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WritingWorkshopGrade4‐LaunchingwithPersonal

NarrativeWrittenbyFilomenaHengst

 

Readington Township Board of Education 

August 2013 

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

 Readington Township Public Schools

52 Readington Road, Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889

www.readington.k12.nj.us

Grade 4 Unit 1 Launching with Personal Narrative

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 Essential Questions 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.

How do writers get ideas? How does Writers Workshop improve my writing? How can we learn about ourselves and each other

through personal narratives?

Grade 4 Unit 1 Launching with Personal Narrative

Unit Content (What the student will learn.) Unit Skills (What the student will be able to do.)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.)

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 RL 4.3 Reading Foundational Skills RF 4.3, 4 Writing W 4.3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 Speaking & Listening SL 4.1 Language L 4.1, 2, 3, 4, 6 21st Century Skills

Creativity and Innovation

Characters Dialogue Edit Ending External Internal Lead Narrator Perspective Revise Seed idea Setting

Digital Storytelling Tools: Windows Movie Maker Software Photostory Software Storyboards: http://storykeepers.wikispaces.com/StoryBoarding Animoto Interactive webbing tools: ReadWriteThink: http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=127&title= Inspiration Software

Mentor Texts for Teaching Revision: Poppy by Avi Read the first four sentences which establish the setting and mood. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling Lead combines character description with an element of surprise (“And he also happened to be a wizard.”) Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia

Grade 4 Unit 1 Launching with Personal Narrative

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

Grade 4 Unit 1 Launching with Personal Narrative

http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/english-language-arts-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/the-standards

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

Grade 4 Unit 1 Launching with Personal Narrative

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.