4th grade research papers

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Writing a Research Report (Gr. 4)

One of the many reasons I love teaching third grade is witnessing the amazing growth that takes place throughout the year, especially in writing.

Many of my students have gone from working on writing complete sentences with capital letters and periods in September to writing research reports by the third quarter.

How do they come so far? My students learn research skills, note-taking, and purposeful expository writing in a step-by-step manner that makes it easy and manageable for young writers. While my focus is on the specific reports that we do, the ideas can easily be adapted to any topic of your choosing.

Before beginning this project, my students have already been introduced to nonfiction text features. To see some of the activities that take place see my previous posts:. One of the most important things I do to prepare for this project is introduce nonfiction text that is high interest. For this report we concentrate on natural disasters. You can use any topic of interest to your students that has plentiful resources available such as endangered animals or habitats.

To begin, we read the book, Pompeii. Buried Alive , as a class. Each year students are fascinated to learn how repeated eruptions of Mount Vesuvius covered an entire city that no one even realized existed for centuries.

We connect this story to our science lessons, looking at how volcanoes form, what causes them to erupt, and the types of damage they can cause. We focus on earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, and wildfires.

Tip: no matter what nonfiction topic you choose to focus on, StudyJams! During this period of background building, I also make a tub of my disaster-themed books available for independent reading. Before doing so, however, I go over some note-taking strategies that younger students are not always familiar with, such as:. This year, for the first time, I introduced my students to visual note-taking , which I had just read about the previous day in a post by fellow blogger, Meghan Everette.

Many of my students loved using this method to make their notes more visual. When students have a choice in what they write about, I find they tend to be more engaged in the effort.

Therefore, after we have been introduced to the last disaster, students write down the names of three disasters, in ranked order, that they would like to learn more about on a slip of paper and turn it in to me. Putting students into groups by topics allows them to help and support each other through researching, writing, editing, and publishing. I use the student ranking slips from Step 3 to place students on their disaster teams.

Teacher confession: the third choice I have them write down is just to make them feel good that they got their first or second choice! Each disaster team is assigned a headquarters. Once teams have been established, I pass out a note-taking graphic organizer for students to use. It is divided into sections that align with the main idea of each paragraph.

This will help them easily translate their notes into topic and detail sentences for their report. Feel free to download and print the note organizer below. You can customize it to fit any topic you choose by changing the headings on each page. Click on the image above to download and print these graphic organizers. Students use books from the classroom and school library as well as online resources to begin taking notes. The key teaching point here is to stress the importance of putting information they find in their own words.

During the two to three days students are taking notes, I sit down with each team to look over what they have completed and steer them onto the right track if necessary. Visiting each group and providing guidance is important to setting them up for success when it comes time to write.

Once students have taken sufficient notes for each section of the report, they are ready to start writing! Each student receives a new graphic organizer which we first discuss, page-by-page, as a whole class. Students use the organizer to follow a simple, five-sentence paragraph pattern that includes a topic sentence, three detail sentences and a closing sentence. Using this formula approach helps students understand the basic format of a paragraph and how the paragraphs blend together to form a report.

Remember, when you download and print the note organizer below, you can customize it to fit any topic by changing the headings on each page. The very first paragraph, which introduces the reader to the topic, is completed while the students are still sitting on the carpet.

Sentence by sentence there are only five! After the first paragraph is completed, students are sent to their team headquarters to continue writing. At the start of the next class period, we gather to review what was written the day before and set a writing goal for that day. It normally takes the majority of my third graders three to four class sessions to complete their report.

Just as I did with note-taking, I visit each team at their headquarters at least once a day while they are writing independently. This allows me to provide any necessary support and guidance. If you would like to teach students to write a well-constructed single paragraph, I love using this printable with my class.

Getting to type their reports is the favorite part for most students. As part of publishing, students are asked to incorporate text features that are frequently found in nonfiction text. See the sheet below for the checklist my students use as they publish their reports. After approximately three weeks from start to finish, the students have a finished report they can proudly share with classmates and parents!

Help young writers organize their thoughts to focus on the topic at hand with these easy-to-use graphic organizers for personal narratives. Create a List. List Name Save. Rename this List. Rename this list. List Name Delete from selected List. Save to. Save to:. Save Create a List. Create a list. Save Back. The Teacher Store Cart. Checkout Now. Back to the Top Teaching Blog.

Grades 1—2, 3—5. Genia Connell. Grades 3—5. See all posts. View not found. Download the PDF from here. Related Subjects. Research Skills Writing. Share your ideas about this article. Privacy Policy. Genia's Most Recent Posts. Grade Use these simple tips to help take the stress out of organizing and managing your guided reading materials all year long.

Use this helpful list to find just the right book when you need a story that sends the message that good character counts. Grade K Choose your books wisely when school begins, and their message will last all year. Help your student get to know one another with these fun and engaging activities that take minutes a day but make lasting impressions. About Us.

This unit of study is designed to guide your students through the research writing process. Includes Simply scroll through the grade levels for different samples. Students select a topic, research a variety of sources, take notes, One of the many reasons I love teaching third grade is witnessing the amazing growth that takes place throughout the Step 4: Make it a Team Effort sentences in their research papers which leads to a whole new lesson on plagiarism.

Research Writing. This third grade independent study packet offers Week 3 of reading, writing, math, science, and social studies activities. Week 2 of this independent study packet for fourth graders features five more days of targeted practice with reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. Animal Habitats. Lesson Plan.

Lessons and Projects for the Entire Year!

Most fourth-graders are assigned a research paper at some point during the school year. Research papers allow students to combine research skills and language arts with the knowledge they have gained in other subjects, such as science, social studies and history.

How to Write a Research Paper . . . and Get an A+

One of the many reasons I love teaching third grade is witnessing the amazing growth that takes place throughout the year, especially in writing. Many of my students have gone from working on writing complete sentences with capital letters and periods in September to writing research reports by the third quarter. How do they come so far? My students learn research skills, note-taking, and purposeful expository writing in a step-by-step manner that makes it easy and manageable for young writers. While my focus is on the specific reports that we do, the ideas can easily be adapted to any topic of your choosing.

Topics for Fourth-Grade Research Papers

Research Writing Printable Worksheets. Biography Booklet. Kindergarteners through second graders can use this versatile Biography Booklet printable to research and write about someone in booklet form. Animal Research Graphic Organizer. What's your favorite animal? Kids love answering that question, and with this animal research graphic organizer, they can write all about it. Biography Research. The Biography Research graphic organizer is a tool for students to use as they are researching a specific person. How to Write a Research Paper. Writing a paper doesn't have to be boring!

Guided and focused your mini-lessons can be helpful for students. Also, the more examples you can get students to interact with, the more they will understand the expectations.

By definition a research paper requires the writer to learn a great deal about their subject, so it is always a good practice to select a topic that truly interests you before you begin gathering sources. If you are interested in your topic, learning about it will be more pleasurable and you will write with greater passion, so choose your topic thoughtfully. Use the following list of research paper topics as a starting point for your paper. As you begin learning and writing about your topic, you should revise or amend your research question or thesis statement to better match the information that you are interpreting, analyzing, and expressing.

4th grade nonfiction writing samples

Print article. In fourth grade, students are starting to prepare for middle school, when nonfiction writing is practiced in all subjects. According to the standards, students should be learning three types of writing:. Like a report, the purpose of this type of writing is to convey information accurately with facts, details, and supportive information. These can be stories or screenplays or other fiction written in the first, second, or third person. In opinion writing, students encourage readers to accept their opinion about something by writing what they and why. John Cabot and the Rediscovery of North America. First, there are five sections, each with a bolded header announcing what sort of information follows. Note that the fifth section is the bibliography, where everyone can see the two sources this student relied on for her information. Big Book of Evolution. Note that Dylan uses visuals throughout this report. This is a classic fourth grade book report.

Research Writing Printable Worksheets

With all the things you have going on as a student, writing a paper can seem like a daunting task. Many students opt to put off that daunting task, which ultimately leads to bad grades on papers that would otherwise have been easy A's. On top of that, papers often make up a large portion of a student's overall grade in any class, which makes them even higher risk ventures. Here, we'll walk you through the most important aspects of making a paper, from beginning to end so you won't have to whip up a paper in an afternoon, plagiarize, or neglect to do the assignment. This image and list-based, step-by-step tutorial is the closest thing to writing a plug and chug paper you can get.