Grade by Grade
D. Composition: Expressing Ideas and Creating Texts · Writing with Purpose, Voice and Evidence

Informational Writing: Reports, Explanations and Text Features

D2.1 D1.3 D1.4 A3.1About 45 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can write a report with an introduction, body sections with subheadings, and a conclusion.
  • I can write an explanation that tells how or why something happens, using cause-and-effect words.
  • I can add text features like a labelled diagram, captions, bold words and a glossary.

Words to know

informational text
A text that gives true information about a topic.
report
An informational text that describes a topic in organized sections.
explanation
An informational text that tells how or why something happens.
subheading
A small title that tells what one section is about.
text feature
A part of a text that helps readers find or understand information: headings, diagrams, captions, bold words, glossary.
glossary
A small dictionary at the end of a text for special words.
cause and effect
Why something happens (cause) and what happens because of it (effect).

Remember from Grade 3

In Grade 3 you wrote short reports with headings and how-to procedures with numbered steps. In Grade 4 you will write longer reports with an introduction, several sections and a conclusion, write explanations that tell how or why, and add text features that help readers.

Reports and explanations

A report describes a topic: All About Canada Geese tells what they look like, where they live and what they eat.

An explanation tells how or why something happens: How Geese Migrate or Why Leaves Change Colour. Explanations follow steps or causes and effects.

Both are written in the third person (it, they), in the present tense for facts that are still true, with exact, technical words and no made-up facts.

A metal sap bucket hanging from a spout on a maple tree in a spring forest with patches of snow.
An explanation like "How Maple Syrup Is Made" tells how something happens, step by step. The first step: tap the tree and collect the sap. AI-generated image
How Maple Syrup Is MadeTapping the TreesBoiling the SaptapbucketDiagram + caption
A report page: a title, subheadings in bold, paragraphs under each subheading, and a diagram with a caption.

A model explanation

How Maple Syrup Is Made

Maple syrup is a sweet Canadian treat, but it starts as a watery liquid inside maple trees called sap.

Tapping the Trees

In late winter and early spring, nights are below freezing and days are above freezing. These changing temperatures cause sap to flow inside the tree. Producers drill a small hole in the trunk and put in a spout. The sap drips into a bucket or flows through plastic tubing.

Boiling the Sap

Fresh sap is mostly water and tastes only slightly sweet. As a result, it must be boiled for a long time. As the water turns to steam, the sap becomes thicker and sweeter. It takes about 40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of syrup.

A Long Tradition

First Nations peoples, including Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee communities, were making maple sugar long before Europeans arrived, and many communities continue to harvest maple sap today.

The next time you pour syrup on your pancakes, remember the cold nights, warm days and hours of boiling that made it.

Glossary

  • sap: the watery liquid that carries food inside a tree.
  • spout: a small tube put into a tree to let sap drip out.
1. Freeze, thawnights below 0 °C,days above 0 °C2. Sap flowsout through aspout in the trunk3. Collectin a bucket orplastic tubing4. Boilwater turns tosteam: thick syrup40 litres of sap (mostly water)boil1 litre of syrupEach box =1 litre
How maple syrup is made, as a flow chart. The boxes show the facts from the explanation: 40 litres of sap boil down to 1 litre of syrup.
Worked example

Let's find the features of the explanation

Look at How Maple Syrup Is Made. What makes it a strong explanation?

  1. Title tells exactly what it explains: How maple syrup is made.
  2. Introduction hooks the reader and introduces the word sap.
  3. Subheadings split the steps into sections: Tapping the Trees, Boiling the Sap, A Long Tradition.
  4. Cause-and-effect words: cause, As a result, As the water turns to steam.
  5. Bold words and a glossary explain special words.
  6. Conclusion connects back to the reader's pancakes.

It has a clear title, an introduction, sections with subheadings, cause-and-effect words, text features and a conclusion.

Text featureWhat it does
Title and subheadingsTell the topic and what each section is about
Labelled diagramShows the parts of something, with lines pointing to labels
CaptionA sentence under a picture explaining what it shows
Bold wordsShow important words that are in the glossary
GlossaryExplains special words
Table of contentsLists sections and their page numbers
Fact boxPuts a surprising fact in its own box
Text features and their jobs
Worked example

Let's turn notes into a report section

Notes under the subheading What Snowy Owls Eat: mostly lemmings / also other small animals and birds / hunt in the day and at night / excellent hearing helps find prey under snow.

  1. Write a topic sentence for the section: Snowy owls are skilled hunters.
  2. Turn each note into a sentence in your own words: They mainly eat small animals called lemmings, but they also catch other small animals and birds.
  3. Join related ideas: Snowy owls hunt during the day and at night.
  4. Add a cause and effect: Because their hearing is so good, they can find animals moving under the snow.
  5. Check: third person, present tense, only true facts.

What Snowy Owls Eat

Snowy owls are skilled hunters. They mainly eat small animals called lemmings, but they also catch other small animals and birds. Snowy owls hunt during the day and at night. Because their hearing is so good, they can find animals moving under the snow.

Write like an expert

Use the exact words experts use (sap, spout, evaporate) and explain them in a glossary. Leave out I think and I like: an informational text gives facts, not opinions. Save your own feelings for the conclusion, if at all.

Just for fun

Funny-but-true: Canada makes most of the world's maple syrup, and Quebec keeps a giant strategic reserve of syrup in barrels, just in case a sugaring season goes badly. That's a lot of pancakes' worth of planning!

Hands-on activity

Make an explanation booklet

You need: 2 sheets of paper folded into a booklet, a pencil, pencil crayons, and a grown-up for any cooking or tools.

  1. Choose something you can explain: How a seed grows, How our recycling is collected, Why ice floats, How to make bannock (cooking only with a grown-up).
  2. Research it using at least two sources and take jot notes.
  3. Page 1: a title and an introduction with a hook.
  4. Pages 2 and 3: two or three sections with subheadings. Use cause-and-effect words.
  5. Add a labelled diagram with a caption.
  6. Last page: a conclusion, a glossary and your source list.
  7. Read it to a family member. Can they explain the process back to you? If not, revise the confusing part.

Your turn

1

What is the difference between a report and an explanation?

2

Write a subheading for a section about where wolves live.

3

Name three text features.

4

Find the cause and the effect: Because the pond was covered with ice, the frogs stayed buried in the mud.

5

Rewrite in an informational style: I think bats are super cool because they fly at night.

6

Why does maple sap need to be boiled for a long time?

7

Write a caption for a diagram of a bicycle.

More practice: warm-up

1

What is a glossary?

2

Does a report use made-up facts?

3

Which point of view do reports usually use?

4

Name one cause-and-effect word.

5

What does a caption do?

More practice: on your own

1

Write an introduction for a report called All About Moose.

2

Put these sections in a sensible order for How a Chick Hatches: Breaking Out / Laying the Egg / Growing Inside.

3

Join with a cause-and-effect word: Rain fell for days. The river flooded.

4

Why do writers bold some words?

5

Write a glossary entry for habitat.

Challenge

1

Write a short explanation (3 to 4 sentences) of why we wear mittens in winter. Use at least one cause-and-effect word.

2

Plan the sections of a report called Our Community Helpers, with a subheading and one detail for each.

3

A classmate's report says Moose are the best animals ever and they eat pizza. Give two pieces of feedback.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

What does an explanation tell?

2.

Which is a subheading for a report about rabbits?

3.

Which sentence fits an informational report?

4.

Which word shows cause and effect?

5.

Where does a glossary usually go?

6.

About how many litres of sap make 1 litre of maple syrup?

For parents and teachers

Big idea (D2.1): Grade 4 writers draft informational texts, including reports and explanations, using research notes (D1.3) and organized sections (D1.4). Informational writing is used across subjects, especially science and social studies (A3.1).

How to help at home:

  • Read non-fiction together and point out text features. Ask, How does this diagram help?
  • Ask how and why questions about everyday things (How does the furnace heat the house?) and let your child explain.
  • Visit a sugar bush or maple festival in the spring if one is near you.

Common difficulties:

  • Mixing opinions into reports. Ask, Is that a fact or what you think?
  • Copying from sources. Have your child write from jot notes, not from the book.
  • Sections without subheadings or with mixed topics. Use the outline from the organizing lesson.

The maple syrup facts in the model text are general facts. Exact amounts of sap vary from year to year and tree to tree.