Story-Writing Handbook

Guided Reading Procedure 850L Story-Writing Handbook Written by Caroline Leavitt and illustrated by Nancy Meyers Key IDEA This nonfiction book describes procedures writers can follow to create interesting stories. Different chapters clarify basic story elements, such as genre, character, setting, plot, structure, and dialogue. Checklists, writers tips, and interactive You Try It! features engage readers and offer practical advice. LITERACY STANDARDS ADDRESSED IN THIS PLAN RI.4.3 MAIN FOCUS Key Ideas & Details Sessions 1, 2, 3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text. RI.4.4 Craft & Structure Sessions 1, 2, 3 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topic or subject area. RI.4.5 MAIN FOCUS Craft & Structure Sessions 2, 3 Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text. L.4.4b Vocabulary Acquisition & Use Additional Instruction Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., telegraph, photograph, autograph). L.4.5c Vocabulary Acquisition & Use Additional Instruction Demonstrate understanding of words by relating them to their opposites (antonyms) and to words with similar but not identical meanings (synonyms). RF.4.3a Phonics & Word Recognition Additional Instruction Use combined knowledge of all letter-sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology (e.g., roots and affixes) to read accurately unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context and out of context. RI.4.8 MAIN FOCUS Integration of Knowledge & Ideas Sessions 2, 3 Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text. RF.4.4a Fluency Session 2 Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding. ISBN 978-1-62889-223-9 RI.4.10 Range of Reading & Level of Text Complexity By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4 5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. SL.4.1c Comprehension & Collaboration Sessions 1, 2, 3 Pose and respond to specific questions to clarify or follow up on information, and make comments that contribute to the discussion and link to the remarks of others. W.4.1 Text Types & Purposes Writing Task Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information. W.4.8* Research to Build & Present Knowledge sessions 1, 2, 3 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. *Standard adapted from another grade level W.4.10 Range of Writing Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of disciplinespecific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 1

Session 1 Text Selection: pp. 4 9 Learning Focus RI.4.3 Students read closely to explain ideas and concepts in a technical text by referring to specific evidence in the text. Key Idea: Text Selection The introduction gives a brief overview of stories and explains the different genres of fiction. PREVIEWING THE TEXT 5 minutes Read the title and author credit with students. Then have students read the back cover. Encourage students to look at the chapter titles and flip through illustrations. Looking at the book cover and title, what do you think this book will be about? how to be a better story writer, stories kids can write Who can share some ideas about types of stories you like to read? fiction, mysteries, adventures, science fiction, stories about kids my age What questions do you have as you skim through this book? How do I decide what to write about? What are the most important things to include in a story? Great questions! Let s read to find out. VOCABULARY RI.4.4 Introduce the meanings of the words fiction, realistic, historical, and futuristic. Encourage students to use these words when they write and speak about this text and others. TEACHER TIP When talking about the different genres described in the book, ask students for examples from books they have read or provide examples from the classroom library. Corrective Feedback Have students closely reread the title and Introduction to find the author s key idea. Encourage them to silently reread, stopping at key points to think and talk together about their understandings. READING THE TEXT CLOSELY 10 minutes Explain the learning focus. Invite students to read pages 4 5. Check their application of the focus, providing support as needed. Have students read the rest of the Introduction. Our purpose in reading today is to learn about how to write a story. We will then explain the procedures, ideas, or concepts in the book using text evidence. Who would like to share a main concept, or idea, discussed in the Introduction? Stories can be about all different things, but they all have the same elements. Let s list some of these elements. characters, plot, setting, dialogue What does the author tell us about dialogue? On page 5, she says that dialogue can make your story come alive. Who can explain this concept? The characters speech brings them to life for the reader. When the characters talk just like people do in real life, using slang or with an accent, it helps me imagine them as real people. It also makes the story a lot more interesting for me. If you are satisfied that students can apply the focus, set the reading assignment for this session. If you are not, prompt students to return to pages 4 5 to identify ideas and concepts from the Introduction. Students may not read the entire selection during the session. As we read, we ll continue to look for specific information in this book that explains how to write a story. When we focus on the ideas and concepts explained in the text, we get a clear understanding of how to do something on our own. Let s read the rest of the selection. 2 STORY-WRITING HANDBOOK

DISCUSSING THE TEXT 10 minutes Invite students to think about the Introduction and clearly explain something they learned about story writing. Encourage them to cite evidence from the text as they explain their thoughts and link their ideas to the comments of classmates. As we talk today, contribute to the discussion by clearly expressing your thoughts and ideas about this book. Let s review the main idea of the Introduction. to describe the different kinds of stories people like to read Who would like to share something they learned? I thought the part about historical fiction was really helpful. I knew that fiction was made-up, so I didn t understand how real people could be in a made-up story. Now I get it. The author explained that the setting and some characters are real. I understand how a made-up character can be in a story with real events or people from history. That answer uses good details from the text. Does anyone else have a question about selecting an idea for a story? There are so many choices. How can I pick one to write about? Great question. Who has an idea? You can think of stories that you like to read. Some authors say we should write what we know. You should write about things you like to do, like solve puzzles or imagining the future. Focus on the word genre on page 6. Let s look at the word genre in the first paragraph on page 6. How can we find out what it means? We can use context clues. The text says genres or text types, so I think it means different kinds of stories. Based on this definition, why do you think you should learn about different genres before you start writing? If you learn about all the different kinds of fiction, you can pick the type, or genre, that is most interesting to you before you begin writing. Confirm students good use of the focus and encourage them to keep it in mind whenever they read technical or procedural texts. You re doing a great job using the focus of explaining concepts presented in this book. Keep this strategy in mind as you read the rest of this book. E-RESOURCE Formative Assessment: Comprehension Using the Quick Start Planner, note this session s learning focus. Observe each student s articulation and use of text evidence to evaluate individuals effective use of the learning focus. CHOICE COMPREHENSION: Concepts and Procedures E-RESOURCE Formative Assessment Have students use the blackline master on page 10 to describe three different genres using details from the book. Review students answers as you evaluate their mastery of the learning focus. SL.4.1c DISCUSSION Collaborative DISCUSSION TIP It may help students express their ideas clearly as they collaborate with different partners if you post sentence frames so they can organize their thoughts. For example: I think about because. I like/don t like because. ELL SUPPORT L.4.4 Vocabulary Support vocabulary such as handbook, ghost stories, and tales in context using the ELL vocabulary strategies in Getting Started. RI.4.4 VOCABULARY Domain-Specific Words COMPREHENSION SHARE Successful readers construct and correct meaning as they read. It s a good technique to ask yourself questions as you read. Ask yourself: How does this connect with my other texts, with my experiences, or with the world? How can I summarize what I ve read so far? What are the most important ideas I should remember from this section? RI.4.3 COMPREHENSION Concepts and Procedures CHOICE CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE: COLLECT TEXT EVIDENCE E-RESOURCE Formative/Summative Assessment Have students use the blackline master on page 11 as they read. Students will collect details from the text to answer the question: What are the most important things to remember about the process of writing a story? Review students collected evidence as you evaluate their mastery of the learning focus. W.4.8*, RI.4.3 WRITING Gather Information Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 3

Session 2 Text Selection: pp. 4 9 LEARNING FOCUSES RI.4.3, RI.4.5, RI.4.8 Students return to the text to read closely in order to explain the ideas, concepts, and overall structure of a technical text by referring to specific textual evidence. Simultaneously, students will explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support points in the text. ELL SUPPORT RI.4.3 Discussing the Text Ask questions at students language proficiency levels and provide the following sentence frames for student responses: The character,, is/does/thinks. I know because the author says. happens in the story. RETURNING TO THE TEXT 5 minutes Ask students to reflect on the text read previously. Guide them to recall how they applied the learning focus to their reading. Let s review our discussion from the last session. We talked about the common parts of all stories and the different genres of fiction. You read carefully and were able to use details from the text to explain both the elements and genres of fiction. READING THE TEXT CLOSELY 10 minutes Explain the learning focuses and invite students to reread pages 6 7. Check in to see how well they have understood the focuses. If you are satisfied that students can apply them, set the reading assignment for this session. If not, provide corrective feedback as suggested on page 2 of this lesson plan. We re going to continue to explain the concepts and ideas presented in this text. This time, we re also going to pay special attention to how the author compares the different text types and how she supports her points with reasons and evidence. Let s discuss the genres described on pages 6 and 7. The author explains historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. Who found similarities between these text types? They are all fiction. The author says that fantasy is similar to historical fiction because they both take you into a whole new world. I think science fiction does that too. Are the two genres exactly the same? No, they are actually more different than they are alike. Fantasy and science fiction stories are about worlds that do not exist, but historical fiction tells stories of life in the past. What details and evidence does the author use to support this point? She explains that historical fiction might be about life as a sharecropper in the 19th century South, while fantasy stories could be about dragon riders or wizards. How does science fiction fit into these comparisons? I thought science fiction was the same thing as fantasy, but now I understand it is different. On page 7 the author explains that science fiction stories are about things that might be possible in the future, like living on Mars. Formative Assessment: Fluency Listen to each student read a portion of the text. Observe students fluency. If students need additional practice with fluency, provide the necessary support at the end of the session. Ask students to note words or phrases they find challenging for discussion after the reading. SL.4.1c DISCUSSION Collaborative 4 STORY-WRITING HANDBOOK DISCUSSING THE TEXT 10 minutes Facilitate a discussion in which students build on each other s ideas and express their own clearly. Encourage them to cite evidence from the text that the author uses to support her points as they explain their comparisons between the different text types and link their ideas to classmates comments.

As we discuss this text, we are going to continue to compare and contrast the different text types and look at how the author uses evidence to support her ideas. Today build on each other s ideas by adding to them or explaining them. Let s begin with a question. Can mysteries be realistic fiction? Who can answer this? I read page 8, which explains these two genres. I think mysteries can be similar to realistic fiction because they can have believable characters and real-life problems, like someone stealing the money you got for your birthday. I agree especially since the characters all have problems to solve. Those are some good comparisons between mysteries and realistic fiction. Are they identical? No. The mystery always has to have a problem, or puzzle, to solve, but realistic fiction does not. The author uses the example of a story about a girl solving secrets of the past in a haunted house to describe the mystery genre. She also tells us that authors give the readers clues to solve the mystery as they are reading. But for realistic fiction, she mentioned the story My Last Best Friend, which is about a girl whose friend moved away. This story doesn t let the reader really solve a puzzle. Instead we would read about the character that solves it. A lot of times problems in realistic fiction are similar to problems we have in our own lives, so we can easily understand what the characters are thinking and feeling. You used text details to compare and contrast concepts from the reading and explained how the author supports her points. Focus on the word dilemmas on page 8. Let s look at the word dilemmas on page 8. Together let s come up with a strategy to figure out its meaning. What are some ways you ve used to find words meanings? look at the words nearby, look at word parts, look for related words, look up the word in the glossary or a dictionary Let s look for context clues. Reread the paragraph about realistic fiction on page 8 and find the word dilemmas. What words and phrases are clues to what it might mean? her best friend has moved away ; have to solve problems Based on those clues, what do you think dilemmas are? difficult situations or problems As we keep reading, we ll use the vocabulary strategies we know, such as context clues, word parts, related words, and looking words up in reference books, to determine word meanings. Encourage students to spot words in the text that give them trouble and to share those words with the class so they can help each other figure out the meanings. You may want to remind them to use the glossary in the back of the book along with context clues and their prior knowledge of the topic to help them define the unknown words. Comprehension Share See if the author makes comparisons and contrasts in the text. They can help you understand how things are alike and how they are different. RI.4.4 VOCABULARY Domain-Specific Words Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 5

Confirm students good use of the focuses and encourage them to keep the focuses in mind whenever they read technical texts. You were able to explain the concepts in this text and compare and contrast them with one another. You were also able to identify and explain how the author uses reasons and evidence to support her points. How did participating in our discussion help you better understand this information? I asked questions about things I wasn t sure of and now I understand more about the different text types because my classmates explained things that were confusing for me. E-RESOURCE Formative Assessment: Comprehension Using the Quick Start Planner, note the session s learning focuses. Observe each student s articulation and use of text evidence to evaluate individuals effective use of the learning focuses. RF.4.4a FLUENCY Purpose and Understanding W.4.8*, RI.4.3 WRITING Gather Information CHOICE FLUENCY FOLLOW-UP Fluency Practice Use Echo Reading with students who read without expression, or lack of attention to cues, such as punctuation. Follow this procedure: (1) Teacher models reading of one sentence of text aloud. (2) Student imitates reading. (3) Teacher adds on sentences as student makes progress. CHOICE CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE: COLLECT TEXT EVIDENCE E-RESOURCE Formative/Summative Assessment Have students use the blackline master on page 11 for collecting evidence as they read. Students will continue to collect details from the text to answer the question: What are the most important things to remember about the process of writing a story? Review students collected evidence as you evaluate their mastery of the learning focuses. 6 STORY-WRITING HANDBOOK

Session 3 Text Selection: pp. 10 20 Key Idea: Text Selection Chapter 1 explains the basics of story writing and discusses the components of a story s beginning, middle, and ending. RETURNING TO THE TEXT 5 minutes Explain that students have read about different genres of fiction. They have explained the concepts presented in the text and compared different text types to one another. In our last session, we explained the different genres of fiction. We used information in the text to compare the different text types and to find evidence the author used to support her points. How did these focuses help us understand the text? By explaining and comparing the types of fiction, I was able to understand the characteristics of each genre. LEARNING FOCUSES RI.4.3, RI.4.5, RI.4.8 Students return to the text to read closely in order to explain ideas and concepts in a technical text in chronological order by referring to specific evidence in the text. Simultaneously, students will explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support points in the text. READING THE TEXT CLOSELY 10 minutes State the learning focuses. Invite students to read pages 10 11. Check to see how they are doing with application of the focuses. Then have students read pages 12 20, paying specific attention to the order of events in the writing process. As we read today, we re going to continue paying attention to the order of steps in the process of writing a story. We ll also continue to look for reasons and evidence the author uses to support her points in the text. What is the main concept explained on pages 10 through 11? You have to have a plan for your story before you begin writing. What is a good way to get started? You should think about the characters, the setting, and the main idea for the plot. Can you cite text evidence to support your answer? The bulleted list on page 11 outlines each question we should answer before we start writing. Let s review the steps in this part of the process in order. You need to figure out who your characters are and what they are doing; then you can add when and where the story is taking place and explain why the characters are doing whatever it is they are doing. Vocabulary RI.4.4 Introduce the word climax to students and invite them to share their understanding of it. Read page 12 together. Then ask students to describe the climax of their favorite story. DISCUSSING THE TEXT 10 minutes Generate a discussion that links the three learning focuses. Encourage students to continue to find details and evidence that support the particular points in the text as they explain the concepts. Remind students to build the discussion by linking their feedback to the comments and ideas of classmates. As we talk today, be sure to listen to your classmates and build on each other s thoughts and ideas. Let s begin our discussion by describing another concept the author explains in Chapter 1. Every story has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. SL.4.1c DISCUSSION Collaborative Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 7

VOCABULARY TIP In the explanation parts of a story, the author uses three words that are nearly synonyms: problem, conflict, and obstacle. Guide students to look for other near synonyms as they read, and to practice using them and distinguishing among them to solidify meaning. W.4.8*, RI.4.3 WRITING Respond to Question Who can explain why the beginning is important? It is where the author introduces the characters and the setting. It is also where the main problem is introduced. Why does all this have to happen right at the start of the story? Who can answer this? The story would be confusing and difficult to understand if the characters, setting, and problem weren t described at the beginning. That s a good point. How did you find this information? I read the short story without a beginning on page 17. After I read it, I could see why the beginning is so important. It was hard to follow the story. That was a good example from the text. What reasons does the author use to support her point that a good beginning is a critical part of the story? She explains that the beginning has to grab readers attention as they meet the characters. Writers can use action, dialogue, or vivid descriptions to do this. Support students as they continue to discuss the concepts explained in this text with their small groups. You ll finish this book on your own. Use self-stick notes to remind you of the order of steps in the processes described. Then you ll work in small groups to discuss the book. CHOICE CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE: WRITE TO SOURCE E-RESOURCE Formative/Summative Assessment Have students continue to use the blackline master on page 11 as they finish reading. Then ask them to write a response on a separate sheet of paper that answers the question: What are the most important things to remember about the process of writing a story? Have students use the text evidence they collected to support their writing. CHOICE CLOSE READING OPTIONS CHOICE Writing Task: Opinion E-RESOURCE Summative Assessment Print the online blackline master for independent close reading. Ask students to read the selection indicated on the page independently and respond to the prompts (summarize author s message, identify critical vocabulary, respond to constructed response questions) before returning for a small-group discussion. Alternatively, you can use the completed blackline master for summative assessment. W.4.1 WRITING Opinion 8 STORY-WRITING HANDBOOK E-RESOURCE Summative Assessment Review the elements of an opinion with the class. Discuss how the opening clearly states an opinion, the use of details and facts to support the opinion, and the importance of a strong closing, which restates the opinion. Guide them to use the blackline master on page 12 as they write their opinions. Students will work independently to write their opinions. You ve been reading about how to write your own story. What are the most important things to remember when coming up with an idea for your story? Review the text evidence you have collected about the steps you need to take when writing a story and use it to support your idea. Then write your opinion. Use facts, details, and evidence from the text to support your opinion. Remember to begin with a strong opening and end with a restatement of your opinion.

CHOICE Additional Instruction WORD STUDY Greek and Latin Roots Learning the meaning of certain Greek and Latin roots is an important part of word study. Help students find Greek and Latin roots in words and use the meaning of the roots to define the words. Many words in English and other languages are built from Greek and Latin roots. Knowing these roots can help us determine word meanings. One example is the Latin root vis, which means see. What word in this text contain this root? revising, page 5; visualize, page 19 How do you think they relate to the Latin root they contain? Revising our writing means we see it again and make it better. Visualizing means seeing something in your mind. L.4.4b VOCABULARY Greek and Latin Roots VOCABULARY Antonyms New vocabulary can be easier for students to learn when they can associate it with other words related to the same topic. We can learn new words by listing vocabulary related to a topic we are reading about. Let s try this with the topic of characters. I ll start us off with two words: protagonist and antagonist. What word parts are similar? -agonist What parts are different? pro- and ant- Who can share a meaning of these prefixes? pro- means for and ant- means anti- or against Stories usually have a main character described by one of these words and a bad guy or villain described by the other. Who would like to share their thinking about which word is which? The good main character must be the protagonist because readers are rooting for that person. The bad guy must be antagonist because he is against the main character. You did a great job using the meaning of word parts and your own reasoning to figure this out. L.4.5c VOCABULARY Antonyms Vocabulary Explain to students that sometimes a text will give clues to the opposite meaning of a word. If you can figure out a word s opposite, you can sometimes make a good guess about its meaning. WORD RECOGNITION Letter-Sound Correspondence, Syllabication, and Morphology Help students use letter-sound correspondence, syllabication, and morphology to accurately read unfamiliar multisyllabic words in context. Direct students attention to the word perspective on page 8. As you were reading, some of you came across challenging words. Please share how you worked out the pronunciation and meaning of perspective. First, I separated it into syllables: per-spec-tive. I know spec as a word root that means see, so I went back to the text and read the sentence again. I figured out new perspective must mean a new way to see things, which is what science fiction stories are all about. RF.4.3a WORD RECOGNITION Letter-Sound Correspondence, Syllabication, and Morphology Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 9

Name Date Comprehension: Concepts and Procedures There are many different types, or genres, of stories. Pick three types and describe each using details from the book. Genre: Description: Genre: Description: Genre: Description: Mondo Publishing 10 STORY-WRITING HANDBOOK Score:

Name Date Collecting Text Evidence What are the most important things to remember about the process of writing a story? Use this chart to collect evidence about each step in the process of writing your own story. Be sure to include page references as you take notes. You may need more than one copy of this chart. STEP: STEP: STEP: Mondo Publishing Score: Mondo Bookshop Grade 4 11

Name Date Writing Task: Planning Your Opinion Plan an opinion piece about the most important things to remember when coming up with an idea for a story. Introduce your piece by stating your opinion. Then give reasons why you feel this way. Support your opinion with evidence from the text describing the importance of the different steps you need to come up with an idea for a great story. End by restating your opinion in a different way. Introduction (state your opinion): Reasons why: Conclusion (restate your opinion): NOTE: Write your response on a separate sheet of paper or on a computer. Remember to read your writing when you are done and make any necessary revisions. Mondo Publishing 12 STORY-WRITING HANDBOOK Score: