Let's Get Cooking With Words! Creating a Recipe Using Procedural Writing

Author(s):
Shanea Broadhacker and Ashley Williams (Section #19017)
Lesson plan found on www.readwritethink.org
(Author not listed)

Grade Level:
3rd grade

Timeframe: This lesson will consist of 7 sessions that last for 45 minutes each.

Lesson Description or Explanation
This lesson will show knowledge of understanding the aspects of procedural writing. The lesson will immerse the students in the genre of procedural writing and using word choice specific to the genre as a writing trait. They will learn how to write specific steps for a certain task, using appropriate nouns, verbs, adjectives, and linking words while doing so.

Indiana Curricular Standards
3.2 Students read and understand grade-level-appropriate material. (English)
3.6 Students write using Standard English conventions appropriate to this grade level. (English)
3.1 Students understand the relationships among numbers, quantities, and place value in whole numbers up to 1,000. They understand the relationship among whole numbers, simple fractions, and decimals. (Math)
3.5 Students choose and use appropriate units and measurement tools for length, capacity, weight, temperature, time, and money. (Math)

ISTE Standards
1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

Assessments
Formative/Summative
Formative:
We will use writing conferences with the students, their journals, and participation in discussions (during mini lessons) to track their progress. All of these combined will give us the information we need to guide the lessons.
Summative:
The students will create a recipe that they present to the class in the form of a “cooking show” as their final assessment to the unit. This will show they have mastered the genre of procedural writing.

Prior Knowledge
Curricular Knowledge or Skills: The students know what appropriate nouns, verbs, adjectives, and linking words are. They can use these to create proper sentences and stories.
Technology Knowledge: The students know how to properly use the internet, and computer programs such as Word, Power Point, etc.

We will have the students write what they think a recipe looks like. We will use this artifact to guide our teaching.

Technology
We need cook books, Stone Soup by Marcia Brown, Macbeth for Kids by Lois Burdett, The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman, Piggie Pie! by Margie Palatini, Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey, Baloney by Jon Scieszka, Henny-Penny by Jane Wattenberg, “stage props” for video recording of cooking shows, materials to publish their recipes, and writing journals.

Internet Resources: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/kids/recipes.html,

Hardware: We will need computers with internet access and video cameras, TV, VCR/DVD player, and an overhead projector.

Software: We will need Microsoft Word.

Procedure

Session 1: An Introduction to Word Choice
1. Introduce the concept of word choice to students. Explain that this is the use of interesting, creative, and effective vocabulary or words in a piece of writing. Ask students to provide their idea of word choice by asking specific questions.
• How would you describe word choice?
• What are some things that we might see in a piece of writing that demonstrate good word choice?
• How might you think about word choice when you are writing?
Prompt students to come up with key parts of speech, including nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

2. Tell students you are going to read the story Hello, Harvest Moon by Ralph Fletcher. Ask students to think about effective nouns, verbs, and adjectives that the author uses throughout the story. Tell students that they should be able to provide an explanation for their answers. Possible questions include:
• Why did you like the noun/verb/adjective that the author used?
• What made that noun/verb/adjective stand out for you?

3. Read the story to students and discuss the nouns, verbs, and adjectives that students choose as effective words used by the author. List these nouns, verbs, and adjectives and the book’s title on the chart paper you have prepared.

4. Conclude the session by reading all of the students’ choices listed on the chart paper as a whole group.

Session 2: Group Activity to Enhance Understanding of Word Choice
1. Review what word choice means and have students reiterate their understanding of this writing trait. Tell students that they will be working in small groups to review and develop a better understanding of good word choice in pieces of writing. You can determine the number of students in each group, which typically should range from three to five students. Students should be grouped heterogeneously to allow for a variety of reading and writing levels in each group.

2. Assign one of the following books to each group of students:
• The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman
• Piggie Pie! by Margie Palatini
• Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey
• Baloney by Jon Scieszka
• Henny-Penny by Jane Wattenberg
Tell students that they will read the story as a group and select the nouns, verbs, and adjectives that they feel were used effectively, creatively, or interestingly by the author.

3. Tell students to select one group member to be the reader and another member to be the recorder, and that the rest of the group members will be the word finders. You could also have students share the roles of reader, recorder, and word finders.

4. After the story has been read, students should use the Word Choice handout to record their information and word choices (i.e., group members, book title, author, nouns, verbs, and adjectives).

5. At the end of the session, have groups share their findings with the whole class by providing some background on the book they read, and some of the words they chose to include on their list, along with a rationale for choosing those words.

Session 3: An Introduction to Procedural Writing
1. Remind students that writing involves choosing the best words to communicate ideas so that the reader will understand an author’s message. Then explain that some writing involves telling the reader how to do something or how to make something. With that groundwork laid, you can move on to the concept of a procedure, or a procedural piece of writing. Examples of procedures are recipes, rules for games or sports, science experiments, and how-to guides.

2. Explain to students that there are several important components to a procedure; these include a purpose, materials or ingredients, steps, and a conclusion. List the elements on chart paper and make sure that students understand what they are.

3. Read the story Stone Soup by Marcia Brown to the class and ask them to listen for all of the components of a procedure throughout the story. After reading the story, ask students what type of procedure was used (making a recipe for stone soup).

4. Guide the students step by step through the process of writing a procedure (recipe) for making stone soup.
a. Ask students to identify the purpose or the goal the characters wished to achieve in the story; that is, to make stone soup.
b. Ask students to identify the ingredients or materials that were necessary in making stone soup.
c. Discuss with students the steps that were followed to make the soup. At this point, stress word choice as an extremely important aspect of writing a procedure. Tell students that they need to use a variety of appropriate verbs to describe the process or steps in a procedure. Have them brainstorm verbs directly linked to the making of stone soup (e.g., chop, stir, dump, cut, plop, pour, and heat). Also discuss the use of appropriate sequencing when creating a list of steps for a procedure. Prompt students to identify examples of words that indicate sequence or time, such as first, next, then, after, and finally.
d. Finally, ask students to brainstorm appropriate conclusions that could be stated at the closing of a procedural piece of writing (e.g., Bon appétit, Enjoy your soup, or I hope you like your meal).

5. Read over the stone soup recipe as a whole class, with the teacher and students reading aloud together, to solidify students’ understanding of the connection between word choice and procedural writing.

Session 4: Practice With Procedural Writing Using the Internet
Note: If you do not have classroom computers with Internet access, this session should take place in your school’s computer lab.

1. Set up the LCD projector and prepare all computers so that students can access San Diego Zoo.org Kid Territory: Recipes.

2. Using the LCD projector, guide students through the various links on the website to view different recipes. Remind students to look for the components of a procedure when viewing the recipes, as well as effective word choice. Because this is a fun, kid- friendly website, students should be able to easily identify creative and interesting vocabulary in the animal-themed recipes. Write the words on a piece of chart paper.

Session 5: Writing a Recipe Based on a Procedural Framework
1. Read an excerpt from Macbeth for Kids by Lois Burdett. Much like the recipes website, this excerpt demonstrates a different, more imaginative spin on writing a procedure:

The sisters were hidden in a cavern deep;
Around the cauldron, they did creep.
With their hands so crinkled with time,
They stirred a stinking, putrid slime.
“Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron, boil and bake.
Adder’s fork and blind worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing.
A horrid smell it does secrete,
Cool it now and the spell’s complete.
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.”

2. Tell students that they are now going to develop their own recipes, either real or fictional, following the guidelines of procedural writing and employing appropriate word choice.

3. Place a copy of the Procedure and Word Choice Rubric on an overhead and read it with the class, highlighting each area being assessed in the students’ recipes. While going over the rubric, also highlight key words within each of the areas being assessed, to ensure students understand the items you will be looking for in their recipes.

4. Provide students with the Procedural Writing Graphic Organizer to assist them in developing their ideas before they write their actual recipes.

5. Give students some “talk time” to brainstorm with their peers ideas for a recipe. During this think-pair-share time, students should try to orally express ideas about what they would like to make, the ingredients they might need, the basics of how they are going to create the recipe (steps), and what they think the outcome of the recipe will be (conclusion).

6. After sharing their ideas aloud, students should then write key words and phrases that they have discussed onto their graphic organizers to assist them in the initial drafting portion of their writing.

7. Students can then follow the remainder of the writing process, by writing a rough draft based on the graphic organizer, revising the draft, editing the draft, and publishing the piece.

Session 6: Creating A Cooking Show
1. Group the students into groups of 3 or 4. The groups will have all 45 minutes to plan their cooking shows. During this time they will decide what props they want to use in their video and which recipe they want to use. Each group will designate a Show host (the cook), a “side kick” cook, a producer, and a camera operator. Each video should be no longer than 5 minutes.

2. The groups will practice their shows and get ready for taping the next day.

Session 7: Show Time!
1. Give the groups 20-30 minutes to tape their shows

2. When all the groups are done, have a showing of the videos.


Differentiated Instruction

ESL We can have them bring cookbook from home. If they do not have cookbooks at home, we will also have some in the classroom, specific to their language. This will also be good for English speaking students to use as a comparison. We can even have them write their recipe in their language, and have them present their cooking show in that language.

Challenge/Extend
After they have written their recipe, have them turn the recipe into a storybook, such as the one in Stone Soup. Or we could have them compile their own cookbook.
Another possibility would be to have them do backup work in their journals to extend their writing.

Special Needs
Students with learning disabilities would be able to create a recipe with pictures. A blind student could have a recipe in mind, and either voice record the recipe, step by step, or if they prefer, they could have another student jot it down for them, to include in a cookbook. Having a brail cookbook in the classroom would be a good resource.
For a deaf student, they could have a script, and sign while the other person was doing the demonstrating, or vice versa. Have them write out a script, have another student read it while they are demonstrating.

Lesson Plan adapted from http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=1018