Ten Lessons on Report Writing

Writing a Report on Appearance and Family Life of an Animal

Lesson 1: Elements of Reports

1.         Do a KWL of a what a report is. (i.e. Know, Wonder, Learn. What do you know about reports, what do you wonder about reports, what would you like to learn about reports?)

2.         Deconstructing a report. (Ed. note: Readers are encouraged to choose two grade appropriate reports as exemplars for which these lessons can be applied. For this research project, a report about a beaver, and one about a raccoon were used).

• see patterns

• ask, “What’s a report?”

• discuss when we use a report

• point out Elements of a Report (Introduction, Body of Main Ideas and facts, Conclusion, Resources)

• do Colour Coding activity to identify elements

• do step #1 (KWL) together as a class (Raccoon)

• do step #1 (KWL) alone (Beaver)

• exit slip #1, “List the elements of a report.”

Lesson 2: Working with Powers

1.           Review the Elements (use arms for main ideas, wiggle fingers for facts, etc.)

2.           Raccoon report: cut up the words and re-organize using powers

3.           Ask the students to explain the variables of a report (i.e. Tense, Introductory Sentence, Topic Sentence, and Opinion).

4.           Exit Slip #2: “List the Writing Variables”

Lesson 3: Working with Powers

1.           Give students the words from the Beaver report and have them cut and paste them into powers. (This can be done in a small group).

2.           Give students sentence strips and have them cut and paste them into the correct order. (This can be done individually).

3.           Exit Slip #3: “How is this process useful?”

Lesson 4: Report Writing

1.           Have each student choose an animal. Make them aware that this will be their Power 1.

2.           Have students choose their Power 2s (Put Appendix A on a piece of 11x17 paper)

3.           Send children to school library to find some books on their topic.

Lesson 5 & 6: Research

1.         Students can use 2 periods to collect information on their animal and power 2s. They can record their notes onto the 11x17 paper and should keep a bibliography of books they use. Bibliography should include ISBN, title and author.

2.         Optional: When a student finds a good photograph or drawing of their animal you could photocopy it for them to include in their final copy. (Teach students how to cite photographs and images.)

3.         Exit Slip #4 (after lesson 6): Thumbs up or Thumbs down.

Lesson 7: Notes into Powers

1.          Photocopy their 11x17 sheet with all their notes on it.

2.          Have students cut the notes into Powers.

3.          Glue notes as powers onto a new sheet.

4.          Exit Slip #5: “How do you feel about not having to rewrite your notes?”

Lesson 7A: Demonstrating Notes to Sentences to Paragraphs

1.           Model these stages for the class using the Beaver story.

2.           Give each student the notes from the Raccoon story and have them turn the notes into sentences and then into paragraphs.

Lesson 8 & 9: Notes to Sentences to Paragraphs

1.           Take the notes and put them into sentences and then paragraphs using the computer.

2.           Review the format of report writing and organizing information by powers.

3.           Exit Slip #6 (after lesson 9): “List the stages of report writing.”

Lesson 10: Report Presentation

1.           Each student shares his or her report with the class.

2.           Exit Slip #7: List three important things you have learned about report writing.

               (See Appendix B for exit slip used by researchers)

(Ed. Note: For further information on Russell Collin’s 10 lesson unit plan, contact Shelley Steer, shelleysteer@hotmail.com).