Expository Informative Explanatory Writing Bundle

Call it what you will - Expository, Informative, or Explanatory Writing - this bundle includes 12 lessons in planning and drafting writing process steps. Your students will be writing well-organized essays in two-to-three weeks! (Within the unit, the students will see Common Core terminology of Informative/Explanatory Writing as opposed to Expository.)

Note: This unit is also sold in a bundle along with the Persuasive/Argument Writing Unit:

Essay Writing Lessons Bundle

Key topics include:

Brainstorming, Outlining, Audience and Purpose, Relevant Facts, Credible Sources, Paraphrasing and Quoting, Opening Paragraphs, and Closing Paragraphs (see lesson sequence below).

What is included in this resource:

NOTE: ALL Presentations & student handouts are editable!

• Presentations are in PPT and Google Slides(TM) format (both formats editable)
• Handouts are in PDF and Google Slides(TM) format (Google Slides format editable)

PLANNING LESSONS

Lesson 1: Brainstorm and Categorize

• Presentation – Planning: Brainstorm & Categorize
• 34 Lesson Content and 5 CCSS slides
• Handouts: Group categorizing activity handouts and Notes and Practice w/answer key

Lesson 2: Make an Outline, Prompt 1

• Presentation – Planning: Make an Outline, Prompt 1
• 57 Lesson Content slides and 5 CCSS slides
• Handouts: Audience and Purpose Notes and Practice w/answer key and Make an Outline, Prompt 1

Lesson 3: Make an Outline, Prompt 2

• Presentation – Planning: Make an Outline, Prompt 2
• 30 Lesson Content slides and 5 CCSS slides
• Handouts: Make an Outline, Prompt 2

Lesson 4: Make an Outline, Prompt 3

• Presentation – Planning: Make an Outline, Prompt 3
• 29 Lesson Content slides and 5 CCSS slides)
• Handouts: Make an Outline, Prompt 3

Lesson 5: Evaluating Outlines

• PowerPoint Presentation – Planning: Evaluating Outlines
• 17 Lesson Content slides (plus 6-slide bonus practice deck) and 5 CCSS slides]
• Handouts: Evaluating Outlines Forms and Practice with answer keys

Lesson 6: Group Application

Student groups practice brainstorming, categorizing, and outlining the same prompt for different audiences. Similarities/differences of completed outlines are presented.

Planning Extras:

• General Topics List
• Seven writing prompts
• Four categorizing practice worksheets
• Peer review, Evaluating Outlines Feedback Form
• Second version of Categorizing Group Activity

DRAFTING LESSONS

Lesson 1: Outlines to Paragraphs

Presentation (60 Lesson Content and 5 CCSS slides)

Handouts (2): Notes and Practice w/answer key

Lesson 2: Relevant Facts

PowerPoint Presentation (30 Lesson Content slides and 5 CCSS slides)

Handouts (2): Notes and Practice w/answer key

Lesson 3: Credible Sources

Presentation (54 Lesson Content slides and 5 CCSS slides)

Handouts (4): Notes (1) and Practice (3) w/answer key

Lesson 4: Paraphrasing and Quoting

Presentation (65 Lesson Content slides and 5 CCSS slides)

Handouts (5): Notes (3) and Practice (2)

Lesson 5: Opening Paragraphs

Presentation, Part I (Intro & Thesis Statements) 28 slides

Presentation, Part II (Hook) 30 slides

Presentation, Part III (Transition to Thesis) 15 slides

Handouts (4): Notes & Practice

Lesson 6: Closing Paragraphs

Presentation, Part I (Intro & Connect to Hook) 20 slides

Presentation, Part II (Restate Thesis & Concluding Statement) 20 slides

Handouts (6): Notes & Practice

Drafting Extras:

Quoting Resource Page: Verbs list

Quoting Resource Page: Prepositional phrase list and Citation website suggestions

A note on expectations:

As the 4th – 8th grade standards suggest, skillful writing is iterative. The beauty of teaching writing is that the basics are the same with levels of sophistication added in each year. I have never found all my students arrive on grade level for any subject – but this is especially true of writing. I have had fifth graders who were far better writers than seventh graders, for example.

Unfortunately, I frequently discover even students who excel in other areas of English Language Arts come to me with writing skills below grade level in writing.

For this reason, my approach every year is to start with the basics and build in layers of sophistication either in varying writing prompts or expectations of the final products. (Some of this will be addressed in an upcoming revising unit.) This is why you find 4th – 8th grade lessons combined. My approach is the same; my expectations of students’ level of sophistication in ideas, vocabulary, and connections drawn between ideas varies, but the approach the writing process does not.

You might also like:

Persuasive Writing: How-to Lessons on Process

Martin Luther King, Jr. Writing Prompts

Narrative Writing Activity

Plot Diagrams, Summary, and Writing Activities

Essay Writing Lessons Bundle

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