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Teacher Resources by Grade
|1st - 2nd||3rd - 4th|
|5th - 6th||7th - 8th|
|9th - 10th||11th - 12th|
All About Our Town: Using Brochures to Teach Informational Writing
|Grades||2 – 4|
|Lesson Plan Type||Unit|
|Estimated Time||Eight 40- to 60-minute sessions|
All communities have their own landmarks, symbols, and people that make them unique places to live. In this lesson, students in grades 2–4 explore their towns using a variety of print and nonprint resources. By looking at brochures and other informational tools, students learn about some of the purposes for which people read and write. They also practice writing for a specific audience, revising their writing, and working collaboratively to create a brochure for new students just moving into town.
New Town Interview Questions: Students will use this handout to ask questions about experiences with moving to a new place and to create a brochure aimed at a student who is new to the area.
Duke, N.K., & Stewart, B.B. (1997). Standards in action in a first-grade classroom: The purpose dimension. The Reading Teacher, 51(3), 228–237.
- Learning that people read and write for various reasons and learning about the purposes for which people read and write are two important-and often neglected-facets in children's literacy development.
- Obtaining and communicating information, responding and interpreting literature, learning and reflecting, and problem solving and applying are the four important parts of the framework teachers can use to think about purposes for written language.
- Teachers should play a role in encouraging students to read and write for specific purposes.