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Informational Piece

Informational Piece


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Definition:

Students begin to write brief nonfiction pieces of writing using letters, words, and drawings to convey knowledge (facts and concepts) gained through personal experience, instruction, engaged activity, observation, study or research. This type of writing often takes the form of a page in contribution to a class book.

Purpose:

  • To convey knowledge (facts and concepts) gained through personal experience, instruction, engaged activity, observation, study or research.

Characteristics:

  • Experience leading to determination of topic
  • Informational print, graphic, organizational, and illustrative features
  • Text pattern (descriptive, chronological, comparative, cause-effect, problem-solution)
  • Informational structures dependent upon purpose of the piece
  • Drawings representative of meaning of concepts
  • May include definitions and/or examples
  • Words, word-like clusters, and/or sentences that support the message
  • Accurate, essential information gathered with assistance from the teacher
  • May reflect different levels of writing development (Sulzby, 1985)

Grade Level Instructional Scope for COMPOSING the Genre and Text of Brief Informational Pieces:

Grade K

Opportunities to Teach:

  • Writing process
  • Keeping to topic
  • Illustration and text that match
  • Writing words and/or word-like structures
  • Adding details
  • Sequencing

Booklists:

Access to the Documents:

Complete K-8 Genre Project
From the Michigan Department of Education

Complete K-8 Genre Booklist
From Kent Intermediate School District


Page last modified on October 19, 2010, at 12:15 PM