Standard 3: Critical Reading and Writing

Students will apply critical thinking skills to reading and writing.

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

• Students will compose an informational  piece of writing to explain ideas.

• Students will select and maintain an appropriate text structures for their topic.

• Students will introduce a topic and compose a well-developed thesis statement.

• Students will address separate aspects of the topic in each paragraph.

• Students will add relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples to develop the topic.

• Students will transition between ideas and concepts using appropriate words and phrases.

• Students will write a conclusion to bring all ideas to a close. 

• Teachers share mentor text of strong informative essays and reports about topics that
• incorporate evidence (e.g., specific facts, examples, details) and maintain an organized structure.
• use appropriate text structures and text features for clarity.
• maintain a well-organized structure for the informative writing introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Teachers model how to
• introduce a topic and compose a well-developed thesis statement.
• add relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples to develop the topic.
• use transitions between ideas and concepts using appropriate words and phrases.
• write a conclusion to bring all ideas to a close.
• Teachers allow time for students to practice composing informational pieces while realizing not every piece needs to be taken completely through the writing process.  

Supporting Resources 

Teacher Insights

• The Power Paragraph Writing Fix (PDF)
• WritingFix: prompts, lessons, and resources for writing classrooms (webpage)
• OK ELA Frameworks: Informational Writing Literacy Progression (webpage)
• OSDE Informative Exemplars (PDF)
• OSDE Writing Rubric with ELA OAS (PDF)
• learnzillion.com: Informative writing/write along videos (video)

• Informative writing is factual writing about a nonfiction topic.

• The main goal of informational writing is to increase knowledge by providing straightforward information on a topic.

• Writers  establish the main idea with a strong introduction that captures the reader’s attention.

• Ideas for Strong Introductions: include an unusual fact, ask a question, include vivid description, tell a brief story

• Writers restate the main idea with a strong conclusion.

• Ideas for Strong Conclusions: summarize key points, make a prediction, offer an opinion or a suggestion, explain the topic’s importance

• Transitional words and phrases  guide the reader easily and clearly from one idea to the next.

• Introduce students to simple rubrics or checklists. It is helpful to use the OSDE rubric for 5th grade writing and adapt wording for age appropriateness.

• Teachers  choose 1-3 skills to focus on for a piece of writing and not overwhelm students with a long list at this beginning stage.

• Informative Writing Example

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.