How to Teach Plant Report Writing Step by Step

TeachingWithATouchOfHoney
Jun 22
3 min read

Updated: 5 hours ago

Are you writing plant reports with your students? From sunflowers to cactus plants, learning about how plants grow and survive is a great way to connect science and writing skills. This guide walks through the exact process, so your students can go from choosing a plant to finishing a polished, illustrated report.

What Is a Plant Report?

A plant report is a piece of informative writing where a student researches a plant and shares what they learned with a reader. Students research categories like appearance, where it grows, life cycle, and uses, then organize their findings into a written report.

Plant reports pair naturally with science units on living things, giving students a chance to practice informative writing while building background knowledge.

How to Write a Plant Report in 7 Steps

Step 1: Choose a Plant

Students can find their plant topic in a few different ways:

Choose their own plant
Pick a plant out of a hat
Be assigned a plant by the teacher, often tied to a science unit

A ready made plant topics list takes the guesswork out of this step, giving students enough choice to feel ownership without an overwhelming decision.

Want a quick visual reminder of the whole process? Grab the free Report Writing 7 Step Poster and hang it up for students to reference anytime.

Step 2: Research the Plant

Once students have their plant, it is time to gather information using:

Kid friendly websites
Books
Magazines
Science texts or nonfiction readers

Step 3: Make Jot Notes

This is often the trickiest step for young writers, and it is also the most important one. Jot notes teach students to pull out key facts about their plant instead of copying whole sentences from their source.

A jot notes template built around clear research categories makes this step much easier. Common categories for a plant report include:

Appearance
Where it grows
Life cycle
Uses
Special adaptations
Other interesting facts

Structured note taking helps students find success from their very first attempt at an informative report, and offering different note taking options for different skill levels helps students focus on picking important facts instead of writing everything down.

Step 4: Write the Draft

With jot notes complete, students turn their facts into paragraphs. Each research category becomes its own paragraph, so a report naturally ends up with a paragraph on appearance, one on where it grows, one on its uses, and so on.

Step 5: Revise and Edit

Now it's time to make the writing stronger. A simple, differentiated checklist helps students revise and edit their plant report at their own level.

Step 6: Write the Good Copy

After editing, students write their final good copy of the plant report, using a differentiated template or regular writing paper depending on what they need.

Step 7: Illustrate the Plant Report

The last step is adding color with illustrations of the plant, based on what students learned in their research. It is a satisfying way to wrap up the project.

Bonus Step: Assess the Report (Optional)

Once the report is finished, a simple rubric makes grading straightforward. Many teachers also like to include a self assessment, so students reflect on their own work before it's handed in. For a closer look at how the assessments work, including self, peer and teacher options, check out How to Use Report Writing Resources in Your Classroom.

How to Differentiate Plant Report Writing

Every classroom has a range of writers, and a plant report is a great place to meet students where they are.

For reluctant writers, use a template that only asks for one fact per research category, keeping the task manageable and building confidence.
For students who are ready for a challenge, use a template that asks for three or more facts per category, pushing their research and writing further.

Printable and Digital Versions

This process works whether you are using paper templates or digital slides. Digital versions let students complete their jot notes, drafts, and final plant reports right on the slide, which is a nice option for classrooms using Chromebooks or iPads.

A Simple Recap

Writing a plant report does not need to be complicated. To recap, the seven steps are:

Choose a plant
Research the plant
Make jot notes
Write a draft
Revise and edit
Write the good copy
Illustrate the report

If you would like ready to use templates for every step of this process, including jot notes, draft pages, rubrics, and checklists, take a look at the Plant Report Writing resource on Teachers Pay Teachers.