How-To Essay Lesson Plan: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
*Click to open and customize your own copy of the How-To Essay Lesson Plan.
This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP Jr. topic How-To Essay, and supports the standard of writing informative and explanatory texts to convey information clearly and accurately. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.
Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Prompt students:
- Imagine you are welcoming a new student to our school. What directions would you give them to find our classroom? What steps should they follow?
Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE
- Play the How-To Essay movie.
- Click the pause button each time a question appears in Annie’s Notebook and discuss it as a class. Then play to see how Annie answers it.
TIP: The pause button turns red to remind you to pause.
Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS
Students take the Easy Quiz or Hard Quiz, demonstrating what they learned about the topic while applying essential literacy skills.
Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND
Students express what they learned about how-to essays while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student or grade-level needs.
- Draw About It: Draw the materials you need to plant a seed.
- Activity: Create a set of exercises for Moby.
- Talk About It: Write how to do something in the flowchart.
- Write About It: Write the steps for making your favorite sandwich.
More to Explore
Writing Unit: Continue to build understanding around writing a how-to essay by exploring more BrainPOP Jr. topics.
Teacher Support Resources:
