Unit 1 Launching
Writing Workshop: Big Ideas
Establishing management around routines and structures. Establishing partnerships and talk structures:
Sharing your thinking and listening to others.
* View the world as writers and begin writing notebooks
* Use writing notebooks to generate and collect ideas and try writing techniques
* Use classroom rituals and routines to work independently and with others
* Generate and explore seed ideas
Unit Standards
3.8.8.8-Wi th prompting and support, create an individual or shared multimedia work for a specific purpose ( e.g
., to create or integrate know l edge, to share experiences or information, to persuade, to entertain, or as artistic
expression.) a . With prompting and support, critique each found image under consideration for use in a muti
media project for its appropriateness to purpose, its effectiveness in conveying the message, and its effect on the
intended audience and justify its use in the project. B. Share the work with an audience.
3.6.10.10Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time
frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
a. Independently select writing topics and formats for personal enjoyment, interest, and academic tasks.
3.8.1.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher- led) with
diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
a. Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and
other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
b. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with
care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
c. Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the
remarks of others.
d. Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.
e. Cooperate and compromise as appropriate for productive group discussion.
f. Follow multi-step oral directions.
3.10.4.4d Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise
meaning of key words and phrases.
Grammar
Capitalize appropriate words in titles.
Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs
Writing Resources
Lucy Calkins Writers Workshop Units of Study Book 1: Launching the Writing Workshop
A Curricular Plan for The Writing Workshop (PDF), Lucy Calkins et al (year-long resource)
A Writer’s Notebook, by Ralph Fletcher
The Writing Workshop by Katie Wood Ray
How’s it Going? by Carl Anderson
Mentor Texts
Setting Routines Mentor Text: A Quiet Place by Douglas Wood
Song and Dance Man by Ackerman
Amelia’s Notebook, by Marissa Moss
How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Nancy Carlson (basal)
Thundercake by Patricia Polocco (basal)
Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Assessment
Baseline Writing Prompt (6 Traits)
Narrative Continuum
6+1 Writing Rubric for published pieces
Rubric For Writer’s Notebooks
Conferring Notes
Self-Reflections on Living the Life of a Writer: Writer’s Notebook
Notes
Writing Unit __1__: ____Launching Writing____________
Unit Bends in the road
Develop routines and
procedures for writing
independently
POSSIBLE Teaching Point
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Generating ideas for
writing: Creating a
Writer’s Notebook
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Qualities of Short Personal
Narratives: (Focus, Detail
and Structure)
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What is a writer’s notebook? (Fletcher, p. 1)
Writers make their notebook special by decorating it
Writers gain stamina by writing long about something
they know well
Your life as a writer
o
What does writing workshop look like?
o
What does writing workshop sound like?
o
Author talks (looking at the writing lives of
famous authors
Writers gain stamina by having their resources ready
o
Location of resources (optional writing center)
Writers know what to do when they are done with a
task
Writers learn from each other at the end-of-workshop
share
Writers learn their role in a writing conference
Writers plant seeds in their notebooks by…
o Thinking about a person that is important to them
o Thinking about a place that is important to them
o Thinking about an object/artifact
o Thinking of his/her life as a dvd (a part of your life
that you want to “rewind and do over,” “do in
slow motion,”fast forward through…”)
o Thinking about a time when you had a strong
feeling
o Writing long about a thought or idea that you
know well and remember with crystal clarity
Writers sketch a memory and write the story of that
one time
Seed idea format (lists, webs, sketches, quick writes, tcharts)
Writers walk through the writing process
o Collecting seed ideas, choosing a seed idea,
growing a seed idea, drafting, revising, editing,
and publishing
Writers stay focused by writing about small episodes,
zooming in
Writers show not tell by making a movie in his/her
mind
Writers prepare to draft by using oral storytelling
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Grammar
Celebration
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Studying mentor texts
o Writers tell a story across their fingers
Writers show not tell by adding the little details to the
story
Writers create movies in their minds and retell the
sequence of events in their stories, writing details, and
telling the story step-by-step
Writers use mentor texts to help draft their leads
Writers edit for punctuation and capitalization by
rereading their writing
Capitalize appropriate words in titles.
Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs
Writers present their published stories to an audience
Writers celebrate their joy of writing by hearing the
work of others
Authors celebrate by reflecting on themselves as
writers of a particular genre (writing folders)
Writers learn how to look at a book from a writer’s
perspective
Unit 1: Launching Writer’s Workshop
Writer’s Notebook
Exceeds
Standards
Meets
Standards
STAMINA
Demonstrates
appropriate
writing stamina.
Focused
writing for 2025 minutes, 12 pages daily
Focused
writing for 1520 minutes, 1+
pages daily
GENERATING
AND
COLLECTING
Uses writer’s
notebook to
generate and
collect story
ideas.
Wide variety of
writing
strategies and
topics. Student
is writing about
many different
things in
different ways,
actively
seeking new
and original
ideas.
Wide variety of
strategies or
topics; some
variety of each.
Student is
attempting to
do different
things with the
writing, with
some success.
Partially
Meets
Standards
Focused
writing 10-15
minutes,
approx. ½
page daily
Limited variety
of strategies
and topics;
entries are
generally
similar or
repetitive but
may
occasionally try
something
different.
Does Not
Meet
Standards
Focused
writing less
than 10
minutes, less
than ½ page
daily
No variety.
Student is
essentially
doing the same
thing every
day.