Grade level: Fourth Grade Writing Lesson Name: Grading Periodcurriculum.austinisd.org/schoolnetDocs/languageArts... · Lesson Name: First 20 Days of Writing - Week 4 Grading Period:

Austin ISD Updated August 2015

Grade level: Fourth Grade Writing Lesson Name: First 20 Days of Writing - Week 4 Grading Period: 1st 9 Weeks, Arc 4 Estimated timeframe: Dual Language –English Language Arts, 9 days (Sept.8-18), 30-35 min. daily Monolingual – 5 days (Sept.14-18), 60 min. daily These lessons are appropriate for both Monolingual teachers and Dual Language teachers. Note: The Personal Narrative Writing Unit continues beyond this week for another two weeks. Teachers may either review the Personal Narrative Writing Unit (found in the CRM) for additional lessons to make a 4 week writing unit, or they can conclude one personal narrative writing piece at the end of this week and begin another personal narrative for the remaining two weeks.

Lesson Components Lesson Objectives: Students will revise their personal narratives to add sensory details, dialogue, and transitions. They will revise the leads and conclusions to their personal narratives. Students will peer edit and publish their personal narratives.

Language Objectives: The students will listen to examples of transition words and phrases, and leads and conclusions in mentor texts, the teacher’s writing, and their partner’s writing. They will discuss ideas for making these revisions in their stories and write the revisions in their stories. The students will write their published copies of their stories, including all revisions and corrections.

Prior Learning: Students can generate ideas for writing by drawing, sharing ideas and listing key ideas.

Standards(Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills):

4.15 Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) to compose text.

4.17 Writing. Students write about their own experiences. 4.17A write about important personal experiences

4.27 Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students use comprehension skills to listen attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to: 4.27A listen attentively to speakers, ask relevant questions, and make pertinent comments

4.29 Listening and Speaking/Teamwork. Students work productively with others in teams. Students continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. 4.29A participate in teacher- and student-led discussions by posing and answering questions with appropriate detail and by providing suggestions that build upon the ideas of others.

College and Career Readiness: Compose a variety of texts that demonstrate clear focus, the logical development of ideas in well-organized

paragraphs, and the use of appropriate language that advances the author’s purpose.

Recognize the importance of revision as the key to effective writing. Each draft should refine key ideas and organize them more logically and fluidly, use language more precisely and effectively, and draw the reader to the author’s purpose.

Develop effective speaking styles for both group and one-on-one situations. 1. Participate actively and effectively in one-on-one oral communication situations. 2. Participate actively and effectively in group discussions. 3. Listen effectively in informal and formal situations.

1. Listen critically and respond appropriately to presentations. 2. Listen actively and effectively in one-on-one communication situations. 3. Listen actively and effectively in group discussions.


Essential Questions:

How do transitions help our writing?

Why is a good lead important in a personal narrative?

Why is a personal reflection a good way to conclude a personal narrative?

Enduring Understandings:

Transitions show how the ideas in a piece of writing are organized. They usually indicate the passage of time or a change in location in a personal narrative. Transitions help to create a sequential flow in the writing.

A good lead draws the reader into the story and makes him want to read more. Readers often decide in the first few minutes of a text whether they will continue reading, so it is important to capture the reader’s attention early in the writing.

A personal narrative is defined by the personal meaning the story has to the writer. The writer can explain this personal meaning at any point in the story, but it is an effective way to bring the writing to a close.

Vocabulary Essential: revising, dialogue, transitions, lead, conclusion, reflective ending, peer edit, publish

Lesson Preparation

To prepare for Read Alouds, pre-read the selected books and plan appropriate stopping points for think alouds. See lesson plan for instructional focus. Read Aloud Texts: Uncle Jed’s Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell My Great Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto Boomtown by Sonia Levitin (also in Treasures)

Writer’s Journal, Writing Folder for teacher to model with

Blank Chart Paper

Writing Conference Log

Time Transitions handout

Notebook paper for drafting

Peer Editing Checklist

Status of the Class visual (Day 2)

Anchors of Support

Turn and Talk Expectations


Independent Writing Expectations

Listening Expectations for Partners

Writing Great Leads anchor (Day 3)

Crafting a Reflective Ending anchor (Day 4)

Publishing anchor (Day 5)

We should also be:

Writing in our Writer’s

Notebooks

Drafting

Conferring

Peer Sharing

Revising


Differentiation

Strategies

Special Education: Provide written objectives, TEKS, essential questions, and academic vocabulary for the day. Extend process time through quick writes, think-pair-share, or structured wait time. Offer sentence stems. Break down steps and/or simplify directions.

English Language Learners: Define the terms on the anchor chart and/or provide picture clues to match the vocabulary. Allow for cooperative learning opportunities. Sentence stems to help with generating questions

Extension for Learning: Have students submit their published pieces to various contests found

here: http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/fiction/publish/competition.htm or have them publish

their writing on a class blog.

21st Century Skills

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION Think Creatively • Use a wide range of idea creation techniques (such as brainstorming) • Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts) • Elaborate, refine, analyze and evaluate their own ideas in order to improve and maximize creative efforts

Work Creatively with Others • Develop, implement and communicate new ideas to others effectively • Be open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives; incorporate group input and feedback into the work Have students use a word processing program to draft narratives. Students can also publish their stories using an application called Storybird. A link to the website can be found here: https://storybird.com/

English Language Proficiency Standards: Mandated by Texas Administrative Code (19 TAC §74.4), click on the link for English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) to support English Language Learners.

Lesson Cycle

Lesson stages

Day 1 – Modeling the Revision Process Note: Prior to this lesson, plan revisions to your story that you will model for your students. These revisions should address some of the common problems you see in their writing, e.g., adding more details, adding dialogue or feelings, using precise words, etc.

Qualities of Good Personal Narrative Writing

Write a little seed story; don’t write all about a giant watermelon

topic.

Zoom in so you tell the most important parts of the story.

Include true, exact details from the movie you have in your mind.

Use transition words to indicate a change in time or place.

Begin with a strong lead- maybe setting, action, character, a hint,

or a combination.

Add a reflective ending that tells the reader what the experience

means to the author.

Relive the episode as you write it.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writeit/fiction/publish/competition.htm

https://storybird.com/

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter074/ch074a.html#74.4


SE Focus Lesson Using your own writing from last week (an example of a seed idea that is developed into a brief story), show students some of the basic ways to revise their writing. Display your writing for all students to see, and read your writing aloud. Show how you use a caret (^) to insert a word or phrase between words. The extra line you skipped while drafting works nicely for these inserted words or phrases.

If you decide to delete a word, phrase or sentence, be sure to model how to cross out rather than erase. Show how you use an asterisk (*) to mark the place where you will insert one or more sentences. Then go to another place on your paper and write the insertions next to another (*). Explain how the (*) is a symbol to remind you that you want to insert the additional sentences. The margins often work well for adding just one or two sentences and marking them with an (*). If the writer wants to make another addition on the same page, he/she might use a different symbol for the second addition.

A strategy that many writers use when they want to add more details to a story is to create a movie in their minds. Think aloud about what is happening in one part of your story. Explain how you will create a movie in your mind and go inside that movie to focus on what you see, the sounds you hear, what you smell, how you feel, etc. Add these sensory images on a sticky note or in the margins of your page. If you hear people talking, this is a great time to show how to add dialogue (with quotation marks and a tag) without breaking the rhythm of your think aloud.

Tell writers that today, during independent writing, you want them to reread their stories from yesterday and make some revisions using the techniques you showed them today. Remind them that writers don’t just revise anywhere on the page. Writers only revise when they feel they can make the writing stronger by adding, deleting, or changing words, phrases, or sentences. ACTIVITY 1 Have students show their partners/bilingual pairs two places in their story where they can make revisions. Partners/bilingual pairs can identify the revisions as adding, deleting or changing. ACTIVITY 2 Have students revise their stories, using their partner as a resource for word choices and revision suggestions. Move around the room conferring with students about their revisions and the stories they are generating. Express enthusiasm for their beginning stories. This work is foundational to their writing for the year. Every affirmation of a student’s writing now will yield more actual writing from that student all year! Peer Sharing Have students show their story revisions to their table group (pair of pairs). If necessary, remind students of expectations for group sharing. Whole Group Closure Based on what you overhear during the peer sharing, choose one or two students to describe a revision he or she made. Draw attention to features of the revision so that an addition, a deletion and a change are demonstrated.


Day 2 - Revising: Using Transitions Between Events

Remind the students of the Writing Workshop anchor chart which outlines the parts of the Writing Workshop and review the Expectations of the Whole Group Mini Lesson. SE Focus Lesson Make a connection to yesterday’s learning: “I noticed you doing smart work yesterday as you followed the steps for writing a draft, and then revised to add details and dialogue. These steps have helped you write such vivid memories! I’m thinking that you are now ready to learn how to move from one part of the story to another.” Introduce transitions by saying, “During the school day I often let our class know that something new is about to happen. You have heard me say, ‘It’s time for reading’, or ‘Let’s line up for recess,’ when we change from one activity to another. Writers do the same for their readers. Writers use special transition words to let the reader know a change in time or place is about to happen. We call transition words. Introduce the read aloud Uncle Jed’s Barbershop. “Let’s look at Uncle Jed’s Barbershop (pg.4). In this story Sarah Jean tells us how her Uncle Jed would cut daddy’s hair. Then the story moves to a scene with Sarah Jean: ‘When he was done, he would pick me up and sit me on his lap and tell me about the barbershop he was going to open one day. . .’ (pg. 4) Do you see how the author uses the phrase ‘when he was done’ to signal a new scene is beginning?” *Additional mentor text recommended for highlighting transition words and phrases: My Great Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston and Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney Distribute the Transition Word List that is found at the end of this lesson plan. After the lesson this list will be stored in the Writing Folder as a reference tool. “Here are a few examples of transition words that authors sometimes use instead of the word ‘then’. Let’s review these words together.” Also, create an anchor for the students to refer to. Model explicitly where you can these transition words in your draft that you have written in Week 3. Use a different color pen or pencil to write them in and encourage your students to do the same when they revise their writing today.

Writers use Transition Words:

After In the meantime Before

Afterward Later We had just

As soon as Next Before long

At first Soon It was not long

At last When Finally

As a result When suddenly In the afternoon

For a long time Until


Explain to the students that this stage in the writing process is also revising. “Revising is when we think about how we can change our words to make our writing better. Good stories are not written, they are rewritten.” This may also be a place to introduce a method of keeping track of where your students are at all stages of the writing process. One method is with a visual aid such as those found below:

ACTIVITY 2 Review your expectations for independent writing time.. Have your students continue drafting with the focus on adding in the transitions between events. While conferencing with students this week, be aware of common struggles you are noticing among your class. You may want to group these kids together for targeted, small group instruction in lieu of doing Writing Conferences one day a week.

Continue conferring with students about their reading and writing. During these conferences, students share their thinking and writing in brief one-on-one sessions with the teacher. The teacher listens to the student explain what he has done and offers advice to help the writer. The conference log attached at the end is a sample of record-keeping for writing conferences. Peer Sharing Review your expectations for sharing writing time. During Peer Sharing today, pair your students and have them read their personal narrative drafts. While they are listening to their partner’s story, have them listen for transition words. You can have them record what they hear on Post It Notes. Whole Group Closure Have student volunteers share what they heard from their partner’s writing. Make sure to remind students to store their prewriting and drafting in their writing folder. The transition word list can also be kept there or glued into their Writer’s Journal. Add “Use transition words to indicate a change in time or place” to the Personal Narrative Criteria Chart.


Day 3 - Revising Leads

SE Focus Lesson Explain that today the students will revise the lead of their narrative. Say, “A good lead or beginning is like an invitation to a party. The author tells the setting, introduces the main character, and gives a hint about the wonderful time ahead!” Display Too Many Tamales. Say, “There are many ways to craft a good beginning. Let’s look at one strategy used by Gary Soto in the opening sentences of one of his books, Too Many Tamales.” Read aloud the first 2 pages of text. Say, “This opening gives us a lot of important information. Let’s look closely at the strategy Gary Soto uses.” Refer to anchor chart, ‘Writing Great Leads’. Highlight and discuss with the students the model sentence(s) in a different mentor text for each point:

Here are a few books that have good examples of these types of leads, although by searching through your own library of books, you will find many other good examples.

Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney – Setting lead

Too Many Tamales, by Gary Soto – Setting lead

The Lost Lake, by Allen Say – Action lead

A Day’s Work, by Eve Bunting – Action lead

Uncle Jed’s Barbershop, by Margaree King Mitchell – Character lead

Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen – Hint lead

The Relatives Came, by Cynthia Rylant – Hint lead

Revise your lead in front of the class, using a different color pen or pencil. Explain to the students that this stage in the writing process is revising. ACTIVITY 1 Review Turn and Talk expectations from the previous week. Have students work with their partners to Turn and Talk about how they are going to revise their lead with this strategy. Encourage partners to help each other with revising their leads. Note: Throughout all five days, the teacher will actively monitor student pairs, clarifying instructions, checking for understanding and scaffolding as necessary. This is a student-centered learning time with partners and groups of students doing the talking and writing. ACTIVITY 2 Review your expectations for independent writing time.

Writing Great Leads

Setting: creates a scene by telling the season and showing the weather

Action: tells us what is happening

Character: introduces the main character by telling and showing with details

Hint: gives a glimpse of what’s coming next!


Have students’ revise their leads with their drafts. Have students use a different color pen or pencil or have them write their lead on a Post It Note and attach it to the draft. If needed, have students finish writing their drafts. At this point, you may have students who are finished and need a next step. You can have them write in their Writer’s Notebooks, practice grammar skills with games, or use technology to review writing skills. Istation (every student has access) has a fun and interactive writing practice, and http://www.writingfix.com/ is a great website for students to use. You may decide to have struggling writers sit at a table with you while all of you write. Peer Sharing Have students take turns reading aloud their revised leads to their partners or to the small group (pair of pairs or table group). Whole Group Closure Did anyone think of a new idea for a lead by listening to their partner’s lead today? Add “Begin with a strong lead” to your Personal Narrative Criteria Chart.

Day 4 – Creating a Reflective Ending

SE Focus Lesson Say, “Today, I’d like to teach you how to write a special kind of ending. Writers call it a ‘reflective’ ending. In a reflective ending writers look back at the memory and tell the reader what the experience means to them. At the end of recess, I’ve frequently heard you say to one another, ‘Good Game!’ Often when we find ourselves at the end of an experience, we want to make a judgment about it. We ask ourselves: Was it good? Was it bad? And then we try to sum things up as best we can.” Model with a mentor text: Boomtown by Sonia Levitin (also in Treasures),“Let’s look at how a mentor author ends her narrative with a reflective ending. ‘Now Pa is with us every day. There’s excitement and bustle all around. Our house is in the middle of a boomtown! And to think it all started with me. Amanda, baking pies.’ This ending helps us experience the happy changes in life for Amanda and her family. We also experience the pride Amanda feels at the success of her pie business. This reflection, or looking back to make a judgment, brings the story to a close in a powerful way.” Refer to the anchor while revising the ending to your story using this revision strategy with a different color pen or pencil. Explain to the students that this stage in the writing process is revising.

ACTIVITY 1 Review Turn and Talk expectations. Have students Turn and Talk to their partners about how they are going to revise their endings with this strategy. Encourage partners to help each other out with revising their endings.

How do Writers Craft a Reflective Ending?

At the end of the draft, writers of a personal narrative ask themselves:

• Why is this memory important?

• What do I want the reader to know or feel when they read the ending?

http://www.writingfix.com/


ACTIVITY 2 Review your expectations for independent writing time. Have students’ revise their endings with their drafts. Have students use a different color pen or pencil or have them write their lead on a Post It Note and attach it to the draft. If needed, have students finish writing their drafts. At this point, you may have students who are finished and need a next step. You can have them write in their Writer’s Notebook, practice grammar skills with games, or use technology to review writing skills. Istation (every student has access) has a fun and interactive writing practice, and http://www.writingfix.com/ is a great website for students to use. You may decide to have struggling writers sit at a table with you while all of you write. Peer Sharing Have students take turns reading aloud their revised endings to their partners or to the small group (pair of pairs or table group). Whole Group Closure Did anyone get a different idea for an ending for their story by listening to their partner’s ending? Add to the Personal Narrative Criteria Chart: “Add a reflective ending that tells the reader what the experience means to the author”.

Day 5 - Peer Editing and Publishing

SE Focus Lesson Introduce a peer editing checklist. Here are some links to checklists you may use:

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/Editing%20Checklist.pdf https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Peer-Editing-Checklist-FREEBIE-1162457

Explain that editing means the writer is correcting spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Use your own personal narrative to show students how they should use the editing checklist when editing their own papers. ACTIVITY 1 Review expectations for Peer Editing, such as voice levels and movement. Have students work with their partners to edit and comment on each other’s writing.

ACTIVITY 2 Today during Independent Writing, have students begin publishing their personal narratives. Share with them this anchor for publishing criteria:

Publishing

Write with your best handwriting.

Do not skip lines.

Only write on the front of the paper.

Create a cover sheet with your name, date, title, and illustration.

http://www.writingfix.com/

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/Editing%20Checklist.pdf

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Peer-Editing-Checklist-FREEBIE-1162457


Whole Group Closure Have student talk about the peer editing process. What did they like or not like about editing with a peer?

Closure Activity

Publishing or Author Celebrations

Have students continue publishing their personal narratives. When they have finished with their published copies, you can hold an Author Celebration.

1. One way is to display student work on the desks and around the classroom. Place blank Post-it Notes on each desk. Students, with pen/pencil in hand, circulate around the room reading the published pieces. They are encouraged to offer a compliment (what the author did really well).

2. You can invite other classes, parents, teachers and/or administrators to the celebration. You can have students post their writing through a class blog to encourage them to share digitally with other students around the world.

Check for Understanding (Evaluation)

Formative: Partner discussions during Activity 1s, Peer Sharing sessions, Evidence of revision (sensory details, dialogue, transitions, leads, reflective endings, evidence of peer editing) Summative: Published Personal Narrative Pieces


_________________ Writer’s Conference Log

Date Writing Stage Genre or Topic Observations Goals

__ Prewriting

__ Drafting

__ Revising

__Editing

__ Publishing

__ Prewriting

__ Drafting

__ Revising

__Editing

__ Publishing

__ Prewriting

__ Drafting

__ Revising

__Editing

__ Publishing


Time Transitions

Documents

Grade level: Fourth Grade Writing Lesson Name: Grading Periodcurriculum.austinisd.org/schoolnetDocs/languageArts... · Lesson Name: First 20 Days of Writing - Week 4 Grading Period: