Writing Plans

Writing Plans

November 30 – December 4

Monday/Tuesday

Publishing 2nd Personal Narrative

Monday Lab Times: 9:00-10:10; 12:20-12:55

Tuesday Lab Times: 9:00-9:35; 10:35-11:35

Sharing 2nd Personal Narrative

(use Smartdocument camera?)

·  Author reads personal narrative

·  Audience listens for:

o  Evidence of quality writing/growth as a writer -paragraphing, conventions, strong lead and/or ending, zoomed in on small moment, details, emotions, etc.

o  What is the story really about? Ex: Sophie’s story –Being part of the popular group sometimes isn’t what you think it would be. “Your Name In Gold” –A girl realizes how much her sister loves and cares about her.

Wednesday

Writing to a Prompt

·  45 minute period and an additional 20 minute writing time; January 11-12

·  Students will have a choice of two prompts. They are to respond to one prompt.

o  Of the two prompts, one will be a sentence prompt (narrative) -- "Write a story about. . . ."

o  The other will be a picture with these directions: "What do you think about when you see the picture below? Write a story about it."

·  Give students “Writer’s Checklist”

o  Use Treasures teacher’s manual p. 218-219

o  Analyze the writing prompt on p. 218 in Treasures Student Book

Thursday

Timed Writing Practice

·  Show rubric for Organization; discuss strategies to use so writing is organized

·  Write Source -Understanding the Traits of Writing; “Understanding Organization” (pp. 25-26)

·  Suggest some type of graphic organizer -list; web; time line

·  Practice (prompt):

Think about a time when you lost something that had a special meaning for you. What was lost? Where were you when you lost it? How did it make you feel? What did you do to try to find it? Write a story about the experience. Be sure to organize your story according to how things happened.

·  Activity: Use scrap paper to organize your thoughts before beginning to draft a writing. Model with students on chart paper some type of graphic organizer. Allow approximately 10-15 minutes for organization/prewriting.

Friday

Timed Writing Practice

·  Review the “Writer’s Checklist”

·  Reread practice prompt

·  Revisit graphic organizer from yesterday’s “prewriting”

·  Continue practicing writing from the prompt, simulating a test-taking situation. Students will use graphic organizer to draft writing. Allow approximately 20-25 minutes to write their personal narratives.

(Lesson)

Examples of scored writing pieces for organization

·  Show and/or give students 3 copies of 4th grade pieces that chose prompt “Tell about an adventure you had when one day you woke up and you were the size of a pencil.” Or “We all have heroes that we look up to and admire. Tell about someone who is a hero to you.”

(on shared drive)

·  Students should read each piece. Use the Organization Rubric to assign a number score (1-5; 5 being the highest) to each piece.

·  Discuss and give evidence of score

·  Tell students the organization score the writing judges gave each piece

·  What was strong/weak? What could the writer have done to improve their piece?

·  Students should read their piece written on the “Something that you lost” prompt. Use the organization rubric and think about the example pieces and their scores. What score would your piece receive for organization?

·  Scores:

(1) “The Day I Shrunk” 4

3

(2) “The Shrink Machine” 5

5

(3) “My and my parent.” 2

2

(Lesson)

Writing to a picture prompt…

http://www.ntuaft.com/TISE/Standards%20based%20assessments/Rubrics%20&%20Exemplars/grade%205%20picture%20prompt.pdf

(I’ll put this website in the shared folder –prompt writing- so you can access it from there.)

This website contains a picture prompt and five 5th grade state assessment sample writing pieces.

·  Display the picture only on the smartboard. As a class generate some ideas/topics that could be used for writing a story that would go with this picture…

o  What story do you think it tells?

o  What do you think is happening in this picture?

o  What is the story behind it?

o  Does the picture/people in the picture remind you of anything that actually happened in your life?

·  List students’ ideas

·  Could any of these ideas become a story with a

o  Beginning –introduce your story and grab the reader’s attention

o  Middle –tell the events of the story in time order; show feelings; dialogue

o  Ending –tell why the experience was important and what was learned from it

·  Display and read the first writing piece; does it tell a story with a beginning, middle, end?

In the picture, there is an exciting story taking place and I would like to share that story with you. …

·  What has the writer done well?

o Tells a story with a single purpose –surprise trip with Uncle Nate

o Ideas and details are told in appropriate order

o Writer demonstrates feeling –joy of the ride and time spent with Uncle Nate

o Few errors in mechanics

o Varied sentence structures

o Dialogue

(Lesson)

Writing a strong lead

Practice write to a picture prompt

Developing a Good Lead (Mini Lesson)

·  Writers try to “grab” the reader’s attention right away by beginning with a powerful lead. Readers need to be drawn in and made to want to read more.

·  If a lead of a book makes me curious or interested, I’ll give the book a try. Listen to this text using Stuart Little by E.B. White: “Stuart was a mouse.”

o Even if you like stories about mice, this lead isn’t interesting or exciting enough to make me want to read this book

·  Listen to this lead, which is what E.B. White actually wrote to begin Stuart Little: “When Mrs. Frederick C. Little’s second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse.”

o This lead gets my attention; How can a baby be the size of a mouse? I want to read to fine out!

·  A good lead often introduces a character, as E.B. White does in Stuart Little. A lead can also show what a character is like through his or her actions, words, or thoughts.

·  Use Write Source (p. 99) to review three ways to begin your writing (powerful leads). The leads come from a personal narrative piece written by a student responding to the prompt:

I remember when my family went without TV for a whole weekend…

(Writing Activity)

Writing to a picture prompt

Choose one of the pictures for prompt writing on the shared drive. Display it on the smartboard. Students will write a story that comes to their mind when they see the picture. To practice as it will actually be on the assessment day, no word clues should be given or ideas generated as a group. Simply remind the students that their stories need to have a beginning, middle, and end.

Possible breakdown of time:

10 minutes (brainstorming ideas/making a web/list)

20 minutes (writing a rough draft)

Share story ideas/something you thought you did well: ex: beginning, middle, end; strong lead; etc.

(Lesson)

Developing Good Endings

Sometimes young authors run out of steam before they reach the end of their stories. Their writing may not “wrap up” events in a way that is satisfying to the reader.

The last paragraph should bring your narrative to a close. Endings should be interesting –and sometimes even suprising.

·  Display the story “Hey! You almost dropped that box on my new baskeball!” shouted Matt. … on the smart document camera. Cover the two endings.

·  Ask students to read the story to themselves and think about how it might end.

·  Uncover the first ending and ask students to read it.

o Is this the ending you expected?

o Do you think this ending wraps up the story in a satisfying way?

·  Think again about the first part of the story. Then display the second ending and give students time to read it.

o Is this ending predictable?

o What makes it surprising?

·  Discuss with students which ending they prefer and why.

·  Every story doesn’t work with a surprise ending; stories shouldn’t have a too predictable ending, either.

·  Use Write Source (p. 102) to review three possible ways to end your story. (These endings are from the personal narrative written from the prompt: I remember when my family went without T.V. for a whole weekend…

(Lesson)

Practice Writing to a Word/Situation Prompt

Display and read the following prompt aloud:

Sometimes unexpected events happen. Think about a time when you were very surprised. Write a story about an event that surprised you.

·  Tips to keep in mind:

o  Read/reread the prompt carefully; pay attention to key words and phrases

o  Brainstorm ideas; use a graphic organizer such as a chart or web

o  Follow all the directions in the prompt

o  Develop a story with a strong beginning (lead), middle, and an ending that makes your story memorable.

Possible break down of each part of the process:

·  10-15 minutes -Brainstorming/Planning/Using a graphic organizer

·  20-25 minutes -Writing

(Lesson)

Sentence Structure/Fluency

Sometimes writers tend to use the same structure for every sentence. Good writing pieces use complex sentences and sentences with varied lengths.

·  Remind students that we’ve discussed and practice writing 4th grade sentences with 8 or more words. Every sentences doesn’t need to be expanded. A short sentence here and there adds variety.

·  Use Write Source (pp. 112-113) “Revising for Sentence Fluency” to review and discuss having sentences in your writing with varied beginnings and lengths.

·  Display on the smartboard the passage from “The Three Little Pigs” (on the shared drive in prompt writing folder)

o  The sentences retell part of a story that may be familiar to them. Read the sentences in unison

o  How might they rewrite these sentences to make the story more fun and interesting to read?

o  Together, rewrite the story based on students’ suggestions. Encourage the use of pronouns, combining short sentences, and switching the order of elements in some sentences. Ex: The first two sentences could be combined and changed to read: “After building his brick house, the little pig went inside.”

o  Read the new version aloud together. Which version do you prefer? Why?

·  Good writers begin their sentences with capital letters and end them with correct punctuation. Good writers use sentences of different lengths in their writing. They also use a variety of types of sentences so that every sentence doesn’t begin in the same way.

·  Provide students with these simple sentences. Ask them to combine and rewrite the sentences in at least two different ways.

Tori fed the dog. Tori left for school.

Examples: Tori fed the dog before she left for school.

Before leaving for school, Tori fed the dog.

(Lesson)

Editing for Conventions

Writers proofread their work, checking for correct grammar and word usage. Even a small mistake can distract a reader’s attentions from the real message of a piece of writing.

During the editing stage, they have a chance to find and correct errors in

- punctuation

- capitalization

- spelling

- grammar

Editing will probably be done after taking a break from the first part of the writing assessment (40 minute section). Later that same day, you’ll put your writing piece away and reread and make corrections during a second session (20 minutes).

·  Use Write Source (pp. 116-118) to review and find examples of errors in conventions.

Activity

·  Choose one of the pieces written last week (picture prompt or word prompt) to reread and make corrections in conventions. Use the checklist of p. 118 of Write Source as a reminder of things to look for in their writing.

·  Discuss common errors found. What methods did you use to show the correction?