TCRSB End of Year Instructional Writing Targets for Grades Four to Six
Word Study
Grade Four
Grade Five
Grade Six

Review long and short vowels, digraphs, and
blends

All word study elements for grade four,
plus…

All word study elements for grades four
and five, plus…

Inflected endings (i.e., ed, ing, s, es, ”y to
i”+es)

Prefixes and suffixes that affect word and/or
function (e.g., trans, un, con, ize, tion, ate)


Syllable juncture (i.e., v/cv (long), vc/v
(short), vc/cv (short), vv/cv (long), v/v (long
long)

Hyphenated words
Derivational words for which pronunciation
has changed from the base or root word but
spelling pattern is constant (e.g.,
please/pleasure, oppose/opposition)

Irregular plurals


Unaccented final syllables (i.e., schwa vowels
a,e,o paired with l,r,n)

Possessive vs. plural
Commonly confused words (see WIA
Handbook, pp. 91-93)

Contractions

Compound words

Possessives

Synonyms, antonyms, homophones
Punctuation
Grade Four

Period, exclamation mark, question mark

End punctuation

Apostrophe

Comma in a list

Punctuation in abbreviations

Correct use of capital letters
Grade Five
Grade Six

All punctuation elements for grade four,
plus...

All punctuation elements for grades four
and five, plus...

Expanded use of commas in complex
sentences

Comma in direct quotation

Colon and semicolon

Introduction of quotation marks in direct
speech

Correct use of quotations, commas and end
punctuation in all patterns of dialogue

Dash, ellipsis, hyphen
Usage, Sentences, and Paragraphs
Grade Four
Grade Five
Grade Six

Concept of sentence, kinds of sentences

Creates more complex sentences

Uses a variety of sentence structures

Writes in complete sentences

Recognizes run-on sentences

Corrects run-on sentences and fragments

Combines simple sentences with conjunction

Subject/verb agreement


Constructs paragraphs containing a topic
sentence

Introduces prepositions, conjunctions, and
interjections
Organizes longer pieces of writing into
paragraphs

Effectively uses of all parts of speech

Noun/pronoun agreement

Organizes ideas into paragraphs

Develops cohesive paragraphs with supporting
detail and topic and concluding sentences

Correct use of nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs, and pronouns

All research skills elements for grades
four and five, plus...

Expands on electronic information retrieval to
include multiple web sites

Begins to assess relevance and reliability of
sources and information
Research Skills
Grade Four
Grade Five

Can efficiently search via alphabetic order

All grade four elements, plus...

Uses a dictionary

Uses a thesaurus

Uses computer software to gather information

Navigates table of contents and index

Retrieves electronic information (e.g. search
engine, website)

Uses electronic/computer spell checker
Grade Six
Both student choice and writing to a prompt, with increasing sophistication, in...
Grade Four
Grade Five
Grade Six

Research

Research

Research

Procedural text

News report

Debate/speech

Narrative fiction (e.g. adventure)

Narrative fiction (e.g. mystery)

Narrative fiction (e.g. fantasy)

Personal narrative

Personal narrative

Personal narrative

Poetry (e.g., shape/concrete, rhyming
couplets, free verse)

Poetry (e.g., free verse, cinquain, limerick)

Poetry (e.g., free verse, narrative, lyric)

Persuasive letter/essay

Persuasive letter/essay
Other writing possibilities, not grade specific






Autobiography
Biography
Memoir
Friendly and persuasive letter
Invitation/thank you note
Learning log

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
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Response log
Book/movie review
Myth/legend/folk tale
Magazine article
Editorial
Script

Visual media text
o Advertisement
o Comic strip
o Story board
o PowerPoint
o Poster
Increase sustained writing time as developmentally appropriate for each student.