First Grade · Writing · week 23

All About an Animal: Topic Sentence and Facts

Write a topic sentence and two supporting facts about an animal, applying the informational structure to a new topic.

This week you practice the informational pattern on a brand-new topic: an animal. Start with a topic sentence, then add two true facts.

Pick an animal you find genuinely interesting -- one you have seen at home, at a zoo, or in a book you love.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Pull out a nonfiction animal book or reliable resource together so your child is working from real facts, not guesses.
  • Encourage a specific, less obvious fact (not just "it has four legs") to make the piece more interesting.
  • Check that both facts truly connect to and support the topic sentence.
  • Ask what surprised them most while learning about the animal -- genuine curiosity makes for stronger writing.
Talk about it:
  • What animal did you choose, and why?
  • What is the most surprising fact you learned or included?
  • How do your two facts connect back to your topic sentence?

Mastery looks like: They write a topic sentence and two specific, true, connected facts about an animal.

Common stumbles: Including a fact that is actually a guess or an opinion rather than something true and checkable.

See it visually

Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.

Sentence BuilderDrag word tiles into a real sentence, with a capital and end mark.try →Paragraph BuilderStack a paragraph: topic sentence, details, closing.try →
Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
Records attendance + 15 min of Writing for this learner.
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