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Reading and Writing 6-8 / Week 07 / Wednesday
3/6
Week 07 · Informational Texts

Wednesday

Writing Lab: how a section fits the whole
// How a piece of nonfiction is built
⏱ about 20 min

Wednesday: Writing Lab, How a Section Fits the Whole

Raven has cut an old Signal feature into pieces and spread them across the table like a puzzle.

"Five sections," she says. "Each one has a heading. I mixed them up."

Rocket slides the pieces around. "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Easy. But what is this last one?"

He holds up a section headed Why the Seasons Matter.

"Read it," Raven says. "What do you notice about its job?"

Rocket reads it twice. "It does not add a season. It ties the other four together."

Nova hovers over the pieces, her light settling on the heading. "Every section has a job," she says. "Some sections carry the idea. One section usually explains it."

Learn it: the job of a section

A long nonfiction text is built from sections, and each section has a job in the whole. A section can introduce, add a part of the idea, give an example or explain why the parts connect.

To find a section's job, read its heading and its first sentence. Then ask: What would the text lose without this section?

Raven thinks aloud: "The Summer section describes the busiest months. Without it, the year would have a hole in the middle. So its job is to carry one part of the idea."

A single sentence has a job too. The first sentence of a feature often tells the reader what the whole piece will do.

  • Read the heading. Predict the job of the section.
  • Read the section. Decide: introduce, carry a part, give an example or explain the connection.
  • Ask what the text would lose without it.

Read it

This feature ran in this week's Signal. The headings are part of the structure.

Read it
A Year in the Community Garden
The community garden sits behind the library branch, between the fence and the old oak.
This feature follows the garden through one year, season by season, to show how each season sets up the next.
Spring
In spring, neighbors sign up for a plot on a sheet pinned to the garden gate.
Rows get marked with string, and seeds go into the soil in the first warm week.
The crew counted twenty plots this year, two more than last year.
Summer
Summer is the busy season. The gate is open from sunrise to dusk.
Gardeners water in the morning, pull weeds in the evening, and trade advice over the fence.
The tallest sunflower this year reached the top of the fence before the end of July.
Autumn
In autumn, the garden slows down. Gardeners pull up the dry stalks and pile leaves on the beds.
The leaves protect the soil through the cold months and make it richer for next year.
Winter
In winter, the plots rest under frost. The only regular visitor is the crew, checking the fence.
Nova hovers over the rows and notes which ones need new string in spring.
Why the Seasons Matter
Each season depends on the one before it. Leaves piled in autumn mean richer soil in spring.
String checked in winter means straight rows in April.
That is why the sign-up sheet on the gate says: Join for the whole year, not just the summer.
CHECK IT: A YEAR IN THE COMMUNITY GARDEN
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
What is the job of the second sentence of the feature?
What is the job of the Summer section?
What is the job of the section called Why the Seasons Matter?
What would the feature lose without the Autumn section?
PUT THE SECTIONS IN THE ORDER THE FEATURE USES
  • ?Introduction: the garden and the plan for the piece
  • ?Spring
  • ?Summer
  • ?Autumn
  • ?Winter
  • ?Why the Seasons Matter
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe order is part of the structure. The explaining section comes last because it needs the four seasons first.
Which heading names the section that explains how the parts connect? Type the first word of that heading.
WHY THIS EXERCISEA heading that starts with Why signals an explaining section rather than another part of the idea.
About the featureTrue or false?
Each season section carries one part of the idea.?
The Winter section explains why the sign-up sheet says to join for the year.?
The last section could not come first, because it depends on the other four.?
The feature is a problem and solution text.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEThe feature is a sequence through the year with an explaining section at the end.
Try it
Cover the headings with your hand and read the feature again.
Say where each new section begins. Then uncover the headings and check.

Write it: Writing Lab

Today you write about structure. Use the checklist below before you call your draft done.

Checklist
I named the structure of the feature and gave one piece of evidence.
I named the job of one section and said what the text would lose without it.
I wrote the job of the first sentence of the feature.
Every sentence of mine is complete and ends with a period or question mark.

A section is a part with a job. Tomorrow we ask what the writer wanted, and how the writer answered people who disagreed.

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