The Art of the How-To

Third graders have been flexing their descriptive writing muscles this month by creating “How-To” pieces, explaining everything from executing the perfect soccer throw-in to mastering a smooth skate and making origami.

To deepen their procedural writing skills, each student began by selecting a topic they know inside and out. From there, they gathered the materials needed for their task, mapped out each step on sticky notes to build a clear sequence, and then strengthened their drafts using precise, effective transition words.

Students were encouraged to experiment with different organizational structures, such as numbered steps, sequential paragraphs, or list-style formats, to find the approach that best fit their topic. One of the biggest challenges for these third grade writers was learning how to enrich their ideas. “In the past, students might write one short sentence for each step, but now we want more than that,” explains third-grade teacher Katie Buteau. To help them elevate their writing, she encouraged students to add a helpful tip or trick to each step, making their pieces more informative and engaging for readers. 

Third graders also discovered how powerful transition words can be in smoothly guiding a reader through a set of instructions. As they reviewed their drafts, students highlighted each transition word to see how it helped the flow of their writing and to ensure they used a varied mix rather than repeating the same words.

After thoughtful revising and editing their writing, students carefully copy each step onto its own page and pair it with an illustration. The final result will be a set of polished “How-To” pieces that demonstrate how strong, well-organized writing can clearly communicate ideas.