Unit 4 Realistic Writing
Writing Workshop: Big Ideas
Writers will spend time exploring what it means to be a writer of fiction, paying close attention to how authors get
ideas for their stories
* Write a lead that includes setting and introduces characters
* Develop characters by including their feelings, thoughts and intentions
* Use details to focus attention on specific characters or events
* Develop a plot
* Use descriptive and literary language
Unit Standards
3.6.3.3Write narratives and other creative texts 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.
3.6.4.4Wit h guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are
appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1 –3
above.)
Grammar
Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them
depending on what is to be modified.
Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
Use spelling patterns and generalizations(e.g. word families, position based spelling, syllable patterns,
endings, rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.
Writing Resources
Lucy Calkins’ Writing Units of Study, book 4: Writing Fiction, Big Dream, Tall Ambitions
What’s Your Story? By Marion Dane Bauer
Mentor Texts:
Allie’s Basketball Dream (basal)
Brave as a Mountain Lion (basal)
Thundercake, by Patricia Polocco (basal)
Sam and the Lucky Money (basal)
Tight Times, by Hazen
Dad, Jackie, and Me, by Myron Uhlberg
The Wednesday Surprise, by Eve Bunting
Tar Beach, by Faith Ringgold
The Patchwork Quilt, by Flournoy
Hickory Chair, by Fraustino
Assessment
6 trait rubric for published pieces
Narrative Writing Continuum
Conference Notes
Self-Reflections as Writer of Fiction
Notes
Writing Unit __4__: _____Realistic Fiction________________________
Unit Bends in the road
POSSIBLE Teaching Point
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Using Mentor to Texts as
Models
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Generating ideas for fiction
writing
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Using story structure to
help develop our writing
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Writers listen to a realistic fiction text read aloud to
understand the genre. (across the unit of study)
Writers study mentor texts to identify the characteristics
of realistic fiction. ( Ex: real world setting, believable
character, appropriate believable problem, character
struggles, satisfying believable resolution)
Writers reread their writer’s notebooks for possible story
ideas.
o Writers take their real experiences and change them
slightly to make them fictional. (change character,
change ending, change the details of the struggle)
o Writers take the emotions from their real
experiences and imagine a story where the character
feels that emotion, yet creating different characters
and problems.
Writers collect story ideas by reading the blurbs on the
backs of books, and letting them spark their own ideas
by changing characters, setting, and parts of problems.
Writers collect story ideas by paying attention to the
stories they wish existed in the world.
Writers live with their story ideas for a time before
drafting. They consider:
o What is my character’s big problem?
o What does my character need to do to solve that
problem?
o What are my main character’s main characteristics?
(Both inside and outside characteristics.)
Writers draft possible story mountains, making the story
problem worse and worse as they move up the mountain.
Writers turn each point on the story mountain into a
scene. Scenes include action and dialogue to create
drama.
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Tools & Techniques for
Revision
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Grammar
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Editing and Publishing to
Share Our Work
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Writers use scenes to show what our characters yearn for
without coming right out and saying it.
Writers pause during their drafting to reread, evaluate
their stories, and obtain input from peer groups or
mentor texts.
Writers read two of their scenes, adding the necessary
transitions between them to make them flow.
Writers revise their leads to make them stronger.
(mentor texts)
Writers can add scenes from the past (flashback)
Writers make sure they show the time and place in each
scene so their readers don’t have a disoriented feeling.
Writers imagine the way the physical setting can reflect
the internal feelings of the characters.
Writers take their time with endings, drafting and
revising to find one that fits. (mentor texts)
Writers reread their drafts several times, each time with
a different question or concern in mind. (Reading
through different lenses, such as: character development,
passage of time, sentence length, punctuation for rhythm
or suspense.)
 Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives
and adverbs, and choose between them depending on
what is to be modified.
 Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
 Use spelling patterns and generalizations(e.g. word
families, position based spelling, syllable patterns,
endings, rules, meaningful word parts) in writing
words.
Writers check their work for correct spelling.
Writers edit their work for paragraphing, correct
capitalization, and correct punctuation.
Authors celebrate by reflecting on themselves as writers
of realistic fiction.
Authors celebrate by respectfully appreciating the work
of others.
Authors may display their pieces in a class anthology.
Name
Report Card
Standard
Develops
characters by
including their
feelings,
thoughts and
intentions
Grade 1
1 point
(ELABORATION) The
writer put the picture from
his mind onto the page. He
had details in pictures and
words.
Mid
Level
1.5 pt
MidLevel
Grade 2
2 pt
The writer tried to bring
her characters to life with
details, talk and actions.
Mid
Level
2.5 pt
MidLevel
The writer worked to
show what happen to
(and in) his characters.
Mid
Level
3.5 pt
MidLevel
Grade 4
4 pt
The writer added more to the
heart of her story, including
not only actions and dialogue
but also thoughts and
feelings.
(OVERALL) The writer
wrote about when he/she
did something.
MidLevel
The writer wrote about
one time when he/she
did something.
Mid
Level
The writer told the
story bit by bit.
MidLevel
The writer wrote the
important part of an event bit
by bit and took out
unimportant parts.
(CRAFT) The writer used
labels and words to give
details
MidLevel
The writer chose strong
words that would help
readers picture his/her
story.
MidLevel
The writer not only told
her story, but also
wrote it in ways that
got readers to picture
what was happening
and that brought her
story to life.
MidLevel
The writer showed why
characters did what they did by
including their thinking.
Develops a
plat
Uses figurative
language
Grade 3
3 pt
(ELABORATION) The
writer put the picture from
his mind onto the page. He
had details in pictures and
words.
(CRAFT) The writer used
labels and words to give
details
Unit 4 Realistic Fiction
The writer made some parts go
quickly, some slowly.
The writer used a storytelling
voice and conveyed the
emotion or tone of his/her story
through description, phrases,
dialogue, and thoughts.
MidLeVel
The writer tried to bring
her characters to life with
details, talk and actions.
MidLeVel
The writer worked to
show what happen to
(and in) his characters.
MidLevel
The writer added more to the
heart of her story, including
not only actions and dialogue
but also thoughts and
feelings.
MidLevel
The writer chose strong
words that would help
readers picture his/her
story.
MidLevel
The writer not only told
her story, but also
wrote it in ways that
got readers to picture
what was happening
and that
brought her story to
life.
MidLevel
The writer showed why
characters did what they did by
including their thinking.
The writer made some parts go
quickly, some slowly.
The writer used a storytelling
voice and conveyed the
emotion or tone of his/her story
through description, phrases,
dialogue, and thoughts.
Score