Teaching Explanatory/Informative Writing

School is just around the corner! I'm experimenting with some new explanatory/informative charts. I'm going to color code the necessary parts of the Intro Paragraph to help my 4th graders write their own explanatory intro paragraphs. 

I'm starting with this chart and labeling the Hook, Background Information, and Topic Sentence. I'll be doing a mini-lesson on all 3 of these components.

Next, I'll model how to write a hook, relevant background info about my topic, and a topic sentence. I'll spend the majority of my time discussing the topic sentence since this will guide me with my body paragraphs (and research!). Kids need to understand what a crucial element of the essay the topic sentence will be. My Intro poster will look something like this: 

I'll hang up both posters side-by-side for a nice visual to help my students out.
Note: The Hook is underlined in pink! The Background Information is underlined in yellow! Lastly, the Topic Sentence is underlined in green. I will have my own students do this to their rough draft intro paragraphs as well.

At this point in the process, I plan to do writing conferences with my students. I want to personally approve each topic BEFORE kids try to do any research... sometimes, students have unrealistic expectations of topics they can research or they lack focus. I talk a lot about having 3 key ideas they want to focus their research on and turn into their 3 body paragraphs.

If you're looking for a good FREEBIE lesson, check out my Hook Lesson on TpT

If you need a good Common Core Explanatory/Informative lesson, I sell a monument lesson on TpT.

I also have a bunch of grade-specific Common Core Writing Bundles for all 3 writing genres. You can click here to see my 5th grade writing bundle.