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Oakland Unified School District Writing Proficiency Project

Process Writing Assessment (PWA)

Third Grade

Spring

Formal Letter:

We Need Your Money!

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Third Grade Winter Prompt Formal Letter: We Need Your Money!

Overview of week:* Suggested time:

Day One Introduce Project: --Brainstorm writing purpose --(Optional) Research

20-30 minutes + extra for research

Day Two Genre Study—Formal Letters: --Compare formal and friendly letters --(Opt.) Revision/Editing checklist

30-60 minutes

Day Three Pre-Write—Paragraph Planner: --Analyze mentor text content --Graphic Organizer

40-60 minutes

Day Four OPTIONAL—Mini-Lesson --Mini-lesson to meet class’ needs 10-40 minutes

Day Five Assessment Day—Write, Revise and Edit: --First draft for assessment --Initial revision and editing

60+ minutes

* You may distribute the time allotted to each activity differently across the days, combining or splitting lessons as seems appropriate, taking up to three weeks to complete them all.

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Summary of Activities The teacher introduces the project by telling the class about an authentic or compellingly imagined source of money to which they might have access. Students define their writing purpose by brainstorming possible ways to spend the money. Additional class or homework time may be spent on OPTIONAL related reading or research. Next, students initiate a genre study by analyzing a formal letter mentor text in order to define the conventions of the genre. They also compare formal letters to friendly letters to distinguish between the genre. Students are also introduced to the Revision/Editing Checklist for formal letters (optional). Students continue the genre study of the mentor text by defining the characteristics of a strong introduction and conclusion. They begin working on their own formal letters with some prewriting on a graphic organizer for paragraph planning. If there is time or need, the teacher may conduct a number of OPTIONAL mini-lessons during the pre-writing stage selected to develop students’ capacity to write to the rubric (e.g. Varying Sentence Length, Using Formal Language, Punctuating a Formal Letter, Editing Marks, Signatures, etc). Finally, students write a first draft for assessment, and complete initial revision and editing using a checklist.

NOTE REGARDING THE PERSUASIVE GENRE: The genre of persuasive writing appears formally in the CA standards in the fifth grade. By the end of fifth grade, students are expected to be able to state a clear position in support of a proposal, support that position with relevant evidence, follow an organizational pattern, and address reader concerns. This is in addition to general expectations for expository writing, including: establish a topic, present important ideas in sequence, provide details and transitional expressions that link one paragraph to another in a clear line of thought, and offer a concluding paragraph that summarizes important ideas and details. Expository writing is a sophisticated genre that students will need to practice for more many years. Therefore, the PWA includes this highly-scaffolded persuasive letter project in the 3rd grade in order to introduce students to the genre of persuasive writing at an early stage in their writing careers. In the case of 3rd graders, the standard that applies to the persuasive genre are: Writing Strategy 1.1a and b: Create a single paragraph with a topic sentence and simple supporting facts and details. Writing Application 2.3a: Show an awareness of the knowledge and interests of the audience and establish a purpose and context.

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CA Standards Addressed by the 3rd Grade Winter PWA 1.0 Writing Strategies Organization and Focus 1.1 Create a single paragraph a. Develop a topic sentence. b. Include simple supporting facts and details. 2.0 Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics) 2.3 Write personal and formal letters, thank-you notes, and invitations: a. Show awareness of the knowledge and interests of the audience and establish a purpose and context. b. Include the date, proper salutation, body, closing, and signature. 1.0 Written and Oral English Language Conventions Sentence Structure 1.1 Understand and be able to use complete and correct declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in writing and speaking. Grammar 1.2 Identify subjects and verbs that are in agreement and identify and use pronouns,

adjectives, compound words, and articles correctly in writing and speaking. 1.3 Identify and use past, present, and future verb tenses properly in writing and speaking. 1.4 Identify and use subjects and verbs correctly in speaking and writing simple sentences. Punctuation 1.5 Punctuate dates, city and state, and titles of books correctly. 1.6 Use commas in dates, locations, and addresses and for items in a series. Capitalization 1.7 Capitalize geographical names, holidays, historical periods, and special events correctly. Spelling 1.8 Spell correctly one-syllable words that have blends, contractions, compounds, orthographic patterns (e.g., qu, consonant doubling, changing the ending of a word from -y to -ies when forming the plural), and common homophones.

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Pre-Teaching: SUGGESTED MINI-LESSONS If your writing program has not already included these mini-lessons so far this school year, you may want to take some time in the weeks preceding Assessment Day to teach any of the following lessons you think would be most beneficial to your students’ success as writers. Mini-Lessons on Management of Writers’ Workshop

• How to use writing materials (including a Writing Folder) • Think-pair-share • Silent writing time

Mini-Lessons on Conventions of Print • Parts of a Formal Letter: date, salutation, body, closing, signature,

appropriate punctuation • Ending punctuation for sentences: . ? !

• Capitalization: geographical names, holidays, historical periods, special events • Using quotation marks to enclose speech • Using commas: dates, locations, addresses and items in a series • Indentation of paragraphs

• Sight words • How to use a Word Wall • How to use spelling resources: Word Wall, dictionary • Spelling demons • Word Study: blends, contractions, compounds, homophones, consonant

doubling, orthographic patterns (e.g. -y to –ies, qu-), etc. Mini-Lessons on the Writer’s Craft • How to Write an Introduction • How to Write a Conclusion • Topic Sentences • Convincing Details • Varied Sentence Structure • Audience: Friendly vs. Formal

• Transitions • Revision: Does my writing make sense? • Revision: Crossing out to delete text • Revision: Using carats to add text • How to proofread your writing • Editing: How to correct spelling or capitalization errors on a draft

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Teacher Instructions: GETTING READY 1) Review all introductory material and instructions in this manual, and prepare materials for the lessons prior to beginning assessment. For all PWA lessons preceding Assessment Day, feel free to make any modifications that seem appropriate to the needs and abilities of your current class. This might mean adding, skipping or changing lessons/materials, according to your expert judgment as classroom teacher. See page 5 for some suggested mini-lessons you may wish to teach prior to beginning the assessment. IMPORTANT: On Assessment Day, be sure to follow instructions exactly, with NO modification of materials or procedure. See page 7 for details. 2) During your regular Writers’ Workshop or Language Arts time, introduce the lessons over the course of one to four weeks. 3) After Assessment Day, collect assessments and evaluate in grade level teams, using the included rubric and forthcoming anchor papers to guide scoring. 4) SUGGESTED-Continue the writing process with the students, helping them revise, edit and publish or present their work. NOTE: Throughout the week, you may find that your students need more or less time than indicated to complete the included activities. Please use your judgment in ending or extending lessons. You may schedule lessons in two parts, complete them over a couple of days, or overlap lessons.

Teaching Tip: Throughout the instructions, look for teaching tips marked with this symbol.

Say: Throughout the instructions, look for the words you will say aloud to students marked with this symbol. Except on assessment day, feel free to modify the language you use with your students to suit their vocabulary, interest and understanding.

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Teacher Instructions: ASSESSMENT DAY 1. The assessment must be completed in one sitting. You may wish to schedule the assessment before recess or lunch to accommodate students who need more time to finish the prompt (whether because they write slowly, want to complete very detailed drawings, have a lot to write, or have an IEP indicating extended time for assessments). Students who have not finished may get up, get their food, then return to their table to finish drawing and writing. Midway through the writing time, reassure students who are worried about running out of time about the plan to give them more time. 2. It is essential that you transcribe all emergent student writing for later assessment. Students who are not yet writing phonetically to create decipherable text should be asked to read their work aloud to you. Record what the student says below the text, even if it does not match. Use both the student writing and the transcription for assessment. 3. This assessment may be conducted entirely in students’ primary language. Student writing in the primary language may be assessed using the grade level rubric by a teacher literate in that language.

Teaching Tips for Assessment Day

Have the children complete the assessment at a time when they normally write.

If guidelines for a silent writing time have not already been established, be sure to establish them before beginning. Talk about how to get help and materials without disturbing other writers.

Be sure children know what to do when they finish writing. It should be an independent, silent activity that is commonly available (so as not to provoke undue motivation to finish writing quickly in order to get to the second activity). Suggestions: silent reading or coloring a take-home book.

Some students may need regular reminders about time elapsed or a time deadline in order to finish their writing. A timer may be helpful.

You may wish to allow time for students to share their writing with each other or the class at the end of the activity or later in the day.

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Materials and Photocopies: Day One: INTRODUCE PROJECT (Optional) A $20.00 bill and tape

(Optional) If You Made a Million, by David Schwartz Chart paper and marker Other materials suggested on page 35 to describe source of money Other materials suggested on page 35 for optional research

Day Two: Genre Study—FORMAL LETTERS Transparency photocopy of the Sample Formal Letter, pages 15-16 Overhead projector and markers Chart of the Friendly Letter Format, page 17 Chart of the Formal Letter Format, page 18 (Optional) Chart of the Sample Formal Letter on page 18 to post in classroom (Optional) Copies of the Sample Formal Letter (page 18), Formal Letter

Format (page 18); Formal Letter Revision Checklist I (page 19), Formal Letter Editing Checklist I (page 20), and/or Formal Letter Revision/Editing Checklist II (pages 21-22 ); and Editing Marks (page 23) for the tool section in each student’s Writing Folder

Day 3: PRE-WRITE—PARAGRAPH PLANNER Transparency photocopy of the Sample Formal Letter, pages 15-16

Copies of Graphic Organizer—Paragraph Planner, page 29 Pencils Highlighters in different colors

Day 4: (OPTIONAL)—MINI-LESSON See page 31 for details on materials. Day 5: ASSESSMENT DAY—WRITE, REVISE and EDIT

Class supply of prompt paper: (2-sided copies of pages 36-37, 40-41 and 2- sided copies of pages 38-39 for prolific writers)

Pencils with no erasers Red and/or green pencils Erasers Writing Folders Familiar spelling resources Materials for sponge activities for early finishers

For Scoring: 6 copies each of rubric and completed half-page Cover Sheet (page 42)

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Day One: INTRODUCE PROJECT (20-30 minutes) Academic language that students may need to know for this lesson: earn, spend, fundraising, fundraisers, grant, grant writing, grant writers, application, apply, proposal, convince, persuade, PTA, solicit, ____________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________

Generate Interest in Project 1) Tape a $20 bill to the board where all the students can see it (optional).

Say: Imagine that we just found this $20 bill in our classroom. Imagine that we have spent two weeks asking everybody—students, parents, teachers—we could think to ask if they had lost $20, and nobody claimed the money. So now the money is ours. What could our class do with it? Turn to your partner and share some ideas. Be sure to remind the students of your signal for attention before they begin talking. Students talk with their partners about what the class could do with $20.

Teaching Tip: Think-Pair-Share is often more effective if students have assigned seats at tables or on the rug for class discussions. You can designate talking/writing partners of compatible students, paying careful attention to the needs of your students (linguistic, behavioral, status, learning). You may wish to switch partners every 2-5 months, depending on your class. Share Read Aloud (Optional) 2) If You Made A Million

Say: What if we found five $20 bills? How much money would that be? Pause to allow/assist the students’ mental math. Show the read aloud, If You Made a Million, by David Schwarz. Read the title, and then say, What if we had a million dollars? Read the book aloud, pausing to comment and relate the concepts within to the hypothetical question of the class somehow coming into money. Do NOT emphasize earning the money. Instead focus on ways to spend it.

Teaching Tip: The topic and genre of this writing assessment correspond with the third grade OCR Unit 4: Money. If you are following the OCR pacing guide, the class’ current reading, discussions and investigations will support the activities that follow. If students are completing the Writing Process Strategies activities in their Writer’s Notebooks, they will be able to draw on their experience with persuasive friendly letters, persuasive posters and persuasive paragraphs when completing this assessment.

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Brainstorm 3) Say: One way to get money is to earn it. But another way that adults get money from each other is to ask for it. When parents bake cookies and sell them at a school function to pay for something that the school needs, this is called fundraising. Some adult fundraisers collect millions of dollars for their causes. Pause to allow further discussion of the concept of fundraising. Encourage students to give real-life examples of fundraisers in their schools, churches, and communities. Be prepared to offer some examples yourself, both from the school and local community, and from the wider world.

Say: Sometimes adults write letters or applications to ask people to give them money. This is called grant writing. Give some real-life, local examples of grant writing. 4) Introduce Writing Project

Say: We’re going to imagine that our Parent-Teacher Association (or similar organization) has made $100* (amount may vary—see “Best Practices” on next page) available to one class this year. They’ve invited students to write proposal letters describing what their class would do with the money, and why their class should be the one to get the money. They want to give the money to the class that makes the most convincing case for how they’d use the money. What could we do with that money? Students take turns offering suggestions about what the class could do with $100 if it won the PTA grant. As the students offer suggestions, make a list of ideas on a piece of chart paper. 6) Conclusion

Say: These are all wonderful ideas. You may want to think about this tonight (or for the next few days) and we can keep adding to this list. We don’t all have to agree on one idea to apply for the money, so the more ideas the better. Tomorrow we will talk about what kind of letter we have to write to get this money.

Teaching Tip: Some of the following OCR resources may be helpful. Using strategies to ensure that the materials are comprehensible to all students, you may refer writers to the Language Arts Handbook (LAH) and Comprehension and Language Arts Skills (CLAS) workbook for information on business letters, persuasive writing, revising and editing. Language Arts Transparencies (LAT) may also be helpful, especially if they are already familiar to your students. You might photocopy some of these resources for students to keep in the Tools section of their writing folders. Relevant sections are noted within related lessons throughout the assessment materials.

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Best Practices in the Teaching of Writing:

Authentic Audience and Purpose

You can teach all the suggested lessons that are included with this assessment exactly as written. But you will find that identifying a real source of money will excite your students’ interest and energize their ideas and writing. Ideas for designing a grant-writing project to best suit your class follow.

If you choose to teach these suggested lessons exactly as written: • Students may need to check in with you several times about whether or not this is real. Use authentic language to describe the project as if it were real, but be very clear that the grant money is imaginary. However, you should tell your class that grant writing is very real and that people of all ages can write proposal letters to ask for money for good projects and causes. You can tell them that once they have their letters written, you might go ahead and send them to the PTA to see what they do. If you are designing your own, authentic grant-writing project: • If you have a class fund and money is still available to spend, you may wish to make $20-$100 available for this project. Other sources of money: the PTA, the school “slush” fund, local churches and businesses. You may wish to prepare for this project by writing your own letter of proposal to possible funders. • Determine the audience for the proposal. In some cases, you may identify an authentic funder. If not, the “selection committee” might be just you or your PLC. Even if you are the only one who will be deciding which project to fund, inform the class that a committee of you and other teachers will read the proposal letters and choose one or more projects to fund. This will ensure that the letters have a formal audience (and save you from being privately solicited!). • Although well-written proposals will be more likely to compel funders, the selection of projects to fund and the scoring of the writing samples should be conducted separately. ALL letters should be submitted to the funding committee regardless of rubric score, and evaluated according to clear, pre-determined project guidelines. • Be sure to work with your funder to create a set of proposal guidelines describing what kind of projects you are looking for. You may wish to include some element of a “consolation” prize (such as, the approved project must somehow benefit everyone in the class/grade/school). Present the proposal guidelines to the class on Day 1, and be sure students understand how projects will be evaluated. • The invitation for proposals could extend only to your class or to the entire grade, depending on the source and amount of funds. You will want to have conversations with students (and other teachers, if the entire grade is participating) throughout the project to address directly any competitiveness that arises, in order to support students’ sense of community and collaboration.

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Day Two: GENRE STUDY—FORMAL LETTERS (30-60 minutes)

Academic language that students may need to know for this lesson: friendly letter,

formal letter, business letter, format, requirement, compare, similarity, difference,

delivered, salutation, title, recipient, organization, colon, comma, indentation,

closing, sincerely, signature, convention, analyze, genre, funder, revision, editing,

checklist, _________________________________________________________________

OPTIONAL—Research: You may wish to give your students several days or even up to a week to do develop their proposal ideas or conduct background research. Particularly if the funding source is authentic, students will need more time and assistance discussing the guidelines and designing a proposal. Students may each develop an individual project proposal, or you may group them according to ideas and work with these small groups throughout the pre-writing activities. You could also guide the class in selecting one proposal from all the suggestions brainstormed on Day One, and have every student write a proposal for the same idea. This would facilitate integrating this project into your math time so students can research costs and develop simple budgets for the proposal. Students can use parents, newspapers, the internet, the yellow pages or even go on a class field trip (to an office supply store, for example) to investigate prices.

Connection 1) Say: Asking somebody to give us money is a serious thing to do. So when people write a letter to ask for money, they use a special format called a formal letter, which is also often called a business letter. Proposal letters for grants are always written in the formal letter format. Today we’re going to study a formal letter, so we can learn how to use the format to create convincing proposal letters.

Active Engagement—Introduce Mentor Text 2) Direct the students’ attention to a transparency copy of the Sample Formal Letter on page 15-16.

Say: Here is a formal letter that a third grader at another school wrote to convince her principal to give $400 to her class for new books. It follows all the requirements of a formal letter.

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Read the letter together.

Teaching Tip: You may wish to draft your own letter, using vocabulary and content suited to the class’ overall reading level and linguistic capability. Also see the following OCR resources on formal and friendly letters: Business Letters—LAH pp. 72-77; Types of Business Letters—LAH p. 72; Parts of a Business Letter—LAH p. 74; Structure of a Business Letter—CLAS pp. 104-5; Template: Business Letter—LAT 14; Template: Friendly Letter—LAT 15; Friendly Letters—LAH pp. 68-71; Parts of a Friendly Letter—LAH p. 68.

3) Think-Pair-Share

Say: We’ve already studied the Friendly Letter format. Point to the Friendly Letter Format (from page 17) displayed on a chart in a visible location. Everybody look carefully at this formal letter that Margaret wrote and the Friendly Letter Format chart over here. What’s different? What’s the same? Invite students to discuss similarities and differences with a partner.

For several minutes, students discuss similarities and differences between the two letter formats.

While the students talk, circulate to facilitate partner discussions and identify students with key ideas. Signal for the students’ attention. Then call on several students to make key points about the format of a formal letter. Underline parts discussed on the Sample Formal Letter transparency as you discuss them.

Teach Formal Letter Format 4) Reveal the following Formal Letter Format Chart (page 18).

Say: You have really done a good job analyzing the similarities and differences between the friendly letter and formal letter formats. Quickly read the chart to the students, naming its parts (including the punctuation and indentations) and identifying each part’s purpose: Date: Tells when the letter was written Salutation: Tells whom the letter is written to Title: Shows respect, identifies recipient Business/Organization and Address: Helps the letter get delivered to the right person Body: Tells the message of the letter Closing: Shows respect Signature/Name: Tells who wrote the letter Colon, comma and indentations: Conventions

Date

Name of recipient Title of recipient Company or Organization Number, Street City, State, Zip Code Dear Name of Recipient: ___________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ ___________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Sincerely, Name Title

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Link 5) Optional—Introduce Revision and Editing Tools

Say: I have some more tools that we can use all week to help us write great formal letters. You know about some of these things already, and we’ll take time this week to talk about more of them. Distribute the checklists for Revision and Editing on pages 19-20 or 21-22 as well as the Editing Marks chart on page 23. Read them together as a class.

Teaching Tip: The Formal Letter Revision and Editing Checklists (I) on pages 19-20 are intended to help children understand grade-level standards for a formal letter (equivalent to a 3 score on the 3rd Grade PWA Rubric—Letters). You may wish to go over each one separately as a mini-lesson during the course of one to three weeks prior to the assessment. The Formal Letter Revision/Editing Checklist (II) on page 21-22 is more complex and intended for students familiar with using checklists for revision and editing (and corresponds to a score of 4 on the rubric). Finally, you may want to teach a mini-lesson on Editing Marks (on page 23) later in the week.

Teaching Tip: For classes unfamiliar with revision and editing, you will want to introduce these tools slowly over a period of days or weeks, giving the students time to discuss and practice using them. Mini-lessons in which students work in partners or groups or as a whole class to revise or edit a sample text give opportunities to focus on different aspects of revision/editing, and to practice using the editing marks. 6) Conclusion Post the Formal Letter Format Chart over the Friendly Letter Format Chart.

Say: Let’s use this chart to help us write really impressive formal letters to our possible funders!

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Sample Formal Letter

March 10, 2009 Ms. Virginia Rodriguez Principal Marie Curie Elementary School 41 East Fourth Street Greenville, CA 94780

Dear Ms. Rodriguez:

I am writing to tell you that I think the PTA should spend $400 of the Winter Fundraiser money on books for our classroom. We just don’t have enough books for all of the kids in our class!

Most of the books in our classroom library belong to our teacher. They are her own personal books that she brought from home because she’s nice enough to share with us. She says that when she goes on maternity leave at the end of the year, she will have to take her books with her so her little boy will have books to read at home. There won’t be very many books left for this third grade classroom after that!

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Also, we need more different kinds of books. We

have a lot of books about animals, but almost none about tornados, which is my favorite topic. Lamont and I always have to argue about who gets to read Extreme Weather.

$400 sounds like a lot of money to spend on just one classroom, but the average price of chapter books is $6.99 and the average price of picture books is $14.99. So all that money will only buy about one to three books per kid. Thank you for reading this proposal. Please think about funding this proposal. Think of all the good reading we will do! Sincerely, Margaret Moon Student

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Name of Author: _______________________________ Name of Editor: _______________________________

Formal Letter Revision Checklist I

Directions—Check the letter for the following. Authors, make necessary changes to improve your letter. IDEAS ❑ Does the letter have a clear purpose? ❑ Does the letter include at least two convincing details? ORGANIZATION ❑ Do the introduction and conclusion state what the author wants in an interesting way? WORD CHOICE ❑ Are the words serious, polite and respectful? SENTENCE FLUENCY ❑ Are there some short and some long sentences? VOICE ❑ Is the grammar businesslike (vs. friendly)?

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Name of Author: _______________________________ Name of Editor: _______________________________

Formal Letter Editing Checklist I

Directions—Check the piece for the following. Authors, make necessary changes.

CONVENTIONS ❑ Are capital letters used correctly?

For: proper nouns months streets and cities titles greeting closing signature beginning of sentences

❑ Are commas used correctly for the heading and closing? ❑ Are periods used correctly for abbreviations, initials and titles? ❑ Are most words spelled correctly? ❑ Is the letter written neatly?

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Name of Author: _______________________________

Name of Editor: _______________________________

Formal Letter Revision/Editing Checklist II

Directions—Check the piece for the following. Authors, make necessary changes.

IDEAS ❑ Does the piece have a clear purpose? ❑ Does the piece sound convincing?

ORGANIZATION ❑ Are all relevant ideas from the web included? ❑ Does the topic sentence tell what the author wants? ❑ Is there a conclusion at the end that creatively restates the purpose

and desired effect of the piece?

WORD CHOICE ❑ Are the words serious, polite and respectful? ❑ Are any words repeated too often? ❑ Are interesting words included? SENTENCE FLUENCY ❑ Are there some short and some long sentences?

VOICE ❑ Does it sound like the author cares about what s/he’s writing? ❑ Will the piece convince the reader to care? ❑ Is the grammar businesslike?

CONVENTIONS ❑ Are words spelled correctly? ❑ Are capital letters correctly where required? ❑ Are commas used correctly? ❑ Does every sentence have the correct punctuation mark at the end? ❑ Are periods used correctly for abbreviations, initials and titles? ❑ Are paragraphs indented? ❑ Is the letter written neatly in cursive?

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Editing Marks ‖ Indent ≡ Make a capital letter ∧ Add something ⊙ Add a period To correct spelling, cross out the incorrect spelling and write the correct spelling above: correct spelling corekt speling To change text, cross out and write replacement text above: urgent important To delete text, cross out:

boring facts Day Three: PARAGRAPH PLANNER (40 minutes)

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Academic language that students may need to know for this lesson: web

organizers, fund, convincing detail, paragraph, planner, follow-up questions, order,

__________________________________________________________________________

Introduce Web Organizer—Paragraph Planner 1) Say: We’ve used web organizers like this one before to plan and organize our writing. We’ll use this today to help plan how we’ll convince our audience to fund our proposals. 2) Model Using the Sample Formal Letter (pages 15-16) as a model, complete a Paragraph Planner (page 26) with the class. Write “$400 for classroom books” in the center box and Margaret’s different reasons in the surrounding boxes (see Sample Paragraph Planner on page 27). Be sure to discuss the term “convincing detail” and use the sample Paragraph Planner to help students understand this concept. Be sure to emphasize using one word or phrase only in each box—NO complete sentences! Make sure students know that it’s okay not to fill all the boxes, and allow them to use two Planners if they come up with more than eight convincing details.

Pre-Writing 3) Think-Pair If students have not already had the opportunity to do discuss their proposal ideas during the optional research period, invite them to share their ideas with a partner.

Students take turns discussing their proposal ideas with each other in partnerships.

Teaching Tip: You may want to post a few sample follow-up questions on the board and teach the students how to use them with each other in a quick role-play.

Why do you think this project is so important? Can you think of any other reasons? Who benefits from this project? What makes this proposal different from other proposals?

4) Give Directions After reviewing expectations for use of materials and noise level, distribute the Paragraph Planners.

Students work independently to complete their Paragraph Planners.

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Teaching Tip: You may wish to stop the lesson here and continue with the next step at another time or on another day.

Organizing Ideas 5) Once students have completed their Paragraph Planners, discuss with them one of the following ways to organize their ideas. Choose the method most appropriate to your class’ level and understanding. Model this method for the students using the Sample Paragraph Planner on page 27. • Use the small checkboxes on the Paragraph Planner to number the details in the

order that makes the most sense for writing the letter. • Highlight all the details on the Paragraph Planner that seem to go together in

the same color. Decide which set of details will go in paragraph 1, 2, etc. Use the small checkboxes to label the details 1, 2 etc. or 1a, 1b etc.

Students work independently or in partnerships to organize their ideas on the planner

using the method you have demonstrated. 6. Conclusion

Say: When we sit down to write our proposal letters, these Paragraph Planners will help us remember to include all the most convincing details in an order that makes sense. Collect the Paragraph Planners or direct students to store them in their Writing Folders.

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Day Four (Optional): MINI-LESSONS (10-40 minutes) Mini-Lesson Ideas to Support Student Writing The following mini-lesson ideas are intended to serve as a toolkit for teachers who want to provide further support for their students in identified areas of need or focus. Each mini-lesson idea addresses grade level standards in writing, as represented by a rubric score of 3 on the PWA by the end of the academic year. • If you have already taught these or similar mini-lessons throughout the course of the year, you may wish to remind students of what they have already learned by referring them to charts or other tools developed in the original mini-lesson. • If you suspect or know that your students lack expertise in any of these skills, you might select ONE or TWO of the following mini-lessons to teach prior to assessment day. You will need to allow more than one week to administer the PWA in this case. • These mini-lessons could also be taught in the post-assessment period, as students work to revise and edit their formal letters. 1. Editing Marks Distribute copies of the Editing Marks (page 23) to each student to store in the Tools section of their Writing Folders. You may also wish to post an enlarged copy as a chart. Directly teach or review the use of the editing marks. Allow students to practice using the marks individually, in partnerships or as a class by editing a simple text that can only be made correct when each of the editing skills is employed (i.e. indent a paragraph, capitalize a letter, add a missing word, add a missing period, correct a misspelling, change a word so that the text makes sense, and delete missing text). Be sure the content of the text is familiar and comprehensible to all students. Students will also get practice/review of the editing marks in the subsequent mini-lessons on revision/editing. 2. Varying Sentence Length Provide an example of “student writing” that does NOT exhibit an exemplary use of this skill. Students work as a whole class and/or in partnerships to suggest ways to improve the piece, by breaking up or combining sentences. The “student writing” sample would ideally feature content conforming to the prompt topic and genre, and could be presented on a chart, overhead, or photocopy. 3. Using Formal Language Provide an example of “student writing” that does NOT exhibit an exemplary use of this skill. Students work as a whole class, in partnerships, and/or individually to suggest ways to improve the piece, eliminating or replacing casual language with

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formal language. The “student writing” sample would ideally feature content conforming to the prompt topic and genre, and could be presented on a chart, overhead, or photocopy. 4. Punctuating a Formal Letter Provide an example of “student writing” that does NOT exhibit an exemplary use of this skill. Students work as a whole class, in partnerships, and/or individually to suggest ways to improve the piece, adding or correcting punctuation. The “student writing” sample would ideally feature content conforming to the prompt topic and genre, and could be presented on a chart, overhead, or photocopy. 5. Signatures Give students time to practice signing their names in cursive. Give mini-lessons to small groups of students ensuring that they know how to make the capital and lower-case letters of their first and last names. Generate interest in the activity by looking at copies of favorite signatures. Students can complete a homework assignment collecting the signatures of their family members for class comparison. You may discuss or read about graphology, the study of handwriting. Students can create and sign autograph books. NB: the cursive and in particular signatures of people from countries outside the U.S. are often quite elaborate and beautiful. Also, people in non-literate parts of the world have developed ways of “signing” their names that may be interesting for students to discuss. You may invite parents to participate in this activity by sharing stories about how they learned to sign their names and developed their signatures.

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Best Practices in the Teaching of Writing:

Differentiated Instruction

Using the Writer’s Workshop model to structure your class writing time offers many natural and manageable opportunities for differentiated instruction. • Students move at their own pace through the writing process. • Writers receive support in developing needed skills through carefully selected mini-lessons and teacher conferences. Rather than following a pre-determined scope and sequence for the teaching of writing, teachers are able to plan instruction based on the needs of their students and classes. • Topic choice is balanced with teacher-selected writing projects and units of study. • A healthy writing community highlights and appreciates the skills of each writer, elevating the status of students who might otherwise be considered ‘poor’ writers. • The emphasis on self-reflection about the writing process develops students’ cognitive and academic thinking, and offers assessment insight to teachers. It also encourages writers to compare their current work with their past work, as opposed to comparing themselves with other writers. • Authenticity of writing purpose helps motivate ALL students to write. • Publication gives space and authority to voices that might otherwise go unheard.

How does this apply to the PWA? • If you begin instruction for the PWA as soon as you receive the materials, you will have ample time before Assessment Day to stretch one day’s worth of activities over several days. This gives students who need more time to a comfortable window for completing their pre-writing activities. • Throughout these materials there are a variety of Teaching Tips and Optional Lessons designed to be resources for teachers wanting to further scaffold instruction for individual students, small groups or the whole class. • If you know of other writing lessons and activities that you feel will support students performance on the PWA, you are encouraged to teach them before, during and after each PWA administration. See the website for additional teacher comments, ideas and lessons. • Prompts are available for review from the beginning of each academic year. Teachers should feel free to plan their writing instruction accordingly.

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Day Five: ASSESSMENT DAY—WRITE, REVISE and EDIT

(60 minutes)

Academic language that students may need to know for this lesson: approximated

spelling, sound it out, penmanship, capitalize, upper-case letters, lower-case letters,

Word Wall, sight words, period, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks,

dialogue, apostrophe, comma, indent, character, setting, _______________________

Special Instructions for Assessment Day You have been encouraged to modify the pre-writing activities of this assessment to best suit your teaching style and the needs of your students. On Assessment Day, however, it is important that you follow exactly all instructions. This ensures that on the day that actual writing for assessment is produced, students in different classrooms have the same writing experience. • PLEASE READ THE INTRUCTIONS AND PROMPTS ALOUD TO STUDENTS EXACTLY AS THEY ARE WRITTEN. • Make sure that you have allowed ample time for students to complete the activities below in ONE, UNINTERRUPTED SESSION. One suggestion is to schedule the assessment between recess and lunch, giving students who are interested in continuing the option to eat at their desks as they keep working. • When a student first declares herself finished, follow this sequence carefully:

1) Give the prompt for initial revision. Allow time for student to complete initial revision. When the student declares herself done with revising,

2) Give the prompt for initial editing. Allow time. 3) DO NOT ASSIST STUDENTS WITH REVISION OR EDITING IN ANY WAY. 4) If the student does not understand the prompts for revision or editing, or asks for help, say: “Take some time to read through your work and make sure it is your best writing.” 5) Once the student has received the prompt for both revision and editing and declares herself completely finished, collect the paper whether or not s/he actually re-read the piece, revised or edited.

It is acceptable to give the prompts for initial revision and editing to small groups of students who are at the same stage of the assessment.

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• Make sure on Assessment Day that STUDENTS HAVE ACCESS TO ALL OF THEIR PRE-WRITING, charts, Writing Folders and any other materials used or created in the course of the preceding lessons. • Students must work INDEPENDENTLY AND SILENTLY on Assessment Day. IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO INFORM STUDENTS AT ANY POINT DURING THE WEEK THAT THIS IS AN ASSESSMENT. If your students are not used to writing silently, simply tell them: “Silent writing is one way that some writers do their best work, and today I want you all to try it since we want to do our best work on this writing project.”

Generate Interest 1) Introduce activity

Say: Today is the day we get to write our proposals!

Introduce Materials 2) Introduce prompt paper

Say: Before I read, I want to tell you a few things about today’s writing. Show samples of the 2-sided prompt paper (pages 36-41) to the class. Label pages 36 – 37 “First Page of the Letter” and post it on the board. Label pages 40-41 “Last Page of Letter” and pages 38-39 “Middle Pages of Letter” and post those two prompt paper samples on the board as well. Make sure students know which page to start and end with and how to use page 38 if they are writing a really long letter, but do not tell them how to use the lines for the date, salutation and closing. Show students where to write their names on the back of the prompt paper and where to begin writing (some students may comment about the need to indent the beginning of a paragraph). Review expectations about use of writing materials.

Give Directions 3) Give prompt

Say: And now, let’s try to get some money for our class.! Your job is to be as persuasive as you can in the letters you write today. Read the prompt aloud to the students:

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Prompt: Write a letter to _______________(the funding source) explaining your proposal for the use of the grant money. Use lots of convincing details to persuade your reader that your proposal should be funded. Use your Paragraph Planner to help you organize your ideas in a way that makes sense. When you’re done writing, be sure to revise and edit, making sure that you have used all the elements of a Formal letter correctly.

4) Review resources Direct students’ attention to the Formal Letter Format chart and remind students that they can refer to it while writing to make sure they include all the parts of a formal letter. Make sure that each student has his/her Writing Folder and Paragraph Planner out. 5) Give guidelines

Say: This is a first draft. The most important thing is to get your ideas down on paper. But you will be publishing this eventually, so it’s important that you and other people be able to read your writing. Do your best work on spelling, punctuation and handwriting, without erasing. If you don’t know how to spell a word try sounding it out. You can also use the Word Wall as a spelling resource.

Write! 6) After setting expectations for the activity (time, noise level, materials, getting help), distribute prompt paper and pencils and let the children begin work.

Children work independently and silently on their first drafts of a formal proposal letter.

As students write, circulate through the classroom to assist and encourage. Do not correct children’s errors or prompt them to remember punctuation, penmanship or the formal letter format as they work. Do not provide spelling but encourage children to sound out words. 6) Give prompts for writing and revision When students first indicate they are finished writing, individually give the following prompt for initial revision.

Say: Reread what you’ve written. Be sure your letter makes sense and includes everything we’ve talked about. Check your Paragraph Planner to make sure you didn’t leave anything out.

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When most students are nearly finished and have already gone back to revise or add description, give the following prompt for initial editing to the whole class. Make erasers available.

Say: Before you turn your letter in, please reread it and check to make sure it will be easy for me to read. Did you use capital letters where you need them? Does the punctuation and format look right for a formal letter? Did you spell words by sounding them out or copying them from the word bank?

Teaching Tip: If students are unsure about how to edit their own writing (e.g. “How do I indent a paragraph I’ve already written?”) reassure them that you think you’ll be able to read what they’ve written and that’s what is most important for a first draft. Do not teach editing marks on Assessment Day.

Teaching Tip: You may distribute the Revision and Editing Checklists I on pages 21 – 22 as you prompt for revision and editing. Or you may choose to save these checklists for the post-assessment publication process and simply give the above prompts orally. If your students are experienced with revising and editing, distribute the Revision/Editing Checklist II on page 21-22 as you prompt for revision and editing. 5) Conclusion

Say: These look great! I am very excited to see what will happen with these proposals when we send them to the funding committee! Collect all the papers when students have finished their initial revision and editing or at the end of the writing session. See instructions for scoring and reporting.

After Assessment Day, give students the opportunity to revise, edit and recopy their letters. In individual writing conferences, help students identify ways to improve their letters by adding more details or improving logical sequence, or correcting errors in spelling, capitalization or punctuation. With each student individually or in small groups, reread first drafts together and invite students to notice what they can do make their writing more interesting, readable or persuasive. Focus on no more than 1-2 types of error, and use a color pen to correct them on the draft. Invite students to rewrite their letters using their best printing and spacing, making the corrections indicated on the draft. You may wish to dedicate computer lab time to creating final drafts. Submit these edited letters to the funding committee.

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Suggested Books: Money

Open Court Selections from Level 3, Unit 4 (Money): A New Coat for Anna, by Harriet Ziefert Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, Judith Viorst “Smart,” Shel Silverstein “Tony and the Quarter,” Jack Prelutsky Kids Did It! In Business, by Judith E. Rinard The Cobbler’s Song, by Jean de La Fontaine Four Dollars and Fifty Cents, by Eric A Kimmel The Go-Around Dollar, by Barbara Johnston Adams Uncle Jed’s Barbershop, by Margaree King Mitchell Selections from the Open Court Leveled Library: Lemonade for Sale, by Stuart J. Murphy Our Money, by Karen Bornemann Spies Round and Round the Money Goes: What Money Is and How We Use It, by

Melvin and Gilda Berger Money, Money, Money, by Ruth Belov Gross Saturday Sancocho, by Leyla Torres Screen of Frogs, by Sheila Hamanaka The Treasure, by Uri Shulevitz Other Suggestions: A Kid’s Guide to Money: Earning It, Saving It, Spending It, Growing It,

Sharing It, by Steve Otfinoski A Spoon for Every Bite, By Joe Hayes Aldo Ice Cream, by Joanna Hurwitz If You Made a Million, by David M. Schwartz* One Grain of Rice, by Demi The Gold Coin, by Alma Flor Ada The Money Tree, by Sarah Stewart The Treasure Bird, by Peni R. Griffin *Recommended for use with this assessment.

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_____________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________

_____________________________________________________

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AUTHORS: Please write your first and last name on the back of each page of your story, on the lines below. Do NOT write anything else on this side of the page. Author’s First Name: _________________ Author’s Last Name: ___________________

DDDOOO NNNOOOTTT WWWRRRIIITTTEEE IIINNN TTTHHHIIISSS SSSPPPAAACCCEEE

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AUTHORS: Please write your first and last name on the back of each page of your story, on the lines below. Do NOT write anything else on this side of the page. Author’s First Name: _________________ Author’s Last Name: ___________________

DDDOOO NNNOOOTTT WWWRRRIIITTTEEE IIINNN TTTHHHIIISSS SSSPPPAAACCCEEE

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_____________________________

_____________________________ _____________________________

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AUTHORS: Please write your first and last name on the back of each page of your story, on the lines below. Do NOT write anything else on this side of the page. Author’s First Name: _________________ Author’s Last Name: ___________________

DDDOOO NNNOOOTTT WWWRRRIIITTTEEE IIINNN TTTHHHIIISSS SSSPPPAAACCCEEE

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Cover Sheet Third Grade Process Writing Assessment Spring Formal Letter: Give Us Your Money! Teacher Name: _________________________________________________ School Name: _________________________________________________ Date administered: ______________________ Fill in the above information before photocopying. Fill in the score once the assessment has been completed and scored. Attach completed score sheet to each scored prompt with a staple or paperclip. Score: ______________________

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cover Sheet Third Grade Process Writing Assessment Spring Formal Letter: Give Us Your Money! Teacher Name: _________________________________________________ School Name: _________________________________________________ Date administered: ______________________ Fill in the above information before photocopying. Fill in the score once the assessment has been completed and scored. Attach completed score sheet to each scored prompt with a staple or paperclip. Score: ______________________