Grade Level: 4
Week of October 7,2013
Unit 2: Realistic Fiction
Essential
Questions/standards
W.4.3, W.4.4, W.4.5,
W.4.6, W.4.9,W.4.10,
L.4.2, L.4.3,L.4.5
Writers Workshop
Mini Lesson
Monday
*Begin this unit
with an on-demand
writing that allows
you to assess what
they can do
already.
Tuesday
Pg. 2 in Writing
Fiction: Big
Dreams, Tall
Ambitions
TW begin by
telling students
that today we
will begin
collecting ideas
for fictional
stories in our
Writer’s
Notebooks.
Where do we get
these ideas for
fiction stories?
Session I
Wednesday
Pg. 16 in Writing
Fiction: Big
Dreams, Tall
Ambitions
Session II
Teaching point:
Teach children
that writers also
get ideas for
fiction by thinking
of books we wish
existed in the
world. Point out
that we each hope
to find ourselves
in the pages of
books.
Thursday
Pg. 2 in Writing
Fiction: Big
Dreams, Tall
Ambitions
Session III
Celebrate that we
have learned the
ingredients of a
good story. Tell
writers that
today they are
selecting a story
idea. You will
teach students
that after fiction
writers have
chosen a story
idea, they
rehearse by
writing- by
thinking on the
page- about their
character.
Summarize your
process of
selecting a story
idea.
Demonstrate that
you develop your
Friday
Pg. 2 in Writing
Fiction: Big
Dreams, Tall
Ambitions
Session IV
Celebrate the
character
development
work children
have already
done in a way
that honors it.
See chart on
page 44. Tell
children that
fiction writers
must think about
their characters’
desires and their
struggles to
fulfill those
desires. Show
students a
published text in
which the
character wants
something and
encounters
difficulties.
Materials Needed
Writers
Notebooks, Lucy
Calkins Writing
Workshop book,
chart paper,
Writers
Notebooks,
Developing My
Character TChart
Grade Level: 4
Week of October 7,2013
Unit 2: Realistic Fiction
Active Engagement
Students write
small moment,
part of a story
within the writing
time, as one scene
of vignette, as an
on-demand
assessment . Do
not remind
students of all you
hope they
remember about
fictional writing.
Your goal is to see
what they know on
their own. Use
the writing
continuum to
assess student’s
work:
www.readingand
writingproject.com
TW share a few
personal
accounts of own
life that could
result in a
fiction story.
We stress that
fiction writers
find story ideas
in the moments
and issues of
their lives.
Students will
now create a list
of real life
events that they
could turn into a
fiction story.
Set children up to
try turning a wish
for a certain kind
of book into a
story idea. Ask
children to turn
and talk about the
character traits
and the struggles
the character in
the exemplar
story might
encounter. Begin
creating list
similar to the one
on page 21 in book.
story idea by
listing external
and internal
features of your
main character.
See chart on page
30.
Students will
choose their
story ideas and
begin charting
external and
internal
characteristics of
a character.
Remind students
that fiction
writers always do
this.
Show that the
author conveys
this through a
dramatic sense.
Students will
name the
difficulties and
longings
experienced by
the character in
the story.
Restate that
writers put their
characters into
situations- small
scenes- that
reveal their
desires and their
struggles.
Grade Level: 4
Week of October 7,2013
Unit 2: Realistic Fiction
Share
NA
TW will offer
some examples
of the kinds of
story ideas
children are
writing in their
notebook
entries. Read a
story ideas of
two of your own.
Demonstrate
storytelling by
retelling a familiar
tale. Pg. 22 has
The Three Billy
Goats Gruff.
Set children up to
retell with a
partner the story
you’ve just
modeled, and then
to storytell one of
their own ideas.
They can change
it as they go, but
stress telling it
like a professional
story teller.
Remind them that
tomorrow they
will be choosing
story idea.
Spotlight a
student who have
decided his
character was
one- sided and ask
“What’s the flip
side of this
trait?”
Gather writers
and share the
work of one
writer who
remembered
what he knew
about writing
about small
moment stories
or how he
developed the
character.