Writing to Describe

In many of our units, students will be asked to research and write information reports on the things they have learned about. Information reports often fall under the purpose of Writing to Describe. During our STP and WWAIPAT units, there are strong links to descriptive writing and information reports. On these pages you will find slide shows and learning engagements that support our learning of writing and reading. This page will also be home to many learning engagements related to writing to describe in general. As with our other purposes for writing, you can also find information about parts of speech and language features on our Grammar and Editing page. 

As we learn about descriptive writing, it is important for us to think about the central ideas from our STP and WWAIPAT units...

"People can make choices to support the sustainability of the Earth’s resources." 

​"The present connects to the past."

Information Reports

Prior Knowledge - We know a lot about a great many things. To show your prior knowledge, pick a topic that you know a lot about and tell us about it in an information report. This could be a favourite animal, or a place that you've travelled. It could be a person from history, or an event, or an invention - anything really. Try to avoid topics like games, where you are explaining, or giving steps for rules. 

Pre Assessment - To find out more about what you know about the structure of an information report, we will look at one of the texts in the Sorting activity located below. After reading the text, try to find and highlight different key words in the text, as well as any language features and text features that you feel are important. 

Sorting and Reading Information Reports - As with any writing we do, we can get better by reading. Seeing many different information reports will give us a good sense of what to look for, including language features, text features, organisational framework and content. Look through the texts that are attached and gather other information reports to sort into different categories. These reports can also be used for different engagements, as when we are going on scavenger hunts and playing information report detectives.

​Fact vs Opinion - When we are writing information reports, we are most concerned about the facts. But how do we tell the difference between a fact and an opinion? Watch the BrainPop Jr. Video to the right and try to figure out the difference between the two. Write down some facts and some opinions and share them with a friend. See if they can tell which one is which.

Describing Games - To get better at describing, there are some games that we can play. With a classmate or in a group, read the instructions for the games below. Try your best to improve your ability to describe while playing each of the games. The instructions for each game are located below.
  • I Spy - Pick an object that you can see. Give a hint by saying "I spy, with my little eye, something that is..." After you have given your hint,  let the other players guess. Keep giving hints until one of the players correctly guesses your object. Let the player who guesses correctly become the next spy.
  • True or False - Pick a person, place or thing. The other person guesses what they think it is. You can only answer by saying True, or False. The other player keeps guessing until they get it right. Once they get it right, change who is guessing.
  • 20 Questions - This game is just like True or False, except the answers can only be Yes or No. They guesser also only has 20 questions in which to guess the answer.
  • Who am I? What am I? - Pick a famous person or a well known animal. You then have to describe that person or animal without saying it's name. The other students have to guess what they think it is.​
Description Web - A description web is helpful when you have a particular subject or thing and you want to make sure you describe it in many different ways. There is a blank web attached, but you can very easily make your own by putting your subject in the middle and then creating circles and branches around that subject. Each circle would be a different description of that subject. This could be things like colour, shape, texture, position, size, etc. Or it could be more specific to the subject you are writing about like the example to the left.

Word Web - Word Webs are a lot like description webs, except the webs can go in all directions and can connect together in strange and interesting ways. Word webs are great when we are finding out about something new. Each key word we write down may end up connecting with other key words. Try to create your own word webs about subjects you know a lot about and then try creating them while you are finding out about something new.

Guess What - This is a fun game, kind of like 20 question or Who am I? What Am I? From your list of key words, or your Glossary or Word Wall, write a few sentences that describe each of your words, without saying what the word actually is. Your partner will then read your sentences and have to guess what words you are describing. 
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Word Wall - Continuing on with our game of Guess What and the research we are doing, you may find that some of the key words you have found in your research might be great words to add to our spelling lists, or to the class word wall. You may choose to add that word to the word wall in the class, or to the Padlet on our spelling page relating to each of our Units of Inquiry.

Glossary - Furthermore, you may want to add key words to a glossary at the back of your Unit of Inquiry books, along with definitions of the key words that you have found. Be sure to share your glossary with others in the class so that they can build on their vocabulary as well.
Text Feature Scavenger Hunt - Using one or more of the information reports that we have found, and your keen eye, try to highlight and find different features that are common in pieces of writing meant to describe. Highlighting these features is not enough though, try to label what these features are and write down why you think they are important. 

Make a list of the features you think you would find in most information reports. After you have done that, watch the video to the left and see if some of the features you listed are also in other Nonfiction texts.

Parts of Speech and Language Features Scavenger Hunt - Information reports also have certain parts of speech and language features that you may happen to find in your scavenger hunt. Highlight and list any of that you find to go with your other list.

​Graphic Overlay - To the left you will find a picture of an information report, and beside it, a picture showing where the different features of the text are. Take a look at different information reports and draw similar pictures to show where each feature is located. Why are these features important? Are the features often located in the same place, or different places on the page?

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words - Try looking at information reports where the pictures and captions and other information have been removed. What do you notice? How could they be improved. Create your own images for these reports, or go back to reports that you have written to add in pictures and captions of your own. 
Captions - Click on the link to find a series of 200 or so photos - some silly, some serious - none of which have a caption at the bottom. Using some of these photos, as well as others that you find in newspapers and information reports, try your hand at writing different captions to describe the action that is going on. Captions are often quite creative, as they are meant to draw possible readers in to reading the rest of the article or report - so, points will be awarded for creative captions. 

Rapid Research - How much can you find out in a very short period of time? Try to find out as much about a topic as possible in 10 minutes, then report back what you find to the class. What techniques did you use? What sources were the best for finding out the most information?

The Research Process - When we are writing information reports, it is important for us to follow a research process. We want to come up with an Inquiry Question, write down what we already know about the subject, find good sources of information, find key words, use our visual note taking and take jot notes and finally, we want to write what we find in our own words. It can be a lot of work. Use the template to the right to help you with the process of doing your research on different areas of interest throughout the year and read below to find out about each of the steps.
  • Big Inquiry Question - The first thing we need to do when researching is to come up with a question that we will want to research. This could be a simple sounding question, like, "What is there to know about cheetahs?" or a more challenging sounding question, like, "How can I help to prevent climate change?" Either way, it always starts with a big question. From that big question, there are often smaller questions to help direct your research. What smaller questions might you have if you want to know about cheetah's? What smaller questions might you have if you want to know about climate change?
  • Prior Knowledge - Often, we already know something about what we are researching. Before starting, write down what you know. However, be prepared to find information that may be different from what you think. We may think we know something, but in our research we may find what we believe to not be true.
  • Finding Good Sources - What makes a good source? What makes a good source good? Work together to create a list of sources that you can use when doing your research. What is the difference between a primary and secondary source?
  • Finding Key Words - Before you start writing down jot notes and long sentences, try to find key words, or technical vocabulary that might be important to answering your question. These words will help to make your information report sound more interesting and credible.
  • Jot Notes and Visual Note Taking - Should we write everything we find out just as it is written? Definitely not. That would be plagerizing someone else's work. Should we write everything in full sentences? Definitely not, as well. Why not? What are jot notes and Visual Note Taking and how do they help us?​