I love teaching procedure writing!
It is one of the most hands on and engaging text types and definitely a text type they will see and probably need to write later in life.
It can also be a gateway to teach so many other topics, cooking, measuring, verbs, adverbs, oral instructions and so much more!
Today I am going to share with you some fun lessons I like to do and you can find all the resources you need for them and many more exciting lessons all sequences into a complete unit for all grade levels.
Teach your students to be specific and thorough when writing procedures by getting them to write a procedure for making toast. Then allow them to make the toast following their instructions down to the letter! Oops, they forgot to push the toaster down? Sorry you'll have to have bread. The instructions says to put toast in the toast? Guess they want burnt toast!
It can also be fun to get them to read their instructions to you and you follow them. So when they say put the butter on the toast, pick up the container and put it on the toast. Spread jam over the toast? Lather it on really thick or incredible thin.
It can be a great laugh for everyone and a meaningful lesson.
Warning: The smell of toast cooking in a classroom will make you hungry!
I have also done this lesson with Fairy Bread and it was just as popular!
Another lesson I love to do is take 4 different procedures for making paper planes and give one each to different group of students. One is an online video tutorial modelling how to make it, another has written instructions with clear pictures, the next a procedure with only words and last is only a picture of the final product. Groups then spend time making their plane. It doesn't take long for a few groups to become frustrated and the video tutorial group to finish. Discuss with students why some had trouble and others didn't and then get the finished students to help the others make a plane.
Sequencing activities are great introduction into procedures as they show students why order is important and encourage the use of signal words such as firstly, secondly etc.
Teaching procedure writing also has a great lot to do with giving verbal instructions. I find barrier games a great introduction into instructions. Students partner up and are separated by a barrier. One partner makes a picture and then must describe their picture to their partner. They can not look at each others pictures until the very end. The closer the pictures the better the instructions and listening.
My barrier games come included in my Procedure Writing Units or you can purchase them by clicking on the image below.
I have also found it important in the older grades to extend students vocabulary of verbs otherwise you just get put, put, put, put all the time.
Save yourself the time of making your own posters and purchase my Other Words For Verbs, linked below, or find it included in Year 5 and 6 Procedure Unit.
To make sure students really know what is expected of them I like to go through the rubric I am going to be marking them against. This rubric is available for FREE and is linked below.
All these activities and more are are available in my Procedure Writing Units which are aligned to the Australian Curriculum.
