Unit 2: Command of Conventions
Estimated Days: 3 Weeks
Big Ideas/Essential Questions (How does this unit apply to a student’s life?)
• How does the appropriate usage of conventions in writing impact the audience?
• How does awareness of the parts of speech improve the effectiveness of writing?
• How does point of view explain the sequence of events?
• How do a variety of sentence structures impact your understanding of a story?
Priority Standard(s)
L 1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or
speaking.
L 2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
when writing.
L 3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
W 3a: Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator
and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
W 4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience.
W 5: With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by
planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience
have been addressed.
Support Standard(s):
L1 (3rd grade): Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when
writing or speaking.
L 6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases;
gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
Content
LANGUAGE:
• Students need to know how to use
correct capitalization, punctuation and
spelling.
• Students need to know eight parts of
speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives,
pronouns, adverbs, prepositions,
interjections, conjunctions)
WRITING:
• Students need to know a variety of
sentence structures.
• Students need to know the writing
process.
• Students need to know how to
establish point of view and context
Skills
LANGUAGE:
• Students will define and identify the parts of speech
• Students will write sentences, and underline the parts
of speech in those sentences.
WRITING:
• Students will write an exploded moment
incorporating parts of speech.
• Students will choose among simple, compound,
complex, and compound-complex sentences to signal
differing relationships among ideas.
• Students will use the writing process in a variety of
assignments with differing lengths graphically
organizing, drafting, editing, final draft, and
publishing.
•
•
Students need to know how to create
narration.
Students need to know how to identify
and create a sequence of events.
Summative Assessment:
• Students will write an “Exploded Moment” narrative piece (this could be developed based on an idea
from the identity unit).
o SCORING FOCUS: Punctuation, capitalization, spelling, paragraph structure, variety of
sentence structures, organization and point of view.
•
Students will demonstrate their writing development using the writing process with guided support
from peers and adults.
Note: Choice of writing rubric to be determined by PLCs.
Factors to consider:
SMARTER Balanced Writing Rubrics measure the Common Core Standards, however, at this time,
anchor papers are not available. There is a separate SMARTER Balanced Writing Rubric for each
type of writing.
ODE Writing Rubric does not measure Common Core Standards, but anchor papers do exist. As far as
addressing increased standards for rigor in writing, a score of 4 on the ODE no longer meets the
standard. Scores of 5 or 6 would be required for meeting the current standard.
Formative Assessment:
• Parts of Speech Booklet
• Sentence Structures warm ups
• Conventions warm ups
• Identify sequence of events and point of view in examples of exploding moments.
Resources:
TEACHER RESOURCES:
• Step Up to Writing
MULTIMEDIA:
• School House Rocks videos on Youtube
WRITING:
• Exploded Moment samples