5th Grade Writing Guide
Quarter 1:
Concept 1
Getting to
know our
students
as writers:
Complete
Sentences
All sentences
have capital
letters &
punctuation
Quarter 2
Christmas
around the
World
Quarter 3
Theme:
Teacher’s
Choice
Concept 2
Concept 3
Concept 4
Concept
5
Writing
Narratives
--personal & fictional
narratives, short stories,
biographies, weekend
prompts
Expository-Informational
writing
Concept 1
Organization
Concept 2
Concept 3
Beginning,
middle, and
ending.
Does it make
sense?
Good details?
Does it
“sparkle?”
Organization
(using
outlines, etc)
Narratives
—writing
prompts
Expository—
Christmas
around the
World research
projects
Persuasive--- Essays--
Concept 4
Writing
Persuasive
—writing
prompts
Concept 6
Concept 7
Concept 8
Using
reference
materials
Word choice
Assessments!!!
Dictionary,
thesaurus,
Write Source,
Word choice,
vocabulary,
descriptive language,
and adding details
Rubric
Concept 5
Concept 6
Using reference materials
Concept 7
Paragraphs
Concept 8
Assessments!!!
Essays—
Connecting
reading to our
personal beliefs
or opinions in
written form
Using nonfiction features
and resources
(dictionary, write to
learn, reader’s handbook,
using appropriate
internet resources), citing
texts, using proper
resources, etc
Topic
sentences with
details, and
using complete
sentences
Rubric
Concept 1
Conventions
Concept 2
Concept 3
Concept 4
Writing
Concept 5
Concept 6
Using reference
materials
Concept 7
Organization
Concept 8
Assessments
Attention to details—
punctuation, quotation
marks, dialogue,
Narratives—
writing
prompts
Expository—
writing
prompts
Essays—
writing
prompts
Using multiple
sources to
research a topic,
Transitions between
paragraphs,
combining ideas,
rubric
Persuasive—
writing
prompts
character traits,
paragraphs, adding
higher-level vocabulary
Quarter 4
Theme:
Teacher’s
Choice
citing multiple
sources, citing
images
Concept 1
Paragraphs
Concept 2
Concept 3
Concept 4
Writing
Developing good
paragraphs that fit
smoothly into a
larger piece of
writing
Narratives — Expository—
writing
Research
prompts
projects!
Book reports &
reviews.
Concept 5
Persuasive — Essays-—
writing
writing
prompts
prompts
synthesizing
information, good
leads and conclusions
Concept 6
Using reference
materials
Concept 7
Finding meaning in
language
Concept 8
Assessments
Using images to add to
the text (details, further
understanding, interest,
etc)
Citing references and
using research pages
Using figurative
language and
higher level
vocabulary in our
writing
Rubric