Getting started with the unit

How-to Writing is one of my favorite writing units in first grade! We usually dive into the genre following small moment writing and it is such a fresh change during Writer’s Workshop! Today I wanted to share about what we do during our unit to develop as writers! Read to the bottom to find How-To Writing FREEBIES!

Structure of the Writing Unit:

I love watching my students grow as writers throughout a writing unit! At the end, we always compare our first piece of writing with our last, published piece and the kids are always AMAZED at the difference. We spend about 4 weeks on our How- to writing unit. It’s usually broken down like this:

Week 1: An Introduction to How-To Writing

During this week students learn about what the genre is. We read How-to mentor texts, brainstorm SO many ideas for writing, and do a lot of shared writing together.

Before even beginning the unit, I want students to be familiar with what a How-To Writing piece looks like. The best way to accomplish this is by reading lots of examples. Here are a few of my faves! We read these during our read aloud time leading up to and during our How-to writing unit. This helps because I can refer back to them during mini lessons and use them as examples!

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Day 1: Launching the Unit

 I always make it a huge deal that we’re starting something new! We discuss how we are all first grade experts. We all have things we know how to do really well that we could teach to others. I model sharing several topics that I am an expert at: feeding my cat, growing a plant, doing laundry! Then I ask them to think about what things they could teach others how to do! I call on friends to share and we make an anchor chart. I keep this up throughout the unit so that if students are looking for an idea. Finally, students choose their 4 favorite ideas and write and draw about them in their graphic organizer.

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Day 2: Model a How-to book

I choose a simple topic and write a quick How-to book for students!

Modeling the writing process in a super simple way is so important because it encourages students and makes them feel like they can do it too! I usually write How to Feed a Cat because the kids always love hearing silly stories about my cat and get excited when I talk about her. I explain that because I have a cat and feed her every day, I am an expert! I wouldn’t write about How to Take a Dog for a Walk because I don’t have a dog! I model saying the steps first out loud then writing one step on each page. I don’t add details yet- later in the unit I will go back and model revising by adding more details to each page! One tip I have figured out for modeling writing is to have quick pictures sketched out ahead of time!

Independent Writing Time

After our mini lesson, students are ready to try out writing their first book! We get out our graphic organizers from the day before and students choose 1 topic to write about. I remind them to say the steps out loud first before writing or drawing! We sometimes practice this with our writing partner! While students are writing, I walk around and encourage them! This is their first try, and I am not expecting perfection!

Day 3: Shared Writing

For this lesson, we write another quick How To book- this time together. We brainstorm topics that we are all experts on! One of my favorite topics to write together is How to Book Shop. This has simple steps and they all know how to do it! I have students turn and talk to brainstorm steps using our transition words- first, next, then, and last. After writing our shared book students continue to work on their own How To books. They know that if they complete one book, they can visit the writing center for more paper and start a new book!

Week 2 and Week 3

Drafting Drafting Drafting!!!

These weeks are all about students writing LOTS of How-to books! Each day I teach a mini lesson with a quick teaching point that I know students can use. It could be making their directions more clear, saying hello to their reader with an introduction, choosing interesting words that keep their readers’ attention, using punctuation correctly, etc. I always have a flexible plan for what mini lessons I’m going to teach in the unit, but I can adjust to students’ needs. If I’m conferencing and seeing tons of students not starting their sentences with capital letters- we’re having a mini lesson on that the next day!! 

After each mini lesson, students write! They choose their own How-to topics and work on their books at their own pace. If they finish a book they know they should always re-read and ask themselves, can I add more? What could make this book better? And they revise. Once they are happy with a book. They can move it to the “Done” side of their folder and start a new book! You can find my Writer’s Workshop Folder Covers here!

Week 4: Publishing Week!

Woohoo! We made it to publishing week! At the beginning of the week, students choose their very favorite piece of writing. I always model looking through my writing pieces of various books I’ve written during mini lessons throughout the unit. I talk out loud about what I love about each one and show students how I can choose the one that I’m most proud of and that shows off my best writing skills. After students have picked their piece, each day I model some strategies for revising and editing. We work together on editing a class story from my writing folder using a checklist. Then students work on using the checklist on their own writing. To encourage students to actually revise and edit we always break out our very special revision pens! Students get to choose a colorful flair pen to use to make changes. This is SO motivating!

Students also “fancy-up” their books by coloring their pictures and adding a cover. We usually also add an About the Author page. 

Finally, it’s celebration time! Usually for this unit, we celebrate by taking our published book to the kindergarten classrooms at our school. I pair my first graders up with a kindergarten buddy and they get to share their book and teach their kindergarten friend about their topic. We rotate so that they get to share with several friends.

If you are interested in some How-to writing freebies, you can grab them here!

Have questions about How To Writing or Writing Workshop in general? Leave them for me in the comments! Happy writing!