Writing Grade Level Summary

Grade: 3 Authors: Year: 2016-2017 Strategies for Effective Writing Instruction: Teaching writing can be an overwhelming endeavor. Many teachers look at their first writing sample of the year, see a huge range among 25 students, and think, “Where do I even begin?” There are many different opinions on how to teach writing, but there are some fundamental beliefs that hold true through all these approaches. We highly recommend you periodically check this list during the year to see which components your writing class is emphasizing and which are missing or need improvement:  To get better at writing, students need to write – a lot.  Fostering a love of writing will make students write more.  Love of writing comes from having some control in choosing topics, choosing what to work on within their writing pieces, and sharing their writing with an audience.  Audiences should be varied: Author’s chair, pair/shares, publishing and posting writing, sharing with other classes, sharing with families, etc. Sharing writing with others should happen often (once a week if not more often).  To be a great writer, students need to closely examine great writing. When teaching writing, show students “mentor texts” – writing examples that have the great qualities you are emphasizing.  To be a great writer, students need to see great writing happen in action. Teachers can use the interactive modeling technique as a tool for students to engage with the teacher as a writer during the process of writing.  Feedback on writing should be focused and specific. Only give students one or two areas to work on or think about at a time.  Feedback on writing should be an interactive process. Peer feedback, conferences, and teaching the writing process (prewriting, rough drafts, revising, editing, publishing) are all essential to honoring the interactive process.  Connections between writing and grammar need to be explicit. If you teach a grammar lesson separately from writing, have students edit their writing that week for it, or look at that grammar within their own work when teaching it.

Grade Level Snapshot:

Generating Ideas: At the beginning of Grade 3, students will be prepared with a list of ideas in mind that are focused and show knowledge of the conventions of a genre. Students independently recall strategies learned, choose a strategy, and apply it quickly. Students will take about five minutes to brainstorm a couple of ideas using a strategy before choosing one topic and writing about it. Students’ notebooks will reflect a wide variety of strategies used. At the end of Grade 3/beginning of Grade 4, students will come to writing workshop with plans for what pieces they want to write. Students can recall strategies learned and quickly jot down what ideas would make for significant and powerful entries. Students have knowledge of a variety of strategies and know when to reference class charts to find specific strategies. Their choice in strategies is purposeful knowing the end goal is to create a powerful writing piece. At this level, students are starting to carry their notebooks around to be able to catch ideas at all times.

Planning and Drafting (Fluency, Stamina, and Volume): At the beginning of Grade 3, students will produce a page or more of writing each day. This amount should fill a piece of notebook paper. Students are expected to write an entry or two in class each day. Each entry will be a page or more in length and students are expected to continue writing at home (about a page a day). They can remain engaged in writing for about fifty minutes. At the end of Grade 3/beginning of Grade 4, students write in a notebook, producing a page or more of writing each day. They write one or two entries a day in class. Each entry is about a page and a half in length. Students are expected to continue writing at home (about a page and a half a day). In about ten minutes, students are able to fill a whole notebook page. They can remain engaged in writing for about sixty minutes. Students at this level are starting to show initiative in their own writing, working on a project for longer periods of time than they are required.

Revising: At the beginning of Grade 3, students will write a rough draft of a story, then make significant changes to their story and write a second draft. There may not be significant grammar changes between drafts at this level but there will be significant changes to the beginning, the ending, key parts, audience, and topic. Students begin working on a new piece immediately after finishing one. At the end of Grade 3/beginning of Grade 4, students take one piece of writing through a sequence of drafts benefiting from large scale changes. Students have multiple revision strategies. They know that rewriting will lead to better writing. Students are starting to not wait until revision to make a piece stronger, but consider this while drafting.

Editing: At the beginning of Grade 3, students edit work for spelling, punctuation, and language usage. They know to draft correctly capitalizing proper nouns, using apostrophes for contractions and possessives, and use proper end punctuation. They will begin to edit for correct comma usage in dialogue and addresses. They will also use quotation marks correctly in dialogue and capitalize titles. Students will use available resources to edit for misspelled words. At the end of Grade 3/beginning of Grade 4, students know to draft using correct capitalization, comma usage, and quotations marks for dialogue. Students will begin to check commas before coordinating conjunctions in a compound sentence and fix sentence fragments and run-ons. They will use available resources to check spelling but rely on knowledge of spelling patterns to spell grade appropriate words correctly.

Types of writing at this level:

Expository: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. a. Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (example: headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details. c. Use linking words and phrases (examples: also, another, and, more) to connect ideas within categories of information. d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

Narrative: Write narrative to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences a. Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. b. Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations. c. Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order. d. Provide a sense of closure.

Argumentative: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. a. Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons. b. Provide reasons that support the opinion. c. Use linking words and phrases (examples: because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons. d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

Grammar skills:

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

 Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.  Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.  Use abstract nouns (e.g., childhood).  Form and use regular and irregular verbs.  Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses.  Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.*  Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.  Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.  Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.  Capitalize appropriate words in titles.  Use commas in addresses.  Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.  Form and use possessives.  Use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words and for adding suffixes to base words (e.g., sitting, smiled, cries, happiness).  Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.  Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.

Timeline:

Unit 1 Title (estimated # of weeks)  Part 1 (estimated # of days)  Part 2 (estimated # of days)

Unit 2 Title (estimated # of weeks)  Part 1 (estimated # of days)  Part 2 (estimated # of days)

Resources: The Common Core Writing Book (K-5)- Gretchen Owocki Writing Pathways(Grades K-8) by Lucy Calkins https://www-k6.thinkcentral.com/dashboard/home (online access to Journeys Grammar lessons) Houghton Mifflin Journeys Curriculum- grammar and writing lessons Four Square Writing Method Reflection: