Develop the topic with different kinds of support

General

Good writers use many kinds of support in their informative writing. Students will learn to use different kinds of support in their writing in order to prove a point or to develop a topic. They will learn about facts, definitions, concrete details, and quotations. They will also learn about the general layout of an informative essay. The lesson includes writing prompts and a printable worksheet.

Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.2
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2b
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.2b

Learning Objective

Students will be able to develop a topic in writing with different kinds of support, including facts, definitions, and quotes.

Introduction

Have students decorate a charcuterie board with the food images that represent “informative supports'' for writing. Allow students to add as many foods to the board as they want and encourage students the more food on the board, the better. Then explain to students that we do the same thing with our informative writing - add as many kinds of support as possible to make our writing even better.

Instruction

Go over informative writing and its purpose. Then, introduce the types of support that students can include and the layout of an informative essay. Afterward, students can engage in the following activities:

First, students will label the parts of an essay including the name and description of each part. Next, students engage in a matching activity where they draw lines between the two columns to match the type of support to its definition. Then, have students read the given topic and circle the multiple-choice answer that best matches the given topic. After that, students can practice determining appropriate supports for a given topic, by choosing from a given bank of various supports. Finally, students can read a short passage, annotate information that they think they can use as support, and then write a paragraph about a given topic using the supports that they annotated in the passage.

Quiz

Students respond to ten questions about informative writing and supports that can be used in informative writing.

Closing

Students write their own informative essays about a community worker of their choice that they think is a hero. They will be given a checklist to help guide their writing by including all the elements of an informative essay (introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion) with at least 2 supports for each of their body paragraphs.