Personal Narrative

Trait:  Voice & Conventions

Objective:  The students will be able to write, edit, and publish a personal narrative.

Personal Narrative: 

• A story about yourself
• Explain, argue, or tell a story
• Share your life with others so that the reader understands the experiences you are trying to convey

Voice:

• Create a memorable experience for the reader
• Shows emotion (excitement, sadness, fright, happiness, anger, etc.)
• The presence of the writer on the page, the reader feels a strong connection to both the writing and writer

·         Make a list of interesting topics

·         Model voice through shared library books, student writing samples

·         Share autobiographies

·         Write a friendly letter

·         Teach first-person, pronouns, point of view, purpose for writing

·         www.prometheanplanet.com (Keyword writing traits, personal narrative)

·         Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers

·         Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

·         Thinking Map:  Circle Map (define self)

·         “Me Bag” – give students a bag and ask them to fill it with 4 to 5 items that define themselves

·         Use the plastic sleeve for baseball card collections – have students put their picture in the center and fill in the other slots with interesting items about themselves

·         RAFT – Role of the writer, Audience, Format, Topic

·         Use editing symbols from Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers or Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

Descriptive Paragraph/Descriptive Essay

Trait:  Word Choice & Conventions

Objective:  The students will be able to write, edit, and publish a descriptive paper.

Descriptive Paragraph/Descriptive Essay

• Describes a person, place, thing, or event
• Uses the five senses to describe how the topic looks, sounds, feels, tastes, or smells

Word Choice

• The writer creates the mood, impression, or word picture so that the reader has a clear mental image of the topic   (Ex. An ooey gooey, caramel topped, ice cream sundae with whipped cream, chocolate fudge, peanuts, vanilla ice cream, and sprinkles vs. a cone of vanilla ice cream)

·         Focus on five senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, and sound)

·         Adjectives, vivid verbs, synonyms, antonyms, compare, contrast

·         Thinking Map:  Bubble Map, Double Bubble Map (Venn Diagram)

·         5 W & H – Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How

·         Model descriptive writing through shared library books, student writing samples

·         Teaching the use of resource materials –thesaurus

·         www.prometheanplanet.com (Keyword six traits word choice )

·         Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers

·         Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

·         RAFT – Role of the writer, Audience, Format, Topic

·         Sensory Chart

·         Descriptive Word Chart to use as a word bank

·         Use editing symbols from Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers or Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

Expository Writing – How To Essay

Trait:  Organization & Conventions

Objective:  The students will be able to write, edit, and publish an expository paper.

Expository Writing – How To Essay

• Explain how to do something or how to make something
• Tells the steps in order
• Tells the reader what materials are needed
• Explains or informs in the form of a report, set of directions, or essay

Organization:

• The writer chooses words that are appropriate time order and transition words that sequence steps correctly so that the reader never feels lost
• Strong organization begins with a purposeful, engaging lead and ends with a thought provoking close

·         Focus on time order words, transitions, sequencing, time line

·         Introductory sentence and concluding sentence, Topic sentence, main idea, grab the reader’s attention, make the reader think

·         Thinking Map:  Flow Map

·         Explain a game to a friend from another country

·         Adverbs, prepositions, prepositional phrases

·         Model organization through shared library books, student writing samples

·         Teaching the use of resource materials – social studies textbook, science textbook, Weekly Reader, Scholastic News

·         www.prometheanplanet.com (Keyword expository writing)

·         Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers

·         Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

·         RAFT – Role of the writer, Audience, Format, Topic

·         Use editing symbols from Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers or Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

Narrative Fiction Writing

• Once Upon a Time…
• Fable
• Folktale
• Realistic Fiction
• Tall Tales

Trait:  Idea Development,  Voice,  & Conventions

Objective:  The students will be able to write, edit, and publish a work of narrative fiction.

Narrative Fiction Writing

• A realistic fiction story tells about people, events, and places that could be real but are not real.
• A fable is a short story that often uses talking animals as characters to teach a lesson or a moral
• A tall tale is a humorous, exaggerated story about a character that does impossible things
• A folktale is a story that has been told and re-told many times usually by people from a particular culture

Idea Development & Voice

• The best writing has a clear message to share.  It includes plenty of specific ideas and details
• Characters should be clearly developed and come alive to the reader
• The sequence of events work toward the solution of a problem
• The storyline is supported by carefully selected details and examples that build understanding or hold a reader’s attention

·         Story elements, genre, figurative language, dialogue, paragraphing, sequence, plot, story map, tone, protagonist, antagonist, foreshadowing, flashback,

·         Adjectives, action verbs, synonyms, pronouns, antonyms, compare, contrast, common and proper nouns, quotation marks

·         Thinking Map:  Circle Map, Bubble Map, Double Bubble Map (Venn Diagram), Flow Map, Brace Map

·         5 W & H – Who, What, When, Where, Why, & How

·         Model narrative fiction through shared library books and basal stories

·         www.prometheanplanet.com (Keyword story elements)

·         Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers

·         Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

·         RAFT – Role of the writer, Audience, Format, Topic

·         Descriptive Word Chart to use as a word bank

·         Use editing symbols from Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers or Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

Persuasive Writing

Trait:  Sentence Fluency & Conventions

Objective:  The students will be able to write, edit, and publish a piece of persuasive writing.

Persuasive Writing

• Is meant to convince the reader to agree with the writer’s opinion.
• Write to give your opinion or tell a reader what you think

Sentence Fluency

• The sentences flow smoothly
• The reader will enjoy the variety of sentences
• The sentences should give support to the writer’s opinion.  Do not stray from the opinion you are trying to get your reader to accept.
• Purposeful sentence beginnings show how each sentence relates to and builds on the one before

·         Fact and opinion, propaganda techniques, author’s purpose, sources and reliability, main idea, sequencing, point of view, conflicting viewpoint, cause and effect, compare and contrast, supporting details, business letter, select the most logical place to insert a sentence into a paragraph

·         Subject, predicate, sentence fragments, run on, concise language, combining sentences, conjunctions, subject/verb agreement

·         Thinking Map:  Multi-Flow Map, Double Bubble Map (Venn Diagram), Tree Map

·         Resources – Newspaper, current events, Nettrekker, Weekly Reader, Scholastic, Science and Social Studies textbooks, magazines

·         Model sentence fluency through shared library books

·         www.prometheanplanet.com (Keyword persuasive writing)

·         Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers

·         Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

·         RAFT – Role of the writer, Audience, Format, Topic

·         Use editing symbols from Zaner Bloser – Strategies for Writers or Write Source – A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning

·         Opinion topic chart