sessions 1
and 2
Suggestion: Display made from unstapled pages of
your version of the original lab report
Paper, markers and a Post-it for creating and marking
on an anchor chart from the student sample
Glue, tape, poster tack or etc. for fastening student
work upon anchor chart
Mentor text(s) with procedural pages
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Materials for the whole-class experiment (enough for all

writing partnerships to have their own set): ramp, long
carpet, meter sticks/yardsticks/measuring tape (15 feet
or more), and small toy car.
Additional materials for new experiments (enough for
all writing partnerships to have variety of items to
choose from). The goal is to provide options for the
students to change the original experiment in just one
way. Suggested items include blocks, different sized
toy cars, books, math manipulatives, etc.
Already-created anchor charts on display: To Write
like a Scientist and In Procedures
Paper and markers for anchor chart: Creating a
Revised Experiment
Extra (single) pages for insertion into lab reports, as
needed
Baton or pointer
Books, page 36.)
42)
effectively.
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Session 4
I. Minilesson:
Authors Share Scientific Ideas/Conclusions
In this session, youll teach students that writers study
mentor texts when learning to write a new kind of writing,
like procedural writing, asking what the author has done
that they could try, as well. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
B. Connection
Remind students that in Session 3, they had the opportunity
to create their own experiments with their partners.
1. In the Share portion of Session 3, selected students
shared their experiment with the class, students
suggested reasons why things might have happened in
that experiment AND students discussed why things
may have occurred as they did in their own
experiments, as well.
2. Remind students that it is important for scientists to ask
Why? about things around them.
3. Display the following sentence frame and then model
completing it as a way to explain the results of the class
lab report. I think the reason that .. was because
.. (My suggestion: Make an Explaining My Results
anchor chart to display this sentence frame.)
4. Have students confer with their writing partner about
how they could complete the sentence frame to
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explain the results of their own experiment from Session

3.
5. Highlight for the children the fact that sometimes it is
hard to put complicated ideas into words, so if an
explanation is given that is unclear, it is important to tell
the speaker, I dont understand what you are saying,
or Can you say that again in a different way? (My
suggestion: Create a Clarifying My Explanation
anchor chart that shows these sentence frames.)
6. Emphasize that because the conclusion portion of an
experiment is so important, you will be working during
this session to better understand how to write an
effective conclusion.
C. Guiding Question
The question that well be researching today is this: When
a scientist has collected some results and has formed new
hypotheses about why she got those results, how does she
write a conclusion? (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
1. Display a sample second grade lab report written

about a floating and sinking experiment. (See Calkins
and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page
32.)
2. Tell the students that you are going to study this lab
report so that you can learn from it how to write a more
effective conclusion.
a. Display the Results and Conclusions page of the
report. Tell students to look and listen for interesting
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parts as you read the sample Results and

Conclusion page together.
b. Encourage the students to talk with their writing
partner about what they noticed. While they are
doing this, set up the anchor chart titled In
Conclusions (See Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
Reports and Science Books, page 32).
c. Ask students to share their observations about the
displayed Results and Conclusion page with the
whole class. Note these ideas on the In
Conclusions anchor chart when you hear them:
i. Reflect on the hypothesis. (My hypothesis was
right/wrong.)
ii. Ask questions about the results. (Why...?)
iii. Give some possible explanations for the
results. (Look at other experiments and
resources for ideas.)
E. Link
1. Distribute a blank sheet of lab report paper to each

student as you explain to them that they will be working
today to create a thorough Results and Conclusions
page for their experiment.
2. Have students write the heading Results and
Conclusions at the top of the page.
3. Encourage the students to refer to the In
Conclusions. anchor chart to write this final page of
their lab report. (You may wish to draw attention to
helpful resources in the writing center: colored pens,
revision strips, flaps, Post-it notes, mini-staplers and tape
in the writing center for use when revising.)
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4. Direct students that when they have completed their

Results and Conclusions page, they should go back
through their entire lab report to make revisions.
5. Students who finish revising their experiment may begin
planning and conducting a new experiment and lab
report.

Using Revision Materials and Writing Partnerships
to Bring Revision Work to Life
1. Pay attention to the amount of writing being produced
by the students, encouraging them to talk with each
other first, if that helps them generate or clarify ideas.
(Dont allow students to just talk with you--they need to
be talking with each other.)
2. You may choose to coach several partner groups at
one time so as to allow them to learn from each other
during their conversation with each other or with you.
3. Encourage students to jot new ideas in the Results and
Conclusion page of their lab reports as they occur.
4. For students who seem to need additional coaching,
ask the question, Why do you think this happened?
and then provide response prompts such as:
b. One reason is
c. I think this happened because
d. Maybe.or maybe
(You may wish to create an anchor chart: Conclusion
Sentence Starters that includes these helpful prompts.)
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1. Highlight that when it is done correctly, the Results and

Conclusions page of a lab report always leads to a
new experiment. (Give an example from the original
class experiment and/or from one or more of the
students experiments from which this could occur.)
2. Distribute a new blank piece of lab report paper to
each student. Have students write the heading,
Further Investigations While they do this, you add the
idea Add further investigations as the final step on
the In Conclusions anchor chart.
a. Tell students that after they respond to the three
original prompts on the In Conclusions
anchor chart, they should complete the last one
as well, by making a list or description of further
experiments related to the one they just did that
they would like to conduct.
b. Suggest that when students finish writing and
revising their lab report, they should staple the
pages together in the correct order, place it in
their writing folder, and begin one of the new
experiments listed on their Further
Investigations page.
III. Share:
Connecting Science to Real-World Learning
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1. Have students share some of the vocabulary that they

have been using in their experiments (fast, slow, farther,
slowing down, etc.)
2. Tell students that words like these belong to the topic of
forces and motion.
3. Have students talk with their partner about what they
already know about forces and motion.
4. After a few minutes of conversation, tell the students
that when scientists dont know a lot about a topic,
they research it to learn more.
5. Encourage the students to use their time between now
and tomorrows writing lesson to find out more about
forces and motion. Suggest that they ask friends from
another class during recess, ask an older brother or
sister, or look it up on the Internet. (My suggestion:
Have the students write this idea on a Post-it note and
place it in a prominent place on their home-school
folder to remind them.)
6. Tell students that movement, forces and motion are all
around them, and that they should be looking for them
for the rest of the day: on the playground, while
parents are cooking supper, at bath time, etc.
7. Emphasize that what they learn about these ideas will
help them when they work on their experiments.
Supplies Needed:
Student writing folders and lab reports from previous
sessions.
Paper and marker for anchor chart
o In Conclusions
Paper and markers for prompts charts:
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o Explaining My Results prompt

I think the reason that . was ..
o Conclusions Sentence Starters prompt
One reason is
I think this happened because
Maybe.or maybe
o Clarifying My Explanation prompt
I dont understand what you are saying.
Can you say that in a different way?
Writing center containing already-made lab report
booklets, single lab report pages, colored pens, revision
strips, flaps, Post-it notes, mini-staplers and tape
Prompts to support partner talk (see Connection
portion of session)
Prompts to support talk about hypotheses (see
Conferring and Small-Group Work portion of session)
Sample lab report conclusion text (see Teaching and
Active Engagement and Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 32)
Materials for student experiments (enough for all writing
partnerships to have their own set): ramp, long carpet,
meter sticks/yardsticks/measuring tape (15 feet or
more), blocks, different sized toy cars, books, math
manipulatives, etc.
Already-created anchor charts on display: To Write
like a Scientist and In Procedures
Books, page 36.)
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42)
effectively.
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Session 5
I. Minilesson:
Scientists Learn from Other Sources as Well as
from Experiments
In this session, youll teach students that when scientists
want to improve their writing, they learn more about what
they are investigating. That is, they improve their writing by
learning more science and then revise their writing based
on what theyve learned. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
B. Connection
1. Have the students meet at the meeting place with a

clipboard, pen and a stack of Post-it notes.
2. Ask the students to talk with their writing partners to
identify three things theyve learned about how
scientists learn and write. (Listen in as they talk.)
3. Compliment students about how much they have
learned and then tell them that today you are going to
introduce one more thing.
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that the more a person knows

about a topic, the better he or she can write. Sometimes
when you want to improve your writingsay youre writing
about cars and snap cube and staplers sliding down
rampsthe best way to improve the writing is to learn more
about how the world works. That is, sometimes the best way
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to improve your scientific writing is to learn more science.

(Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page
38)
D. Teaching
1. Emphasize that there are a lot of ways to learn about
something:
a. Read a book.
b. Talk to an expert.
c. Watch a video.
2. Tell students that in college or technical school, people
listen to a kind of a speech about a topic to help them
learn about it. A speech like this that is full of
information is called a lecture.
3. Tell students to listen carefully as you give the minilecture about scientific ideas related to ramps and
motion.
a. Highlight that as you give the mini-lecture, you
will be using gestures and actions to help them
better understand what you say.
b. Encourage the students to gesture along with
you to help them better understand what you
are saying.
D. Active Engagement
1. Give the lecture on forces and motion. (See Calkins
and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 39,
referring also to the clarification tips included on that
page.)
2. Assign one of student in each writing partnership to
take the role of professor. This student will tell the other
what s/he learned from the mini-lecture. (Encourage
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the student to use gestures, actions, and examples to

clarify the information.)
3. Inform the students that you will give the mini-lecture
again. This time, students should write each key words
or idea they hear on a separate Post-it note. (Each
new word or idea should be written on its own,
separate Post-it.)
4. Begin the mini-lecture, reading a few words or
sentences and then stopping to model how to write
key words or short facts on separate Post-it notes. Then,
continue the mini-lesson having students independently
collect more ideas on Post-it notes as you read.
5. Create an anchor chart titled Important Words and
Ideas about Forces and Motion.
6. Ask students to share ideas or key words from their Postit notes. (Add relevant ideas or key words to the anchor
chart as they are suggested.)
a. After a student shares, ask other students with the
same idea recorded to hold up the Post-it note
with that information on it.
b. Ask students to find a connection --an area in their
lab report related to a concept--and have the
student place the Post-it note with that idea on it in
that place in their lab report. (Emphasize the word
connection as the term for what you have found
between the information the students have just
learned and what was written in the lab reports.)
7. Repeat step #6 until all key words have been identified
and marked in the lab reports.
8. Model how to weave collected information (that which
has been written on Post-its and marked as a
connection in the lab report) into the lab report
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through the use of insert symbols, flaps, revising strips or

etc.
9. Tell students that they will be working todayand in the
future-- to revise their writing in this way, making it
sound more scientific.
10. Create the anchor chart Revising to Sound More
Scientific as you reiterate ways to do so:
a. Take notes from outside sources (Write key word
and facts on separate Post-it notes).
b. Make connections between new information
and what has already been written (Place the
Post-it notes by areas in the writing where there
is a connection.)
c. Revise the original writing. (Add details through
the use of insert symbols, flaps or revising strips.)
d. Reread the revision to make sure it sounds right.
11. Point to the anchor chart, Revising to Sound More
Scientific as you reiterate your expectations for the
coming work time, reminding them that this type of
revision will improve the quality of their writing.

Supporting Writers Learning Trajectories
Remember that each writing lesson is not just about the
content of that lesson, but also a chance for you to give
students feedback about their work. You should be
encouraging students to:
1. Write with volume.
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2. Use conventions with automaticity.

3. Plan their writing.
4. Revise their writing even before starting to write.
5. Etc.

1. Remind students that they should be using the new
information and facts they gathered on Post-it note on
almost every page of their lab reports.
2. Encourage students to work as scientists do: whenever
they learn about a new topic, they pay attention to the
special words that go with that topic.
III. Share:
Using Sources for More Information
1. Tell students that you are going to tell them a little more
about forces and motion.
2. Ask the students to listen so that they can use the
information to help them think differently about their
experiments and the world around them.
3. Read Friction. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
a. Have students take notes using Post-its, find a
connection in their writing to post it near, and plan
to go back to it later to revise it.
a. Have students share how knowing the new
information about forces and motion will affect
how they think; what they might now notice or
think about on their way home from school.
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b. Excite the students about the idea of learning new

information by expressing with them how there is a
connection between science and the concepts of
forces and motion and their own lives in so many
ways.
c. Compliment students about the thinking they are
doing about friction around them. (Where it can
be found, etc.)
Supplies Needed:
Student writing folders and lab reports from previous
sessions.
Clipboards
Paper and markers for creating anchor charts:
o Important Words and Ideas about Forces and
Motion (see the Active Engagement portion of
this lesson)
o Revising to Sound More Scientific (see the
Active Engagement portion of this lesson)
Pack of Post-it notes for each student
Forces and motions mentor texts, photocopied articles,
photographs with captions and labels, etc. for use as
student reference materials (enough for each student
to have one or more at a time alone or with others)
(See suggestions in Lab Reports and Science Books,
page 36.)
Writing center filled with pens, stacks of lab report
booklets or pages, revision strips and flaps and Post-it
notes
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42)
effectively.
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Session 6
I. Minilesson:
Student Self-Assessment and Plans
In this session, youll teach students that when scientists
want to improve their writing, they learn more about what
they are investigating. That is, scientists improve their writing
by learning more science and then revise their writing based
on what theyve learned. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
B. Connection
1. Make a connection between the first days of school
when the children needed to be reminded step-bystep about the morning routine to the independence
with which they can do so now. Then, make a
connection between the support that students needed
when writing lab reports at the beginning of the unit to
how they can now write lab reports with much less
support.
2. Express that since they are capable of working so
independently now, they are ready to take on a new
challenge that only better writers can do: checking
their writing.
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that second-grade writers can

figure out how to make their writing the best it can be. You
can use the Information Writing Checklist to help you. You
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can read the checklist and then go back to your writing to

see if you did these things. Once you have gone through
the checklist, you can look at the items that you have not
checked off and make writing goals for yourself. (Calkins
and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 45)
D. Teaching
1. Remind students that the Information Writing Checklist
helps us make sure we are doing everything we know
how to do.
2. Recall with the students that they had already used the
Information Writing Checklist in Session 2 of this unit, but
that they have learned and written so much since then
that it is a good time to compare their work to the
checklist again.
3. Begin to model the process by comparing the lab
report that you (the teacher) have written to the
Information Writing Checklist. (Be sure that there are
examples on the checklist that clearly are and are not
met.)
a. Direct the students to look first at the Structure
portion of the checklist.
i. Read the first item from the checklist. Tell the
students that you cant check off that part
yeteven if you think that you met the
criterionuntil you find a place in your
writing that is evidence of it. Model how to
reread your lab report to find evidence of
the criterion and then make a checkmark in
that row on the checklist to show that it has
been met.
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ii. After marking with a checkmark to show

that something on the checklist is done,
take a look in the third-grade column to see
if the criterion has been met for the Third
Grade level. If it is not yet met, mark that
area with a star to denote that this is a goal
that you will be working toward.
b. Move to another criterion on the checklist and
repeat the procedure, this time showing what to
do when the criterion isnt met, marking that
item with a star.
c. Repeat this procedure until all items in the
Structure portion of the checklist are done.
4. Tell the students that the stars on the checklist are their
writing goals for the Structure part of the checklist.
1. Distribute two copies of the Information Writing
Checklist to the students (one for now, and one for
them to use with their own writing later).
2. Ask your students to find the Structure section of the
Information Writing Checklist and to mark it as you did.
3. Have students find the Development portion of the
checklist.
4. Focus the students attention look upon your (the
teachers) writing of the class lab report and compare
it to the items in the Development section of the
checklist. Add checkmarks (goals already
accomplished) or stars (goals that still need to be
accomplished) according to how the students
evaluate the lab report.
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5. Have the students look at the starred item(s) on the

checklist with the understanding that each starred item
is a goal for the writer of the lab reportthe next step
needed to make the writing stronger.
7. Have the students work with their writing partner to
evaluate your (the teachers) writing or steps 1-4 for the
Language Conventions portion of the checklist.
8. Have students report their findings about goals and
achievements throughout the Information Writing
Checklist as a whole.
8. (My suggestion: After completing you evaluation using
all parts of the Information Writing Checklist, model how
to go back to an area marked with a star (a goal) to
revise it so that the goal may be attained.
a. Once this is done, show how to mark a
checkmark next to the original star to show that
the goal is now attained.
b. Highlight the fact that some goals are more
easily revised than others. Suggest that students
begin by revising the areas that involve the
quickest and easiest changes.)
8. After all discussion is finished, have students fold this
Information Writing Checklist in half to mark it for later
recycling and to prepare the next checklist for use with
their own lab reports.
F. Link
1. Tell the students that today they will be working
independently to use the checklist on their own lab
reports.
2. Remind students of the process.
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3. (My suggestion: Emphasize that once the students

have identified goal areas in their writing, they should
go back to their lab report and strive to make the
changes needed to accomplish them.)
3. Have the students return to their desks to do their work.

Supporting Writers to Turn Plans into Realities
Spend the first minute or two watching to see how your

students are doing with the checklist and procedure and
assess them according to:
1. Who is using checklist easily, needing little or no
support.
2. Those checking items off of their checklist without real
consideration of the items or their writing.
3. Those studying the checklist, unsure of how to begin.
a. Ask the students to put a finger on one checklist
item that hasnt yet been marked or has been
marked with a star.
b. Tell the students to think about and then get a
mentor text that could be used to give them tips
about their writing. (Have some handy by you to
share with those who may not have an idea in
mind or to make the process quicker, if needed.)
c. Invite the students to open to a page in the
mentor text and ask them to tell you what the
writer has done that they could do, too.
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d. Work with the students to make checkmarks or

stars until all items are marked, then get them
started on fixing criteria marked with stars.

1. Ask the students to look to the section of the checklist
that says, I tried to include the words that showed Im
an expert on the subject.
2. Encourage the students to look through their lab reports
with their partners to find words that were used to make
themselves sound like experts. (As they do this, prepare
an anchor chart titled, Words Science Experts Use.)
3. Have the students share the words that they found,
encouraging them to use scientific words whenever
they can. (Some suggestions include: hypothesis, trial,
procedure, results, observe, compare, measure, data,
force, motions, friction, results.) If needed, have the
students look through their lab reports to try to find a
place where they could change an ordinary word into
an extraordinary science word to make it sound more
scientific more often.
III. Share:
Goal Setting and Publishing
1. Have students gather in the meeting place with their
lab reports.
2. Reiterate that today, found places in their writing
where goals were already met, others where the goals
still needed to be met, and did work in some of those
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49
places that needed it so as to revise the lab report to

enable the goal to be met.
3. Invite students who met a goal (areas marked with a
checkmark) to raise their hands.
4. (Calkins and Kolbeck suggest that you have students
pair up to share how they met a goal that the other has
not yet met in Lab Reports and Science Books, page
49, but this seemed unwieldy and time-consuming to
me. I suggest that students simply meet in small groups
to each share one thing that they did to meet a goal
OR to have the teacher manage a whole-group
discussion during which students share how they met a
particular goal.)
a. Remind students that they are the experts.
b. Encourage students to be precise, pointing out the
exact location where a revision was made, and
telling specifically what was done.
5. Congratulate the students on their hard work.
6. Tell students that because they have worked so hard to
perfect their writing, you thought it would be fun to
send them out to share it with someone.
a. Even though the writing isnt perfect yet, it is ready
to be read by others.
b. They will be going to another classroom to share
their lab report with others, which will give them a
chance to see how easy it is to read and follow by
others.
c. Encourage students to notice what the other
students do when they follow the lab report
procedure to determine if there is something that
needs to be further clarified in their writing.
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d. Highlight that it will be interesting to see what

results the other students get and how the new
results compare with their own.
Supplies Needed:
Class lab report to use as a model, projected or copied
for distribution to students. (Be sure that it shows that
some of the items from the Information Writing Checklist
clearly are and are not yet met.)
Copies of the Information Writing Checklist for each
studentenough for 2 copies (one for when they
evaluate the class lab report and another for when
they evaluate their own.)
Suggested: Projected copy of the Information Writing
Checklist
Pointer
Mentor texts for the students to read and mimic as they
work to set their writing goals
Words Science Experts Use anchor chart created in
Unit 5.
A classroom, supplies and students willing to follow
these students lab reports (see the Share portion of
this lesson)
notes
Materials for each groups experiments
Be on the lookout for bar graphs, charts and tables in mentor texts and consider marking them
with Post-it notes for use as reference material in Session 8.
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Bend II:
Writing to Teach Others
About Our Discoveries
Session 7
I. Minilesson:
Remember All You Know about Science and
about Scientific Writing for New Experiments
In this session, youll teach students that scientists bring all
they know about writing and about science to new
experiments, drawing on all their knowledge to write well
and conduct precise and replicable experiments. (Calkins
and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page iv)
B. Connection
1. Remind students that they are now published authors
because they have shared their written lab reports with
others in the community and that in doing so they have
joined the scientific community of the school.
2. Tell students that for the next section of the unit, they
will be working to publish another set of results.
3. Display the anchor chart, To Write Like a Scientist as
you remind students that when scientists conduct
experiments, they have a certain way of writing to help
thema lab reportthat tells what they expect to
happen, what they actually do, how things go, and
what they learn.
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that when scientists conduct an
experiment, they remember all they know not only about
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science itself but about writing about science, too. (Calkins

and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 55)

1. (Be sure to have the To Write like a Scientist chart
on display.)
2. Remind the students that today and in the future, they
will be able to think back on what they know and what
they have learned to help them make their work
stronger.
3. Tell students that they are going to begin work today
on a new question.
4. Introduce the new question: Using a catapult, which
will travel farther: a ping-pong ball or a cotton ball*?
(You will likely need to show students a picture of a
catapult or a video that shows a catapult being used.)
5. Tell students that there are two things they will need to
determine:
a. What do we know about the science part of this
question?
b. What do we know about the writing part of this
questionabout scientific writing?
6. Have students share with their writing partner what they
know about scientific writing. (Listen in as they talk so
you can share ideas you hear with the class as a
whole.)
7. Confirm with the students that you heard many of them
referring back to the experiments they did before, using
those experiences to make predictions about this one.
8. Highlight the To Write like a Scientist anchor chart,
reminding them of the process that is used to plan
each part of the writing that will be done.
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9. Remind students that after identifying a question, then

creating a hypothesis, scientists begin to wonder
about how they will test these thingsthe procedure.
10. Have the students share suggestions for a procedure
with their writing partners.
11. Set up a fishbowl, moving students to the perimeter
of the meeting area and leaving room in the center
for a demonstration.
a. Select 4 student volunteers to confer and then use
the materials you have provided to set up a
catapult. (Encourage independence and trialand-error during this part.)
b. Remind the students that during the procedure
part of an experiment, scientists can use story
boxes to sketch and label how to use the materials
provided to make what is needed.
c. When they are ready, have the volunteers share
their procedure for creating and then using the
catapult. (Remember to encourage precise
procedures, including precise measurements.)
12. Remind students that they have had a lot of
experience and support around them to draw upon
when writing the procedure portion of a lab report,
which is the focus for today.
a. They have heard the volunteers idea for a
procedure in this example.
b. They wrote the procedure in their last experiment.
c. They have had practice revising so as to use
scientific words.
d. There is an anchor chart specifically designed to
remind them about procedure-related ideas.
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E. Link
1. Tell students that they will be working today with their
partner to make create a procedure that will allow
them to test their hypothesis about the question that
you (the teacher) have posed.
a. Remind them that when doing so, they should
initially only make sketches and jot notes to
remember what occurs rather than to write
sentences about it. (Writing with greater
elaboration about their work will occur later.)
b. Remind students that after their experiment is
complete, they will go back to use words to fill in
the details using the lines below the story boxes.
2. Emphasize the importance of writing a lab report that
anyone will be able to replicate it when they are
finished.
3. Distribute five or more sheets of lab report paper
(stapled into a booklet, or left unstapled, as desired) for
each student and a baggie of equipment to each
partnership.
4. Have the students begin to write the first page of their
lab report at the meeting place, raising their hand to
signify that they are ready for you to see it, then to
move on to the next part of their experiment.

Steering Students Attention to Data to Think
and Write More in Conclusions
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1. Since the children have had experience writing lab

reports, they may not need a lot of support with the
process itself, so you can devote time, instead, to help
them grow their scientific thinking and lift the level of
their writing.
2. Encourage students who may be writing conclusions to
be sure to tell how their results relate to their hypothesis.
3. Have those with large discrepancies in their data (the
ping pong ball went much farther the first time than the
second time) to address that in their conclusion.
a. Tell students that a result such as this (with such a
difference between trials) is called an anomaly.
b. Encourage the students to push their thinking a bit
farther, looking more closely at an anomaly to
explore possible reasons for it. These reasons could
then be included in the conclusion (i.e., they could
tell what they think happened to make one
situation so different from the other).

1. Tell the class about a situation what to do when one
writing partners disagrees with another about how to
write their results. Provide an example from a student
pair in the class or use a made-up example.
2. Have the partners (the ones having the disagreement)
write their data on the board so that everyone could
see it (or show it there yourself, using a made-up
situation).
3. Ask the class to look at the sample data and to suggest
how the results could be written. (See further
information in Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
Science Books, pages 59-60.)
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4. Have student observers ask clarifying questions, if

needed.
5. (You) Record one or more of the suggestions as they
are given.
III. Share:
Using Charts and Tables to Present Data
1. (Be sure to have the In Conclusions. anchor chart in
view.)
2. Invite the students to meet in small groups to share the
results of their experiment (their data) with that of
another partner group. (While most of the students are
conferring, find a partnership that has effectively
organized their data into tables. Have them re-create
their table on the board, or prepare to show their table
to the class via a projector.)
3. Call the group together to the meeting place.
4. Have the students notice the data that has been
written on the board or projected by and share their
observations about how it was structured.
5. Remind the students that information writers often use
tables or charts to organize their data so that it is quick
easy to read, making it easy to answer any questions
related to the experiment. (Dont belabor this idea too
much at this time as it will be the focus of the next
writing session.)
6. Highlight that they will learn more about how to create
and read tables in the next session.
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Supplies Needed:
To Write Like A Scientist..., In Procedures, and In
Conclusions. anchor charts
Classroom areas for student experimenting (*Areas with
carpeting or cushioned landing spaces will prevent the
ping-pong balls from rolling or bouncing too much after
landing.)
Baggies of supplies for each partner group: ruler,
plastic spoon, rubber band, masking tape, ping-pong
ball, cotton ball
Meter sticks, yardsticks, or measuring tapes for each
group (able to measure 15 feet or more)
Blank lab report booklet for each student
Data sample for use by the class to demonstrate how
to problem-solve when there is a disagreement
between partners about how to write a result. (See Lab
Reports and Science Books, page 60.)
notes
Be on the lookout for bar graphs, charts and tables in mentor texts and consider marking them
with Post-it notes for use as reference material in Session 8.
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Session 8
I. Minilesson:
In this session, you could teach students that writers look to
mentor texts for ideas about how to organize their writing.
iv)
B. Connection
1. Talk about the importance of organization, pointing out
examples of organization in the classroom: supplies in
tubs, work in folders, etc.
2. Tell students that scientists need to organize their
writing, too, such as using headings for different parts of
their lab reports, listing materials needed for an activity,
step by step procedure directions, etc. These things are
all evident in all of the information writing mentor texts.
C. Teaching Point
1. Tell students that today you will be focusing upon

organization when writing a lab report.
2. Establish and write an inquiry question to guide the
days work, such as How is data recorded?

1. Share a mentor text with the class. (Be sure to select on
that represents results with a table.)
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2. Have children turn and talk with their neighbors about

what they notice about how the writer organized the
information.
3. Point out organizational features such as the title,
headings, visuals, numbers, charts and tables. (My
suggestion: Create an anchor chart: Features of
Informational Writing upon which to record these and
future-highlighted features)
4. Emphasize how the table helps to organize numbers.
Explain to them what is displayed in each column and
row.
5. Guide students toward an understanding that the data
that they have collected for their experiment can be
organized in a similar fashion using a similar kind of
table.
6. Have students study the rest of the results portion of the
experiment from the mentor text and have them talk
with their partner about what they notice.
7. Point out any bar graphs, titles, keys, labels and have
the children suggest how these features help to
organize the results; how they help give direction to
someone who might wish to duplicate this experiment.
8. Compliment the students on all that they have noticed
about how scientists organize their work.
9. Ask students to suggest why scientists would organize
their information in this way. Push them to consider the
organizational methods more than the data itself.
E. Link
Send students off to begin working to revise the
Results page of their current and/or previous lab reports,
organizing their data so it is clear and easy to read using
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ideas from the mentor text (and as is listed on the anchor

chart: Features of Informational Writing.

1. Begin by focusing on the volume of the students
writingespecially those who tend to get off track.
a. Have these students tell you their goal for todays
writing (how much they will write today).
b. Encourage the students to try to beat that amount
tomorrow, reminding them that writers set goals
that push themselves to do more.
2. Help students who struggle to understand how to
organize their own results in a way that resembles a
table in a mentor text (i.e., how a table established to
show amounts of electricity used on weekdays vs.
weekends, for example, can be mimicked to show
lengths traveled by a ping-pong ball compared to a
cotton ball.)
Remind students that mentor scientists use precise language

when they write to describe something, and that since they
are scientists, too, they should do this, as well. For example,
mentor scientists would not simply write, It went a long
distance, but rather would name the object, tell how far it
traveled, and describe the way it moved. (The ping-pong
ball bounced down the ramp, then skidded across the bare
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floor, traveling sixty-two centimeters.) (Calkins and Kolbeck,

Lab Reports and Science Books, page 65)
III. Share:
1. Distribute mentor texts or project them for all to see.
2. Have students study sample tables, charts and graphs
from the mentor text, focusing upon:
a. How they are organized. (They include numbers
and record amounts in particular ways.)
b. Why they are organized as they are. (They group
similar things together so that people can
compare and contrast the groups.)
c. What they teach.
d. How they can be used as tools to help people
understand things in the world.
2. Encourage students to watch for the use of tables,
charts and graphs in the world around them.
Supplies Needed:
Mentor texts to display organizational features such as
tables, graphs and charts
Student folders and lab reports
Marker and whiteboard for recording todays inquiry
question.
My suggestion: paper and markers for creating an
anchor chart: Features of Informational Writing
notes
For Session 13, you will need a student-written science book (minus the table of contents,
introduction and conclusion) for students to evaluate using the Information Writing Checklist (See
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the Share portion of Session 13). Consider asking for a sample from another classroom (likely
ready no sooner than after todays session), saving one from a previous years class, or creating
one yourself.
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Session 9
I. Minilesson:
Comparing Results and Reading More Expert
Materials to Consider New Questions
In this session, youll teach students that scientists compare
the results of their experiments against other scientists
results, using these comparisons to grow and extend their
thinking. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page v)
B. Connection
1. Remind children that they have been working quite a
bit on writing their results, trying to mimic how mentor
texts organize data into charts and tables.
2. Tell student that you feel that they are ready now to do
more than just record datathat they are ready to
think across the data by sharing their information with
others.
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that scientists compare their
results with the results of other scientists who have done
related experiments, asking, How do these results connect
to my results? and then they come up with new ideas to
explore and new questions to answer. (Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 67)
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D. Teaching
1. Model comparing your (the teachers) results with
anothers results from the car and ramp experiment
(You could use Estebans results in Calkins and
a. Emphasize that you want students to notice how
you:
i. Study the results for each trial, both on the
carpet and on the bare floor.
ii. Ask, Why are there differences between the
results?
b. Show both sets of (on the carpet) results (side-byside, if possible), using a pointer to focus student
attention on the specific numbers you are
studying.
i. Begin by stating how far your car went during
one trial on the carpet, then how far
(Estebans) car went. Repeat, stating the
distance traveled by each car during the
second and third trials.
ii. Post the question, Why are my results different
from (Estebans)?
iii. Model yourself considering possible
explanations: Was my carpet smoother/less
smooth than the one he used? and etc.
iv. Write a statement that describes how the two
sets of results (yours and Estebans) were
different. (Write this in the Conclusions
portion of the lab report.)
v. Indicate that thinking about the reasons why
something happened has given you an idea
for a new experiment: testing out different
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kinds of carpeting (some more fuzzy and

some less fuzzy). Record this new idea in the
Further Investigations portion (page 5) of the
lab report.
2. Reiterate what you just did (My suggestion: You may
wish to create a Contrasting Results anchor chart
that shows these steps):
a. Put your results and anothers results side by side.
b. Look carefully at the results, noticing how they are
different.
c. Wondered what caused the results to be different.
d. Wrote a statement in the Conclusions portion of
the lab report that told how the two results were
different.
e. Came up with an idea for a new investigation and
wrote that idea in the Further Investigations
portion of the lab report.
C. Active Engagement
Encourage student pairs to discuss* another (the tile floor)

portion of the car and ramp experiment. Ask students to
work with their writing partner to:
1. Place the results side-by-side or in close proximity.
2. Look at the results carefully to identify what is different.
3. Talk about possible reason(s) for the difference.
4. Create a statement to tell how the results are different.
5. Consider a new investigation(s) that could be done to
test your explanation for the difference.
*See the sample discussion in Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 69 for more detail).
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D. Link
1. Compliment the students for their hard work thinking as
scientists.
2. Remind students that looking at anothers results from
an experiment can help them learn more and
generate ideas for more questions to explore.
3. Tell students that just for today, they will be matched
with someone other than their usual writing partner so
that they can compare their results with that person.
a. (If you made the Contrasting Results anchor
chart, be sure to refer to it before you send the
students off to do their work.)
b. When students hear the name of their new
partner, they should move to a place where they
can study and contrast the results, then try to write
statements which clearly explain reasons for the
differences between them.

Helping Children Use Information from Sources
to Strengthen their Conclusions
1. When students have jotted extra information about

their topic upon several Post-its notes but havent yet
used the information to revise their lab report,
encourage them to show you how to insert the
information.** (They should place the Post-it note in the
area where there is a connection, write it in an open
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space near where a connection can be made in the

lab report, or etc.)
2. Encourage students to push themselves beyond just
adding in new vocabulary words or new information.
3. Show students how to explain why the new information
is relevant through the use of a sentence starter such
as:
a. From the article/book I read, I learned.which
connects to my experiment because
b. This explains.
c. This helps to understand that
(You may wish to show a place where you did this in
your writing. Or see the sample in Calkins and Kolbeck,
Lab Reports and Science Books, page 71.)
4. Reiterate your steps for pushing your writing so as
explain how the new material connects with your own
lab report (You may wish to create a Making New
Information Relevant anchor chart for this as you do
so):
a. Find related information.
b. Add it to the place where there is a connection
between the new information and something that
I have written in my lab report.
c. Use one of the sentence prompts to help me
clarify the relevance of the information.
**See the conversation in Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports
and Science Books, pages 70-71 for elaboration.

1. Tell students that for the second half of the workshop,
they are going to be doing something new: read
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other experts texts about forces and motion, which

scientists do often to help them think of new questions
and ideas about these topics.
2. Distribute articles, books and iPads or laptops with
websites that describe forces and motion.
3. Tell students that as they read the texts, they should
write key words and new ideas on Post-it notes.
(Encourage them to find information that helps them
think in a new way or that would help them write
explanations using scientific words.)
4. Allow a few moments for the students to begin to
peruse the texts.
5. Allow a period of time, then ask the students to stop
their reading and talk with their partner about:
a. How the new information they found connects
with their experiment.
b. New questions they have about the topic of forces
and motion.
c. New explanations they have about the previous
results of their experiment.
III. Share:
Rehearsing Plans
1. Recap that today the students have:
a. Learned new information about forces and
motion.
b. Gained knowledge about how to conduct
experiments and write results.
2. Ask students to consider further investigations related to
the catapult that they would now like to conduct.
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a. Emphasize that they keep their new information in

mind.
b. Allow students to talk for a few moments with their
partners.
c. Point to partner groups to have them share what
they were discussing. Encourage them to be very
specific so that everyone clearly can imagine
what they are thinking.
3. Compliment the students about how they have let their
research and experiments lead them to new questions
and experiments, which is what scientists dothey think
of new ways to answer questions, to solve problems, to
design new things.
4. Highlight that the students will get a chance to try out
one of their ideas for a new experiments with catapults,
(just as they had done with the cars and ramps) in the
next session.
Supplies Needed:
Mentor texts to display organizational features such as
tables, graphs and charts
Your (the teachers) car and ramp lab report for use in
comparing data with one of the students in your class
(or Esteban, if you choose to use the example in the
book) (see Lab Reports and Science Books, page 68)
The results portion of both your (the teacher) and
another students lab report (see Lab Reports and
Science books, page 68)compiled into a table and
projected or copied and distributed to students (see
the Teaching portion of the lesson)
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Your (the teachers) lab report showing how you

expressed the relevance of new information that you
had found (See the 1-to-1 or Small Group Conferring
portion of this session.)
Variety of mentor texts related to the science of the
catapult (topics of speed, gravity and angles)--at least
one for each student, but more would be better.
Suggestions include pages from books, websites,
articles, and captioned/labeled photographs (see the
Mid-Workshop portion of this session)
Post-it note pads for students (See the Mid-Workshop
teaching portion of this session.)
Suggestion: Anchor Chart: Contrasting Results (See
the Teaching portion of this session.)
Suggestion: Anchor chart: Making New Information
Relevant (See the 1-to-1 or Small Group Conferring
portion of this session.)
notes
one yourself.
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Session 10
I. Minilesson:
Designing and Writing a New Experiment
In this session, youll teach students that scientists revisit
their initial experiments and ask, What do I still wonder?
Then, they use their initial results and writing to generate
new experiments. (Calkins, Lab Reports and Science Books,
page v)
B. Connection
1. Tell students that in the past days, many of them have
shared ideas with you about how to make the catapult
shoot farther or about how to change the catapult
design.
2. Emphasize that people who are curious and who think
about ways to change things or do things differently
are living like a scientist!
3. Highlight that not only are many of them thinking about
how to do things differently, but also are learning how
to write scientifically.
4. Make the connection between how revising writing
makes writing stronger, and revising scientific
experiments makes ones learning stronger.
5. Tell the students that today they will be focusing upon
the catapult designs, thinking about how to revise the
design so that the projectile will fly farther across the
room.
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C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that scientists study their results
to learn, think, write, and experiment more. They do this by
first revisiting their experiment and asking, What am I
wondering? What else do I want to find out? What is my
plan? Then, they experiment again. (Calkins and Kolbeck,
1. Clarify the problem for the students: How can we

revise our catapult to make it shoot both the cotton
ball and the ping-pong ball farther than they went with
the original design? (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports
and Science Books, page 74)
2. Have the students think a moment about the design of
their current catapult, then considering each of the
following ideas (You may wish to say the ideas one at a
time and have students raise their hand when they
have a response to share about any of them):
a.What could you change to make the catapult
fling the cotton ball and ping pong ball farther?
b. What have you learned from your research
that gives you an idea?
c. What have you learned from comparing results
with other people that gives you an idea?
(Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 75)
3. Have students talk with their writing partner about:
a. What they have learned about forces and
motion so far.
b. What new ideas they have to make their
catapult shoot farther than before.
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c. What procedure they could use to test their new

idea.
4. Listen to student conversations so that you can
highlight one or more of their ideas with the class.
5. Highlight one or more of the students ideas with the
class.
C. Link
1. Remind students of the way that scientists write when
they experiment by rereading the To Think like a
Scientist anchor chart.
2. Explain the structure of todays lesson:
a. Conduct and write about the experiment.
b. Compare results amongst the groups.
c. Talk about which design was able to send the
projectiles the farthest.
d. Consider how we can use the results of
anothers experiment to support our own.
3. Send off students to begin planning, then conducting
their new version of the experiment. (See step 2a
above; steps 2b-d will occur during the Share portion
of the lesson.)

Remind Students to Plan
Remind students about key ideas related to thinking like a

scientist when you notice that they have forgotten to work
according to the To Think like a Scientist plan, such as:
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1. Making a hypothesis before they conduct the

experiment.
2. Considering how they will keep track of their results
before they begin the procedure.
3. Taking precise notes as they plan and record
information.

1. Compliment students on the volume of the writing that
many of them are doing.
2. Highlight with the class some specific strategies you
have noticed from students (name particular
examples, if possible), such as:
a. Using labels.
b. Revising a design when the first design wasnt
successfuland showing the one that didnt and
the one that did.
c. Using titles.
d. Emphasizing ideas with bold letters and colors.
e. Explaining things that didnt work as well as those
that did.
III. Share:
Comparing Results
1. Divide the class into two groups (writing partners should
be in the same group).
2. Have the students in each group confer to determine
whose catapult consistently flung cotton balls the
farthest.
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3. Tell the identified teams whose cotton balls flew the

farthest in each group that they will be re-creating the
experiments as a demonstration for the class.
4. Select a student(s) not involved in either pair to record
the results.
a. Have this recorder describe how s/he will organize
the results (by using a table).
b. Have the recorder create the table on the board
or on chart paper.
5. Organize the observing students into a fishbowl,
moving them to the outside of the meeting place to
watch the first of the selected pairs demonstrate their
catapult (using three trials) while the assigned recorder
records the results.
6. Have the second of the selected pairs demonstrate
their catapult (using three trials) while the assigned
recorder records the results.
7. Have observing students identify the catapult that
makes the cotton ball consistently fly the farthest
between the two demonstrating groups, then share
ideas with the class about what made that catapult
fling the cotton balls the farthest.
8. Have all students consider how can they connect what
was learned in this example with what occurred in their
own experiment.
9. Have the students add any information learned from
the demonstration to their own conclusion page. (Or
have them write it on a Post-it note, then place it on
their conclusion page to be added later.)
Supplies Needed:
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notes
Specific areas for student experimentationconsider
areas with carpet or cushioned landing areas for the
ping-pong ball trials
Baggie of supplies for the experiment: ruler, plastic
spoon, rubber band, masking tape, ping-pong ball
Meter stick, yardstick, or measuring tape for each
group (able to measure 15 feet or more)
Clipboards for those not near a table when conducting
their experiments
Dry erase board or chart paper for recording todays
scientific question (see the Teaching and Active
Engagement portion of the lesson) and the results from
the two demonstrations (see the Share portion of this
session)
To Write like a Scientist anchor chart (see Link
portion of this session)
one yourself.
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Session 11
I. Minilesson:
Domain-Specific Language
In this session, youll teach students that scientists use
domain-specific language when speaking and writing
about their topics. They do this so that they are as precise
as they can be when talking about their experiments and to
show their audience that they are experts in their field.
v)
B. Connection
1. Tell students that you have noticed that when they are
talking with their friends about video games they like to
or TV shows they watch, they often use words that
someone who doesnt play those games or watch
those TV shows might not understandthat its almost
like they are speaking a different language. (Name
some examples.)
2. Highlight that scientists do the same thing when sharing
their ideasthey use words that are special for the
topic they are working with.
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that scientists use expert
wordscalled technical vocabularyto make their writing
and their teaching more precise. All of you, as forces and
motion experts, can do this, too. You can begin to use
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words that are particular to the topic you are studying in

both your discussion about that topic and in your writing
about it, too. You can talk the talk. (Calkins and Kolbeck,
D. Teaching
1. Emphasize that any topic has its own set of technical
vocabulary termswords that are usually used just
when talking about those things.
a. Share some technical terms used in classrooms
(All 5 Right, recess, Morning Meeting,
Writers Workshop etc.
b. Invite students to think about a hobby, sport,
game, or family tradition that they know a lot
about.
i. Have each student think of three technical
terms for that topic.
ii. Have students share the three technical
terms with their writing partner.
c. Ask students to see if they can think of a
sentence or two about the topic that they
chose, using as many of those technical terms
as possible within them. (You may wish to model
this using the technical vocabulary that you
shared with them in step 1a.)
d. Have students tell their sentence(s) to their
writing partner.
e. Have volunteers share their sentence(s) with the
class as a whole.
2. Reiterate that when you know a lot about something,
you use words that are different from what other
people might know.
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3. Emphasize that everyone in the classroom has

developed a shared language about a topic that is
their new expertise: forces and motion.
1. Ask students to help you create a list of technical
vocabulary terms for the topic of forces and motion on
an anchor chart called Forces and Motion Lingo. Be
sure to include words such as:
a. push/pull
b. friction
c. surface
d. pressure
e. force
f. gravity
g. motion
h. balance
2. Have students talk about their PE class today using as
many words from the Forces and Motion Lingo
anchor chart as possible.
3. Compliment the students about their expert use of
forces and motion technical vocabulary terms.
4. Tell the students that you (the teacher) will take the list
of suggested forces and motion technical vocabulary
terms and create a word bank in which to store them
so as to enable the students to refer to and use them
frequently when they write. (See the examples in
Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books,
page 83) (You may wish to prepare most of these word
back picture cards prior to the lesson so that you dont
need to make them while the children are working.)
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F. Link
1. Encourage the children to use the words from the
Forces and Motion Lingo anchor chart when they
write today and/or to go back and add them where
appropriate in previously-written lab reports.
2. Suggest that students pay close attention to the words
they use before, during and after their next PE class so
as to notice other technical vocabulary terms related
to forces and motion that could be added to the word
bank.

Remind Students to Plan
Invite those who feel that they need more support adding
forces and motion technical terms to remain with you on at
the meeting place for a bit.
1. Have students reread a sentence at a time,
considering what science word from the word bank
might be appropriate to use in it.
2. Suggest that at times, it might be appropriate to use
both the new word and its definition. (Show examples
of how writers inserted technical language into various
mentor texts.)
3. Demonstrate how to use revision strips, flaps, Post-its or
other methods to insert technical language into their
writing.
4. Encourage students to go back to previously-written
lab reports to insert technical language there, as well.
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Highlight (using a student example, if possible) that there
are some words that are considered technical terms for a
specific topicbut are also words used in common
conversationand that this is okay. Speed, for example,
is a word that is often used in everyday conversation, but it
is also a technical vocabulary term for the topic of forces
and motion.
III. Share:
Generating Information Book Topics
1. Compliment students on how much they have already
achieved as science writers, reminding them that they
have:
a. Learned how to record information.
b. Learned how to grow and explain ideas like
scientists.
2. Talk about how people often visit museums to look at
things and notice how those things are special. Tell
students that today they will be
a. Going to a different kind of a museuma lab
reports museum. (In light of the time constraint of
the class and the attention span of the students,
you may wish to use another term for this activity
and have one group just confer with another to
review the each others work rather than to have
students view several of their of their classmates
lab reports. Another possibility would be to select
a time separate from the time allotted for this
writing session for the museum activity.)
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b. Looking at lab reports to notice how they are

unique.
c. Writing compliments for each other on Post-it
notes.
3. Allow time for students to display their own lab reports,
view others lab reports, and write compliments for
others on Post-it notes that they stick near those lab
reports.
4. Gather the students back to the meeting place.
5. Have students think about all the parts of their day
when the topic of force and motion are involved.
Have them consider:
a. Opening and closing doors.
b. Slides and swings on the playground.
c. Moving bodies in music class.
d. (Encourage students to think of others.)
6. Tell students that tomorrow during writing time, they will
be selecting one forces and motion topic and will use
that topic to create an information book. When they
do this, they will show what they know about writing like
a scientist and how to use technical vocabulary to
write questions about how things move.
7. Clarify that for the information book they will be writing,
students should begin to think about everyday activities
that require force and motion (movement) with which
they consider themselves experts. Some suggestions
include:
a. Riding a skateboard.
b. Doing gymnastics.
c. Painting a picture.
d. Playing the piano.
e. Etc.
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8. (Provide reminders throughout the day, if possible, to

encourage students to seriously consider which topic
each may wish to select as the topic for their
information book. Your goal is help them makeor at
least narrowtheir decision prior the next session so
that they are prepared to begin working right away at
the start of the next class.)
Supplies Needed:
booklets or separate lab report pages, revision strips
and flaps and Post-it notes.
(Be prepared to share technical language for video
games and TV shows that Second Grade students
would be familiar with. See the Connection portion
of this session.)
(Be prepared to create a sentence or two that uses the
5 technical language words about the classroom.
See the Connection portion of this lesson.)
(Have a plan for how students will share their lab
reportsin in Lab Report Museum or some other type
of set up. See the Share portion of this session.)
Anchor Chart: Words Scientist Experts Use (begun in
Session 5) containing domain-specific words (See the
Active Engagement portion of this session.)
Paper and markers for anchor chart: Forces and
Motion Lingo (see the Teaching portion of this
session.
Word/Picture cards related to the topic of forces and
motion for the class Word Bank. (See the Active
Engagement portion of this session and the sample
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word/picture cards in Lab Reports and Science Books,

page 83.)
Mentor texts that show the use of domain-specific
language in the areas of forces and motion (See the
Conferring and Small-Group Work portion of this
session.)
one yourself.
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Bend III:
Writing about
Forces and Motion
in
Information Books
Session 12
I. Minilesson:
Drawing on All We Know to Rehearse and Plan
Information Books
In this session, youll teach students that writers choose
topics they know a lot about and are experts on to write
information books. Before writers write their information
books, they plan how their information will go. (Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page v)
B. Connection
1. Tell students that beginning today, they will be doing a
different kind of writing related to science: they will be
writing information books.
2. Remind the children that they will need to choose a
topic related to movement that they are an expert
with, such as:
a. Riding a skateboard.
b. Doing gymnastics.
c. Painting a picture.
d. Playing the piano.
e. Etc.
3. Give students time to make a final determination of
what movement-related topic they would like to write
about. They should give you a specified signal when
they have made their decision.
4. Have the students share their ideas with the class.
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C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that to write information books,
writers might rehearse by talking, sketching, and then
teaching people about their topic. Then, writers can use
what they learn by sketching and teaching to help them
revise their plan and write their texts. (Calkins and Kolbeck,
D. Teaching
1. Remind students that in the first part of this unit, writing

was done as a way to learn more about a topic.
2. Inform students that in this second part of the unit,
writing will be done as a way to teach others about a
topic.
3. Highlight that the topic that each will select for their
information book should be one that they can teach
others about.
4. Tell students that you (the teacher) have considered
several movement-related topics that you have a lot of
experience with and can teach others about.
5. Inform the students that you have made a decision to
teach others about a topic that:
a. Involves a lot of movement.
b. You know a lot about.
b. You do a lot of the time.
c. You understand so well that you can teach others
about.
d. You like.
6. Tell the students that you have decided to write an
information book about.cleaning!
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7. Tell students that before beginning to write an

information book, it is important to make a plan about
how it will go.
8. Model how to write a book about cleaning, one idea
at a time.* Tell the students that each new topic will be
a new chapter in the book, and will be written on a
new page. (Make a fist, then lift up one of your fingers
to show that you are telling the first ideathe topic of
the first chapter.)
a. I could write one chapter about cleaning tools. I
could tell about using sponges or rags to wipe
surfaces. I could write how I use scrub brushes to
remove things that are stuck. I could explain
about the friction in bristleshow you need friction
to make cleaning work. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
Reports and Science Books, page 90)
i. Write a heading such as Cleaning Tools at
the top of the first page.
ii. Make a quick sketch of a sponge, scrub
sponge and scrub brush in the box at the top
of the first page.
b. Model thinking about another idea that you could
include in your book, then lift a second finger
when you settle upon the idea that the second
chapter could be about mopping.
i. State that you could teach people how
to properly mop. You cant just slide the
mop. You need to push it against the floor.
(Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
Science Books, page 90).
ii. Write the heading (Mopping) at the top of
the second page.
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iii. Make a quick sketch of a mop, or a

mopping movement in the box.
c. Model thinking about another topic that you could
include in your book, then lift a third finger as you
settle upon the idea of writing about hand-washing
clothes in your third chapter.
i. Tell that you could write about getting stains
out by rubbing them out or using a little brush
to scrub them. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
ii. Write the heading, Hand-Washing Clothes at
the top of the page.
iii. Make a quick sketch in the box showing
supplies needed or the process involved in
doing this job.
d. Tell students that since you have already thought
of ideas for three chapters of your book, so it
appears that this will be a good book for you (the
teacher) to write.
5. Review what you did. (You may wish to create an
anchor chart, Putting Ideas on Paper to Write an
Information Book about this process as you do so.)
a. Think of a topic I could teach others about.
b. Plan sections across my fingers.
c. Write a heading at the top of each page.
d. Make sketches showing items related to each
heading.
e. Write in a way that teaches others about each
heading.
C. Active Engagement
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1. Distribute 5 separate sheets of information-writing

paper** and a clipboard to each student.
2. Tell the students that for the next few minutes, they will
be conferring with each other as they begin to plan
their information book.
3. Emphasize that students will be writing their own
information booknot a shared one between writing
partners.
4. Highlight that although they will be writing their own
book, they will be conferring frequently with their writing
partner about it.
5. Have students begin conferring with their writing
partner to plan their information book. (One should
begin discussing his/her idea with the other, moving
through the steps listed on the Putting Ideas on Paper
to Write an Information Book anchor chart.***)
D. Link
1. Listen to student conversations, complimenting them as
you:
a. Hear them appropriately moving through the
steps of the process.
b. Notice the listening partner helping the
planning partner organize her/his ideas.
2. Share with students that you have already learned
more about many different topics just by hearing the
student discussions.
3. Remind students that today and always, when they
want to write an information book, students can think
back to these same steps to organize their ideas.
4. Ask student writing teams to raise their hand (or to show
you another signal) when they have written the
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headings and made the sketches on each of their

pages.
5. After reviewing each students headings and sketches,
have students return to their own work area to write in a
way that teaches the reader about each heading.

Coaching Writers to Choose Content-Based
Topics
1. For students who need a lot of support, demonstrate
again the process for thinking and organizing the
writing.
2. For students who need a just a little support, use
guided practice to help them develop their ideas
and/or organize their writing.
a. Say, Can I show you what I used to help me think
about what information to include in my book?
(Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 92)
b. Have the students read through the list of words in
the word bank and to consider how the words fit
with their topic.

Encourage the students to think about how they might
teach someone else to do what they are describing as they
write. Tell them to consider whether or not what they have
said first is really what would need to be done first.
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III. Share:
Crafting Tables of Contents
1. Ask the students to meet in the meeting place with a
clipboard and pen.
2. Have the students look at some sample Table of
Contents pages from mentor texts to identify the
common features of the mentor texts:
a. Each book begins with an introduction.
b. Each book has several different chapters, each
with different information.
c. Each book has a conclusion.
3. Have the students talk with their writing partner about
their information book as it is currently, and about how
it could be revised to reflect the structure shown in the
Table of Contents pages of the mentor texts.
4. Distribute a blank Table of Contents writing page to
each student (See Appendix 2 for a sample.)
5. Model how create a Table of Contents Page
a. Write the heading Table of Contents at the top
of the page.
b. Indicate that the first page of the book will be the
introduction by writing Introduction, then writing
page 1 across from it.
c. List the headings for each page (in the order you
desire them to be placed) next in the Table of
Contents
i. Put them in the correct order and then
number the pages at the bottom, beginning
with page 2.
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ii. Write the page numbers of each of the pages

across from its heading on the Table of
Contents page. (If some pages have not yet
been written, simply leave a space for them in
the Table of Contents page with the thought
that you will return to write those headings
and page numbers later.
d. Write Conclusions for the last page of the book,
then give it an appropriate page number or leave
the page number space blank for now.
Supplies Needed:
Writing center filled with pens, revision strips and flaps,
Post-it notes, and single sheets of information book
writing paper
Clipboards (1/student)
Single sheets of information book writing paper
Packet of information book writing packets
Baton for focusing student attention during the
Connection portion of the session.
Your (the teachers) movement-related information
book topic (Cleaning) and ideas for 5 headings (see
Teaching portion of this lesson).
Mentor texts with a Tables of Contents pages that
follow the structure highlighted in the Share portion of
this lesson: an introduction, several informational
chapters, and a conclusion
Blank Table of Contents pages for each student
Suggested: Paper and markers for anchor chart:
Putting Ideas on Paper to Write an Information Book
(see Teaching portion of the lesson.)
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Forces and Motion Word Bank (Session 11) or Anchor

Chart: Words Science Experts Use (Session 5)
*Be sure that you are using the writing paper meant for use when writing the information book,
which is different than the lab report paper (see the sample in the Appendix 2)
**Calkins and Kolbeck have students use 5-page stapled booklets, but I prefer the use of
separate pages so as not to have to un-staple and then re-staple throughout the process.
***This would be a great time to refer back to the Partner 1/Partner 2 delineations you made in
Session 1 so as to efficiently manage the sharing opportunity.
the Share portion of Session 13). Consider asking for a sample from another classroom, saving
one from a previous years class, or creating one yourself.
Before Session 17, mark with a Post-it the introductions and conclusions of mentor texts (enough
for 1 or more for every writing pair).
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Session 13
I. Minilesson:
Tapping Informational Know-How for
Drafting
In this session, youll teach students that writers draft the
chapters of their books by looking back at their tables of
contents and their plans and deciding what they will write
first, then next. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
Science Books, page v)
B. Connection
1. Have students meet you in the meeting place with the
pages of their information books (including their table
of contents), pens and a clipboard.
2. Express to the students that you were so excited to
teach them todays lesson that you got up early this
morning to jot down more ideas for each chapter in
your information book.
C. Teaching Point
Writers, today I want to teach you how to use your quick
sketches and plans from yesterday to help you draft your
chapters. One way you can do this is by rereading each
heading and looking at each sketch, imagining the words
you will write. Then, you will write, write, write! (Calkins and
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D. Teaching
1. Remind the students that since you have so much
experience and knowledge about cleaning, and that
cleaning involves forces and motion, you decided to
write an information book about it.
2. Review the steps you took in beginning your
information book:
a. Think of a topic I could teach others about.
b. Plan sections across my fingers.
c. Write a heading at the top of each page.
d. Make sketches showing items related to each
heading.
e. Write in a way that teaches others about each
heading.
3. Acknowledge that you know that several students
have already begun to write on some of the pages of
their information book and that youd like to give them
a few tips about how to do it effectively.
a. Focus attention on your sketches: the sponge,
the scrub brush and the scrub sponge.
i. Tell the students that the sketches are useful
for giving you the big idea for your writing,
then writing a sentence or two about
cleaning tools in general.
There are a variety of different cleaning tools
that are excellent to clean tools with.
ii. Tell the students that once you have written

a sentence about the big idea, you can
look again at the sketches and write details
sentences about each one.
Each tool serves a slightly different
purpose and can be used in different
areas of your hom e. One im portant
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cleaning tool is a sponge. Sponges

absorb liquids and are soft. Another
cleaning tool is a scrub brush. The scrub
brush has hard bristles that are great to
rub out dirt.
b. Emphasize that it is important to use some

technical terms (such as those from the word
bank) when you write. (Add in the underlined
portions indicated below.)
Each tool serves a slightly different
purpose and can be used in different
areas of your hom e. One im portant
cleaning tool is a sponge. Sponges
absorb liquids and are soft. They are great on
delicate surfaces and dont produce a lot of
friction. Another cleaning tool is a scrub brush.
The scrub brush has hard bristles that produce
tons of friction and are great to
rub out dirt. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
Reports and Science Books, page 96.)

5. You may wish to create the anchor chart: Writing Text
for a Chapter as you review the procedure you
followed:
1. Think about the sketches and what you could say
about them as a whole.
2. Think about what you could say about each of the
sketches individually.
3. Reread your writing to see if you can weave in
some of the technical vocabulary for that topic.
1. Tell students that todays work is challenging, but
exciting.
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2. Introduce a sample information book being written

about dogs with the headings of:
a. Types of dogs.
b. Parts of a dog.
c. How to take care of a dog.
3. Ask the students to refer to the anchor chart Writing
Text for a Chapter to help create the text some of the
pages of the book.
a. Display a page with sketches that show a dogs
water bowl, dog food, a leash, and a brush.
b. Have the students confer with their writing partner
to identify the big idea of these sketches.
c. Encourage the students to create a sentence(s)
using that big idea. (This will be the topic sentence
for the page, if students have studied this
concept.) (See the sample from Calkins and
(You may wish to mimic this example):
Taking care of a dog is a lot of hard work. You need
to feed, walk, and take care of the dogs body.
d. Next, encourage the students to consider the

pictures separately and suggest sentences that
describe each of them. (See the sample from
Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 97)
Dogs need fresh water in their bowls at least twice
a day. You also want to feed the dog a mix of dry
and wet food at least once a day. You will need
to take the dog out for a walk so he can do his
business at least 3 times a day. Thats a lot of
walking. Make sure you find a good leash for
walking your dog. A good, strong brush is best to
use on a dog.
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f. Focus upon the forces and motion word bank, and

then go back through the paragraph to see where
and how you could weave some of the technical
language into the paragraph, if you havent
already done so. (You may wish to mimic this
example from Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports
and Science Books, page 97) (The underlined
portions are for your reference only to indicate the
technical vocabulary woven in.)
Dogs need fresh water in their bowls at least twice
a day. You also want to feed the dog a mix of dry
and wet food at least once a day. You will need
to take the dog out for a walk so he can do his
business at least 3 times a day. Thats a lot of
walking. Make sure you find a good leash for
walking your dog. Dogs will pull away when they
are walked, and you may have to pull them back
to you, so you need a strong leash. A good,
strong brush is best to use on a dog. The friction
will help to untangle its fur.
4. Refer again to the anchor chart Writing Text for a

Chapter as you reiterate the process you followed for
creating the text on the first page...
5. Compliment the students on their hard work.
F. Link
1. Remind the students that they worked yesterday to
plan their information book with their partners (Refer to
the Putting Ideas on Paper to Write an Information
Book anchor chart (Session 12)
2. Suggest that when they return to their writing places in
a few minutes, they should begin by rereading their
work to consider whether or not it has been written
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according to the procedure outlined on the Writing

Text for a Chapter anchor chart. (See the Active
Engagement portion of this session.)
3. Highlight that students who need to revise a large
amount of their writing might wish to consider using a
revision strip to do so.
3. Return the students to their working places,
encouraging them to write, write, write!

Asking Questions to Support Writing More
1. Gather a group of students who struggle to write with
enough volume (who have less than four sentences on
a page):
a. Demonstrate how to reread a chapter of your
writing, asking question such as Who? What?
When? Why? and How? and showing how
your answers to these questions can help you add
more information to the text.
b. Create a reminder card or anchor chart Words
that Help Us Increase Our Volume with the
questions from 1a (immediately above) as a
reminder for the students about what to consider
when writing.
c. Ask the students to show follow your example in
their own writing.
2. Gather a group of students who are spending too
much time on diagrams and picturesat the expense
of their text:
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a. Remind students that informational writers do both

writing and sketching.
b. Ask students to act out their ideas, making
statements out loud that describe their actions.
c. Have the students stop occasionally to write while
they act and talk in their booklets.
(*During this work time, look for a student that is willing to
share their writing and then have it evaluated by the class
later today in the Share portion of the session OR be
prepared to share a made-up sample.)

1. Encourage students to begin writing chapters about
which they have a lot to say. Tell them that you chose
to write first about cleaning tools because there was so
much that you could say about the topic.
2. Suggest that students leave the writing of the
conclusion and introduction pages of their books for
later, since you will be sharing some unique techniques
about how to write those pages with them at another
time.
3. Encourage that when students get stuck and feel like
they dont have any ideas for writing, it might be
helpful for them to think of an action that could be
used to explain their big idea or one of the details.
4. Tell students that if they feel stuck in their writing, it is OK
for them to stop with that chapter and move to
another chapter where they feel that they have more
to write.
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III. Share:
Self-Assessment and Goal Setting
1. Have the students return to the meeting place with a
clipboard, pen and the papers of the information book
they are writing.
2. Project or distribute the Information Writing Checklist for
the students.
3. Compliment the students for writing like scientists, and
highlight that you have noticed that many of them
have been following the ideas listed on the Information
Writing Checklist.
4. Tell the students that you have an information book to
share with them that would benefit from their help.
a. Tell them you need their help reviewing it using the
Information Writing Checklist.
b. Assign students to small groups, then identify a
section of the Information Writing Checklist for their
group to focus upon when reading the text.
c. Project the book page by page you read the
book in its entirety to the class.
d. Have student groups briefly confer about how well
the writer met the criteria in the section of the
Information Writing Rubric for which they are
responsible. Have them discuss:
i. What was done well.
ii. What improvements could be made.
iii. Unique characteristics they notice about the
writing.
5. Call upon student groups to have each share what
they have discovered.
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6. Distribute another copy of the Information Writing

Checklist to each student as they take out their
information books.
10. As you slowly read through each descriptor on the
Information Writing Checklist, have the students look for
examples of that criterion in their writing.
a. If the criterion is met it should be marked with a
checkmark, then the Third Grade criterion for that
idea should also be evaluated.
b. If it is not met, the criteria on the checklist should
be marked with a star to remind them to revise
that part during the next writing session.
11. Ask students to give a signal that indicates that they
found examples of things done well according to the
Information Writing Checklist (areas marked with a
checkmark.)
12. Ask students to show a signal that indicates that they
found areas where they could make improvements
according to Information Writing Checklist (areas
marked with a star).
13. Advise students that they will spend time during
tomorrows session to work on the areas in their writing
where they noticed that they could make
improvements (areas on the checklist marked with a
star).
Supplies Needed:
Writing center filled with pens, revision strips and flaps,
Post-it notes, and single sheets for adding to
information books
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Suggested: Paper and markers for anchor text: Writing

Text for a Chapter (See Active Engagement portion
of this session.)
Suggested: anchor chart: Putting Ideas on Paper to
Write an Information Book (Session 12)
Suggested: Paper and markers for anchor text: Words
that Help Us Increase Our Volume (See the 1-to-1 or
Small Group Conferring portion of the session.)
Your (the teachers) information bookwith headings
and sketches for all of the pages (see the Teaching
portion of this session)
Student (or made-up) sample chapter to be evaluated
by the class (see the Share portion of this session)
Two copies of the Information Writing Checklist, Grades
2 and 3, for each student, along with one available for
projection, if possible.
Clipboards for each student
Before Session 17, mark the introductions and conclusions of mentor texts (enough for 1 or more
for every writing pair).
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Session 14
I. Minilesson:
Integrating Scientific Information
In this session, youll teach students that writers look at
mentor texts to find ideas for their own writing. When
studying information books, writers look to see how the
authors integrate scientific information into their writing in a
way that connects to their topics. (Calkins and Kolbeck,
Lab Reports and Science Books, page v)
B. Connection
Remind students that they began this unit by writing lab
reports as they worked on science experiments to help
them learn about science, but that there is another kind of
writing about science: writing informational books to teach
others about science.
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that when writers are trying out
a new kind of writing, they often look at published writing to
find examples of how it can go. Then they try it out
themselves. In particular, today we will look at ways that
writers of information books include scientific information in
their writing.(Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 103)
D. Teaching
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1. Have the students meet in the meeting place with their

writing folder, pen and Post-it notes. (You may wish to
have them sit on their folders for now.)
2. Tell the students that they are going to spend some
time today looking at mentor texts to get ideas about
how different authors wrote information books.
a. Express to the students how surprised you were to
discover that there are many different techniques
that science writers use when writing information
books.
b. Tell students that it would be appropriate for the
students in this class to use any of the techniques
shown in these or any other mentor texts when
they write their own information books.
3. Explain to the students that one of the techniques you
found in a mentor text was the use of different sizes and
styles of writing:
a. Show the book Incredible Cross Sections (Stephen
Biesty,1993), pointing out the different sizes and
styles of writing used on a page.*
i. Highlight explanatory paragraphs along the
sides of the pages that use larger letters.
ii. Show smaller words, written closer together
that tell facts, histories and explanations
related to the main idea of the page.
b. Emphasize that you noticed how text written in a
different color or font adds a new voice to the
text. The main information is written in one size and
color while smaller or larger letters of a different
color are used to add other scientific information.
4. Tell the students that you decided to try some of the
strategies yourself.
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a. Show and describe features of a sample page you

created that has either or both of the techniques
listed above (In steps 2a and 2b). (See Calkins and
104--notice the Version 2 style of information
book writing paper, available in Appendix 2, which
features larger margins.)
b. Ask students to identify the techniques used on
your sample page.
5. Have the students look through the pages of their own
information book and talk with their writing partner
about how they could one of these techniques in their
own writing: text written larger, smaller, in a different
color, or in a different font. (You may wish to have
them jot the technique on a Post-it note, then place in
on the page where it will be added in a later part of
this session.
1. Tell students that another technique you noticed

mentor authors using is arrows to show how one thing
leads to another thing, or to show movement. Add this
idea to the anchor chart To Put More Information in
Informational Writing
2. Ask students to share how and where you (the teacher)
might use this technique on the Cleaning Supplies
page of your information book. (Note the example
from Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 105 so that you can guide student
responses accordingly.)
F. Link
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1. Remind the students that they can look at information

books already written and imitate the techniques used
by the authors.
2. Explain to the students the plan for the next activity:
a. You (the teacher) will give each writing pair a
mentor information text, Post-it note and a
clipboard.
b. Writing pairs should look through the mentor text
they are given to find a technique used in it that
they could imitate in their own writing.
c. Students should write the new technique they
notice on their Post-it note and then stick it on the
Putting More Information in Information Writing
anchor chart. (After some searching, students
having difficulty finding new techniques may list a
technique already discussed that they found in a
mentor text.)
d. Students should take a new piece of writing paper
(be sure to show them where to find the Version
2 paper), and rewrite the page that was marked
earlier in this session with the Post-it note, being
sure to incorporate the technique that was written
upon the Post-it noteand any other techniques
they feel are appropriateupon the page.
e. Look through the other pages of their information
book and make similar revisions, as appropriate.
3. Distribute mentor texts, Post-it notes and clipboards and
guide the students through the process, as needed.
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Coaching Writers to Discover Connections to

Science Content
Help students articulate the connection between what they

are writing and the science topics of forces and motion:
1. Have them tell you what they are trying to teach the
reader in the chapter.
2. When the student makes the statement, reiterate it
back to them using one or more of the words from
the word bank. (See the example in Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 106,
paragraph #2.)

Highlight the work of a student, if possible, who mimicked
what was done in the book How Things Are Made (Sharon
Rose, 2003) (Flames melt the necks of glass light bulbs. The
filamentthe part of the bulb that lights upis sealed inside
during this process. Turn the page to see how light bulbs are
made.)
1. Draw attention to the use of the hyphen to define a
word and show how one of the students used this
technique.
2. Make a picture.
3. Write a caption that entices the reader to want to
read on to learn more by including the phrase, Turn
the page to)
4. (You may wish to add this technique to the anchor
chart and plan to discuss it with the students during
the Share portion of this session.)
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III. Share:
Collect Ideas from Mentor Texts
If not yet started, have the students help you gather ideas
to list on the anchor chart To Put More Information in
Informational Writing**
Supplies Needed:
Variety of mentor texts for student reference (at least 1
for each writing pair) with pages tabbed that show the
following features:
o Cross sections
o Cutaways
o Transparent pages
o Zoom-ins
o Pictures from different perspectives
o Etc.
Two mentor texts for special reference:
o Cross Sections (Stephen Biesty,1993) (See
Teaching portion of this session.)
o How Things Are Made (Sharon Rose, 2003) (See
(Whole-Group) Mid-Workshop Teaching.)
Your (the teachers) information book, especially the
chapter called, Cleaning Supplies (See Teaching
and Active Engagement portions of this session):
o A copy without revisions (See Lab Reports and
Science Books, page 104, Figure 14-1.)
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o A copy with revisions that show how to add a

science voice (See Lab Reports and Science
Books, page 104, Figure 14-2.)
o A copy that shows movement with arrows to
demonstrate forces and motion. (See Lab Reports
and Science Books, page 105, Figure 14-3.)
To Put More Information in Informational Writing
anchor chart (see the Teaching and Share portion
of this session)
A Post-it note for each writing pair
A clipboard for each writing pair
Writing center filled with pens. revision strips and flaps,
Post-it notes, single sheets of Version 1 and Version
2 information book writing paper
*You may wish to begin the To Put More Information in Informational Writing anchor chart
now rather than to create in the Share portion of the lesson as is indicated in the Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 107).
** If you have already created and shared this chart with the students, peruse the newly-added
Post-it notes (added by the student writing pairs) so as to identify new ideas. If found, reread
what was already written on the chart and then share the new ideas with the students as you
write them beneath the others on the anchor chart. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
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Session 15
I. Minilesson:
Using Comparisons to Teach Readers
In this session, youll teach students that writers use
comparisons in their information books. They compare
something that is new to something their readers already
know.(Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page v)
B. Connection
1. Compliment students about how well they are writing in
a way that teaches their readers about their chosen
topic.
2. Tell students that when you were talking with a student
about their writing s/he had expressed confusion about
how to clearly explain a situation. (If this isnt possible or
realistic in your situation, you might wish to read one of
a students sentences, and then incorrectly
demonstrate your interpretation of it so as to provide
an example of how readers might misinterpret of a
students writing. This would be most helpful if you were
to select a topic/movement that most of the students
in the class already understand so that they can all
have input in the idea that the students sentence isnt
clear enough alone.)
a. Watch for the others student reactions to your
incorrect demonstration of the idea or action,
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responding with feigned surprise that your action

was incorrect.
b. Call upon a student to clarify how the action
should really be made and how words could be
used to clearly express it.
c. Emphasize to the students that it is important to
recognize that sometimes additional details need
to be added to ones writing in order to give more
accurate meaning to itenabling the reader to
make an accurate picture in their minds about
what is being described.
4. Suggest that there are lots of ways to clarify an idea,
such as by telling:
a. How to do something.
b. Telling how much.
c. Explaining how far.
d. Sharing how fast.
5. Indicate that another way to clarify information for a
reader is by writing a comparison statement that
compares what a reader already knows and what you
want the reader to understand.
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that nonfiction writers often use
comparisons in their teaching books to show readers how
the new thing they are explaining is similar to something
readers already know.(Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports
and Science Books, page 109)
D. Teaching
1. Tell the students about a recent experience you had
trying to make taffy for the first time.
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a. Explain that when you were reading the directions,

you read that you were to Boil the mixture until it
reaches the hard ball stage. (Calkins and
110)
i. Tell how this part of the directions was unclear
to you, so you called a friend who likes to
cook to ask for some advice.
ii. Highlight that the friend told you that the
directions meant that you when you put a
drop of the boiling syrup into cold water, it
would become round and hard, like a marble.
b. Tell students that this is an example of something
that nonfiction writers do all of the time: compare
something hard to imagine with something that is
easy to picture.
2. Share how you used a comparison in your writing to
help readers understand something you wanted to
teach about cleaning.
a. Read the sentence to the students: Soak the
mop in the bucket until it is drenchedheavy and
dripping like long wet hair. (Calkins and Kolbeck,
b. Highlight how this comparison sentence enables
those who have never mopped a floor before to
visualize how to start with the mop by providing an
example that they know: a picture of what long
wet hair is like.
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1. Ask for help from the students in creating another

comparison statement for your book in the following
situation:
a. Tell students that since you had a lot of guests
staying at your house over the weekend, you now
have a lot of cleaning to do. You want the
readers to understand how messy the kitchen floor
is, with muddy footprints and crumbs.
b. Have students talk with their writing partners to
come up with a comparison sentence that would
help readers better visualize the dirty floor.
c. Listen to some of the conversations, noticing and
praising those who use the word like to make a
comparison. Be sure, though, that the students
finish the statement using sufficient words to
develop a complete image of something that is
similar to their idea.
d. Highlight appropriately-created comparison
statements shared by the students.
2. Compliment students on their efforts to using sufficient
details to help readers to picture exactly what they
mean.
F. Link
1. Refer to the To Put More Information in Information
Writing anchor chart as you remind students of the
strategies they already know to for adding more
information to their writing. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
2. Add Make a comparison to the chart, emphasizing
that anytime the students are stuck or arent sure what
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to add to their writing, they can refer to that anchor

chart for ideas.
3. Challenge the students to see if they can think of even
more ways to add more information to their information
writing during their work time today.
4. Prepare the children for todays writing tasks:
a. Tell them that their job today is to teach their
readers as much as they can about their topic by
using a lot of details in their writing.
b. Encourage students to go back to their
Information Writing Checklist to make revisions
according to the evaluation that they completed
yesterday, if time allows.

Conferring to Ensure Students Have Grasped
the Essentials of the Unit
1. Dont feel that you have to restrict students to the use
of comparisons when writing today. Refer to any of the
ideas on the To Put More Information in Informational
Writing anchor chart (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
Reports and Science Books, page 111) as you confer.
2. For those who need help adding more details, ask
them to choose one of the strategies on the anchor
chart that they would like to try.
3. Watch for those students who try to use every one of
the strategies suggested, reminding them to use only
those tactics that further their intent, rather than to use
a strategy just for the purpose of doing so.
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a. Ask them (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and

i. Does this part fit here?
ii. Does this part help teach more and make
my writing stronger?
b. Have them reread to take out material that isnt
useful.
4. For students who complete the task given in the
minilesson, have them meet as a group with a mentor
text and Post-it notes to look for additional ways that
mentor texts add additional information. Each new
technique should be written on a separate Post-it note,
then place upon the anchor chart.

1. Compliment the students for their efforts in adding
information to their writing that helps to teach their
readers.
2. Suggest that the writers work to teach through the use
of description, they should include all of their senses.
They should tell what is seen, heard, tasted, smelled
and felt in places in their text where it can be helpful.
III. Share:
One Students Work at Adding Details
1. Compliment the students on their work, sharing that
you are impressed with the thoughtfulness they have
used when they write, reread, and revise on the run.
2. Tell the students to listen to another piece of writing
Share another piece of writing. Encourage them to
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listen and look to see if they can notice the comparison

statement and also to watch to see if they can identify
what other technique the writer used.
3. Read Big Sounds and Little Sounds, (Calkins and
Kolbeck, Science Books and Lab Reports, page 114)
Chapter 1: Big Sounds and Little Sounds
There are m any kinds of drum s. They have different sizes
and different sounds. The biggest drum is the bass drum .
That is the one that sits on the floor. You have to use the
pedal to strike it. If you step on the pedal softly, it will
make a small sound thats still strong. It will sound like
youre hitting a punching bag. But if you step on the
pedal with a lot of force, it can sound loud like THUNDER!
There is also the hi hat. These are two cym bals that crash
together. They kind of sound like two m etal pot covers
when you sm ash them together. You can hit the hi hat
with drum stick or you can pedal them, too. If you use the
drum sticks, it sounds like shring! shring! But if you use the
pedals, they sound like chik, chik, chik.
4. Have students talk with their writing partners about how

the comparison sentence was made (see the
underlined portion above) and/or another way that
the writer added more detail to the informational
writing. (Students should notice that the author had
used details using the sense of sound; marked with a
dotted underline.)
5. Have students share with the group what they
discussed with their partner.
6. Add the idea, Use your senses to make a description
(What do I see, hear, smell, taste or feel)? (Calkins and
Supplies Needed:
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Your (the teachers) story that illustrates how using a

comparison can help readers understand something
unfamiliar (see the Teaching portion of this session
Your (the teachers) text with several examples of
comparison statement
Anchor Chart: To Put More Information in
Informational Writing chart from Session 14 (See
Link and Share portions of this session)
Sample to distribute or project of another second
grade students writing: Chapter 1: Big Sounds and
Little Sounds (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
Science Books, page 114) (See the Share portion of
this session.)
Variety of mentor texts for student reference
Writing center filled with pens, single sheets of the new
paper choice (Version 2), extra Table of Contents
pages, half-sheets of paper, tape and Post-it notepads
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Session 16
I. Minilesson:
Showing Hidden Worlds with Science Writing
In this session, youll teach students that science writers use
special strategies to share hard-to-understand concepts
with their readers. Some of these strategies include slowing
down the writing, magnifying pictures or images, and
drawing pictures to show the insides of objects. (Calkins
and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page v)
B. Connection
1. Tell students about a story you read previously. (See
the Connection portion of Session 16 in Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 116.)
2. Emphasize that this example made you understand
that sometimes the job of people who write about
science is to explain things that cant be understood
ourselves using our senses because they:
a. Happen too quickly.
b. Happen too slowly.
c. Are too small to notice.
d. Are too quiet to notice.
3. Highlight that people who study and write about
science often tell hidden stories.
C. Teaching Point
So writers, today I want to teach you that when people are
writing about scienceexplaining things that are not part of
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everyday experiencesthey use special strategies to show

the hidden story of their topic. For example, they might slow
things down, or show the insides of things. (Calkins and

1. Have the students meet you in the meeting place with
their writing folders/information story.
2. Tell the students that you are going to show them some
examples of each of the strategies.
a. Sometimes you might decide that it would be
helpful to show things down. There might be so
much going on at one time that it is hard to
understand.
i. An example might be when someone gets
hurt.
ii. To show things down, you might wish to write a
lot of steps, such as
1) With a thorn, you puncture the skin of
your fingertip.
2) When you puncture the skin, you also
puncture a tiny pipe that carries
blood-a capillary.
3) In the wall of that capillary/pipe is
collagen. The puncture spills the
collagen.
4) Blood sticks to the collagen and makes
a scab. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
b. Reiterate that a lot occurs in a very short time, but
that by writing the steps for what happens allows
the writer to expose the hidden story.
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3. Project your (the teachers) Table of Contents page for

the information book. Have students talk with their
writing partner about a chapter in your story where the
slow it down technique might be helpful for showing
hidden information.
4. Tell the students that you heard several of them
indicating that one place for adding steps to reveal
hidden information is in the chapter called Scrubbing
Out Stains.
a. Have students talk with their writing partner about
the steps that might be involved in this topic.
b. Tell the students that you are going to try telling a
slowed-down hidden story about scrubbing out
stains.
c. Act like you are considering what to write and you
begin drafting. (Add each idea one at a time,
acting as if you are taking time to consider each
one before writing it.)
i. You might think that scrubbing out a stain is as easy
as rub, rub, rub, but did you ever think about what
really has to happen for that to work?
ii. When you wet the fabric, the water begins to
loosen up the dirt.
iii. Then, when you cover the stain with detergent it
absorbs into the fabric an begins to em ulsify,
penetrating (or sinking into) the cloth and breaking
up the stain.
iv.Finally, as you quickly rub a scrub brush against the
cloth, the friction loosens up the dirt further until it
washes away. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab

5. Ask the students to take turns looking through their
information book with their writing partner to find a
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place where it would be helpful to write a sloweddown, hidden portion and then discuss how this might
be done. Have the students label a Post-it with the
words slow down and then place it on the page
where this revision will be made later in this session.
6. Tell students that you want to show them one more
technique before they leave to begin their work:
showing the insides of things. Be prepared to show
them one of the examples in one of the Stephen Biesty
and Richard Platt books (1993, 1999, 2001) that reveals
a picture of the item, another with the inner layer of
that item showing, along with arrows and labels that
show how the parts move and a brief explanation of
the parts telling how the parts work together.
a. Remind them of these cross-sections books.
b. Emphasize how these and other books use.
drawings and labels to show the hidden story of
what is on the insides of things.
i. Highlight that these types of drawings are often
called, cutaway diagrams.
ii. Tell the students that cutaway diagrams often
show a part of the outside of something, then
a layer of what is underneath the outer layer
that we dont usually get to see.
iii. Highlight that this inner layer often has arrows
to show how the parts move.
7. Have the students take turns looking through their
information book with their writing partner to find a
place where they could insert a cutaway diagram,
then label a Post-it note with that term and place it on
the page where it will be inserted.
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E. Link
1. Review the two new techniques discussed today:
a. Slowing things down to reveal hidden worlds.
b. Making a cutaway diagram.
2. Send the students off to begin writing, reminding them
to begin by making the revisions marked on the Post-it
notes.
3. Encourage students that if they finish both of the
revisions marked with the Post-it notes, they should look
for other ways to add these techniques and/or other
techniques so as to add more information to their
information writing.

Working with a Partner to Envision and Act Out
Parts to Imagine Smaller Steps
1. When you notice students who need extra support,
have them come together into a small group.
a. Remind the group of the example you used in the
mini-lesson about scrubbing out stains.
b. Highlight that when you were writing that portion,
you didnt just say, poof! and it was written on
the paper.
i. Tell students that when you were writing that
part, you first had to visualize what you were
doing.
ii. Encourage another way: to act out the
action you are planning to describe.
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1) Ask students to identify the action they

wish to describe.
2) Have students close their eyes and
picture the place where the action was
occurring.
3) Have the student tell their writing partner
one step at a time that is needed for the
event to occur.
4) The listening partner should begin to act
out the situation, asking for clarification from
the speaker when statements dont make
sense.
5) The speaker should stop after each step
to write each step of the process.
iii. Have students switch roles after one as
finished.
2. For students who complete the writing task with ease
and time to spare:
a. Suggest that they create a time-lapse to show in
short time what happens over a long period of
time, describing a series of instants, hundreds of
years apart.
b. Emphasize how this is a great technique for
showing cause-and-effect or change that we
dont stay or live long enough to see.
c. (You may wish to add this to the list of technique
written on the To Put More Information in
Information Writing anchor chart.)
B. (Whole Group) Mid-Workshop Teaching:

Revealing Hidden Worlds by Adding Magnification
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1. Compliment a student who (if possibleor just suggest

one that it might help) used another way to reveal a
hidden world by drawing a magnified view of the event.
2. Encourage the students to consider where a magnified
view might be helpful.
3. Add this technique to the To Put More Information in
Information Writing anchor chart.
III. Share:
Revising Based on Feedback
1. Invite the students back to the meeting area with their
writing folders.
2. Tell students that when you (the teacher) are writing
something, you often like to ask others to read it and
give you some feedback about what they think of it.
3. Tell the students that you think this would be helpful for
them, too.
a. Tell the students that in a moment, they will be
looking at their writing partners work to find them
a smile* and a wish.
i. A smile indicates something that the writer did
well.
ii. A wish indicates something you wish your
partner had told about in the writing.
b. Have the students suggest a smile and a wish for
one of your (the teachers) pages.
3. Have the student select a page they would like their
partner to study.
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4. Have the students exchange papers and work to find a

smile and a wish.
5. Have the students share with the class about a smile or
wish they have been awarded.
6. Listen in on some conversations, then begin an anchor
chart as you reiterate some of the information that you
heard. Some ideas might include:
a. Smiles
i. Your pictures have labels and teach so
much.
ii. You are using different cross sections to make
your writing easy to read.
iii. You are using comparisons.
b. Wishes
i. I wish you had said more about
ii. What did you mean when you said.?
Supplies Needed:
Student information books and folders
Your (the teachers) information book and Table of
Contents
Anchor chart: To Put More Information in Information
Writing
Markers for adding more information to anchor chart:
To Put More Information in Information Writing
An example of a scientific discovery that stemmed
from a scientists ability to uncover a hidden story (see
the Connection portion of this session)
A picture of the example of the scientific reference
made in the Connection portion of this session (i.e.,
the peacocks curved, feathery tail)
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Two examples of mentor texts with hidden story

examples:
o one that is slowed down with lots of steps
o one that shows a cut-away illustration
Your (the teachers) hidden stories writing for the
chapter you will use to bring out the hidden stories in
your writing (See the Teaching and Active
Engagement portion of this session.)
Paper and markers for use in creating the Smiles and
Wishes anchor chart (See the Share portion of this
session.)
*Calkins and Kolbeck suggest the use of Stars and Wishes, but I changed the word stars to
smiles so as to differentiate this idea from the star symbols used to denote things to improve
upon when using the Information Writing Checklist.
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Session 17
I. Minilesson:
Introductions and Conclusions: Addressing an
Audience
In this session, you could teach children that writers of
informational books craft introductions that engage their
readers attention and write conclusions that highlight key
information about their topics. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab
Reports and Science Books, page v)
B. Connection
1. Tell students that today they will be working to write an
introduction and conclusion that is memorable for their
reader.
2. Ask students if they can recall an interesting
introduction or conclusion to a story or movie.
3. Share some sample introductions/conclusions that they
may recall. (You may wish to show a clip from a recent
Disney movie or read the introduction to a favorite
class read-aloud-- especially those of a well-known
series, etc.)
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you that writers give their
information books an introduction and a conclusion.
122)
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130
D. Teaching
1. In advance, tab the beginning pages of several

mentor texts with an interesting introduction or
conclusion.
a. Be ready to project them or share them in another
way with the students.
b. Some suggestions include the beginning of the
book, Wolves, by Laura Marsh and Babysitting
Basics: Caring for Kids by Leah Browning. (Calkins
and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, 122)
2. Tell students that it is helpful to look at mentor texts to
spark ideas for writing the introduction for their
teaching book.
3. Read and show the introduction in one of the mentor
texts, such as Wolves, by Laura Marsh (or another
informational text that begins by asking a question, and
then answers the question along with suspenseful
details.)
a. Highlight how Laura Marsh begins her story with a
question. When readers read the question, they
are encouraged to read on to find the answer.
b. Notice how Laura Marsh doesnt just provide an
answer to the question but that she continues on
to add details that describe the setting, which
builds suspense for the reader.
4. Read and show the introduction in another of the
mentor texts, such as Babysitting Basics: Caring for
Kids(or another informational text that begins with a
questions to get readers to think more about the topic,
then goes on to tell why readers might be interested in
the book and by telling the purpose of that text.)
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131
a. Emphasize how Leah Browning introduces her

topic by asking questions that get readers to think
more about the topic.
b. Share how the introduction of this book also tells
several reasons why readers would be interested in
the topic and identifies the purpose of her book.
1. Tell the students that you are going to use mentor texts
to have the students help you find other ways to create
an introduction.
2. Distribute a variety of mentor texts to the students so
that there is at least one book for reach writing pair.
3. Ask the students to peruse the mentor texts to identify
how their authors introduced the texts.
4. Create an anchor chart called, Introductions Can
to list techniques for writing introductions. The list should
include strategies such as the following:
a. Post a question.
b. Put you in the place (setting).
c. Start with dialogue or quotes.
d. Ask a few crucial questions.
e. Give a sneak peek.
f. Etc.

1. Be sure to have the following tools on hand:
Mary Wagner 2014
132
a. Your conference notes for the past few weeks. (To

help you identify which students need the most
support during these last days of the unit.)
b. A copy of your information book.
c. Previous anchor charts to coach writers on
information writing strategies.
2. Work with students to:
a. Read a chapter or two for each other, helping
each other to clarify information and/or to help fix
up writing that doesnt look right, sound right or
make sense.
b. Revise their table of contents so as to add newlywritten chapters and/or to delete those that have
been eliminated.
c. Write a new chapter, glossary or other text feature.

1. Remind students that they learned how to conclude
their writing earlier in this unit when they were writing
their conclusions for their lab reports, but that writing a
conclusion for an informational text is different.
2. Share a sample conclusion from the book Babysitting
Basics: Caring for Kids by Leah Browning (see the MidWorkshop Teaching portion of the session. (Calkins and
a. Read and project the conclusion.
b. Help students to notice the mentor authors
technique in the conclusion (the first bullet point
on the In Conclusions mentor text: Say an
idea, then say more about it.)
3. Have students meet again with their writing partner to
review a mentor texts conclusion.
Mary Wagner 2014
133
a. Give the writing pairs a few minutes to look and

think.
b. Ask writing partners to report out to the class what
technique the author used to write the conclusion.
c. You (the teacher) record the information on an
anchor chart: In Conclusions (Beneath the
original bullet points gathered during the study of
lab reports or on a separate list). Be sure to
include:
i. Say an idea and then say more about it.
ii. Recap the important part.
iii. Send the reader off.
iv. Etc.
III. Share:
1. Congratulate the students on their hard work with their
lab report and their science books.
2. Tell students that they are just two sessions away from a
special celebration during with their will present their
work in a special class science exhibit.
3. Encourage the students to begin thinking about and
preparing for ways that they can get their visitors to
interact with them at the science exhibit, such as by
showing them photographs, videos, images, or actual
items related to their topic.
Supplies Needed:
Student information books and folders
Your (the teachers) information book
Students access to previously-created anchor charts
Mary Wagner 2014
134
Paper and markers for creating anchor chart:

Introductions Can
(Paper and) Markers for adding on to or making
another version of the In Conclusions. anchor chart
(begun earlier in Session 4).
Introduction examples from texts that are memorable
for students (Disney movie clips, favorite read-alouds
especially those of a well-known series, etc.)
Mentor texts for teaching introduction and conclusion
strategies* (enough for at least 1 for each writing pair),
including:
Wolves, by Laura Marsh
Babysitting Basics: Caring for Kids by Leah
Browning. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and
Science Books, 122)
Note for parents suggesting help finding photos, video
clips, actual items, etc, related to their students topic,
which will be used during the Science Exhibit (Session
19).
*When considering books to use as mentor texts for writing introductions, look for
ones that:
Post a question.
Put you in the place (setting).
Start with dialogue or quotes.
Ask a few crucial questions.
Give a sneak peek.
Etc.
When considering books to use as mentor texts for writing conclusions, look for
ones that:
Say an idea and then say more about it.
Recap the important part.
Send the reader off.
Etc.
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135
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136
Session 18
I. Minilesson:
Editing: Aligning Expectations to the Common
Core
In this session, youll teach students that writers edit their
books by rereading and making their writing easier to read,
inserting capitals, commas, and apostrophes where
needed. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science
Books, page v)
B. Connection
1. Remind students that the science exhibit will be held
tomorrow, and that it is important for their writing work
to be ready to share by thenboth their lab reports
and their science books.
2. Compliment the students on their work using the
Information Writing Checklist throughout the unit.
3. Distribute a new, blank copy of the Information Writing
Checklist to each student.
3. Ask the students to locate the Development and
Language Conventions portions of the checklist.
C. Teaching Point
Today I want to teach you to reread you writing with the
lens of making it easier to read. As you reread, you can use
the items on the Information Writing Checklist, Grades 2 and
3 to help you focus your attention. (Calkins and Kolbeck,
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137
D. Teaching
Encourage the students to watch you closely as you model

how to use the Information Writing Checklist to edit your
writing so that they are prepared to use it independently in
just a few minutes.
1. Reread the last portions (Development and
Language Conventions) of the Information Writing
Checklist.
2. Project or distribute copies of the writing from a second
grader from another classroom. (Show the sample
Kinds of Bicycles, which is shown below.)
3. Tell student that you will be looking at the writing
together to see how you can edit it.
Kinds of Bicycles
If your about to buy a bicycle, you need to know about all the
different kinds out there. Som e popular brands are trek*
cannondale specialized and raleigh.
The type of bike you buy depends of what you will want to use
it for. Do you want it for the beach, m ountains, racing, tricks, (or
for) getting around the city? BMX bikes are great for doing all
types of tricks or stunts. They are great for flipping around.
Mountain bikes have thick tires and usually have great shocks
for bum py terrain. Racing bikes are m ade a light m aterial and
position your body to lean forward .
4. Reread the writing one sentence at a time, stopping

after those that contain an error and thinking aloud
about what needs to be done. (See Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 128 for
elaboration of this process.)
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5. Remind students of the process used for editing:

a. Study the checklist.
b. Reread each part of the writing while thinking
about what needs to be done.
c. When an error is found, change it.
1. Tell the students that now they are going to practice
using the Information Writing Checklist with yet another
second graders writing.
2. Point to the Development and the Language
Conventions portions of the checklist once again.
3. Encourage students to think with you about how to
read the next piece of writing.
4. Project the writing piece or distribute copies to the
students.
Hard-to-Ride Places
There are several pieces that make bike riding a bit more difficult.
Som e hard-to-ride places are sandy areas over rocky terrain* and up
hills (may insert comma). Thats just to name a few. Your tires may sink
in sandy areas and its hard to ride. Rocky terrain produces tons of
friction and it can be bumpy. Riding up hills can be hard because
you have to do all the work pushing the bike uphill.
5. Have students read the text with their writing partner,

discussing the errors together. (See Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page 129-130
for elaboration of this process.)
6. Compliment students for their careful editing and
identify a few of the errors that you heard begin
corrected.
F. Link
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139
1. Remind students that as they work today, their main

focus is to make their text easy to read for readers.
2. Remind students to use the Information Writing
Checklist to remind themselves about the strategies
they have learned for making their writing easy to read.

Supporting Writers Usage of Apostrophes
1. Consider providing apostrophe strategy cards for
student use or make an anchor chart: To Use
Apostrophes
2. Create a small group for those unsure of how to use
apostrophes.
a. Instruct them about:
i. Contractions
ii. Possessives
b. Have them look for words in their writing for areas
where apostrophes are neededeither in pairs or
individually.
c. Encourage the use of strategy cards, as needed.*

1. Tell the students that you want to model some
strategies for them to help them with spelling (You may
wish to create a To Fix Spelling Errors anchor chart
as you do so):
a. Write the word a few times, using the ways you
think it might be spelled, select the one that looks
Mary Wagner 2014
140
right to you, then ask your writing partner for her/his

opinion.
b. Use a dictionary
c. Use google.com
2. Express that now that students know some spelling
strategies, it is their responsibility to fix any errors in their
writing.
III. Share:
Reflecting on the Second- and Third-Grade
Information Writing Checklist
1. Ask the students to meet you at the meeting place with
their writing and Information Writing Checklist.
2. Highlight how the students have been using the
Information Writing Checklist to remind themselves
what they needed to do in their writing.
3. Ask the students to look at the checklist one more time
to select the item that they feel they improved the most
with, then to place their finger on that descriptor on
their checklist.
4. After a few moments for the students to consider the
task, then call on them one at a time so that each has
a chance to share.
5. Emphasize how excited you are for tomorrows
celebration and hope that they, too, are ready to
share their writing with the world!
Supplies Needed:
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141
Student information books, lab reports and folders

Sample second-grade writing to be edited (See the
Teaching and the Active Engagement portions of
this session.
*Apostrophe strategy card (1/student) (card with
simple description of how and when you use
apostrophes).
Paper and markers for creating anchor charts:
o To Fix Spelling Errors
o To Use Apostrophes
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Session 19
I. Minilesson:
Celebration: Writing and Science Exhibition
In this session, you could teach students that writers share
their information books and lab reports with others, inviting
their audience to participate in their hands-on experiments
and sharing with them their scientific findings. (Calkins and
Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page v)
B. Preparation
1. Be sure that each student has a large white shirt to
wear to represent a lab coat
2. Have students help you set up books, materials/props
and media (laptops, iPads, photographs, etc.)
C. Celebration
1. Have students stand by their exhibit station while guests
meander through the group, reading the lab reports
and doing the hands-on experiments.
2. As visitors pass their station, students should teach
about topics such as friction, movement, force, and the
topic about which they wrote their information book.
D. After the Celebration

1. If time allows, provide an opportunity for students work
in small groups to create forces and motion board
games. They could:
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143
a. Create their own game board, use a pre-made

template you provide for them or use a game
board already created (i.e., Chutes and Ladders,
or etc.)
b. Create challenge cards (questions and answer
cards)
Supplies Needed:
Large white shirts to replicate lab coats for each
student
Student information books and lab reports
Materials for demonstrating experiments
Materials related to each students topic: photos,
websites, books, illustrations, diagrams, etc.
Materials for Board Games:
o Game boards: copies of pre-made templates,
already-made game boards (from Chutes and
Ladders or etc.), or materials for making ones own
game board
o Index cards for challenge cards (question and
answer cards)
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144
Appendix I:
Anchor Chart Ideas
To Write Like a Scientist

Ask a question about how the world
works.
Record a hypothesis, a guess.
How will you test it? Record your
procedure.
Session 1 Anchor Chart: To Write Like A Scientist, Page 6
To Write Like a Scientist

Ask a question about how the world
works.
Record a hypothesis, a guess.
How will you test it? Record your
procedure.
Conduct multiple trials and record
your results
Analyze your results and write a
conclusion.
Session 7 Anchor Chart: To Write Like A Scientist, Page 54
In Procedures
Make a You Will Need section.
Draw pictures that teach with labels,
details.
Number the steps.
Session 2 Anchor Chart: In Procedures, Page 15
Creating a Revised Experiment

Review the original experiment,
recalling the question, hypothesis,
procedure and results of the
experiment.
Consider what was learned in the first
experiment.
Think about one thing that could be
changed in the first experiment that
might create a change in the results of
the experiment.
Create an I wonder what might
happen if statement that involves the
change of one portion of the original
experiment.
Plan and conduct the new experiment.
Session 3 Anchor Chart: Creating A Revised Experiment, Page 24
Clarifying My Explanation
I dont understand what you are
saying.
Can you say that in a different
way?
Session 4 Anchor Chart: Clarifying My Explanation Page 30
Conclusions:
Analysis Sentence Frame
I think that the reason that _________
was because _____________________.
Session 4 Conclusion: Analysis Sentence Frame Page 30
Explaining My Results
I think that . was because
Session 2 Anchor Chart: Explaining My Results, Page 30
In Conclusions
Reflect on your hypothesis. (My
hypothesis was right/wrong)
Ask questions about your results.
(Why?)
Give some POSSIBLE explanations-use ideas from other experiments
and resources.
Add further investigations.
Session 4 Anchor Chart: In Conclusions Page 33
Writing My Conclusion
Why do you think your hypothesis
was correct?
One reason is
I think this happened because
Maybe.or maybe
Session 4 Anchor Chart: Writing My Conclusion, Page 34
How to Use the

Information Writing Checklist
to Evaluate Writing and
Set Goals
a. Read one item on the
checklist.
b. Look for evidence of that
characteristic in your writing.
c. Mark the item on the checklist
with a checkmark if the criterion
was met, or a star if it wasnt.
Session 4 Anchor Chart: How To Use The IWC Page 32
Revising to Sound
More Scientific
Take notes from outside sources
(Write key word and facts on
separate Post-it notes).
Make connections between new
information and what has already
been written (Place the Post-it notes
by areas in the writing where there is
a connection.)
Revise the original writing. (Add
details through the use of insert
symbols, flaps or revising strips.)
Make sure it sounds right. (Reread!)
Session 5 Anchor Chart: Revising to Sound More Sci entific , Page 40
Words Science Experts Use

Forces
Push
Pull
Motion
Gravity
Session 5 Anchor Chart: Words Science Experts Use, Page 40
In Procedures
Make a You Will Need section.
Draw pictures that teach with labels,
details.
Number the steps.
Include detailed measurements
(28 in.)
Tell not only what to do but how to
do it.
Session 7 Anchor Chart: In Procedures Page 57
Features of Informational Writing

Title
Bar graph
Chart
Key
Labels
Titles
Session 8 Anchor Chart: Features of Informational Writing, Page 62-64
Contrasting Results
Place the results side by side.
Look at the results to see how
they are different.

Record your contrast
statement and questions in

the Conclusion portion.
Add ideas that you want to
test in the future to the For

Future Investigation portion.
Session 9 Anchor Chart: Contrasting Results, Page 68
Making New Information

Relevant
From the article/book I read, I
learned.
This explains
This helps to understand
that
Session 9 Anchor Chart: Making New Information Relevant, Page 70
Putting Ideas on Paper to

Write an Information Book
1. Think of a topic I could teach
others about.
2. Plan sections across my fingers.
3. Write a heading at the top of
each page.
4. Make sketches showing items
related to each heading.
5. Write in a way that teaches
others about each heading.
Session 12 Anchor Chart: Putting Ideas on Paper, Page 90
Writing Text for a Chapter

1. Think about the sketches and
what you could say about them
as a whole.
2. Think about what you could say
about each of the sketches
individually.
3. Reread your writing to see if you
can weave in some of the
technical vocabulary for that
topic.
Session 13 Anchor Chart: Writing Text for a Chapter, Page 97
Words That Help Us

Increase Our Volume
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
Session 13 Anchor Chart: Words That Help Us Increase Our Volume, Page 98
To Put More Information

in Informational Writing
Add a new voice in a different
kind of writing:
o Big letters
o Little letters
o Different colors
o Different fonts
Use arrows to show how
something works.
Use dashes to add definitions.
Add captions to pictures.
(add this information during the Link portion of the lesson)
Make a comparison.
(add this information during the Share portion of the lesson)
Use your sense to make a

description (What do I see, hear,
taste, or feel?)
Session 15 Anchor Chart: To Put More Information in Information Writing, Page s 104 and 111
Smiles and Wishes

Smiles
o
o
o
o
Wishes
o
o
o
o
Session 16 Anchor Chart: Smiles and Wishes, Page 120
Introductions Can
Post a question.
Put you in the place (setting).
Start with dialogue or quotes.
Ask a few crucial question.
Give a sneak peek.
Session 17 Anchor Chart: Introductions Can Page 123
In Conclusions
Say an idea, then say more about it.
Recap the important parts.
Congratulate readers.
Send readers off.
Session 4 Anchor Chart: In Conclusions Page 33
To Fix Spelling Errors

Try writing the word a few
different ways, then choose
the one that looks right.
Use a dictionary.
Use google.com
Session 18 Anchor Chart: To Fix Spelling Errors, Page 131
To Use Apostrophes
Show possession:
o Lucys dog
o Petes house
Show contractions:
o do + not = dont
o she + will = shell
o they + have = theyve
o he + is = hes
Session 18 Anchor Chart: To Use Apostrophes, Page 131
Apostrophe Strategy Card

Apostrophes show
possession:
o Lucys dog
o Petes house
Apostrophes show
contractions:
o do + not = dont
o he + is = hes
Apostrophes show
possession:
o Lucys dog
o Petes house
Apostrophes show
contractions:
o do + not = dont
o he + is = hes

Apostrophes show
possession:
o Lucys dog
o Petes house
Apostrophes show
contractions:
o do + not = dont
o he + is = hes

Apostrophes show
possession:
o Lucys dog
o Petes house
Apostrophes show
contractions:
o
o
o
o
do + not = dont
she + will = shell
they + have = theyve
he + is = hes
Apostrophe Strategy Card S18. P131
Appendix II:
Printables
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Lab Report Writing Paper
Contrasting Results
On The Carpet
Trial
Number
The Teachers
Results
The Students
Results
1
2
3
On The Tile
Trial
Number
The Teachers
Results
The Students
Results
1
2
3
Session 9 Contrasting Results: Page 68
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Sci ence Book Writing Paper Version 1
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Kinds of Bicycles
If your about to buy a bicycle, you need to
know about all the different kinds out there.
Some popular brands are trek cannondale
specialized and raleigh.
The type of bike you buy depends of what

you will want to use it for. Do you want it for
the beach, mountains, racing, tricks, getting
around the city? BMX bikes are great for
doing all types of tricks or stunts. They are
great for flipping around. Mountain bikes
have thick tires and usually have great
shocks for bumpy terrain. Racing bikes are
made a light material and position your
body to lean forward.
Second Grade Writing Sample 1, S18. P128
Hard-to-Ride Places
There are several pieces that make bike
riding a bit more difficult. Some hard-to-ride
places are sandy areas over rocky terrain
and up hills. Thats just to name a few. Your
tires may sink in sandy areas and its hard to
ride. Rocky terrain produces tons of friction
and it can be bumpy. Riding up hills can be
hard because you have to do all the work
pushing the bike uphill.
Second Grade Writing Sample 2, S18. P129
Graphics Courtesy of:
mycutegraphics.com
scrappindoodles.com

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Information Writing

Grade 2 Daily Lesson Plans Aligned To

Lab Reports and

Mary Wagner 2014

Mary Wagner 2014

7. Introduce the idea that when scientists write to learn

D. Teaching and Active Engagement

b. Have the students write their name on the back or

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b. Reiterate that a hypothesis is what you think will

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students write this part of the experiment since they will

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precision, and question the students so as to obtain

a. Highlight the fact that it is important for the results

results are consistent. Select another group of students

II. Conferring and Small Group Work:

Circulate to make sure the students understand the gist of

Kolbeck, Lab Reports and Science Books, page

B. (Whole Group) Mid-Workshop Teaching

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4. (The Results and Conclusion portion of the lab

1. Have students come to the meeting place with their

(You may also wish to assign one student to the role of

Mary Wagner 2014

Mary Wagner 2014

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page 13). In other words, what should we do when

C. Teaching and Active Engagement

b. Draw pictures that teach with labels, details.

4. Have the students return to their work area to continue

II. Conferring and Small Group Work:

1. Confer with students briefly, encouraging them to use

B. (Whole Group) Mid-Workshop Teaching

a. Includes detailed measurements (2 in.)

1. Introduce the Information Writing Checklist for Grades 2

Mary Wagner 2014

Mary Wagner 2014

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1. Display some materials available for the students to use,

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4. Tell the students that when all of these steps are

1. (After a bit of student-to-student conferring time)

Mary Wagner 2014

c. Write a hypothesis for the question that was

II. Conferring and Small Group Work:

revise. (Calkins and Kolbeck, Lab Reports and

B. (Whole Group) Mid-Workshop Teaching

a. Write the word Why? on a large Post-it note and

Materials for the whole-class experiment (enough for all

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Mary Wagner 2014

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explain the results of their own experiment from Session

D. Teaching and Active Engagement

1. Display a sample second grade lab report written

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parts as you read the sample Results and

1. Distribute a blank sheet of lab report paper to each

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4. Direct students that when they have completed their

II. Conferring and Small Group Work:

B. (Whole Group) Mid-Workshop Teaching

1. Highlight that when it is done correctly, the Results and