Course: 4 t h G r a d e W r i t i n g
Harlingen CISD
Unit One
1st Grading Period (38 Days)
2014-2015
Quarter 3
Unit 1: Persuasive Writing
Unit Pacing: 3 Weeks
Dates: January 7 - 23
Planning for Instruction
Professional Resources
Suggested Mentor Texts:
Detailed Persuasive Lesson – 4th Grade
I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
Letters from the Campaign Trail: LaRue for Mayor,
by Mark Teague
Dear Mrs. La Rue: Letters From Obedience School,
by Mark Teague
Suggested Sequence:
Prewrite & Organize – 3 days
Draft – 2 days
Revise & Teacher/Peer Conferences – 3 days
Edit – 1 day
Final Draft/Publish – 2 days
William’s Doll, by Charlotte Zolotow
Should We Have Pets?, by Sylvia Lollis
Should There Be Zoos?, by Tony Stead
Can I Keep Him?, by Steven Kellogg
Hey Little Ant by Phillip M. Hoose
Dear Mr. Blueberry, by Simon James
Messages in the Mailbox:How to Write a Letter, by Loreen Leady
Areas of Focus:
Genre and Audience
In persuasive writing, writers state their opinion
about something that is important to them and try
to convince the reader to agree with their ideas.
Authors use persuasive language and strong
reasons to convince their readers to agree with
their point of view. Persuasive opinions/arguments
are most convincing when the writer is passionate
about the topic and has a real audience in mind.
Persuasive arguments are often communicated in
a business letter for which a specific format should
be followed.
TEKS
Persuasive writing is a type of expository
writing, and uses the same compositional
format as any expository writing: a central
idea or thesis, supporting sentences and a
concluding statement.
However, in persuasive writing, the author
presents his/her opinion as the central idea
and supports it with convincing reasons and
arguments.
The supporting sentences explain the
reasons further and provide examples, facts,
and details to prove each reason is valid. The
concluding statement (or paragraph) asks the
reader to act on the position/central idea
outlined in the paper.
Grammar/Editing
There are only a few grammar and editing
skills that have not already been taught in
previous writing units.
Capitalizing the salutation and closing of a
letter which should have been taught in
previous years, and can be reviewed in this
unit, if the persuasive piece is written as a
letter.
We must also teach the correct spelling of
words with silent letters (silent k, silent w,
silent b, and silent h), as well as
homophones that are commonly used in
4th grade writing. The editing section of
this lesson gives several good examples.
Assessment
Persuasive Writing is the most
common type of real-world writing,
discussion, and debate! Most children
practice their persuasive skills on a
daily basis and may not be very
successful. We can help them
improve their attempts to get what
they want by teaching the art of
persuasive writing and persuasive
language!
As stated in the TEKS section, good
persuasive writing uses a central
idea/ thesis, supporting sentences,
and a concluding statement to
convince the reader. Therefore, it is
an excellent way for 4th graders to
practice this compositional form of
writing that they will also use to write
their expository composition for 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
TEKS
Student Expectations:
19(A) write persuasive essays
for appropriate audiences that
establish a position and use
supporting details.
Week Nine Eleven
Oct. 20 – Nov 7
Lesson 1:
Report
Harlingen CISD
Unit One
1st Grading Period (38 Days)
Student will know:
2014-2015
Quarter 3
Student will be able to:
In persuasive writing, writers state their opinion about Write a letter to convince others and provide support for
something that is important to them and try to convince their point of view.
the reader to agree with their ideas.
Authors use persuasive language to sway their
Use convincing reasons and language that will persuade
readers to agree with their point of view. Reading and others to agree with their opinion.
analyzing examples of persuasive texts helps writers
understand the genre, author’s purpose, and unique Read a variety of persuasive texts and identify the
characteristics of persuasive writing.
characteristics that make a persuasive text unique.
Key Terms: position, point of view, convince,
persuasive language, opinion, unique characteristics
Use the vocabulary to describe their writing process while
writing a persuasive piece.
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; and
(iii) contain a concluding
statement.
In persuasive writing, the author presents his/her
State their point of view in a main idea sentence and
opinion in a main idea and supports it with convincing create convincing reasons to support it.
reasons and arguments.
Use explanations, examples, and facts to support their
Supporting details include explanations, examples and opinion and to persuade the reader to agree.
facts.
Write a formal, persuasive letter with the correct letter
A fact is a statement that can be checked, by using
format.
reliable sources.
18(B) write letters whose
language is tailored to the
audience and purpose (e.g., a
thank you note to a friend) and
that use appropriate conventions
(e.g., date, salutation, closing);
Persuasive arguments are often communicated in a
letter with a specific format to be followed.
Key Terms: central idea, topic sentence, argument,
supporting sentence, facts, details, examples,
explanations, concluding statement, salutation, body,
closing, formal letter
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Course: 4 t h G r a d e W r i t i n g
Harlingen CISD
Unit One
15(A) plan a first draft by
Persuasive writing
is Grading
often written
in the
of a
1st
Period
(38form
Days)
selecting a genre appropriate for letter, but can also be written as an essay.
conveying the intended meaning
to an audience and generating Persuasive arguments are most convincing when the
ideas through a range of
writer is passionate about the topic and has a real
strategies (e.g., brainstorming, audience in mind.
graphic organizers, logs,
journals);
Each paragraph within the body of the text develops
the arguments in favor of the author’s opinion.
15(B) develop drafts by
categorizing ideas and
Adding, changing, and deleting text help to make a
organizing them into paragraphs; writer’s meaning more clear.
Write a persuasive letter or essay.
2014-2015
Quarter 3
Choose an audience for a persuasive letter or essay and
brainstorm ways to make it convincing.
Develop the arguments in favor of the author’s point of
view.
Use feedback from peers to revise the persuasive writing
and make it clear and convincing.
Edit the persuasive writing to correct all spelling,
mechanics, and grammar errors.
15(C) revise drafts for focus and Authors revise their writing using feedback and advice
coherence, organization, voice, from their peers.
Publish the persuasive writing in a way that celebrates
development of ideas, word
the writer’s commitment to a final product.
choice, use of simple and
A persuasive argument is most effective when it is free
compound sentences, and
from spelling, mechanics, and grammar errors.
audience independently and in
response to feedback from peers Feedback from peers is often the most helpful to
and teachers;
writers as they practice what their writing sounds like
in a safe, supportive environment.
15(D) edit drafts for grammar,
mechanics, and spelling using a Key Terms: essay, convincing, persuasive argument,
teacher-developed rubric; and
point of view, feedback, mechanics, grammar
15(E) revise final draft in
response to feedback from peers
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 One
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: Gretchen Bernabei, in Why We Must Run With Scissors, recommends
Organizing: Students can use this online interactive tool to map out an argument for their
using good open-ended questions to have students free write, then talk and share
stories to get ideas flowing for topics that students are passionate about. Persuasive
Discussion Questions, p.1
persuasive essay.
Guide students to write the topic for their persuasive piece in the following form. This will
make it easier for students to generate strong persuading reasons to support their topic.
Here are a few more persuasive writing ideas, p.2 from this blog:
http://www.proteacher.org/c/650_Persuasive_Writing.html
Set up a contest for children to nominate ‘The Best Relative of the Year’. Students must
write an essay to convince others to vote for the person they are nominating.
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/persuasion_map/
Once students have chosen their topic, they can use this graphic organizer to brainstorm and
organize their reasons for their persuasive piece. Always model your thinking about how to use
the graphic organizer before sending students off to write.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/read_3_U6_WP2.pdf
One more way for children to organize their thoughts for a persuasive writing:
Persuasive Graphic Organizer, p.3
Final Draft/Publishing: Persuasive opinions/arguments
Conferencing:
Drafting: Using any of the above graphic organizers,
are most convincing when the writer is passionate about the
topic and has a real audience in mind. If possible, send the
student writings to real people who have a stake in what the
writer is voicing his/her opinion about.
Other suggestions for publishing include:
A Conferencing Tip from Georgia Heard, p.7 – Read a
student’s writing back to him/her.
show students how to take the brainstormed ideas and
compose sentences and paragraphs with supporting
ideas that are well connected to the central idea of the
writing. Think aloud about your thought process!, p.4
• Create a class newspaper of letters/essays or bind the
letters/essays into a class book.
Conference with students about any item on the criteria chart
that you create with your class.
Persuasive Peer Conference Form, p.8
• Create a bulletin board arrangement to display at a local
library or other public facility.
Moving from a graphic organizer to a written draft is not
a natural process for many children. You may have to
model this many times before children understand how
you take individual phrases and ideas and turn them into
sentences that flow together to communicate your main
argument.
Editing: Some words are spelled with letters that have no sound.
Revising: If your students will be writing letters, make sure to teach them the conventions of
Words with silent k include: knee, knock, knife, kneel, know, knead, and knuckle.
Words with silent w include: wrench, wring, answer, wrapper, wriggle, wrinkle, and
wrestle.
Words with silent b include: lamb, thumb, plumber, comb, and doubt.
Words with silent h include: hour, honor, heir, hour, honest
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but has a different
meaning. Examples of homophones include: eye and I, rose and rows, bear and bare,
break and brake, buy and by, scent and cent, deer and dear, hear and here, one and
won, etc.
Peer Editing Checklist, p.9
a business letter found in Texas Write Source, pp. 242-243. Remind writers to capitalize the
salutation and closing of the letter.
Read aloud some of the mentor texts listed above. After each reading, help writers create and
refine a class list of criteria for a good persuasive writing. A possible Persuasive Criteria List,
p.5 can be found here. Any item on this criteria list is a topic for a revising minilesson.
Can readers follow my order of importance?, p.6 Once students are sure they have written
their reasons in order so that their most convincing reason comes last, they can use transition
words to help show the order of importance.
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