Writing Workshop Grade 4 Launching with Personal Narrative Written by Filomena Hengst Readington Township Board of Education August 2013 Readington Township Public Schools 52 Readington Road, Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889 0 www.readington.k12.nj.us Reviewed by: Reviewed by: Dr. Barbara Sargent, Superintendent Kari McGann, Supervisor of Humanities Board of Education approval: August 2013 Members of the Board of Education: David Livingston, President Cheryl Filler, Vice-President Barbara Dobozynski Wayne Doran Ray Egbert William Goodwin Vincent Panico Laura Simon Eric Zwerling
Writing Workshop Grade 4 (September) Unit 1: Launching with Personal Narrative Unit Rationale Overview: In this unit, teachers introduce the structure of writing workshop in their classroom, including the use of writer s notebook to collect many seed ideas for future writing. The class goes through the writing process of collecting, rehearsing, drafting, revision, editing, and publishing of personal narratives. Teachers may make use of storytelling techniques and software to help students generate ideas. Revision lessons play with time, perspective-taking, balancing narrative elements and expanding thoughts through description. Students are also encouraged to edit their work by reading through it several times with a new focus each time (such as spelling, capitalization, etc.). The teacher may construct his/her own personal narrative along with the students and make use of it in mini-lessons and conferring. This unit is meant to be an introductory unit to the year and crafting personal narratives/fictional pieces is addressed in more depth in the next unit. Many mini-lessons may be procedural. Rationale: In September, students are learning the routines and expectations of their new fourth grade teacher. At least one month is needed to properly transition students into a new English Language Arts classroom with new peers. Personal narratives are not new to students but they are an easy starting point for reactivating prior knowledge about writing, focusing on revision a difficult yet essential skill for many fourth grade students, and helping children get to know each other through their stories. Enduring Understandings Children are writers. They can do their best writing when routines are simple and predictable, such as the Writers Workshop format. Personal narratives help us explore ourselves and others. Essential Questions How do writers get ideas? How does Writers Workshop improve my writing? How can we learn about ourselves and each other through personal narratives?
Unit Content (What the student will learn.) The student will learn The structure of writing workshop in their new ELA classroom, including the writing process of collecting, rehearsing, drafting, revising, editing, celebration/publishing The expectations for students in their new ELA classroom Methods to generate writing using a writers notebook Revising techniques (such as expanding sentences into paragraphs, developing important parts, expanding the heart of the story, etc.) Editing techniques (reading pieces with one focus at a time, such as spelling, capital letters, etc.) Unit Skills (What the student will be able to do.) The student will be able to Participate in writing workshop through listening, writing and sharing Generate ideas for writing based on collections in a writers notebook Expand a small moment into a full narrative Plan or revise a lead and ending Show don t tell through scenes not summaries Edit by re-reading with a different focus each time Unit Standards Core Vocabulary Links to Technology Resources Reading: Literature Mentor Texts for Teaching RL 4.3 Characters Digital Storytelling Tools: Revision: Reading Foundational Dialogue Windows Movie Maker Software Skills Edit Photostory Software Poppy by Avi RF 4.3, 4 Ending Storyboards: Read the first four sentences which Writing External http://storykeepers.wikispaces.com/st establish the setting and mood. W 4.3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 Internal oryboarding Speaking & Listening Animoto Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Lead SL 4.1 Azkaban by J.K. Rowling Narrator Language Interactive webbing tools: Lead combines character description Perspective L 4.1, 2, 3, 4, 6 ReadWriteThink: with an element of surprise ( And he 21 st Century Skills Revise http://interactives.mped.org/view_inter also happened to be a wizard. ) Creativity and Seed idea active.aspx?id=127&title= Innovation Setting Inspiration Software Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia
Communication Critical thinking and Problem Solving Collaboration Writers notebook Webspiration Bubbl.us MindMeister Exploratree Storytelling Apps: 30hands Animation Desk AnMish Art Maker Bitstrips for Schools BoomWriter Bunsella Bedtimes Story Comic Life Comic Master Fiver Card Flickr Make Beliefs Comix Moo-O My Story Stage D Story Patch ZooBurst MacLachlan See page 5 for a short flashback to the day Mama died. ( remembering the morning Mama had died, cruel and sunny ) Charlotte s Web by E.B. White See page 138 for how to build a scene. Ending is both a feeling and memory (revising endings). Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant See pages 17-18 for an exploded moment when Jenny comes face to face with the wild boar. The Paperboy by Dav Pilkey Story begins and ends in the same place (revising endings). Stellaluna and Verdi by Janell Canon. Last sentence (end your story with a lesson). Teacher Resources: Launching the Writing Workshop by Lucy Calkins and Marjorie Martinelli from previous kit Units of Study for Teaching Writing: Grades 3-5 (2006). http://readingandwritingproject.com/ Core Curriculum Content Standards
Please visit the following website to view the Common Core Anchor Papers for Writing. Anchor papers provide you with an example of real student work aligned with the Common Core Writing Standards. This is a great resource to use as professional development, as well as using with your class. When students can see examples of the expectation, they tend to perform better. http://www.corestandards.org/thestandards/english-language-artsstandards http://www.corestandards.org/thestandards Scroll down and click on English Language Arts Appendix C. Click OK to download and prepare to wait a few minutes, as it is a large file. You will find student examples of the three types of writing: narrative, informative, and opinion. Although each grade level is required to write
three types of writing, you will only find two out of the three genres. Therefore, view the previous or proceeding grade level for the missing genre you need.