Lessons for Writing Procedural Text - Spanish

Grade 2, CRM 3, Arcs 7-10 (4 Weeks of Lessons)

Resources Needed for this Unit:

Mentor Texts:

Cómo hacer un pastel de manzana y conocer el mundo, by Marjorie Priceman

Sopa de piedras, by Marcia Brown

A sembrar sopa de verduras, by Lois Ehlert

How to Draw a Cat - SP, Adapted from www.drawingforkids.net

How to Draw a Cat, Adapted from www.drawingforkids.net

How to Make a House of Cards - SP www.wikihow.com/Build-a-House-of-Cards

How to Make a House of Cards, www.wikihow.com/Build-a-House-of-Cards

Additional Resources:

Texas Write Source, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing

NOTE: Adjust these mini-lessons and student writing times as appropriate for your

students. Some lessons may take more than one day to complete.

Unit Materials:

Real life examples of procedural writing (recipe, game directions, how to

assemble a household item), procedural texts from school (math game, science

experiment), the book Stone Soup by Marcia Brown, index cards for

introductions in Day 14, colored pencils for peer editing on Day 18.

Websites:

Cooking with Kids

30 Classic Games for Simple Outdoor Play

Outdoor Activities for Children

Rules to Favorite Card Games

A Variety of Procedural Activities

Science Buddies .org

Water Molecules on the Move

Teaching Notes:

When writing informational articles, the author writes from the perspective of an

expert on a subject and draws upon what he/she knows about a subject in addition

to information from other sources. There are several type of procedural writing

such as brochures, recipes, posters, directions, and signs.

Be sure to modify the following lessons to meet the needs of your students. These

lessons provide several opportunities for students to experiment with writing

different types of procedural pieces. We have suggested that these experimental

pieces are written with a partner, so students have someone to talk to and ask

questions of as they write. At the end of the unit, students are expected to write

their own procedural piece.

It may make sense for you to use the lessons with the entire class to create class

directions before asking students to begin on their own writing. Or you may want

to demonstrate the process and have students work on their individual writing as

you and the students work together to write a class procedural piece.

Day 1: Introducing Procedural Texts

1. Tell students that today they will begin a new writing project called Procedural Writing.

Explain that procedural writing can be found in many of their everyday activities, such as

games, recipes, science experiments, and directions on how to make or do something new.

2. Briefly show examples to children of directions for how to play a math game, how to play a

playground game, how to play a board game, recipes, and science experiments. Also show

examples of procedural texts they might find at home, such as directions to assemble a bird

feeder or directions to operate a small appliance.

3. Explain that these are all different kinds of procedural texts and they can be found in books,

magazine articles, newspapers, brochures, manuals, and websites. You will also be sharing

with them some picture books that have procedural text.

4. Inform the children that writers of how-to books are experts in their topics. They know how

to perform the activity because they have done it many times, and they also know what can

go wrong when performing this activity. A part of writing a good procedural text is to be able

to warn the reader about what to avoid and how to make sure everything turns out as planned.

5. Allow time for children to explore the books, articles, and various examples of directions and

procedural texts you gathered for today’s lesson.

6. After 10-15 minutes of exploration, bring the class together and ask the following questions.

Write their responses on a chart and ask for specific examples whenever possible.

¿Qué notaron en estos textos de procedimiento que estaban explorando? (Students will probably

say that they tell them how to do something and that they look like fun activities.)

¿Cuándo leemos textos de procedimiento? (When we want to find out how to make something

or how to do something new.)

¿Cuándo en la vida van a encontrarse con textos de procedimiento? Pida ejemplos concretos

mientras ellos comparten sus respuestas. (Cuando estamos cocinando – una receta para hacer

barritas de arroz tostado con malvavisco)

See the sample chart below.

Mini Lesson

Active Engagement

Peer Sharing

(Continue to add to this chart over the next few days as students offer other connections they

notice.)

Day 2: What We Notice About Procedural Text

1. Share with students that sometimes we may want to learn how to do something like play a

new game or how to do a science experiment. “We will need to read directions to learn how

to do something. As a writer, we may want to explain to someone how to do something we

already know how to do. We’ll need to write directions for our readers.”

2. Provide a copy of the How to Draw a Cat - SP procedural writing to pairs of students. Read

the text aloud from beginning to end before having students follow the directions.

3. Have students read each part of the text in a shared reading and follow the directions to draw

their own cat.

4. After they finish their drawings, tell students, "Fíjense bien en este texto de procedimiento y

piensen en cómo este texto es diferente de las otras historias o artículos que han leído. ¿Qué

observan en este tipo de escrito que es especial? "

5. Chart students’ responses. Typical responses at this beginning stage may include:

Textos de procedimiento: Leemos para averiguar cómo crear o hacer algo. Conexiones con nuestras vidas:

Cocinar – una receta para barras de arroz inflado

y malvavisco

Comprar algo nuevo – instrucciones para armar

una lámpara.

Jugar un juego – las reglas de juego para

Connect 4.

Mini Lesson

Active Engagement

If students do not notice, point out the following items:

Nos da pasos enumerados

Tiene una introducción (el escrito al principio)

Tiene una conclusión (el escrito al final)

6. Pregunte, “¿Qué notan de la manera en que se escribieron las instrucciones?” Guíe a los

estudiantes a concluir que las instrucciones fueron claras y fueron escritas en el orden

correcto de tal manera que el producto final fue exitoso.

Have students turn to a partner to discuss what they learned about procedural writing today.

Day 3: Writing a Procedural Text from Stone Soup (Part 1)

1. Review the chart you made yesterday of what students noticed about procedural writing.

2. Tell students that today you will read a story that contains a procedural writing. The story

contains many of the parts they noticed in yesterday’s procedural writing, but it is written as

a story. Tell them to listen for the parts of the story that are procedural and tell how to do

something.

(The plot in Sopa de piedras tells the story of the soldiers who make stone soup for the

villagers. All of the ingredients needed to make this soup, as well as how the soup is

made, are embedded in the storyline.)

Peer Sharing

Mini Lesson

Lo que notamos acerca de la escritura de procedimiento:

Nos explica cómo dibujar un gato

Incluye imágenes para ayudarnos

Nos da pasos a seguir

Nos dice qué materiales usar

3. Read the story Sopa de piedras by Marcia Brown to the class. Afterwards, ask students what

type of procedure this was (making a recipe for stone soup.)

4. Ask them which components of procedural writing they heard in the story. Students should

have heard how to make stone soup, the materials used, the steps in the process, and a part of

the story that led up to the making of the soup and a part that came after they made the soup

(similar to an introduction and conclusion).

5. Point out to students that when a procedural writing is written as a story, the author usually

does not number the steps. However, the author does use transition words to indicate the

order in which each part of the process took place. Point out some of these transition words,

such as primero, luego, a continuación, poco después, finalmente, etc.

6. In a shared writing, you will take the information from the story Sopa de piedras and write

it, on a chart, in the form of procedural writing that the students experienced yesterday.

7. Have students take out the writing of “How to Draw a Cat” from yesterday. They will use

this writing as a guide to produce this type of procedural writing for how to make stone soup.

8. Begin with the title. "¿Qué título deberíamos darle a este escrito?" (Cómo hacer sopa de

piedra)

9. Using “How to Draw a Cat” as a guide, students will see that the introduction comes first.

Tell students that you will skip this part for now, but assure them that you will come back to

write this part later.

10. Next, list the materials. Help the students to remember and write the list of ingredients that

were used to make stone soup on your chart. Remember to include the pot and the stir stick.

11. Ask the students to help you write the first one or two steps in the process the soldiers used to

make stone soup. Reread the first step of “How to Draw a Cat” to help you with the wording

of these first steps. Point out to students that you will need to write the directions to sound as

if you are telling someone else how to make stone soup.

12. Include basic stick-figure illustrations for this shared writing. You will want the students to

include illustrations with their final procedural writing, so this is an important step to model

every time you write a procedural writing.

13. Tell your students that they will continue to write the remainder of this procedural writing

tomorrow.

Shared Writing

Pregunte, “¿Cuál es la diferencia entre la historia Sopa de piedras y el procedimiento que

estamos redactando para Cómo hacer sopa de piedra?”

Clarify any misunderstandings.

Day 4: Writing a Procedural Text from Sopa de piedras (Part 2)

1. Review the beginning of the procedural writing you wrote with your students yesterday.

Remind them that you will need to reword the directions to sound as if you are teaching

someone else how to make stone soup.

2. Review the story briefly and, together with your students, write the next step in the directions

for how to make stone soup. Include a quick illustration.

3. Have students work with a partner to write and illustrate the next step on a large Post-it Note.

Remind them to use their copy of “How to Draw a Cat” to help them write as if they are

teaching the directions to someone else.

4. Ask partner groups to share their writing with the class. Listeners should compare the

writing they hear to their own and decide whether it is, indeed, the next step, and whether it

includes enough specific details. Together the class can decide which group’s writing should

be added to the class chart. Have a volunteer draw the illustration on your chart.

Peer Sharing

Mini Lesson

Shared Writing

Writing Conventions: Prepositional Phrases Teacher should provide explicit instruction and modeling of the writing conventions during modeled and shared writing. In addition, teacher should keep anecdotal notes to guide further instruction in small group and individually.

5. Continue in the same fashion for the remaining steps to the process of making Stone Soup.

6. Add their writings and illustrations to your chart under the first steps you wrote together.

7. Return to your chart of ‘What We Notice About Procedural Writing’ and ask writers whether

you have included all the items listed on your chart. They should notice that you have not

written an introduction or a conclusion.

8. Reread the introduction from “How to Draw a Cat”. Pregunte "¿Qué tipo de información

incluyó el autor en esta introducción?" (Una pregunta, una conexión personal, un breve

resumen de cómo funciona un texto de procedimiento.)

9. Using the format of the introduction to “How to Draw a Cat”, have the students help you

write an introduction to “How to Make Stone Soup”.

10. Now you need a conclusion. Reread the conclusion from “How to Draw a Cat”. Pregunte,

“¿Qué tipo de información incluyó este autor en esta conclusión? (Una pregunta, algunas

palabras de ánimo, alguna sugerencia para lo que el lector puede hacer a continuación)

11. Using the format of the conclusion to “How to Draw a Cat”, have the students help you to

write a conclusion to “How to Make Stone Soup.” (Of course, you’ll need to change the

ideas a bit, because the students will not really eat their stone soup!)

Pregunte,”¿Qué tipo de procedimiento hemos escrito hoy? (Una receta) “Cuáles otras recetas

podríamos escribir?

Remind students that when we write a procedural text, we need to be experts in how to perform

that activity. The recipes will need to be something they have made before and know how to do

very well.

(Ideas might include an ice cream sundae or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.)

Peer Sharing

Day 5: Writing a Procedural Text of a Game (Part 1)

1. Choose one of the outdoor games or card games from the websites listed in the Unit

Resources above. Have students join you in a shared reading of the directions for the game.

2. Allow time for students to play the game, keeping the directions handy for students to re-read

on their own, if questions arise. Monitor their playing of the game. If you notice students

playing incorrectly, ask them to reread the directions to make sure they are playing correctly.

3. After playing the game for about 5-10 min., ask students what problems they ran into or what

questions they had once they began playing. Point out that when they are writing directions

for a procedure, they will want their directions to be very clear, so the reader does not have

any questions.

4. Pregunte a los alumnos, ¿Qué tipo de palabras en las instrucciones ayudan al lector a saber

exactamente lo que debe hacer? (Las palabras que le dicen dónde colocar algo: arriba, abajo,

alrededor, al lado de, a lo largo de, etc. Palabras que indican en qué orden se debe hacer las

cosas: antes, luego, después, ahora, finalmente)

5. Ask the students whether they have suggestions or strategies for how to win the game. These

strategies can be added to a procedural writing to make the writing more interesting.

6. Pick up the directions for how to play this game from the children. Together, the class will

write a procedural text about this game, but we want them to practice writing the steps

clearly and in the correct order without the help of the directions they read.

7. Remind students of the parts of a procedural writing. Use your chart from Day 2, ‘What We

Notice About Procedural Writing’ and rewrite it to apply to all different types of procedural

writing.

8. Pregunte a los estudiantes qué nuevas ideas debería agregar al gráfico de cómo escribir

instrucciones. (Las instrucciones deben ser claras y estar en el orden correcto. Y pueden

incluir sugerencias sobre cómo hacer que la actividad sea más exitosa.)

Mini Lesson

Redacción procedimental

Nos dice cómo crear o hacer algo

Incluye ilustraciones para ayudar al lector

Nos dice qué materiales usar

Tiene una introducción y una conclusión

Las instrucciones están escritas en el orden correcto

Las instrucciones usan lenguaje claro, tal como "arriba, abajo, alrededor, después, luego

Puede incluir sugerencias y estrategias

1. Together in a shared writing, have the students help you to write a title and a brief

introduction. This time, write about how fun it is to play games with your friends and why

you recommend this game. (We want to show writers many different ways to write an

introduction.)

2. Continue to write the materials list and the first step in the process with your students. Add a

quick illustration.

3. Have students write with a partner the remainder of the steps in the process of how to play

this game. Encourage them to add illustrations.

4. This partner-writing will give you information to pre-assess which students understand how

to write using procedural language, whether they are aware of the importance of writing the

steps in the correct order, as well as the need for clarity when writing directions.

(You will continue with this lesson tomorrow.)

Pregunte,"¿Cómo te ayudó jugar el juego a escribir las instrucciones de manera más clara?

Shared and Partner Writing

Peer Sharing

Writing Conventions: Complete Sentences with Capital Letters and End Punctuation Teacher should provide explicit instruction and modeling of the writing conventions during modeled and shared writing. In addition, teacher should keep anecdotal notes to guide further instruction in small group and individually.

Day 6: Writing a Procedural Text of a Game (Part 2)

1. Review the procedural writing of a game that you began yesterday. Read the title, the

introduction, the materials and the first step of the directions that you wrote together.

2. Have students re-read with their partners the remaining steps in the procedure (the directions

they wrote) for how to play the game. Allow time for them to make changes and draw

illustrations.

3. Have each partner group read their steps to the class and ask listeners to compare the writing

to their own steps.

4. As writers share their writing, create a list of the steps on a chart so writers can see the

correct order and the words you use to make the directions clear. Add any steps that other

groups included in their writing (on Post-it Notes or sentence strips), to show how to revise

your list.

5. Have students make revisions to their own writing, until everyone has all the correct steps in

the correct order and has included the words to make their procedure clear.

6. Ask students to underline the words they wrote to make sure their directions were clear. (Las

palabras que dicen dónde colocar algo: arriba, abajo, alrededor, al lado de, a lo largo de, etc.

Palabras que dicen en qué orden hacer las cosas: antes, luego, después, ahora, finalmente)

7. Discuss how these words help the reader to understand exactly what to do.

8. Have students talk to a partner about the kind of advice they might tell someone to help them

win the game or to make the game more fun.

9. As students share their ideas with the whole class, have them assist you to write an additional

paragraph of a strategy or two to help the reader win the game. This paragraph should not be

numbered and does not need an illustration, unless the illustration is necessary to make sure

the reader understands the strategy.

10. Together, write a conclusion to this game procedural writing. Be sure to add a few words of

encouragement, such as "¡Pásesela bien jugando con sus amigos! O "Recuerde este juego la

próxima vez que esté buscando algo divertido para hacer con sus amigos."

Pregunte,"¿Cómo es diferente escribir las instrucciones para un juego de escribir una receta?

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 7: Reading and Performing a Science Experiment

1. Have students review the types of procedural texts they have read or written so far. Tell

them that today, they will read and write a science experiment.

2. Choose an experiment from the above websites, one that is fairly simple and quick to

perform with the class, such as “Swing Low: Investigate the Motion of a Pendulum”. (If

you decide to use this experiment, print the Data Table, in the Procedure tab, in advance of

this lesson to have it ready for student use.) Connect the experiment you choose to your

current Science unit or one you’ve taught.

You may also find simple science experiments in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt science

textbook.

In the ScienceBuddies.org website, you will need to project the experiment and click on the tabs

at the top to read the background, materials, procedure, etc.

3. If you are using ScienceBuddies.org, begin by reading the Abstract in the Summary tab (or

the introduction to any other science experiment you choose.) Point out to students that the

first sentences make a great lead for this experiment. Notice how the author gets the reader’s

attention by making a connection to something all kids say at some time in their lives. The

last sentence tells what the experiment is about. This is a technique your writers might want

to try imitating when they write their procedural science experiment.

4. With your students, read through the Background, Materials, and Procedure tabs.

5. Leave the Procedure tab open on display while the students set up their materials to perform

the experiment.

6. Allow students to perform the experiment and record their data in the Data Table.

7. Afterwards, ask them what they have learned about pendulums by performing this

experiment. (Return to the question found in the objective on the Summary tab, “How is the

motion of the pendulum related to its length?”)

8. As a shared writing, help students formulate what they have learned into a few concise

sentences.

9. Now go to the ‘Make it Your Own’ tab and read the suggestions and questions the author

provided. Point out to students that authors often add variations or strategies to give the

reader some new ideas to think about. They can do this too when they write their own

experiment.

Mini Lesson

Active Engagement

Pregunte a los estudiantes cuál es la diferencia entre el procedimiento científico y los otros textos

procedimentales que han leído. (Este procedimiento utiliza mediciones de longitud y plazos de

tiempo.)

Day 8: Writing a Scientific Procedure

1. Briefly review the science experiment the students performed yesterday, without showing

them the procedural directions.

2. Have the children write the basic steps in the procedure for setting up and performing the

experiment. (Today you are focusing on the procedure only. They don’t need to write the

materials, the introduction and the conclusion, etc.)

3. After they have finished, show them the directions in the Procedure tab, so they can compare

their writing to the procedure the author wrote.

4. Point out the words the author used to make the directions clear (back to back, on the backs

of the chairs, toward the middle of the stick, etc.) Also point out the measurements this

author used. Ask why they think it is important to include exact measurements in an

experiment? (Different measurements will produce different results.)

5. Remind them that the Data Table was also a part of this procedure. Tomorrow, when they

write their own science experiment, they may want to include a Data Table as part of their

directions.

Ask students to talk to a partner about how a science experiment is similar and different from a

recipe or the directions for a game. Have students share their thoughts with the whole group.

Clarify any misconceptions.

Peer Sharing

Mini Lesson

Independent or Partner Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 9: Writing a Scientific Procedure

1. Perform another simple experiment with your students. An example is Water Molecules on

the Move . This time, do not show the written experimental procedure to them. Only

provide the directions orally as you perform the experiment.

2. Allow time for your students to perform the experiment in pairs.

3. Review the parts of a procedural text, using the chart from Day 5.

4. Have students work with a partner to write the entire procedural text for this activity and to

draw illustrations.

5. This is a good time to discuss that sometimes authors do not include illustrations for every

step in their process. Sometimes authors choose to add illustrations in only the places where

they think the reader might get confused, or where it’s hard to describe exactly what to do.

6. Remind writers that they will need to write their own introduction and conclusion.

7. Encourage them to include warnings or advice and suggestions for ways to make sure the

experiment turns out as it should. (Asegúrese de… Tenga cuidado de…)

8. Remind them of some of the unique features of a science procedure: Tal vez quieran incluir

1-2 variaciones sencillas del experimento básico. ¿Necesitan registrar datos? ¿Incluyeron los

resultados y la razón científica por la cual el experimento resultó de la manera en que

resultó?

Discuss or review what makes a scientific experiment different from the other types of

procedural texts the students have written so far.

Mini Lesson

Partner Writing

Peer Sharing

Redacción procedimental

Nos dice cómo crear o hacer algo

Incluye ilustraciones para ayudar al lector

Nos dice qué materiales usar

Tiene una introducción y una conclusión

Las instrucciones están escritas en el orden correcto

Las instrucciones usan lenguaje claro, tal como "arriba, abajo, alrededor, después, luego

Puede incluir sugerencias y estrategias

Day 10: Writing a Procedural Text Without Numbered Steps (Part 1)

1. Read aloud one of the mentor texts that explains how to make or do something without using

numbered steps, similar to Sopa de piedras.

2. Point out to students that in this book, the author uses words to tell the reader the correct

order in which to do each step of the process.

3. Have the students find the words and phrases that tell them in which order to do each step

(first, to get started, next, the next thing you will want to do, then you will need to, after a

few minutes, once you have, while you are waiting , etc.) Today they will practice writing

this type of procedural text, without using numbered steps.

4. Remind students that authors who write procedural texts are experts in their topics. They

know how to perform the activity because they have done it many times and they also know

what can go wrong when performing this activity.

5. Also, a part of writing a good procedural text is to be able to warn the reader about what to

avoid and how to make sure everything turns out as planned.

6. Tell students that today they will pretend that a new student has joined the class. They are in

charge of helping the new student prepare for class tomorrow morning.

7. They will write with a partner a procedural text about how to help the new student get ready

for class in the morning.

8. Orally remind students of a few parts of your morning routine (e.g., meet in the cafeteria until

the bell rings, walk to the classroom, take out important items from their backpacks, etc.)

9. Review the parts of a procedural text, using the chart from Day 5.

10. Allow time for students to begin writing this procedural text with their partner.

Ask 2-3 volunteers to share with the class the introductions they wrote to their procedural pieces.

Mini Lesson

Partner Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 11: Writing a Procedural Text Without Numbered Steps (Part 2)

1. Review with students the details of their current assignment. They will write with a partner a

procedural text about how to help the new student get ready for class in the morning.

2. Review the parts of a procedural text, using the chart from Day 5. You should place a

sentence strip over the sentence "Da pasos a seguir y enumera los pasos" y escriba "Da pasos

a seguir, utilizando palabras y frases para decir el orden correcto.”

3. Allow time for students to continue to write their papers about how to help the new student

get ready for class in the morning.

4. Monitor groups as they work and help them reword their sentences if they use numbered

steps. Encourage them to add illustrations for the parts that might be confusing.

5. Bring any partner groups who are struggling to a table for help composing their procedures.

6. As students complete their work, have them go to the class chart for Procedural Text and

make sure they have included all the parts in their writing.

7. Have student pairs share their writing with another pair of writers.

8. Listening writers should pretend they are a new student who does not know the morning

routine. They should listen to make sure the steps are in the correct order and are written

clearly. If the listeners notice something that is confusing, they should raise their hand and

wait to be called upon by the reading partners.

9. Students should make changes based on the feedback they receive from their partners.

Ask 2-3 students to share with the class the conclusions to their procedural writing. Partners

may ask the class for help if they had trouble composing a conclusion.

Mini Lesson

Partner Writing

Peer Sharing

Day 12: Brainstorm Ideas and Audience for an Independent Procedural

Text

1. Tell students how proud you are of the procedural writings they have completed with the

class and with partners over the last several days.

2. Today they will begin the process of writing their own procedural text. First you will help

them to brainstorm ideas and think about who their audience will be.

3. Begin a chart of all the possible ideas the class can think of for procedural writing. After each

idea is written, pregunte "¿Cuál sería la audiencia para este tipo de escrito?”

4. Begin with all the possible games they know well and about which they could write. Write

on your chart the exact names of the games, such as Connect 4, Crazy 8s, Kickball, etc.

Remind students to think about board games, play-ground games, card games, math games,

and any other classroom games they have played. The audience for a game procedural

writing will probably be students from a younger class.

5. Have your students write their own brainstorming list in their Writer’s Notebooks. Students

should only write ideas for games they have played before and enjoyed and games they know

well. They may copy games from your chart, and they may add any additional games they

think of while writing.

6. Allow time for writers to think and write quietly.

7. After a few minutes of quiet thinking and writing, continue adding to your chart(s) some

classroom or school routines that will work well as a procedural writing. These might

include prepararse para ir a casa al final del día, sacar un libro de la biblioteca, leer con sus

compañeros de lectura, qué hacer durante un simulacro de incendio, etc. The audience for

these types of procedural writing is most likely a new student to the school.

8. Allow time for your students to add to their own brainstorming list in their Writer’s

Notebooks. Again, students should only write ideas on their personal brainstorm list for

school routines they have done many times before and know well. They may copy ideas

from your chart, and they may add any additional routines they think of while writing.

9. Allow time for writers to think and write quietly.

10. After a few minutes, you can make another list of chores the students do at home. Examples

include alistarse para el día de escuela, cuidar a una mascota, lavar los platos y más. The

Mini Lesson

Active Engagement

audience? (The robot who will take over all the household chores some day!) Their parents

would probably be most interested in hearing the procedures for home chores.

11. This list can also include recipes for snacks they have frequently made.

12. Allow time again for writers to add chores they do at home that they feel they could explain

in an expository writing.

Ask writers to continue to think about more ideas as they continue through their day. Challenge

them to come up with 1-2 new ideas before writing time tomorrow.

Day 13: Orally Practicing How a Procedure Will Sound

1. Ask 1-2 students to read their personal brainstorm lists from yesterday’s lesson. Ask what

new ideas they thought of during the day and allow time for them to add these new ideas to

their lists. (See the Peer Sharing notes from Day12.)

2. Direct students attention to the charts you generated yesterday. Model for students how you

think about each of these categories of ideas to choose one topic for your own writing. Think

aloud about which topics sound like they would be fun to explain and those that you know a

lot about. Be sure to point out a few topics that you don’t know much about and, therefore,

you know you shouldn’t write about them.

3. Remind them that procedural writers need to be experts at the topic they will explain. Orally

think through how you will explain a topic that you are interested in, to see if you know

enough about it to be able to explain it thoroughly. You are modeling the thinking that you

will want your writers to do once they think they have determined their topic.

4. Ask writers to think quietly about the topics they wrote on their personal brainstorm lists.

Have them narrow the selection down to 3 topics that they will draw a star next to.

Mini Lesson

Partner and Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

5. Now have them circle the one topic that they feel excited to write about today.

6. Tell your writers that you want them to orally practice what they might write for this topic, to

help them decide whether they know enough about it.

7. Organize partners and have them orally practice with their partner how they will explain the

procedure to perform the game, activity, or chore they have chosen.

8. If students realize they don’t know how they will explain the procedure, or that they don’t

have much they can say about that procedure, this is a sign that they should rethink their

topic. They should try explaining another topic, to find out if it will work better as a topic for

this writing.

9. Once writers have determined their topic, have them go to their Writer’s Notebook and write

the title and materials needed for their procedural writing. Have them write the steps they

practiced orally with their partner. They can number their steps at this point.

10. This is only a beginning draft. Do not worry if their steps are not complete or if they are not

in the correct order. They will check and revise for these details later in the process. For

now, we just want them to get down as many steps in the procedure as they can think of.

Organize writers into a different set of partners so they can share their procedural steps with

someone new. Before students begin sharing, you might want two students to show the class

what this type of sharing will look like, while you coach them.

As each writer shares his/her steps in the process, ask listeners to listen carefully to determine

whether the steps are in the correct order and whether the writer missed any steps that will

change the outcome of the activity.

Listeners write their feedback on a sticky note, read their note aloud, and give their note to the

writer.

Partners switch jobs so the opposite partner is now the writer, and the writer is now the listener.

Peer Sharing

Day 14: Writing a Draft

Prior to this lesson, have a basic set of steps written for your own procedural topic that you

can use for today’s lesson. Include a place between two steps where a small step is missing –

not too obvious—or where a step is out of order. (You will revise this error in tomorrow’s

lesson.)

Note that this lesson includes an extra lesson/ teacher model. You may want to complete this

lesson in 2 separate days.

1. Have students read the notes they received while sharing their procedures with a partner

yesterday.

2. Allow time for writers to make changes to their procedures using the notes they received.

(Writers may need to ask their partner to help them remember what change they

recommended.)

3. Students should add illustrations as needed to help the reader to know exactly how to follow

the directions.

4. Review the criteria chart for writing a procedural text. Tell them that today, you will model

for them how to write an introduction and a conclusion.

5. Read your steps in the procedure that you have chosen.

6. Go back to any one of the procedural texts you have shared in prior lessons and re-read how

those authors wrote their introductions. Point out that you want to get the reader’s attention

and you want the reader to know what this writing will be about. These are important items

to include in all introductions.

7. Write your introduction in only a few sentences on a small chart that can be taped to

beginning of your procedure.

8. Now ask your students to write their introductions on an index card that can be taped to the

beginning of their procedural steps. Advise them to go back to the other procedural writings

they created earlier in this lesson to get ideas for introductions.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

Writing Conventions: Sentence Combining Teacher should provide explicit instruction and modeling of the writing conventions during modeled and shared writing. In addition, teacher should keep anecdotal notes to guide further instruction in small groups and individually.

9. Allow time for quiet writing and thinking.

10. When students finish, they should re-read their introduction and their steps to make sure it

makes sense and all the steps are included in the correct order. Students should make any

changes they feel will make their writing more clear.

11. When most students have finished writing their introductions, provide the same type of

instruction for writing your conclusion. Reread previous texts to get ideas about how to write

a conclusion.

12. Read your procedural writing from beginning to end and write a conclusion for your writing.

13. Have your students write their conclusions at the end of their procedural steps in the same

way that you just modeled. Remind them to go back to the other texts they have written

earlier in this unit to get ideas for their conclusions.

14. Allow time for quiet writing and thinking.

15. When students finish, they should re-read their procedural writing from beginning to end, to

make sure all parts of the writing are connected and make sense. Students should make any

changes they feel will make their writing more clear.

Have students share their writing with the same partners from yesterday. They read their

complete writing, from beginning to end. Listening partners will listen to decide whether the

introduction and conclusion make sense with the steps to the procedure.

Model for students how to use polite language when giving feedback to their partner.

Peer Sharing

Usa una voz amable al dar tus comentarios a tu compañero:

“A mí me parece que tu introducción no está conectada con tus pasos…”

“Tu introducción sonaría mejor si tú…”

“Suena como que falta algo. Vamos a ver si podemos averiguar qué falta…”

Mini Lesson – Teacher Continues to Model

Independent Writing

Day 15: Revising to Make Sure All Steps Are in the Correct Order

1. Tell your students that when writers draft, they often work quickly to get their thoughts on

paper. Then they go back to look for places where they can make the writing sound better.

This is called revising.

2. Today, students will make sure they have included all the steps in the correct order, and

revise to add more specific details.

3. Read your procedural text aloud to the class. When you get to the steps in the process, have

your students pretend to act out each of the steps.

4. You may need to do a little pretending here yourself, but show them how their acting helped

you to see that you were missing a step or that one of your steps is in the wrong place in the

sequence.

5. Show them how you circle the words that need to be moved and draw an arrow to show the

place in the text where the words should be moved.

6. Have students work with a partner to read their procedural writing and have their partner

pretend to act out the steps in the process.

7. The acting partner should help the writer to notice steps that are missing or steps that are in

the incorrect order.

8. Together, they use Post-It Notes or draw a circle and arrow to revise their draft and show

how to move sentences around in the draft.

9. Writers should repeat the process with the opposite partner reading and the other writer

acting.

Pregunte,"¿Cómo te ayudó como escritor el que tu compañero actuara tu procedimiento?”

Mini Lesson

Active Engagement

Peer Sharing

Day 16: Revising to Add More Specific Details

1. Have your writers talk to a partner to explain what ‘Revising’ means. Ask if they can explain

the revising strategy they used in the last lesson.

2. Today, students will revise to add more specific details.

Remind students of the text you shared in an earlier lesson that contained directional words

(arriba, abajo, alrededor, al lado de, a lo largo de, etc.) and words that indicated the order in

which to do things (antes,a continuación, después, ahora, finalmente, etc.)

3. Además, los autores de textos de procedimiento frecuentemente incluyen adverbios, palabras

y frases que indican cómo hacer una acción, tal como cuidadosamente o despacio. Y autores

a menudo utilizan adjetivos para describir los nombres en las instrucciones.

4. Show students the text How to Make a House of Cards - SP. After doing a shared reading

of the student copy of text, tell writers that one way we can add more specific details to a

procedural text is to use words and phrases that explain in what direction something is found

or done.

5. Ask students to look for these directional words in the ‘House of Cards’ mentor text and

highlight them in yellow crayon. (See the Teacher Copy of the text. You may need to

explain the meaning of some of the words.)

6. Pregunte, "¿Cómo ayudan estas palabras direccionales al lector a entender qué hacer?”

7. Model in your own writing finding places where you can add directional words to make your

writing more clear.

8. Have your students re-read their own procedural writing to think about places where they

should add directional words.

9. Next ask students to look for the words or phrases in the ‘House of Cards’ text that indicate

in what order to do the steps (sequence words.) They should color these words in green.

10. Ask students to explain how these sequence words contribute to the explanation of the

procedure.

11. Show how you add sequence words to your writing and encourage your students to reread

their writing and add 2-3 sequence words.

Mini Lesson

Independent Writing

12. Now ask writers to highlight the adjectives in purple and the adverbs in blue in the ‘House of

Cards’ text. (You may need to reteach how these parts of speech function in the sentences.)

13. Show how you add only a few adjectives and adverbs to your writing. Encourage your

students to reread and add 2-3 adjectives and adverbs to their own writing. Warn your

students not to use too many because the writing sounds awkward if it has too many of these

words.

Save the ‘House of Cards’ mentor text for tomorrow’s lesson.

Have 3-4 writers read aloud a step in their process where they added directional words, sequence

words, or adjectives or adverbs. Ask writers, “¿Por qué estamos agregando estas palabras a

nuestros escritos?" (Para hacer que nuestro escrito sea más claro para el lector.)

Day 17: Revise to Add a Strategy, Tips or Advice

1. Review the revising strategy the students applied to their writing yesterday.

2. Have students look again at their ‘House of Cards’ mentor text. Draw their attention to the

tips at the bottom of the procedure. Choral read the tips aloud.

3. Pregunte, ¿Cuál es el propósito de estos consejos?" (Respuestas posibles: Para ayudar al

lector a tener éxito; para dar consejos que realmente no encajen bien en las instrucciones;

para advertir al lector de las cosas que podrían salir mal.)

4. Remind students that when they looked at procedures for games, these texts often included

some strategies for ways to win the game.

5. Show them how you can add a strategy or 2-3 tips to the procedural writing you have been

writing. Explain that these tips or strategies are usually found at the bottom of the steps,

before the conclusion.

Peer Sharing

Mini Lesson

6. Ask students to turn to a partner to read their writing and talk about what kinds of strategies

or tips they could add to their procedural writing.

7. Allow time for quiet thinking and writing.

Have all writers share their entire writing from beginning to end, including all the revisions and

tips/strategies with a different partner. Listeners may still make recommendations to the writer

to improve the writing.

Day 18: Peer Edit and Final Draft

1. Review all the grammar and editing skills you have taught your students so far this year that

apply to this genre of writing.

By the end of 2nd

Grade, students are expected to:

Use capital letters and end punctuation in sentences

Use a capital letter for the word “I”

Use capital letters for the names of people and proper nouns

Use apostrophes to show possession

Spell base words and endings (-ing, -ed –s) correctly

Spell simple contractions correctly

Spell high-frequency words correctly. See High Frequency Word List.

Note: You should only have your students edit their drafts for the mechanics and editing

skills you have already taught them. The above list is a reminder of the expectations for

2nd

graders at the end of the year.

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Mini Lesson

2. Have students sit side-by-side with a partner to read, first, one student’s paper, then the other

student’s paper. The writer reads the paper aloud and holds a colored pencil (any color other

than red).

3. Remind writers of one mechanics or editing skill you have taught them. Write the rule on

your chart, along with one example of the rule.

Example:

4. As the writer reads his/her writing aloud, the other partner checks for only the one editing

point you just wrote on the chart. If the partner finds an error, he/she points to it in the

writing, and the writer makes the correction on his/her own paper.

5. Partners switch roles, reading and checking for the same mechanics or editing skill.

6. Have one partner stand and move to a new desk where he/she sits with a new writer.

7. Repeat the process with a new mechanics or editing skill.

8. Continue to have writers move to a new partner. The writer reads, and the partner checks for

only one mechanics or editing skill at a time. Partners switch roles so that both writers have

checked their papers for only one skill before moving to another partner.

The students have already shared their writing with several other writers today. It is not

necessary for them to share again. Instead, if time remains, have your writers begin to develop

the class chart of expectations for their final drafts. (Found in the next day’s lesson.)

Partner Writing

Peer Sharing

Expectativas para la revisión:

1. Cada oración comienza con una letra mayúscula y termina con puntuación final.

Example: The game of Crazy 8s is fun to play on a rainy day. It is best to play it indoors where the wind will not blow your cards away! (Continue to add more skills and examples, one at a time, while students check their papers.)

Day 19: Expectations for a Final Draft

1. Congratulate your writers on the hard work they have put forth to come to this final stage of

their writing process!

2. Tell them that today, they will write the final draft of their procedural writing.

3. Return to the brainstorming chart you created with the students on Day 12. Remind them of

the audience they chose when they decided on their topic.

4. Have each writer turn to a partner and tell their partner for whom they have written this

procedural writing.

5. Diga a los estudiantes, "Cuando los escritores redactan sus borradores finales, piensan en su

audiencia. Piensan en todo lo que pueden hacer para ayudarle al lector a entender sus

escritos. Esto incluye todas las revisiones y correcciones que hicieron durante los últimos

días.”

6. Together with your students, create a chart of your expectations for the final drafts of their

procedural writing. Your chart may look like this:

7. Using your own procedural writing, model for your writers what you mean by including the

words and sentences you added during revision and write the numbered steps in a list. Show

them what the first part of your final draft looks like.

8. Remind your students that writing a final draft takes a lot of concentration, because it is their

only chance to get everything right! This is no time to get lazy or work too quickly because

that can lead to mistakes that their audience will notice. They need to make sure their final

draft reflects all the thinking and hard work they have given to this piece of writing.

Mini Lesson

Redactar tu borrador final:

Escribe todas las partes de tu borrador, incluyendo las

palabras y oraciones que agregaste durante la revisión.

Escribe los pasos enumerados en una lista.

Dibuja tus ilustraciones con emero al lado de los pasos

que les corresponden.

Asegúrate de que todas las palabras está bien escritas.

Corrige todos los errores que encontraste mientras

editaste.

No taches palabras, borra con nitidez.

Escribe con tu escritura a mano más bonita.

9. Provide students with the tools (special papers or pens) they will need to work quietly for

most of your writing time today. Insist that students stay quiet so everyone can concentrate

on their best writing. The only voices you should hear are questions about how to spell a

word or questions about the writing.

10. Walk around the room to assist students as needed. Your monitoring of their work today

shows them how serious you are about the quality of their work.

11. When students finish their final drafts, they should practice reading their writing smoothly

and fluently, in preparation for tomorrow’s reading in front of an audience.

It is not necessary to share today, since tomorrow all students will have the opportunity to share

their final draft. Use this extra time to give all writers time to finish their final drafts.

Day 20: Publish and Share with An Audience

1. Invite parents and family friends to come to your classroom for this important publishing

event.

2. If students chose younger students to be their audience, arrange with a Kindergarten or 1st

Grade teacher to allow the students to read their writing to their class or a small group

audience (perhaps during a center.)

3. If students chose to write their procedural piece for new students to the school, they can read

their piece today for any class of students, but you should gather their writing into a portfolio

that can be stored in the school office, so visitors and new students to the school can read it.

4. All students should have the opportunity to read their writing to some type of audience, even

if it is not the audience they originally intended.

Independent Writing

Peer Sharing

Mini Lesson

Active Engagement

After the parents have left and all students have returned to the classroom, debrief the experience

with the students. ¿Cómo te sentiste al compartir tu escrito con una audiencia? ¿Cómo

reaccionaron a tu escrito? ¿Cómo te sentiste mientras leías? ¿Qué crees que deberíamos hacer de

manera diferente la próxima vez?

Celebrate Writing!

Peer Sharing