Writing to inform
PROCEDURALCompose informative or explanatory texts using drawing, dictating, or writing that name a topic and supply some information about it
Mastery Evidence
- Write or dictate two or three facts about a familiar topic
- Label diagrams or drawings with informative details
- Name a topic and provide relevant details about it
Assessment Prompt
“Can [child] write a few sentences explaining something they know about — like how butterflies grow or how to make a sandwich — naming the topic and sharing some facts?”
Prerequisites2
- Writing Process VocabularyhardAges 5—8
- Saying Sentences Before Writing ThemhardAges 5—6
Show full prerequisite tree
- Writing Process Vocabulary hard
Informative writing requires knowing 'genre', 'audience', 'purpose', and 'detail' as concepts
- Expressing & Justifying Opinions soft
Oral expression skills support understanding formality in speech
- Exploring Ideas Through Talk soft
Conversational skills provide foundation for evaluating viewpoints
- Feeling of not understanding soft
Using talk to explore ideas and speculate requires noticing what you don't yet understand — the comprehension-monitoring habit in a spoken register
- Asking for Help hard
Noticing confusion and acting on it requires already knowing that asking for help is a valid response to being stuck
- Writing Process Vocabulary hard
Oral composition requires vocabulary like 'compose', 'sentence', and 'sequence' to participate meaningfully in the exercise
Unlocks2
- Basic Informational WritinghardAges 6—11
- Building Writing StaminasoftAges 6—7