Course: 4 t h G r a d e W r i t i n g
Harlingen CISD
Unit Two
1st Grading Period (38 Days)
2014-2015
Quarter 3
Unit 3: Expository Essay
Unit Pacing: 2 Weeks
Dates: Feb. 9 -20
Planning for Instruction
Professional Resources
Treasures Grammar and Writing Handbook,
Macmillan/ McGraw-Hill
14 Expository Essay Student Samples
4 Student Writings from pattternbasedwriting.com
Suggested Sequence:
*The following sequence is only suggested.
Your students’ needs should drive your
instruction. Dedicate the time to the areas
where your students are in need of extra help.
Prewrite & Organize – 2 days
Draft – 1 day
Revise & Confer – 3 days
Edit – 1 day
Final Draft & Publish – 2 days
Areas of Focus:
Genre and Audience
This is a review of the expository essay
unit taught earlier this year. Lucy Calkins
says that an expository essay is
organized by ideas, instead of by time (as
in a personal narrative.) It is held together
by an idea that is developed across the
whole text. It is written to explain an idea
or inform an audience about a topic.
As we move closer in time to the STAAR
test, it becomes more tempting to tell
students that they are writing to prepare
for the test. While we all know this is the
reality of the 4th grade classroom, we
should still make every effort to keep their
writing as authentic as possible and
students should publish for a real
audience. See the Final Draft/Publishing
suggestions on the next page.
TEKS
Expository essays have a distinct format. They
include a central idea, and supporting
paragraphs containing facts, details, and
explanations that support the central idea.
Transition words help the reader understand
how the ideas are related. The conclusion
restates the central idea in a meaningful and
memorable way.
Now that your students have some experience
with expository essays, they will be able to
advise each other about what is needed to
improve their compositions. Set students up to
conference with each other, so they can use
the feedback from their peers to write
independently. This will allow you to
conference with as many students as possible.
Read their compositions in advance of the
student conference, so you can decide on the
one change you will advise them to make to
result in the biggest difference in this piece of
writing.
Grammar/Editing
If you have kept up with teaching
the conventions SEs as outlined
in the previous CRMs, all
grammar and editing skills have
already been taught. You can
simply review all the skills
through the writing process, as
well as in STAAR Revising and
Editing formats.
The SEs in this unit’s CRM are
listed to emphasize that writers
choose their words carefully to
make sure every word
expresses the exact meaning
that he/she intends.
Specific nouns, vivid verbs, and
descriptive adjectives and
adverbs are examples of precise
word choice that makes writing
more powerful.
Assessment
Students will have the opportunity to practice
another expository essay. This time, we will
show writers how to pare down their writing to a
one-page essay for the STAAR Writing test.
If you have been using the lessons in Lucy
Calkins’ Breathing Life into Essays, you have
probably been concerned over the length of the
essays she recommended. Rest assured that
these lessons provided an excellent foundation
for developing the central idea (thesis) and
examples (stories) that explain each supporting
paragraph. Now we need to show students how
to shorten the stories they use to explain their
supporting idea (by summarizing) and to use
other, shorter techniques, such as facts and
explanations. The Lucy Calkins lessons taught
the most important skill--the need for everything
to be connected. All paragraphs are connected
to the central idea, and all the sentences within
each paragraph are connected to the main idea
of that paragraph. The foundation is in place;
now we teach writers to be concise for this
genre, the STAAR writing test.
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Course: 4 t h G r a d e W r i t i n g
Lesson
and Pacing
Week Six -
TEKS
Student Expectations:
18(A) create brief compositions
that:
(i) establish a central idea in a
topic sentence;
(ii) include supporting sentences
with simple facts, details, and
explanations;
(iii) contain a concluding
Seven statement;
Feb. 9 -20
Lesson 1:
Expository Essay
Harlingen CISD
Unit Two
1st Grading Period (38 Days)
Student will know:
2014-2015
Quarter 3
Student will be able to:
In expository writing, writers present information Read a variety of expository texts and identify the central idea,
about a topic by expressing a central idea and
supporting sentences, and concluding statement.
supporting it with facts and details.
Write a brief expository essay that includes a central idea,
Authors draw conclusions at the end of an
supporting sentences, and concluding statement.
expository piece to summarize the central idea
and bring the piece to a logical close.
Explain the qualities of good expository writing.
Reading and analyzing examples of expository
texts helps writers understand the genre, author’s
purpose, and unique characteristics of report
writing.
Key terms: expository writing, report writing,
central idea, topic sentence, supporting
sentences, facts, details, concluding statement
20(B) use the complete subject Writers use a variety of sentence patterns, some Correctly combine sentences with more than one subject or
and the complete predicate in a long and some short sentences, to make their
more than one predicate.
sentence.
writing more interesting.
Correctly combine simple sentences to create compound
20(C) use complete simple and Writers use transition words and phrases to
sentences.
compound sentences with
indicate the passage of time or the movement of
correct subject-verb agreement. characters to a different place in a story.
Connect the ideas in their writing with a variety of effective
transitions that show the passage of time or the movement of
20(A) use and understand the
Transition words and phrases may also connect characters to a different setting.
function of the following parts of an introduction or conclusion to the body of the
speech in the context of reading, story.
writing, and speaking: (viii) use
time-order transition words and Key Terms: sentence patterns, subject,
transitions that indicate a
predicate, simple sentence, compound sentence,
conclusion.
transition words and phrases,
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Course: 4 t h G r a d e W r i t i n g
Harlingen CISD
2014-2015
Unit Two
Quarter 3
15(A) plan a first draft by
Persuasive writing
is Grading
often written
in the
of a Write a persuasive letter or essay.
1st
Period
(38form
Days)
selecting a genre appropriate for letter, but can also be written as an essay.
conveying the intended meaning
Choose an audience for a persuasive letter or essay and
to an audience and generating Persuasive arguments are most convincing when brainstorm ways to make it convincing.
ideas through a range of
the writer is passionate about the topic and has a
strategies (e.g., brainstorming, real audience in mind.
Develop the arguments in favor of the author’s point of view.
graphic organizers, logs,
journals);
Each paragraph within the body of the text
Use feedback from peers to revise the persuasive writing and
develops the arguments in favor of the author’s make it clear and convincing.
15(B) develop drafts by
opinion.
categorizing ideas and
Edit the persuasive writing to correct all spelling, mechanics,
organizing them into paragraphs; Adding, changing, and deleting text help to make and grammar errors.
a writer’s meaning more clear.
15(C) revise drafts for focus and
Publish the persuasive writing in a way that celebrates the
coherence, organization, voice, Authors revise their writing using feedback and writer’s commitment to a final product.
development of ideas, word
advice from their peers.
choice, use of simple and
compound sentences, and
A persuasive argument is most effective when it
audience independently and in is free from spelling, mechanics, and grammar
response to feedback from peers errors.
and teachers;
Feedback from peers is often the most helpful to
15(D) edit drafts for grammar,
writers as they practice what their writing sounds
mechanics, and spelling using a like in a safe, supportive environment.
teacher-developed rubric; and
Key Terms: essay, convincing, persuasive
15(E) revise final draft in
argument, point of view, feedback, mechanics,
response to feedback from peers grammar
and teacher and publish written
work for a specific audience.
In addition to the TEKS listed in this Lesson, every week teachers should also provide rigorous and explicit instruction in the Recurring TEKS: F19 (A-F)
Comprehension Skills, 1(A) Fluency: Read aloud grade-level and instructional text, 2(A-E) Vocabulary, 13(A-D) Comprehension of Media, 20 (Bi-Bii) Writing
Conventions, 21(A), Oral and Written Conventions/Spelling, 27(A) Listening and Speaking/ Speaking, 28(A) Listening and Speaking/Listening
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Course: 4 t h G r a d e W r i t i n g
Harlingen CISD
Unit Two
1st Grading Period (38 Days)
2014-2015
Quarter 3
Writing Process: Persuasive Writing - All Attachments (in RED) for this Page can be found here
Prewriting:
“Real writers write for real reasons about things that are important to them.
They write because they want to change things, influence people, or express
themselves. If we are constantly flooding our students with writing prompts…,
we are not teaching them to do what real writers do. Many of the standardized
topics we throw at students aren’t bad, but when it is all we give them, they
often give up on generating their own topics. Worse yet, they may forget how to
come up with their own topics. Worst of all, they may disassociate writing from
real-life relevance altogether.” (David Lee Finkle, Writing Extraordinary Essays)
Two new ways to generate ideas for both narrative and expository topics:
An Adapted Quicklist, p.1-2
Enthusiasm Map, p.3-4
Final Draft/Publishing
Student expository essays may be assembled into
an anthology to display in the library or near the
visitor’s chairs in the school office.
Create a bulletin board arrangement of expository
essays to display at a local library or other public
facility (perhaps the office of a school adopter.)
Expository Essay Reflection, p. 36
STAAR Expository Writing Rubric, p.37
Organizing:
As we guide our students to narrow their focus and streamline their stories to one page, we
should inform them of the real-world reasons why they need to learn how to write in a limited
amount of space: Writing in a Small Space, p.5-6
Expository Text Planning Tools, p.7-11 – Help students to plan their essays using this easy,
concise format!
Essay Mind Map, p.12-15 - This map’s organizational structure helps young writers organize
and plan their essay ideas for elaborating during the drafting process.
Connect the central idea (or thesis statement) to the author’s purpose skill from your reading
lessons. What is the topic? (Smoking) What does the author want to say about the topic? (One
person’s smoking affects the whole family.)
Conferencing:
Drafting:
Writers use this Expository Revising
Checklist, p.27 to give feedback on
each other’s expository essays.
Teacher Conference, p. 28 - Read your
students’ compositions ahead of time,
so you can decide on the one change
you will advise them to make that will
make the biggest difference in this
piece of writing.
A Conferencing Tip from Georgia
Heard, p.29 – Read a student’s writing
back to him/her
Instead of drafting the entire story or essay before getting any feedback on the
writing, would it help writers to write only one part of their story or essay and ask a
partner for feedback before proceeding on to the next part? Allow writers to
determine when to stop to ask for feedback. The only rules are that every time they
ask a peer for feedback, they must read their piece from the very beginning. And
they must truly be open to the feedback they receive. (‘Why ask so many people for
their opinions if you’re not going to make any changes, right?’)
Editing:
Editing Checklist, p.30
Sentence Boundaries, p.31 Have writers ‘frame’ each sentence of their writing
to think about whether it is a complete sentence.
Research to Find the Correct Spelling, p.32: We should not expect writers to
spell every word correctly in every draft. However, we do want them to think
about the spelling of their words. Only when they become aware of the words
they may have trouble with, will they slow down to try different solutions to their
‘problem words’.
Flash Nonfiction, p.16 - This is a simple but powerful exercise builds fluency for
writing in a relaxed, nonthreatening environment.
Expository Transitions, p. 17
Expository Essay Criteria Chart, p.18
Revising:
This strategy will help students improve poorly constructed sentences in their own
writing. It will also help to prepare students for the STAAR Revising questions that
ask students to improve the meaning or clarity of sentences in a passage. Fixing
Clunker Sentences, p.19-20
Schoolwide Writing Contest, p.21-22 - Another way to make writing a part of your
school culture!
We are living in the STAAR era of making every word count, saying what we mean
and meaning what we say, keeping our language concise and precise. Moving from
‘Exploding the Moment’ to ‘Concise and Precise’, p. 23-24
Change Passive Verbs to Lively Verbs, p.25-26
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