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An Informative Piece With Headings

A 40-minute Grade 3 lesson on writing an informative text grouped into sections, with headings, facts and definitions.

An Informative Piece With Headings is a free 40-minute Grade 3 English lesson plan for Common Core standard W.3.2 — write to explain a topic, grouping related information together. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the meaning, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.

Grade:
Grade 3
Length:
40 minutes
Standard:
W.3.2

Grade 3 · Writing

W.3.2

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

Objective

Students will be able to sort facts about a topic into groups, write a heading for each group that covers every fact in it, and write one section that opens with a topic sentence and includes a definition of a key word.

Students are successful when they can

  • Every fact in a group is covered by its heading, checked fact by fact.
  • Headings are short noun phrases, e.g. "What Bees Eat," not a whole sentence or the first fact copied.
  • One finished section of 3-5 sentences with a topic sentence and the facts in the student's own words.
  • Defines one key word right where it is first used, e.g. "Nectar is a sweet juice inside flowers."

What you need

  • Twelve fact cards about honeybees, one set per pair (listed in the warm-up)
  • Three blank heading strips per pair
  • A sheet of chart paper for the class model
  • The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan

The lesson

Warm-up — sort twelve facts

5 min
  1. Hand each pair the twelve honeybee cards: "Bees drink nectar from flowers." "A bee has six legs." "Bees live in a hive." "The queen lays all the eggs." "Bees make honey from nectar." "A bee has two pairs of wings." "A hive can hold 50,000 bees." "Worker bees collect pollen." "Bees eat pollen for protein." "A bee has five eyes." "Drones do not have stingers." "Hives are made of wax."
  2. Say: "Put the cards into groups that belong together. Do not name the groups yet." Give three minutes.
  3. Ask two pairs to describe their groups. Most will find something like body, food, and home and jobs. Note aloud that different sorts are possible and none is wrong yet.
“Sort first, name later. If you name a group before you have read the cards, you will start bending the facts to fit your name.”

Teach — the heading comes last

13 min
  1. On chart paper, stick up four cards: "Bees drink nectar from flowers." "Bees make honey from nectar." "Bees eat pollen for protein." "A bee has five eyes."
  2. Write a first heading that only looks at the top card: "Flowers." Read each card against it aloud. Ask: "Does Flowers cover a bee having five eyes?" No. "Does it cover making honey?" Only partly.
  3. Move the eyes card to the body group, and say why: it is a fact about the bee's body, not about food. Then cross out "Flowers" and write "What Bees Eat." Test all three remaining cards again. All fit.
  4. Do a second group in front of them: "Bees live in a hive." "A hive can hold 50,000 bees." "Hives are made of wax." Ask the class for a heading. Fish for "Where Bees Live" or "The Hive." Reject "Bees live in a hive" politely: it is a fact, not a heading, and headings are short labels.
  5. Write the "What Bees Eat" section on the board: "Bees get all their food from flowers. They drink nectar. Nectar is a sweet juice inside flowers. Bees also eat pollen, which helps them grow. Back at the hive, they turn nectar into honey."
  6. Underline "Nectar is a sweet juice inside flowers." Say why the definition goes here and not in a list at the end: the reader needs it the moment the word appears, or they stumble over the next sentence.
  7. Point to the first sentence and call it the topic sentence: it says what the whole section is about, the same job as the heading but as a sentence.
“Read every card against your heading. If even one card does not fit, either move the card or change the heading.”

Guided practice — three sections

12 min
  1. Pairs return to their own sort and write a heading strip for each of their three groups.
  2. They do the card-by-card test aloud, one partner reading the card, the other answering "fits" or "does not fit." Any card that does not fit is moved or the heading is rewritten.
  3. Each student drafts one section in full: a topic sentence, the facts in their own words, and one definition. Offer the frame on the board: "___ is ___."
  4. Circulate and ask one question per pair: "Read me your heading. Now read me the card that fits it least well." This makes them do the test again rather than defend their first answer.

Independent practice

8 min
  1. Students complete the informative writing page. Facts and a planning grid are on the sheet.
  2. They must write a heading over each box only after the facts are placed in it.

Close — does it all fit?

2 min
  1. Read one pair's heading and its cards aloud. The class gives thumbs up for each card that fits and thumbs sideways for one that does not.
  2. If any card gets sideways thumbs, ask the pair what they would change: the card or the heading.

What goes wrong, and why

Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.

Writes headings first, then forces facts under them: "A hive can hold 50,000 bees" under "Bee Bodies."

Why: Headings look like a plan, and students have been told to plan first. With a fixed set of boxes, every fact has to go somewhere, so the nearest box wins even when it does not fit.

Fix: Sort the physical cards before any heading strip is handed out. Then show the hive card under "Bee Bodies" and ask the class whether the heading tells the truth about it. The fix is the order of the moves, not a reminder.

Heading copies the first card in the group: "Bees Drink Nectar" over a group that includes pollen and honey.

Why: The student read one card, felt the group was about that, and stopped reading. The first fact is the most visible one, so it becomes the label.

Fix: Make the test a spoken routine: read each card and say "fits" or "does not fit." With "Bees Drink Nectar," the pollen card fails, and the student sees the heading must go up a level to "What Bees Eat."

Defines a word in a list at the end, or not at all: "Nectar" used three times and explained on the last line.

Why: The student knows the word now, so it does not feel hard. Glossaries in books look like the grown-up way, so they copy the position without knowing why books do it.

Fix: Read the section to a partner who covers the last line. Ask the partner what nectar is when they first meet it. When they cannot say, move the definition to the sentence straight after the word's first use.

If they are not there yet

  • Two groups instead of three, using six cards that sort cleanly (three about food, three about the hive).
  • Give three headings to choose from, one of which does not fit any group, so the student tests headings against facts rather than inventing them.
  • A section frame: "Bees ___. They ___. ___ is ___. They also ___."

If they finish early

  • Split a big group with a subheading: divide "Bee Jobs" into "The Queen" and "Worker Bees," and say which cards go under each.
  • Re-sort the same twelve cards a completely different way, for example "Numbers About Bees" and "Things Bees Do," and explain which sort would help a reader more.
  • Plan an illustration for one section — a labeled diagram of a bee showing six legs, four wings and five eyes — and write a one-sentence caption for it.

Exit ticket

Write a heading for these facts: "Frogs eat flies." "Tadpoles eat plants." "Frogs catch food with their tongues." Does your heading cover all three?

What to look for: A short label covering all three, e.g. "What Frogs Eat." "Flies" or "Frogs Eat Flies" means only the first fact was read; teach the card-by-card test. A full sentence means "heading" has not been told apart from "fact."

Printable practice for W.3.2

Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.

Questions about An Informative Piece With Headings

How long does the An Informative Piece With Headings lesson take?

40 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 13 min, guided practice 12 min, independent practice 8 min, close 2 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.

Which standard does An Informative Piece With Headings teach?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2 — W.3.2, Writing for Grade 3: “Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.” In plain terms, write to explain a topic, grouping related information together.

What do I need to teach this lesson?

Twelve fact cards about honeybees, one set per pair (listed in the warm-up), three blank heading strips per pair, a sheet of chart paper for the class model and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.

What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?

Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: writes headings first, then forces facts under them: "A hive can hold 50,000 bees" under "Bee Bodies."; heading copies the first card in the group: "Bees Drink Nectar" over a group that includes pollen and honey and defines a word in a list at the end, or not at all: "Nectar" used three times and explained on the last line. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.

How do I know whether the lesson worked?

The exit ticket asks: “Write a heading for these facts: "Frogs eat flies." "Tadpoles eat plants." "Frogs catch food with their tongues." Does your heading cover all three?.” A short label covering all three, e.g. "What Frogs Eat." "Flies" or "Frogs Eat Flies" means only the first fact was read; teach the card-by-card test. A full sentence means "heading" has not been told apart from "fact.". That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.

Is there a worksheet to go with An Informative Piece With Headings?

Yes — 1 printable W.3.2 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.

Is An Informative Piece With Headings free to use?

Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on October 8, 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.

Last reviewed 2026-10-08. Aligned to W.3.2 of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.