This page is designed to share the ABC Informational Texts we have written in class as a result of our ABC informational text unit of study.  Our course text, Units of Study is based on the underlying framework that what we write should be inspired by what we read. From immersing ourselves in a variety of well-written literary nonfiction text and spending time in close study noticing author's craft, we have each tried our hands at writing our own ABC informational texts.  Please post yours here and specifically address "What have you read that is like what you are trying to write?"  In other words, let us know your mentor text(s) and any author's craft you were intentional about implementing.   *Please add your first and last name and the title and author of your text with your post. 

ABC Informational Text Inspired Writing

The following are excerpts from my second graders writing. Each is a small portion of what they wrote due to the length of their 26 page books.

Amber McDonald's ABC Inspired Writing as a class:

ABC Book of Jobs:

A is for an Apple Farmer. Apple farmers get apples from trees. People buy apples because they are healthy.

C is for Construction Workers. Construction workers provide houses.

K is for Karate Instructors. Karate is very hard to do. You have to be good at it.

S is for Snake Charmer. A snake charmer is a person that trains snakes such as cobras, pithons, and rattlesnakes.

Z is for Zoo Keepers. Zoo Keepers work with animals and feed them.

Then after we made a class book students were to think of a topic that they were interested in or one that they thought would make a great informational text. Below is a sample of a few students work.

My ABC book of School Stuff  by Sarah

A is for Adjectives. An adjective is a word that describes something.

K is for Keyboard. You use a keyboard to type a paper.

Z is for Zebra. You draw zebras in Art.

My ABC book of Verbs  by Edgar

A is for ask. I would like to ask my teacher to sharpen my pencil.

K is for kick. I practice the kick I couldn't do.

Z is for zip. I zipped my jacket.

ABC book of Food by Lauren

A is for Apple. Apples are nutritious to eat.

K is for Kix cereal. I have not tried Kix cereal before.

Y is for yokes. Yokes come from eggs.

ABC's of Dogs  by Katlynne

A is for Airedale Terrier. Airedale Terriers are nice dogs.

K is for Kerry Blue Terrier. A Kerry Blue can have some blue looking hair on it.

Z is for Zuchon. A Zuchon looks like a Shitzu.  

     Students truly enjoyed completing their ABC books about a topic of their choice. They loved being able use what they knew and learned about how to write an informational text. The part that I found most enjoyable was that how their "fancy smancy words" were used more often in their daily writing. They also have the ability now to notice ABC books when they see them and be able to say, "Look they wrote a sentence like I did, so this book must be an informational ABC book".  Success!! 

*ABC Informational Text:  World War II Unit by Kimberly Barnette

My students had a great time on this project.  This is the first time that I included mentor texts and have them complete noticings chart to guide them through their ABC book.  Many of my studnets created a true childrens book.  The details almost mimick their mentor texts that they used in the classroom.  I liked that even though there where many ABC books that had the same style some of my students created their own style, but made it work within their book as a new text structure.  I was truely impressed with their work, and I know it was because we went throught the writing process.  some examples of their work are:

ABC sample 1.doc by Haley

ABC sample 2.doc  by Kayla

ABC sample 3.doc  by Chad

ABC sampl 4.doc  by David

ABC sample 5.doc  by Melinda

ABC sample 6.doc  by Elise

 Martha Vest's ABC Unit Project 

Reflection:

I chose the ABC Book for my Unit of Study.  I teach 6^th grade Math, so this was a good fit for me and my students.  We are reviewing feverishly for the PASS test and focusing much time on vocabulary.

As they make their PASS Review folders, they are including the definitions and sketches.

As mentor texts and immersion, I picked several ABC books from our school library. These are:

-ABC Book of Early Americana

-I Spy-An Alphabet In Art

-Ashanti To Zulu-African Traditions

We did a class noticing chart for these.

Together we noticed these things:

-excellent drawings and illustrations to draw reader in

-large font for the main word/page

-large font throughout

-often uses humor

-sometimes uses humorous pictures to stir up interest

-large sized books

Students enjoyed the “baby-ness” of this project.  They considered it a nice break from the seriousness of the PASS CRAM.  They enjoyed getting creative and finding pictures in magazines and just coming up with funny ways to represent the concepts.

Their creative juices have been flowing and they have come up with some beautiful artwork and some innovative ways to represent geometric concepts. 

Included on each letter page is a definition and then a sentence or two of real world application.

I think I will use this exact project next year!  They have been so excited and inspired.

Beautiful way to spur them to look for and appreciate geometry in the real world

Inspired Writing by students

Alex Ulanov’s ABC BOOK was well thought out, neat, and creative.

“A is for ACUTE ANGLE.  An acute angle is an angle that measures less than 90 degrees.  Remember- this type is small and is “a cute little angle” !!

“P is for PARALLEL. Parallel lines are in the same plane but never intersect.  A transversal cutting through these parallel lines would make 8 right angles.  The two LLs in the middle of this word look like two train tracks.”

Anna Mateva’s ABC BOOK was a masterpiece!

“C is for COMPLEMENTARY ANGLES.  These angles fit inside a 90 degree angle and they add up to 90 degrees.  They snuggle each other and say the compliment , “You’re just RIGHT for me!”

“T is for TRAPEZOID. A trapezoid is a quadrilateral with only 1 set of parallel lines.  This shape looks like a bunny trap made from a box with a stick and a carrot!”

“R is for RHOMBUS. A rhombus is a quadrilateral, a parallelogram with 4 equal sides.  Rhombuses can be squares or they can be diamonds. This shape is the hardest to remember!”

Unit of Study: ABC Informational Text Inspired Writing 

Kelly Compton

Reflection:

            I think using these mentor text helped to guide the unit. They especially were able to relate to The ABC’s of Fishing because it was written by children and it was easy and simple for them to understand. They like the other mentor text and they were beneficial to the unit of study but they were more in-depth and harder to understand. They were excited about writing their own ABC books. I heard several exciting commits about writing them. I introduced the unit by explaining the craft of ABC writing, read the books, made a noticings chart, and created a class book as the model with the topic of school.  I had them pick a broad topic then create an ABC chart to brainstorm their words for the book. We helped each other as a class to come up with some of the words on the chart. Next they began to create the book with sentences and illustrations. I would use more mentor text and more 1^st grade friendly mentor text next time. 

 ABC Charts.pdf

Work Samples for ABC books.pdf