Lesson 7: Animal Information Report – Modelled Writing

 Lesson Plan

Tuning In

• Revise the content of the unit so far. Remind the students that informative texts contain facts about a particular topic, follow a specific structure and have specific language features.
• Explain to the students that they are now going to write an information report about an animal as a class, based on facts gathered from an informative video clip.

Teacher Instruction

• Project the Fact File – Animals from the Informative Texts – Scaffold Planning Sheets on the board. Read the four subheadings (classification, size and appearance, habitat and lifestyle, diet and eating habits). Explain to the students that, as they watch the video clip, they must watch and listen for information and key words for each of these categories.
• Watch the Amazing Animals – Gorillas video on YouTube. For the first viewing, allow the students to watch the video without writing anything down. After watching, see if the students have remembered any key facts to add to the class planning sheet.
• Rewatch the video. Allow the students to write words and draw pictures of any key information on a blank piece of paper. After watching, encourage the students to share their notes with the class so they may be added to the class planning sheet.
• If necessary, watch the video a third time. Pause the clip at pertinent points so that additional facts may be added to the class planning sheet.

Guided/Independent Learning

• Project a copy of the Simple Informative Texts – Writing Scaffold on the board. Using the facts from the planning sheet, jointly construct a simple information report with the students. Model how to write an appropriate title, classification, supporting facts and concluding sentence. Encourage the students to suggest appropriate language features, such as descriptive and comparative vocabulary.
• Once completed, ask a confident reader to read the completed text to the class. Encourage the students to make any further suggestions to improve the quality of the paragraph.

Wrapping Up

• Ask the class quiz questions about gorillas, where the students must refer to the jointly constructed text to find the answers.

 Differentiation

Extending Students

• Encourage more confident students to actively contribute to the joint construction process.

Supporting Students

• Allow less confident students to participate in the joint construction at a level at which they feel comfortable.

 Assessment Strategies

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• used strategic whole class or individual questioning
• observed student participation during learning activities
• recorded student progress on a checklist
• annotated student work samples
• collected and reviewed student work samples
• facilitated whole class or peer feedback sessions
• encouraged student self-reflection
• administered formal assessment tasks.

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