EPISODE 17: Teaching Elementary Writing In First Grade: Procedural Writing
[00:00:00] Hey friends. Welcome back to the Firstieland Podcast. I’m your host, Molly Schwab, and this week’s shout-out goes to Patina Gal, who left this review: “I’ve really enjoyed listening to your podcast. I’ve been teaching for 28 years, and yes, I know what to do, but hearing it puts it all into perspective. You’ve hit some great points that’ll help so many teachers, old or new.”
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, and I can’t wait to hear more episodes to come. Well, you are very welcome, and I want to thank you for that wonderful review. You know, if you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d love to hear from you too and maybe give you a shout-out in the future. If you aren’t sure how to leave a review, just take a peek at the show notes and you can see exactly how to do it there.
I’ve had so many teachers reach out to me saying that teaching writing is their hardest subject. For some reason, a lot of teachers really aren’t given a curriculum to follow when they’re teaching writing, so I’m going to help you out today. Today’s episode is all about teaching procedural writing, or sometimes we call it how-to writing.
[00:01:00] In Episode 10, we talked about where to begin with writing instruction, which is with labeling. Then in Episode 12, we talked about teaching kids how to write a sentence. So after you listen today, be sure and go back to those episodes if you haven’t yet. But today we’re talking about procedural writing. So let’s get started.
Hey there, I’m Molly from Firstieland, a former elementary teacher with over 30 years of experience in kindergarten and first grade. I’m here to help make teaching a little easier and a lot more fun. Whether you’re looking for the perfect read-aloud, fresh writing ideas, or simple classroom tips, I’ve got quick, practical strategies you can use right away.
New teacher or experienced educator, there’s something for everyone in Firstieland. So grab your coffee and teacher bag. Let’s get [00:02:00] started.
Once your students are able to write a complete sentence, it’s time to learn how to put those sentences together to form a story of some kind.
I like to begin with procedural writing. So what exactly is that? Well, in a nutshell, it’s when you’re teaching someone how to do something. In first grade, the standards say that kids should learn three types of writing: opinion writing, narrative writing, and informative writing.
Procedural writing falls under the genre of narrative because kids have to put a sequence of events in order, and they also need to use temporal words in their writing. Temporal words are words that show the order of events, like first, next, then, and last. Kids in first grade should be able to write two to three sentences and also provide some kind of closing to their writing.
And as with everything I did in my classroom, I like to begin with a picture book. There are some great kids’ books that are examples of procedural writing. The first one that comes to mind is How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth by Michelle Robinson. [00:03:00] It’s a great choice because it has an introduction to the story, and then it tells step-by-step how to wash a woolly mammoth.
It uses the words “step one, step two,” etc., so it shows kids how to write the steps for something. Another cute book is How to Give Your Cat a Bath by Nicola Winstanley. It also gives step-by-step directions, so it’s good for teaching how-to writing. And then finally, another cute book is How to Babysit a Grandpa.
This book shows a little boy whose grandpa comes over to babysit him when his parents go out. But it’s written from the little boy’s perspective as though he’s babysitting his grandpa.
It’s very cute, and again, a good example of showing steps in order. So once you’ve shown kids what how-to writing looks like and explained to them that it’s about teaching someone something in step-by-step order, it’s time to do a little brainstorming.
So what I liked to do was tell my class that we were going to teach someone in the class how to do something. We would make a list [00:04:00] together of things the kids knew how to do in step-by-step order. For instance: packing their lunch, getting ready for bed, or making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
You can make a list like that with your class and then hang it somewhere in your classroom where kids can refer to it for ideas when they’re writing on their own.
The first time I taught kids how-to writing in my class, I liked to actually do something with them where we had to follow it step by step so we could write the steps.
I usually introduced how-to writing in the fall, so one of the things we would do is make pumpkin pie together.
I had a recipe for a no-bake pumpkin pie, and I’d get all the kids in a circle around a table and they’d help me make the pie. And then while the pie was setting up in the fridge, we’d write how to make pumpkin pie. Anytime you can use food in your lessons, kids love it. They’re super engaged. And of course they want to do the writing activity because they know when they finish, they’re going to get a piece of that pie.
[00:05:00] Anytime you’re teaching writing, I think it’s a good idea to use a gradual release of responsibility. Sometimes people call this the I do, we do, you do method. That means first you demonstrate to the kids how procedural writing looks. In this case, I’d use a large piece of chart paper and tell the kids I was going to write the steps for making pumpkin pie.
I’d tell them that to begin my writing, I wanted an opening sentence that tells people what they’d be reading about. So maybe my opening would be, Today we will make pumpkin pie, and I’d write that.
I’d count the words in my sentence and tell them, in this instance, that my sentence had six words. Each time I wrote a word, I’d reread the sentence from the start before I wrote the next word. When you teach kids to do that, it really helps them remember the words in their sentences so they don’t get confused.
So for instance, if your sentence is Today we will make pumpkin pie, then you would write the word “Today.” Then before you write the next word, you would start again with Today we, then write “we,” and [00:06:00] keep doing that. Today we will. Today we will make, and so on.
This repetition shows kids how to keep their sentences straight and get all the words down.
Once you have that opening sentence, you want to show them how to use the temporal words first, next, then, and last.
So your first sentence might be something like, First get the ingredients. Write about three or four sentences and use the temporal words first, then, next, and last to tell them how to make pumpkin pie.
And then at the end, you want to show them how to write a closing sentence. That should be something simple like, That is how you make pumpkin pie.
That’s where I would end the lesson for that day. Then the next day, you can come back and do the shared writing, or the “we do” portion. Get a new sheet of chart paper and have everyone meet at the [00:07:00] carpet together. Remind the kids about making pumpkin pie the day before, or whatever you made, and how you want to write the steps.
First, have them verbally remind you of the steps and then call on one student to help you get started.
I’d usually call up four to five kids for this part of the lesson and have them write the sentences. You can help them with any tricky words, but basically they’re writing the sentences with your support.
It’s important not to skip this step of the writing process because this is where kids begin to see themselves as writers. If their friend can do it, so can they. They begin to get more confidence that they can do this by watching the other kids.
And it’s important to call on kids of all abilities. Don’t just call on the kids you know can do it. Call on your struggling writers too. Even if they can only write one or two words, it’s okay.
That’s how they begin to gain confidence too.
Once you’ve finished the shared writing activity, you can send the kids back to their seats to try it on their own. [00:08:00] I usually had a writing template for them to use that had four pictures of how to make pumpkin pie, or whatever we were writing about. That was really helpful for the kids to remember the steps.
The important thing about this is for the kids to remember to use temporal words and have proper sentence structure with capitals, spaces, and punctuation.
And then for me, I usually liked to have the kids make some kind of craft to go with their writing. I don’t think they get the opportunity to be creative in schools as much as they used to.
So adding a little craft made writing more enjoyable for them because most of the kids liked that. For how to make pumpkin pie, we made a little craft that looked like a slice of pumpkin pie.
I usually introduced procedural writing in the fall, but we would revisit it often, usually at least once or twice a month throughout the year.
Lots of times we’d make something. For example, when we wrote about how to make lemonade, we’d actually make a pitcher of lemonade together and the kids got to drink it while they were writing.
[00:09:00] I’m a big believer in adding that hands-on portion to any lesson because that’s how you hook the kids into the lesson and get them interested. Every kid wants that cup of lemonade, right? So of course they’re going to want to do the writing.
Some of the other how-to writing activities we did were how to carve a jack-o’-lantern. And of course, we carved a pumpkin first. We did how to decorate a Christmas tree in December, how to build a snowman in January.
If there was snow on the ground, we actually went outside first and built a snowman before our writing lesson. But if there was no snow, I gave them each some white Play-Doh and let them build their own little mini snowman at their seats before they did their writing.
Anytime you can get that hands-on activity in there, it’s going to make your writing lesson more fun and interesting to kids, and that’s how you’ll get them to be interested in writing.
We wrote about how to make hot chocolate, how to fly a kite, how to catch a leprechaun—all sorts of procedural writing throughout the year. And that’s how you do it.
[00:10:00] So just to recap: teaching how-to writing is showing kids how to write the steps for how to do something in order.
Always use a gradual release of responsibility to build up their confidence before sending them back to write on their own. Show them how to use temporal words and proper sentence structure.
Anytime you can add a fun element like making something or adding a craft, that’s just going to strengthen your lesson and make it more interesting to kids—and that’s going to make them actually want to write.
Okay, friends, that’s it for today. And if you’re ready to get started and you’d like a little help, I have an entire unit of how-to writing prompts with lesson plans, templates, and crafts for you in my TPT store. I’ll put a link to it in the show notes along with all the books I mentioned today too.
If you want to try any of these lessons with your class, I’d love it if you’d share them on Instagram and tag me at Firstieland.
Until next time, take care and remember to make learning feel like play. See you next week.
[00:11:00] Thanks so much for tuning in. I hope you’re walking away with some great tips that you can use right away. Be sure to hit the follow or subscribe button so you never miss an episode.
And if you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d love it if you’d leave a review. You can find the show notes and links for everything mentioned in this episode at firstieland.com.
I’ll see you next week in Firstieland.