10 Informational Writing Prompts ~Teach Hooks / Leads, Details, Closing Sentence

One of the important kinds of writing you will teach your kiddos during the year is informative writing which is often done through reading and responding to what they’ve learned.

Here are *10* structured writing prompts to assist your writers. They are great scaffolds to reinforce hooks/leads, details, and a closing sentence. Each piece has an idea bank for ideas. They are also ideal for homework so kids can work with parents one on one. They give parents an easy to follow model so they can be involved with their child’s writing. (In my own classroom, I save these drafts as a publishing option in their writing folder.) To meet the diverse levels of your writers, some kids may need to complete many of the prompts as a scaffold, but just as many kids will transition to their own independent writing and topics of choice more quickly.

Included here are 4 “How to” prompts that are relatable and easy for kids to write about. Two levels are included- one of them being even more structured with dashed printing help for struggling writers. Prompts include:
How to Blow Bubbles
How to Bake Cookies
How to Make a Sandwich
How to Brush Your Teeth

The other informational prompt topics are common and useful with a variety of books that you might already have in your classroom library, or can be checked out from the school library:
Bald Eagle
Bones
Ocean Garbage
Polar Bears
Spiders
Sea Turtles

However, an easy and effective way to use each one of these prompts above is with a Readworks.org passage. I love them because kids can highlight information right on the printed passages. Readworks.org provides well done leveled reading passages on a huge variety of topics to boost comprehension skills. They have lots of levels and tons of topics. If you haven’t used them before, check them out. Try the Bald Eagle- Type it in the search box on the top right of the Readworks website, and it is the first passage that comes up. It has a Lexile Level of 510L. Easy as that!

My hope is that this resource strengthens your little writers, and makes your teaching easier!