Explore How to Plant a Garden

Are you looking for a writing project that allows students to demonstrate their knowledge of the purpose, structural elements and language features of procedural writing? If so, look no further than Teach Starter’s “How to Plant a Garden” procedural writing activity!

This writing project requires students to create a “How to” procedural text for the process of planting a garden. You’ll find everything you need to implement this fun procedural writing activity in the comprehensive student workbook. The workbook contains the following:

• Project overview page
• Assessment rubric
• Planning sheets for materials, instructions, vocabulary and diagrams
• Scaffolded writing page
• Lined writing page
• Blank writing page
• 3 x writing checklists

This procedural writing project downloads as a printable PDF or editable Google Slides file.

One of the benefits of this procedural writing project is that there are so many different types of gardens that students can choose as a focus of their text. There are flower gardens, herb gardens, vegetable gardens, succulent gardens… the possibilities are numerous! Students love choice when it comes to their learning, so encourage your students to shape their procedural writing around a type of garden that most appeals to them.

If you have students in your class who have limited experience with gardening, be sure to provide them with the opportunity to do some research on different types of gardens using child-friendly, age-appropriate books, videos or websites.

Suggested Implementation of This Procedural Writing Activity 

Are you looking for some ideas as to how you might implement this procedural writing activity in your classroom? Here is one teacher’s suggested approach:

1. Spark Curiosity – Show the students a selection of contrasting images of different types of gardens. Have a class discussion about which gardens the students would most like to plant and why.
2. Introduce the Project – Give the students each a copy of the booklet. Read through the cover page instructions and walk through each of the planning templates.
3. Research and Decision-Making – Before commencing the project, students will need to make a decision about the type of garden they are going to write about. Allow some time for them to ponder this, conducting some research if necessary.
4. Brainstorming and Planning – Support the students as they brainstorm and plan the different sections of their procedure text using the templates provided in the project booklet.
5. Writing and Editing – Have students write their “How to Plant a Garden” procedural text using their planning as a guide. Once they have finished, direct them to the planning checklists to assist them in checking and improving their writing.
6. Submit for Teacher Feedback – Teachers can use the rubric provided to assess and provide feedback on the students’ writing.

Download This Procedural Writing Project

Use the dropdown menu on the Download button above to access the PDF or editable Google Slides file. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides template before accessing it).

For sustainability purposes, please consider printing this workbook double-sided.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and a Teach Starter collaborator.

More Teacher-Made Procedural Writing Resources

Teach Starter has a wide range of curriculum-aligned teaching resources to make your procedural writing lessons flow like clockwork! Click below to check out some suggestions from our team:

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Procedural Writing Prompt Task Cards

Need some procedural writing ideas? Download these task cards to use as a writing center activity during your procedure writing unit.

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Procedural Writing Posters

Display this set of 5 procedural writing anchor charts in your classroom during your procedural writing unit.

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Exploring Procedural Writing Teaching Slides

Teach your students about writing a procedure using this detailed slideshow targeted at 1st- and 2nd-graders.