How to Teach Informational with Reading and Writing Units

This literacy unit provides teachers with EVERYTHING they need to successfully teach an informational reading and writing workshop for an entire month of school! Lesson plans, mentor texts, suggested anchor charts, and much more are included in this unit. Reading and writing are so closely related. The two subjects are taught together on a single day. The writing lessons build off of the reading lessons. If the teacher chooses, both subjects can be taught independently.

How to Begin Using the Informational Units

The first reading lesson helps identify text features found in informational books. Teachers can use the provided mentor texts to help teach this lesson. They also can use a popular book from the suggested book list. Teachers can use a book from their own library too. There are so many options. Below is an anchor chart from the reading lesson on day 1.

The writing lesson builds off of the learning from the reading lesson. Each lesson can also be a stand-alone lesson. Students do not need to do research in this unit. They are building off of topics that they already know a lot about.

The teacher introduces a new lesson and students examine it with texts that they have read together in class. Then, students get a chance to practice these skills using a book from their own reading level. Next, graphic organizers are provided so that students can show their learning. These are the graphic organizers for reading and writing lesson 1. Finally, students fill these out on their own and add these organizers to their notebooks. This is a great way to show their learning and use them as a reference.

Below is a list of all of the lessons in this informational unit. All grade levels follow the same lessons. The mentor texts and the standards change for each grade level.

What's Included in this Informational Unit?

• 20 reading and 20 writing mini lessons linked to the Common Core and TEKS standards!
• Students note-taking pages for all 40 lessons. Students glue them in their reading and writing notebooks and keep the learning going all year long.
• 20 printable graphic organizers designed specifically for each reading lesson.
• 20 printable think-mark graphic organizers for each reading lesson.
• Writing rubrics for grading.
• Writing editing and revising checklists.
• Sample completed anchor charts for several lessons.
• Mentor texts are INCLUDED! 7 2-page original mentor texts with custom illustrations are included to support the reading and writing lessons.
• TONS of teacher pages for organizing, conferencing, assessing, and note-taking.

Other Units Available

• Biography
• Fantasy
• Historical Fiction
• Informational
• Launching
• Opinion
• Personal Narrative
• Poetry
• Realistic Fiction
• Traditional Literature

What Grade Level is This For?

• 2nd Grade Reading and Writing Workshop
• 3rd Grade Reading and Writing Workshop
• 4th Grade Reading and Writing Workshop
• 5th Grade Reading and Writing Workshop
• 6th Grade Reading and Writing Workshop

If you are interested in how to get started with reading workshop, check out this blog post by clicking here. For more information about setting up your reading notebook, visit this blog post: 3 Steps to Create the Best Reading Notebooks! Wanting to learn more about writing notebooks, visit this post: The Steps in Setting up A Writer's Notebook.