The Information Toolkit (contents)

The Information Toolkit

The Toolkit comes in three books:

Book A for Grades 1–2

Book B for Grades 3–4

Book C for Grades 5–6

Here is a Contents list for each of these books.

Contents: Book A (Grades 1–2)

Overview of research tasks

Genre examples:

Personal recount: Our week at the beach

Factual recount: Magnets

Procedure (instructions): How to make a sailboat:

Information report: Caterpillars

Explanation: How do they make ketchup?

Persuasion (argument, exposition): Eat more fruit

Discussion: Should we bring our pets to school?

Visual text examples:

Diagram: Bull ant

Cross section: Inside an apple

Flow chart: Where does the water go when it rains?

Storyboard: How to grow a plant

Timeline: After school

Web diagram: How we help at home

Tree diagram: Shelter

Table: What we found at the beach

Word wheel: Recycling

Map: Our kitchen

Bar graph: Animals at the park

Matching genres and visual texts

Research tasks:

Personal recount: I remember

Factual recount: The weather

Procedure: How to make ...

Procedure: Magnets

Report: Home and school

Report: Reptiles

Report: Flowering plants

Explanation: Wheels

Explanation: Caterpillars

Explanation: How bread is made

Persuasion: Sports and games

Persuasion: Traffic safety

Persuasion: Many years ago

Discussion: Favorite books

Discussion: Keeping pets

Glossary: genres

Glossary: visual texts

Index of topics

Top of page

Contents: Book B (Grades 3–4)

Introduction: Using this book

Overview of research tasks

Genre examples:

Personal recount: Our zoo trip

Factual recount: Observing tadpoles

Procedure (instructions): How to make a banana shake

Information report: Spiders

Explanation: How bread is made

Persuasion (argument, exposition): Earthworms are better pets than dogs

Discussion: Should we have longer vacations?

Visual text examples:

Scale diagram: Oviraptor

Cross section: Volcano

Flow chart: Life cycle of a frog:

Storyboard: How to make a pebble float

Timeline: Year of the cherry tree

Web diagram: Food web of the seashore

Tree diagram: Transportation

Table: Animal facts

Venn diagram: Which animals fly at night?

Map: My walk to school

Column graph: Bottles for recycling

Matching genres and visual texts

Research tasks:

Personal recount: My life so far

Factual recount: Growing plants

Procedure: Make a simple phone

Procedure: Giving directions

Report: What is an insect?

Report: Healthy food

Report: Clouds and rain

Explanation: Seashore habitat

Explanation: Volcanoes

Explanation: Clothes and weather

Persuasion: Keeping fit

Persuasion: Planting trees

Persuasion: Special events

Discussion: Zoo animals

Discussion: Transportation choices

Glossary: genres

Glossary: visual texts

Index of topics

Top of page

Contents: Book C (Grades 5–6)

Introduction: Using this book

Overview of research tasks

Genre examples:

Personal recount: Our walk to Mount Solitude

Factual recount: A brief history of the internet

Procedure (instructions): Testing for electricity

Information report: Vertebrates

Explanation: What causes earthquakes?

Persuasion (argument, exposition): Stop killing sharks!

Discussion: Space tourists

Visual text examples:

Diagram with key: Compound levers

Cutaway with detail: Parts of a fish

Flow chart: How to cook popcorn

Storyboard: How a fossil is formed

Multiple timeline: How phones have changed

Web diagram: A rain forest ecosystem

Tree diagram: Types of rocks

Table: Nearby planets

Venn diagram: Solid, liquid, or gas?

Map with grid: Topographic map

Line graph: Rainfall in different parts of the world

Matching genres and visual texts

Research tasks:

Personal recount: What happened?

Factual recount: Fame

Procedure: Disasters:

Procedure: Camping out

Report: Rocks

Report: Planets

Report: Tropical rain forests

Explanation: Websites

Explanation: Breathing

Report + explanation: Mountains

Persuasion: Recycling

Report + persuasion: Democracy

Discussion: Electric cars

Discussion: A million dollars

Discussion: Living on Mars