Mr. Salsich's Class
Third Grade Explorations in Learning
“Did you know…?” – Writing Informational Paragraphs
In writing we have been working on informational paragraphs about topics that interest us. The purpose of informational, or nonfiction, writing is to explain facts and share information with the reader.
We have learned how to start with a topic sentence that introduces the subject of the paragraph and then add supporting sentences with details about that subject. The paragraph should have at least three supporting details. Finally, a good informational paragraph ends with a closing sentence that wraps things up.
Here is an example from Grant, with the topic sentence in red, the supporting details in green, and the closing sentence in blue:
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Snow Leopard Adaptations
As you can see, we have also been working on adding smooth transitions between our sentences.
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Informational writing usually also has special text features to help the reader understand the information. Some of these features are diagrams, charts, headings, photographs with captions, and bold words.
We used our iPads and the apps Skitch and Comic Life to create diagrams for some of our informational paragraphs. Here is an example by Maddie, explaining the main ingredients of tacos:
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Tacos!
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Below are links to some of our paragraphs and diagrams that we typed using Google Drive. Check them out and you just might learn something new!
Technology in School by Brendan
How Cheetahs Run Fast by Kali
Cavemen Artists by Sean
Snow Leopard Adaptations by Grant
Coral Reefs by Ivy
Elf on The Shelf by Lindsey
How Gillies Are Different From Other Shoes by Piper
Rob Gronkowski by Collin
How Penguins Survive in the Cold by Sophia
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January 28th, 2013 at 8:47 pm
Dear Students of Mr. Salsich,
Congratulations for doing such fine work on your informational paragraphs. I loved reading them, and the diagrams were exceptional. I look forward to seeing more of your superb work as the year goes along.
Sincerely,
Mr. Hamilton Salsich
January 29th, 2013 at 7:51 am
I love how you chose topics that are of interest to you. Your captions illustrate this as well. Great job!
January 30th, 2013 at 7:12 am
I am a fourth grade teacher and my class is learning how to write a personal essay. Your example was fantastic. How did you up load the actual paragraphs?
January 31st, 2013 at 10:17 am
What a lovely idea to publish writing in Google docs, I’m totally stealing that idea for my blog.
Miss Tyler-Smith
Teacher to 9-12yr old, mixed grade Montessori class in Cape Town, South Africa
http://www.m9-p12.blogspot.com
February 1st, 2013 at 3:20 am
Dear Mr Salsich and Grade 3,
I was interested to note the way you are integrating the ipads and laptops into your writing and science programs.
I’ve been using Skitch on my ipad at home and I like it too.
I had no idea what gillies were so I just had to find out by reading Piper’s informational paragraphs.
I also had never thought about how sharp a penguin’s toenails would need to be – just like mini icepicks!
We are getting a couple of ipads in our class soon so I’m definitely going to add those apps to our list.
Regards,
Mrs McKenzie
February 2nd, 2013 at 5:09 pm
Dear Mr Salsich,
I really like your blog. It is really colorful and it has a lot of information. I read your post and I love the pictures, that you put in it.
I have a new blog, I just got it up on Friday, my link is http://www.arisafari.edublogs.org Good luck with your class and blog.
From,
Ariel (in Mr.Avery’s class)
February 3rd, 2013 at 12:06 pm
Dear Mr.Salsich,
I really enjoy visiting your blog. Mr. Avery just gave me one, so I was wondering if you and a couple students could visit it. http://www.3cheers.edublogs.org If you have recently visited my sister, Taite’s blog(speaking of Taite)than you have probably heard of me. Thanks a lot!
Tristan-
February 3rd, 2013 at 5:46 pm
Dear Mr Salsich’s Class,
Great work! I enjoyed reading your information paragraphs, and thought you did a really good job of integrating Google docs and Skitch/Comic Life. I will have to check that one out!
We are writing Explanation Texts in A Room with a View at the moment, so it will be good to look at your work to get some hints and tips.
Thanks Piper, now I know what gillies are. I was wondering if they were like wellies, but they’re not!
Regards,
Mrs Monaghan
February 4th, 2013 at 10:25 am
Dear Mr. Salsich’s Class,
We enjoyed reading your post on informational writing. We read about Snow Leopard’s written by Grant. His topic sentence introduced the idea well. We learned that a Snow Leopard’s tail helps it to balance. Thank you for teaching us something new! We also read Kali’s writing about cheetahs. We noticed that she used transistional words. The transistional words made her writing sound wonderful. Great job on this terrific post!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Moore and the 5th Grade Techie Kids
February 4th, 2013 at 12:02 pm
Dear Grant,
I liked that you said “for example their paws are like sand paper so they won’t slid on the deadly rocks.”
Your friend,
Kali
February 4th, 2013 at 12:04 pm
Dear Collin,
I really liked your informational paragraph and diagram about Rob Gronkowski. I agree with you that Gronk is fantastic! I think it was amazing that Gronkowski scored 17 touchdowns in only one season, (2011). I think, that you will be that good when you grow up, if your still playing.
You also used a lot of good transitions in your writing. One of them that I liked was “finally.”
Your Friend,
Wynn
February 4th, 2013 at 12:05 pm
Dear Ivy,
I really liked your informational writing about coral reefs. One fact I found interesting is that an animal called a polyp lives in coral I’d think it’s a hotel if I was a polyp. I also liked how you used “for example” as a transition word.
You Friend,
Brendan
February 4th, 2013 at 12:05 pm
Dear Kali,
I liked how you told us that cheetahs have claws to grip the ground. I also liked the transitions you used like “first, also, third” and “can you imagine that!”
Your Friend,
Maddie
February 4th, 2013 at 12:07 pm
Dear Ivy,
I really liked your informational writing about coral reefs. One fact I found interesting was fish have strong teeth to eat hard coral. I never knew that some fish eat coral. I also liked one of your transition phrases you used like ”in addition the dense coral formations provide safety for small fish.”
Your friend,
Piper
February 4th, 2013 at 12:07 pm
Dear Piper,
I really liked your article about gillies. One fact I found interesting was that you have to keep your gillies clean and why gillies are black.
Sincerely,
Nora
February 4th, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Dear Sean,
I really liked your writing about Cavemen being the first artists. One transition word I liked was In addition.
Keep up the good writing!
From,
Grant
February 4th, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Dear Brendan,
I liked your paragraph about technology in school! One fact I really liked about your paragraph was when you said every class gets to use ipads in class every week. You also had good transition words like “for example, also, most of all, and finally.” I liked that one most of all. p.s. I love school a lot too.
Your friend,
Alicia
February 4th, 2013 at 12:10 pm
Dear Lindsey,
I really liked your informational writing about the elf on the shelf. One fact I found interesting was that if you touch the elf on the shelf he will be in big trouble. I also thought the picture of the elf and the speech bubbles was cool.
From,
Cayla
February 4th, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Dear Piper,
I think your paragraph about Gillies was fantastic! One very interesting thing I read is that Gillies are different from real shoes because they don’t have soles.
I liked how you used many different transitions but my favorite was when you said “For Example, if you were not on your tiptoes with your toes pointed then the judges would take off points, but sometimes they don’t see you.”
Sincerely,
Ivy
February 4th, 2013 at 12:12 pm
Dear Sean,
Your informational paragraph is astonishing! A fact that really got my attention was…… Well, it not really a fact. Its the story about the boys that discovered the cave paintings.
I really liked when you wrote ”in addition, the human race has proof.”
Your friend,
Bennett
February 4th, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Dear Collin,
I never knew that in 2011 Gronkowski had 90 receptions, that sounds awesome. I also liked the transition phrases you used. One of my favorites was when you said “first, he is good at catching the ball.” One other one I liked was when you said “finally, he runs fast for a big guy.” I like your story about Rob Gronkowski.
From,
Ryan
February 4th, 2013 at 12:16 pm
Dear Grant,
I loved your paragraph about Snow Leopards. One fact I found VERY interesting was the fact that Snow Leopards can hear it’s prey’s footsteps from MILES away! Plus I loved the transition words, “for example, amazingly, and finally.”
Your friend,
Sean
February 4th, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Dear Collin,
I also think that Rob is a fantastic player but Clay Matthews and Jimmy Grahm are better. Anyways I like the transition words you used like “finally”, and “did you know.” I did not know that Gronkowski had 90 receptions in 2011.
From,
Cole
P.S.Aaron is better than Tom.
February 4th, 2013 at 12:19 pm
Dear Sean,
I really think your writing is really cool. I really think the thing about boy A and boy B was very cool because they found a caveman’s skeleton. Everything was very cool.
From,
Trey
February 4th, 2013 at 12:21 pm
Dear Brendan,
I thought your paragraph on technology in school was great. One interesting fact that I liked was that these are the reasons why you like school. One transition word I liked was “finally.”
Your awesome friend,
Sophia
February 4th, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Dear Lindsey,
It was interesting to learn about an elf on the shelf. So does the elf hide every night or something? What I learned from your article was you can’t touch the elf on the shelf or it loses its magic. One transition phrase was “in addition if the elf on the shelf gets touched it will not move to a new spot.” I liked it because it’s good.
Your friend,
Natalia
February 4th, 2013 at 12:38 pm
Dear Sophia,
I really liked your informational writing about penguins. One fact I found interesting was that penguins have razor sharp toenails to grip the ground.
I also liked the transition phrases you used. One of my favorite ones was when you said “can you imagine swimming in the freezing cold Antarctic
ocean like a penguin
Your friend,
Jacob
February 4th, 2013 at 12:41 pm
Dear Sophia,
I really liked your informational writing about how penguins survive in the cold! One interesting thing I liked about your writing was that they have amazing and wonderful eyesight to help them hunt!
I also liked your amazing transition words like when you said, “Finally they have a sharp beak to eat through tough fish and make hunting easier!”
Your friend,
Lindsey
March 15th, 2013 at 8:07 pm
Your dancing was SO amazing Piper. When are you going to the World competition? GOOD LUCK!!!