5th Grade
Writing Plan
Catawba County
Schools
Components
NCSCOS Objectives
Essential Questions
Activities/Strategies
Resources
Assessment
Rubric
Writing Products
Portfolios
Writing Genres
Personal/Imaginative
Narratives
Journal Entries
Research Reports
Business Letters
Letters of Request
Letters of Complaint
Letters to the Editor
Poems
Interviews
News Articles
Essays
Diary Entries
Notes
Autobiography
Biography
Memoir
Writing is
all around us…
Portfolios
4 published pieces will be collected in the
Writing Portfolio
Each nine weeks one piece of writing will
be taken to the publishing stage and
submitted to the portfolio
Each of the final four published pieces
should represent a variety of genres of
writing
Students should be involved in the
decision making process as to which
pieces will be included in their writing
portfolio
Research Reports- Probes
What is a probe?- “to search
into; examine thoroughly;
investigate”; Probes are
notebooks (MEAD marble
composition books) that are
bound together and used for
writing research reports on
various topics. These will be
kept all year.
Examples of Probes
Poetry
Poetry as a Writing
Genre
5 Ws Poem
Poem A Week
Response Journals
Journal Writing Tips
Writing Directions/ Instructions
Recipes
Zoo fun Kid recipes
Recipe for procedural writing
Creature Recipes
Purposeful Writing Ideas/Activities
Business Letters
Lesson plans for writing letters
Ideas for writing letters
Writing Business Letters lesson plan
Letters of Complaint
Note taking
Left Side of the Notebook
Right Side of the Notebook
Paraphrase or clarify items
Enter a drawing, photo, sketch, or magazine
picture that illustrates the concept, ideas, or
facts
Pose questions about the information
Form and express an opinion
Predict outcomes or next steps
Create a metaphor that captures the essence of
the information/issue
Write a reflection on the information or
experience
Find a quote that connects to the concept;
record it and explain your rationale
Make connections between the information/text
and your own life, another text, and/or the
world
Create a mind map that captures the main topic
and key concepts and supportive detail
Create an acronym that will help you to
remember the information covered
Make connections to the content/processes of
other courses
Notes on a:
mini-lesson
lecture
lab
reading
film/video/documentary
small group or large group discussion
collaborative group process
Interactive Notebooks
I.N. Examples
Rubric for Grading I.N.
I.N. Powerpoint
I.N. Information
Notes
Note writing lesson plan
Thank you notes
Note taking tips for students
Autobiographies/Biographies
Writing an Autobiography tips
Mini Unit
Technology Autobiography
Alphabet Autobiography Book
Auto biography poem
Biography Maker
Student Biographers
Diary Entries
Have students write in the Dear Diary…
format. They can write the entries in their
Writer’s Notebook, or on special paper. They can
write the entries to a scenario that you have
written on the board, or in a center. They can also
write to a character in the book they are reading,
or one from history.
Front Page News
The students can work in groups
to write a “Front Page News”
for a story they are reading,
or information learned in the
content areas.
Lucy Calkins
Lucy Calkins
Units of Study
Writing
Grades 3-5
Writing Workshop
Turn and Talk
with a Partner
about your
Background knowledge/
experience with
Writer’s Workshop
What does Writing Workshop look like?
Mini Lesson
Independent Writing/Collecting Entries
(Writer’s Notebooks)
Conferring
Sharing
Lucy Calkins Units of Study
Grades 3-5
Components
Connection
Teaching (Mini Lesson)
Active Engagement
Link
Writing
Mid-workshop Teaching Point
Conferring
Sharing
Connection
Links what has been done to what is
expected to be learned in the present
lesson
May serve as a quick review of previous
learning
Explicitly name what will
be taught/learned
Teaching
(Mini-lesson)
Has a Clear Objective - Teaching Point
States the Purpose Explicitly
Teacher Models – Demonstrate
May Provide Guided Practice
Explains and Gives Examples
Mini Lesson (10-15 minutes)
The mini-lesson is where the teacher
can make a suggestion to the whole
class...raise a concern, explore an issue,
model a technique, reinforce a
strategy. After observing students’
writing and identifying concerns, ask
yourself: "What is the one thing I can
suggest or demonstrate that might
help most?" A mini-lesson generally
lasts 5-10 minutes. Try to choose a
teaching point that you feel would
benefit the majority of the class.
Mini-Lesson Ideas
Getting an idea
-making lists
-things you love
-writing from emotion
-experiences
-moments in time
Adding detail
Adds responses/telling the inside story
Choice of words/ descriptive language
Replacing tired words
Great beginnings
Wow endings
One moment in time
Content
Observations
"I wonder" writings
Focus
Something ordinary
Staying on focus
Working with a seed idea
Developing a plan for writing
Finding your voice
Genre studies:
-poetry
-informational reports
-letters
-autobiographies
-biographies
Use appropriate spacing
Spelling phonetically
Spell "High Frequency" words correctly
Spell using analogies
Capitalize I, names
Capitalize beginnings of sentences
Ending punctuation marks
Quotation marks
Commas
Use of "and"
Using appropriate grammar
Using paragraphs
Recognizing and correcting run-on sentences
Sample chart created during a Mini-Lesson
Active Engagement
At the end of the mini-lesson
students are given the
opportunity to try-out the
lesson through sharing with a
partner
At times students may watch
other students trying
something out
Link
Before sending student off
to write independently,
restate the teaching point
and encourage students to
use the skill taught in the
mini-lesson in their
ongoing work for the day.
Writing Time
Students write
Teacher confers with individual
students or small groups
Independent Writing/Collecting Entries
After the mini lesson, students work in their Writer's
Notebook to collect entries that may later become
published pieces of writing. The total writing time
lasts for about 35-40 minutes, but during that time
some students may be involved in conferences with
the teacher or with their peers.
Students choose entries in their notebooks to take
into "draft form." It is these carefully selected
pieces of writing that will be taken through the
process of editing and revising so that they can be
published and shared with others. All entries in the
Writer's Notebook do not become published pieces
of writing. All published writing is added to each
student's Writing Portfolio, and some pieces will
even be put into student created books.
(Mid-workshop teaching point)
Sometimes you will find it
necessary to stop and teach/reteach a concept/skill during the
writing workshop- this will be
necessary when you are seeing
several children struggling with
the same issues
Conferring
The teacher may meet with
students individually.
The teacher may meet with
small groups of students
with similar needs
The teacher takes the time to
record her compliment and
teaching points
Conferring
• While students are involved in independent writing,
use this time to confer with your writers. Take
notes during conferences to document students'
progress and to plan future mini-lessons. During this
time the teacher may:
• Listen to students read their entries aloud
• Help students decide what they want to say
• Provide feedback
• Re-teach skills taught during mini lessons
• Teach necessary new skills
• Reinforce a writer's strengths
• Give writers new ways of thinking
Conferring Teaching Points
• The teacher looks for what the student
knows.
• The teacher looks for what the student
needs to know next
• The teacher asks herself what is the most
important thing that she can teach this
student next?
• The teacher must decide how she is going
to teach the child
Conferences are conversations, not interrogations
Sharing
• Students return to same place that they
were for the mini-lesson.
• The teacher may decide to restate the
teaching point of the mini-lesson and share
examples of student work.
• The teacher may decide to
introduce a new writing
behavior that was observed.
• Students are given opportunities
to share their work
Writer’s Notebook
Writer’s Notebook Entries
“Gathering Ideas”
• Poetry
• Family stories that we know
• Writing generated from conversations
we've had or have heard
• Lists of people or place names of
interest
• Entries about things we care about
• Things we wonder about
• Celebrations or victories
• Dreams
Sharing
At the end of writing workshop everyday, students
are brought back together for a 5-10 minute
group share and reflection. When students sign
up to share or are asked to share, they take a
seat in the coveted "Author's Chair." Sometimes
a writer might come to the author's chair to ask
for help or receive feedback from his or her
classmates ("I like my story, but I can't think of a
good title."). The author might also want to share
part of an entry of which he or she is especially
proud.
During “many” group shares, each student gets a turn
to share a small part of an entry, especially if you
have asked students to try a particular new skill
during the day's mini-lesson.
When something can be read without
effort, great effort has gone into its writing.
~Enrique Jardiel Poncela~
The students need to understand that
there will be times when they can “free
write” for themselves, but there will also
be times when their writing needs to be in
a form that is easily read by others. This
is the published form of writing. The
students will have many “unfinished” pieces
throughout the year.
PUBLISHING IDEAS
Once a draft has been completed and students have
conferenced with the teacher in the final step of the
editing/revising process, students can choose a special themed
paper on which to publish their final copy of the story. The
Writing Center should be stocked with a variety of decorated
paper on which lines have been printed for students to write.
PORTFOLIO IDEAS
The final product then becomes part of the
students' Writing Portfolios.
1 Final Product will be selected to be included
in each student’s portfolio each nine weeks.
Each nine weeks’ final product for the
portfolio should be from a different writing
genre.
Getting Ready for Writer’s Workshop
Getting Your Room and Yourself Ready - Plans for 1st week – First Things First
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Have a carpet large enough for everyone to sit with an assigned
partner
(A,B)
Arrange your room so students are in groups (this is needed for
conferencing purposes and sharing materials)
Have baskets made up for each group (containing pencils,
colored pencils, highlighters, tape, scissors, date stamps)
Anchor charts on your walls as you make them with your class
Have writing folders with students names on them to house
writing resources, rough drafts, and final copies
Make sure you have ABC Charts and Word Wall available for
student use
Decide how you will record conferences and make appropriate
paperwork
Introduce parents to your writing program through
newsletters, parent night, etc.
Establish "writing territories" (place where children write
independently) - Decide on writing environment (lights dim, soft
music)
Decide on transition procedures (song to go to the carpet, etc)
Anchor Charts
Anchor charts are tools for students to use during
Writers' Workshop and aid children in
remembering procedures and
expectations. Charts should be made with the
children and added to throughout the year.
Anchor charts need to be posted in the classroom
where they are easily accessible to students.
•This is
an example of
an anchor chart
used to teach
children how to
write a small
moment story.
Mini- Offices
Teaching Heart
writing mini offices
JMeacham's Mini
Offices
Word Bags
Purpose: To prevent overuse of
words and to encourage accelerated
vocabulary.
Place a word on the bag and have the
students
fill the bag with synonyms as they
come across words in their reading.
Word Closets
Word Bank
Link Chains
Purpose:
Sequencing Events
Accelerated Vocabulary
(synonyms, antonyms)
Life Cycles
Contractions
Run
dart
dash
scamper
trot
Picture Word Inductive Model
Emily Calhoun
Picture Word Induction Model
Research
In terms of general academic success, vocabulary
knowledge is one of the best predictors of overall
verbal intelligence, yielding correlations of .80
(Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Sternberg & Powell).
Each word a student can comprehend and use
appropriately adds to personal cognitive processing
abilities. Plus, “one of the most consistent findings of
educational research is that having a small
vocabulary portends poor school performance”
(Anderson & Nagy, 1992).