English Language Arts · Kindergarten · Young Authors: Writing with Purpose · Weeks 19-27

Creating Informative Texts

Using drawing, dictating, and writing to share information about a topic.

• Common Core State Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.2

About This Topic

Informative writing in Kindergarten connects students' curiosity about the world to the act of sharing knowledge with an audience. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.2 asks students to use drawing, dictating, and writing to supply information about a topic. At this stage, the central conceptual challenge is the distinction between telling a story and teaching a reader , students who can make that distinction have a powerful new writing mode available to them.

In US Kindergarten classrooms, informative writing pairs naturally with science and social studies units. A child who just completed a unit on butterflies has real knowledge to share. Teachers often anchor this work with mentor informational texts , Gail Gibbons books, National Geographic Kids , pointing out features like labels, diagrams, and topic sentences that distinguish information books from stories. These text features become tools students can borrow for their own writing.

Active learning approaches make informative writing richer because they surface shared knowledge. A gallery walk of student-illustrated fact pages lets writers see what their classmates know and often prompts them to add details they had overlooked. Teaching as a form of learning , when students explain a fact to a partner before writing it , deepens content retention and produces more specific, organized informational pieces.

Key Questions

1. Design an informational drawing that clearly explains a concept.
2. Explain how to organize facts to teach someone about a topic.
3. Compare how we share information in writing versus telling a story.

Learning Objectives

• Design an informational drawing that clearly explains a concept about a familiar topic.
• Explain how to organize facts to teach someone about a topic using dictated or written sentences.
• Compare how drawing, dictating, and writing can be used to share information about a topic.
• Identify key features of informational texts, such as labels and topic-specific facts.

Before You Start

Drawing and Labeling Familiar Objects

Why: Students need basic drawing skills and the ability to identify and label parts of objects to create informational drawings.

Oral Storytelling

Why: Understanding narrative structure in stories helps students differentiate it from the factual structure needed for informational writing.

Key Vocabulary

Informational Text	A type of writing that teaches the reader about a specific topic using facts and details.
Fact	A statement that can be proven true, used to share information about a topic.
Topic	The main subject or idea that the writing is about.
Label	A word or short phrase that identifies a part of a drawing or picture.
Dictate	To say words aloud for someone else to write down.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Students think informational writing means copying text from a book rather than expressing what they know in their own words.

What to Teach Instead

Emphasize that informational writers are teachers sharing their own knowledge. During writing conferences, ask 'Can you explain this to me in your own words?' Paired teaching practice before writing helps students find their explanatory voice rather than defaulting to reproduction of source text.

Common Misconception

Students believe a picture book is always a story and cannot be an information text.

What to Teach Instead

Read an information picture book alongside a narrative and build a T-chart of differences: characters vs. topics, events vs. facts, ending vs. summary. Physically sorting mentor texts into 'story' and 'information' bins makes the distinction concrete and gives students a sorting rule they can apply to new books independently.

Active Learning Ideas

Gallery Walk: Fact Wall

Students each create one illustrated fact page about a shared topic. Pages are posted around the room, and during the gallery walk, students add a sticky note to another student's page noting one new fact they learned from it. Authors read the sticky notes and consider adding those facts to their own pages.

25 min·Individual

Think-Pair-Share: What Do You Know?

Before beginning an informational piece, students partner-share everything they already know about the topic. One partner records key words with drawings while the other talks, then they switch roles. Both students use their shared notes as a starting point for their own fact pages.

15 min·Pairs

Expert Chair: Teach It

After completing their informational drawing and dictation, individual students sit in the Expert Chair to explain their topic in their own words. Classmates ask one genuine question, which the expert either answers or notes as something to research further. The teacher records unanswered questions for shared inquiry.

20 min·Whole Class

Real-World Connections

• Museum curators create informational displays with drawings, labels, and facts to teach visitors about historical artifacts or scientific discoveries.
• Park rangers write informational signs and brochures to educate visitors about local wildlife, plant life, and safety rules in national parks.
• Children's book authors and illustrators create informational books about animals, vehicles, or the human body, using drawings and simple facts to engage young readers.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

Give students a drawing of a familiar animal (e.g., a dog). Ask them to dictate or write one fact about the animal and label one part of the drawing. Collect and review for understanding of 'fact' and 'label'.

Quick Check

Present students with two short texts: one a simple story about a bear, the other a few facts about bears with a drawing. Ask students to point to the text that teaches them about bears and explain why. Observe their reasoning.

Discussion Prompt

Ask students: 'Imagine you want to teach a friend how to build a tower with blocks. What would you draw? What would you say? What would you write down?' Facilitate a brief discussion comparing these methods for sharing information.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I help Kindergarteners organize their informational writing?

Use a simple three-box graphic organizer: topic, two facts, one closing statement. Even a drawing with a label for each box gives students enough structure to produce a coherent piece. Physical object sorting , grouping real items by category before writing , helps students think about how to organize what they know before they put anything on paper.

What does CCSS W.K.2 expect from Kindergarten informative writing?

Students should name a topic and supply some information about it through any combination of drawing, dictating, or writing. A labeled diagram with one dictated sentence fully meets the standard. The complexity expectation increases substantially in first grade, so Kindergarten informative writing is appropriately simple and topic-focused.

How can active learning improve Kindergarten informational writing?

When students teach a peer what they know before writing, they discover gaps in their understanding and surface richer details. Partner-teaching sessions of even two minutes act as a pre-writing rehearsal that produces more specific and better-organized fact pages. The gallery walk format also creates authentic audience motivation that improves writing effort.

How is informative writing different from narrative writing in Kindergarten?

Informative writing teaches the reader something true about a topic, organized around facts. Narrative writing tells a sequence of events, often with a personal response. The clearest test for young students: 'Are you teaching someone something, or telling them what happened?' This question gives students a self-sorting tool they can apply when choosing a writing mode.