Writing– Grade 4
Unit of Study: Writing
a Memoir
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
First Grading Period – Week 1- 5
Enduring Understandings (Big Ideas)
A memoir is writing about your past and your present, your thoughts and your
emotions. It is a memory of an isolated event that is important to you in
some way.
Unit Rationale
You will produce better writing with more enjoyment if you write about something that is important to
you in your life. It is a genre that helps you understand yourself and others more deeply.
Essential Questions

How can I share my personal experiences in writing?
Guiding Questions









How can I generate a list of topics I can write about?
How do I organize my ideas into a draft?
How do I write a personal narrative?
What do I do to revise my draft?
What kind of things can I do to edit my draft?
What are some ways to publish my writing?
How does writing legibly in cursive help me better communicate my ideas?
How does correct capitalization and punctuation help me write a better piece?
What do I need to do to write a complete sentence?
TEKS (Standards)
TEKS Specificity - Intended Outcome
(15) Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting,
revising, editing, and publishing) to compose text. Students are expected to:
(A) plan a first draft by selecting a genre appropriate for conveying the intended meaning to an
audience and generating ideas through a range of strategies (e.g., brainstorming, graphic organizers,
logs, journals);
(B) develop drafts by categorizing ideas and organizing them into paragraphs;
(C) revise drafts for coherence, organization, use of simple and compound sentences, and audience;
(D) edit drafts for grammar, mechanics, and spelling using a teacher-developed rubric; and
(E) revise final draft in response to feedback from peers and teacher and publish written work for a
specific audience.
(17) Writing. Students write about their own experiences. Students are expected to write about
important personal experiences.
(20) Oral and Written Conventions/Conventions. Students understand the function of and use
the conventions of academic language when speaking and writing. Students continue to apply earlier
standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to:
(A) use and understand the function of the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing,
and speaking:
(ii) nouns (singular/plural, common/proper);
(B) use the complete subject and the complete predicate in a sentence; and
(C) use complete simple and compound sentences with correct subject-verb agreement.
(21) Oral and Written Conventions/Handwriting, Capitalization, and Punctuation. Students
write legibly and use appropriate capitalization and punctuation conventions in their compositions.
Students are expected to:
(A) write legibly by selecting cursive script or manuscript printing as appropriate;
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
I can:
 generate a list of topics I can write about (15A)
 organize my ideas into a draft (15B)
 write a personal narrative (15A-E)
 revise my draft (15C)
 edit my draft for grammar, mechanics, and spelling (15D)
 publish my writing (15E)
 write legibly in cursive (21A)
 use correct capitalization for proper nouns and beginnings of
sentences (20Aii, reinforcement of prerequisite TEK )
 write complete sentences with complete subjects and complete
predicates (20B, ELPS 5A,B,C,D)
Yo puedo:
 generar una lista de temas para la escritura (15A)
 escribir en una narrativa personal (17)
 organizar mi ideas en un borrador (15B)
 revisar mi borrador (15C)
 editar mi borrador por la gramática, convenciones, y la ortografía
(15D)
 publicar mi escritura (15E)
 escribir en mejor letra en letra pegada (21A)
 usar mayúsculas para nombres propios y la primera palabra de
una oración (20Aii,reinforcement of prerequisite TEK )
 escribir oraciones completas (20B)
Page 1 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)
(5) Cross-curricular second language acquisition/writing. The ELL writes in a variety of forms with
increasing accuracy to effectively address a specific purpose and audience in all content areas. ELLs
may be at the beginning, intermediate, advanced, or advanced high stage of English language
acquisition in writing. In order for the ELL to meet grade-level learning expectations across foundation
and enrichment curriculum, all instruction delivered in English must be linguistically accommodated
(communicated, sequenced, and scaffolded) commensurate with the student's level of English
language proficiency. For Kindergarten and Grade 1, certain of these student expectations do not
apply until the student has reached the stage of generating original written text using a standard writing
system. The student is expected to:
(A) learn relationships between sounds and letters of the English language to represent sounds when
writing in English;
(B) write using newly acquired basic vocabulary and content-based grade-level vocabulary;
(C) spell familiar English words with increasing accuracy, and employ English spelling patterns and
rules with increasing accuracy as more English is acquired;
(D) edit writing for standard grammar and usage, including subject-verb agreement, pronoun
agreement, and appropriate verb tenses commensurate with grade-level expectations as more English
is acquired;
Evidence of Learning (Summative Assessment)
 Given a choice of topics, students will write memoirs that achieve a score of 3 or 4 on the Student-Friendly Rubric.
 Students will capitalize proper nouns and use ending punctuation with 95% accuracy in their compositions.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Page 2 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Writing– Grade 4
CURRICULUM GUIDE
First Grading Period
Guiding Questions
Essential Pre-requisite Skills
 How can I generate a list of topics I can write about?
 How do I organize my ideas into a draft?
 How does writing legibly in cursive help me better communicate my ideas?
First Grade
21(B) recognize and use basic capitalization for:
(i)
the beginning of sentences
(ii)
the pronoun “I”
(iii)
names of people
The Teaching and Learning Plan
Instructional Model & Teacher Directions
Week 1
The teacher will…
Follow this weekly plan. You will need to access the Teacher Toolkit and the Mentor
Texts to conduct the lessons.
TAKE FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY TO PRACTICE CURSIVE WRITING
So students can….
Where Do I Begin? (15A, B, D, 20Aii, 21A)
Day 1
 For the first day, read aloud a mentor text that will inspire their writing (see
Mentor Text at the end of this unit).
 Administer a pre-assessment prompt. The prompt is “Write a composition about
something you did or something that happened to you this past summer.”
 Assess the students’ writing with the Informal Assessment of Composition
(Teacher Toolkit: Informal Assessment of Composition)
 The way to use this tool is to look at each student’s composition and if one of
those needs appears, write the student’s name in that cell of the grid.

In this way, you can customize certain lessons to your class, beginning with
one of the items that has the most students’ names.
Day 2
 The next day, introduce the Writer’s Notebook in a mini lesson. (Teacher
Toolkit: Writer’s Notebook, Writer’s Toolkit)
 Talk about where writers find topics.
 Tell students that when they begin to see themselves as writers, they will begin
to see topics in the smallest things that they think about or that happen to them.
 You might want to bring in a column from the Express News by Michael
O’Rourke (you can also google him)
 Have the students read it individually and talk about the ordinariness of the topic.
 Conduct a mini lesson to demonstrate brainstorming of topics and have students
begin to develop their topic banks. (Teacher Toolkit: Writing Ideas Bingo, Small
Moments or Tiny Topics, My Bank of Possible Topics from the Writer’s Toolkit)
 Have students call out topics to you and then they copy topics that interest them
into their topic banks.
 Demonstrate how you choose a topic from your list. Talk about PASSION and
what it means and how writers have to have a passion for what they write about.
You may want to give an artifact of something with a heart to glue into their
notebooks to remind them that a writer with no passion produces a boring writing
piece.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Where Do I Begin?
Writing Grade 4
 use the ideas and vocabulary of mentor text to influence their own writing
 write in response to the pre-assessment prompt
 organize the Writer’s Notebook
 read an example of a writer who writes about everyday topics
 discuss how the topic was ordinary, but the writing made it interesting

k
 assist in brainstorming topics with the teacher
Page 3 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
 Show students a 4 paper that demonstrates passion for a topic. Discuss how
they can tell the writer has passion for the topic.
 Have students choose a topic from their topic bank that they are passionate
about.
Day 3
 At the beginning of the next day’s class, demonstrate writing in front of students
about your own personal experience (chosen yesterday) in front of the class
 Be sure to mention beginning, middle, and end organizational structure.
 Talk about your thinking as you write in front of students.
 Emphasize leaving a space between lines (for revision later), writing on one side
of the paper, focusing on getting ideas down on paper, and doing the best
spelling they can by listening to the sounds. They can fix spelling, capitalization,
and punctuation later.
 Tell students that their ideas are the most important thing!
 Explain that this part of the process is called DRAFTING (Teacher Toolkit:
Teachers as Writers) and that this is the first draft.
 Now have the students begin their first drafts on their chosen topics.
 Time them for five minutes and have them count how many words they were able
to write. Have them write the number on their paper.
 Model legible writing with correct letter formation, spacing between words, pencil
grip, posture
Day 4
 On the next day, conduct a mini lesson to introduce the Editing Checklist
(Teacher Toolkit: The Editing Checklist).
 Remind students that they need to have a capital letter at the beginning of each
sentence. They should edit for this right now.
 read an example of a 4 and tell what gives the paper passion
 Have them reread their writing and make any corrections they think they need.
Then they should write for seven more minutes and write the number of words.
Praise them on the increase of quantity in their writing (Teacher Toolkit:
Writing Fluency)
 Have students share their writing with a peer. They have to reply with a
summary of what they heard.
Day 5
 On Friday, students should write for ten minutes and make a final count of all
their writing. Then they need to refer to the item on the Editing Checklist. Then t
 They should share with a peer again
 make corrections to their papers
 share with a peer
 summarize the peer’s main ideas
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
 observe the teacher’s example
 do a five-minute quick write
 count the number of words
 practice legible writing with correct letter formation, spacing between words, pencil
grip, posture
 begin their editing checklists
 do a seven-minute quick write
 refer to the editing checklist
 do a ten-minute quick write
 share with a peer
Page 4 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
CURRICULUM GUIDE
First Grading Period
Guiding Questions







Essential Pre-requisite Skills
How can I generate a list of topics I can write about?
How do I organize my ideas into a draft?
How do I write a personal narrative?
What do I do to revise my draft?
What kind of things can I do to edit my draft?
How does writing legibly in cursive help me better communicate my ideas?
How does correct capitalization and punctuation help me write a better
piece?
First Grade
21(B) recognize and use basic capitalization for:
(iv)
the beginning of sentences
(v)
the pronoun “I”
(vi)
names of people
The Teaching and Learning Plan
Instructional Model & Teacher Directions
Week 2
The teacher will…
Follow this weekly plan. You will need to access the Teacher Toolkit and the
Mentor Texts to conduct the lessons.
This week students will go through all stages of the writing process:
 Prewriting
 Drafting
 Revising
 Editing
 Publishing
Remember that writing is not a linear process. This means that writers may
revise and edit in all other stages, or return to prewriting, or write a new first
draft, etc. And, stages do not necessarily fall neatly into days of the week.
TAKE FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY TO PRACTICE CURSIVE WRITING
Launching the Writing Workshop (15A, B, C, D, E, 21A)
Day 1
 Read aloud a mentor text that will inspire their writing (see Mentor Text at
the end of this unit).
 Introduce the WWW (Teacher Toolkit: Writing Word Wall) and begin to
collect interesting words and phrases from the mentor text and independent
reading. Encourage students to use these words in their writing.
 Have students refer to their topic banks to choose another topic. If
necessary, brainstorm additional ideas based on the mentor text.
 introduce the stages of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising,
editing, publishing)
 Begin to brainstorm a list of ideas to write about the topic. Model this.
Day 2
 Continue brainstorming on the topic. Ask students to preplan some WWW
words to include. Model this.
 Demonstrate how to narrow a topic when there are too many ideas to
develop (Teacher Toolkit: Narrowing the Topic).
 Have students do a quick write that is timed, referring to their plan.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
So students can….
Launching the Writing Workshop
 collect ideas and vocabulary from hearing the Mentor Text read aloud
 enter new words from the WWW on their word bank
 refer to topic banks for a new topic for a personal narrative
 understand the stages of the writing process
 brainstorm a list of ideas for prewriting

k
 continue prewriting with words from the WWW.
Writing Grade 4
Page 5 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
 Demonstrate how to do a “whisper read” in order to edit and revise a paper.
 Ask students to share what they have fixed in their writing after their
“whisper read” and categorize it into revising or editing on a chart.
Day 3
 Do another quick write with the same topic.
 Have students whisper read.
 Refer to the editing checklist to make changes.
 Ask that students share with their partners
 Do a mini lesson on the three kinds of ending punctuation (Harcourt
Language). Add to the Editing Checklist.
Day 4
 Practice the three kinds of ending punctuation by writing an interview.
(Harcourt Language, Teacher Toolkit: Writing an Interview)
 Have students work in pairs to write their interview.
 narrow their topic
Day 5
 Have students share their writing with a peer. They have to reply with a
summary of what they heard.
 practice ending punctuation by writing an interview with a partner
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
 write a quick write, referring to their plan
 whisper read
 help teacher categorize “fix-ups” into revising or editing
 continue their quick writes
 whisper read to revise and edit
 review the three kinds of ending punctuation
 revise and edit the interview
Writing Grade 4
Page 6 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
CURRICULUM GUIDE
First Grading Period
Guiding Questions





Essential Pre-requisite Skills
First Grade
How do I write a personal narrative?
What do I do to revise my draft?
What kind of things can I do to edit my draft?
What are some ways to publish my writing?
How does correct capitalization and punctuation help me write a better
piece?
21(B) recognize and use basic capitalization for:
(vii)
the beginning of sentences
(viii)
the pronoun “I”
(ix)
names of people
The Teaching and Learning Plan
Instructional Model & Teacher Directions
Week 3
The teacher will…
Follow this weekly plan. You will need to access the Teacher Toolkit and the
Mentor Texts to conduct the lessons.
This week students will go through all stages of the writing process:
 Prewriting
 Drafting
 Revising
 Editing
 Publishing
Remember that writing is not a linear process. This means that writers may
revise and edit in all other stages, or return to prewriting, or write a new first
draft, etc. And, stages do not necessarily fall neatly into days of the week.
So students can….
TAKE FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY TO PRACTICE CURSIVE WRITING
Emphasis on BME and Publishing
Emphasis on BME and Publishing (15A, B, C, D, E, 20Aii)
Day 1
 Read aloud a mentor text that will inspire their writing (see Mentor Text at the
end of this unit).
 Have the students continue with last week’s topic.
 Continue to collect interesting words and phrases from the mentor text and
independent reading. Post these words for student use and categorize the
words and phrases for easy reference (Teacher Toolkit: Student Toolkit:
Word Bank)
 Demonstrate how to use an organizer with beginning, middle, and end
(Teacher Toolkit: Memoir Graphic)
 Remind students to do a “whisper read” in order to edit and revise a paper
 Ask students to share what they have fixed in their writing after their “whisper
read” and categorize it into revising or editing.
Day 2
 Teach capitalization of proper nouns (Harcourt Language)
 Add capitalization of proper nouns to the editing checklist

k
 collect ideas and vocabulary from hearing the Mentor Text read aloud
 continue with last week’s topic
 observe the use of a Beginning-Middle-End graphic organizer
 whisper read for revising and editing
 categorize corrections as revising or editing
 practice capitalization of proper nouns
 choose a piece to take to publication
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Page 7 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Day 3
 Have students choose one of their pieces (based on the passion they have
for the topic) that they have written in the past three weeks and revise it for
word choice and sequence of topic.
Day 4
 Ask that students also add a list of high frequency words and commonly
misspelled words to their toolkit (Teacher Toolkit: High Frequency Words
Spelling Demons).
 Choose a few students to share with the whole group and model comments
that compliment the writer and the writing, being specific to the writer’s craft in
the comments (Teacher Toolkit: Sharing)
Day 5
 publish student work. Some ideas include: posting work in hallway, class
book, an anthology, reading aloud to class, etc. (Teacher Toolkit:
Publishing)
 Introduce the portfolio for writing piece collection. It should have their preassessment as well
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
 refer to toolkit to correct spelling
 share writing with peers
 publish their writing
 add to the writing portfolio
Writing Grade 4
Page 8 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
CURRICULUM GUIDE
First Grading Period
Guiding Questions







Essential Pre-requisite Skills
How can I generate a list of topics I can write about?
How do I organize my ideas into a draft?
How do I write a personal narrative?
What do I do to revise my draft?
What kind of things can I do to edit my draft?
How does writing legibly in cursive help me better communicate my ideas?
What do I need to do to write a complete sentence?
First Grade
21(B) recognize and use basic capitalization for:
(x)
the beginning of sentences
(xi)
the pronoun “I”
(xii)
names of people
The Teaching and Learning Plan
Instructional Model & Teacher Directions
Week 4
The teacher will…
Follow this weekly plan. You will need to access the Teacher Toolkit and the
Mentor Texts to conduct the lessons.
This week students will go through the following stages of the writing process:
 Prewriting
 Drafting
 Revising
 Editing
Remember that writing is not a linear process. This means that writers may
revise and edit in all other stages, or return to prewriting, or write a new first
draft, etc. And, stages do not necessarily fall neatly into days of the week.
So students can….
TAKE FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY TO PRACTICE CURSIVE WRITING
Introducing the Rubric (15A, B, C, D, E, 20B)
Day 1
 Introduce the Student-Friendly Writing Rubric (Teacher Toolkit: Kid-Friendly
Writing Rubric) with a sample of a Score Point 4 TAKS paper
 Have students find examples of items in the rubric.
 Do a jigsaw to learn what the different score points mean.
Day 2
 Show another score point 4 paper and analyze it.
 Use the rubric to score one of their own papers with a partner.
 Use mentor text, if possible provide students with an “artifact” related to the
book to stimulate writing. (Teacher Toolkit: Using Artifacts with Mentor Text)
 Have students refer to their topic banks to choose another topic.
 Continue to collect interesting words and phrases from the mentor text and
independent reading.
 Demonstrate how you refer to the rubric for planning your composition
 Write with students (Teacher Toolkit: Teachers as Writers)
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Introducing the Rubric

k
 understand the rubric
 do a jigsaw to communicate what the different scores mean
 analyze a score point 4 paper.
 analyze their own writing with a rubric in partners
 Choose a new personal narrative topic and use some ideas from the mentor text
Writing Grade 4
Page 9 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Day 3
 Read another mentor text to give students more ideas for their writing.
 Remind students to do a “whisper read” periodically in order to edit and revise
the paper.
 Conduct a mini lesson on how to write complete sentences (Harcourt
Language)
Day 4
 Teach “Sentence Smackdown” (Teacher Toolkit: Sentence Smackdown)
 Continue to practice writing complete sentences.
Day 5
 Have students go through their papers and make a line / after each
complete sentence.
 Then students should check for capitals and ending punctuation and the
completeness of each sentence.
 Have them check to see if they have enough punctuation in their papers, if
not, they may need to break up run-on sentences.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
 use the rubric to plan their composition
 whisper read for revising and editing
 practice writing complete sentences
 practice writing complete sentences with “Sentence Smackdown”
 put lines / after each sentence to check for mechanics and completeness
 share with a partner and have them help them fix up their sentences
Writing Grade 4
Page 10 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
CURRICULUM GUIDE
First Grading Period
Guiding Questions







Essential Pre-requisite Skills
First Grade
How can I generate a list of topics I can write about?
How do I organize my ideas into a draft?
How do I write a personal narrative?
What do I do to revise my draft?
What kind of things can I do to edit my draft?
What are some ways to publish my writing?
What do I need to do to write a complete sentence?
21(B) recognize and use basic capitalization for:
(xiii)
the beginning of sentences
(xiv)
the pronoun “I”
(xv)
names of people
The Teaching and Learning Plan
Instructional Model & Teacher Directions
Week 5
The teacher will…
Follow this weekly plan. You will need to access the Teacher Toolkit and the
Mentor Texts to conduct the lessons.
This week students will go through the following stages of the writing process:
 Prewriting
 Drafting
 Revising
 Editing
Remember that writing is not a linear process. This means that writers may
revise and edit in all other stages, or return to prewriting, or write a new first
draft, etc. And, stages do not necessarily fall neatly into days of the week.
So students can….
TAKE FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY TO PRACTICE CURSIVE WRITING
Involving Others in Revising and Editing
Involving Others in Revising and Editing (15A, B, C, D, E, 20B)
Day 1
 Teach the Sensory Words Foldable with your students (Teacher Toolkit:
Sensory Words Foldable).
 Demonstrate the use of sensory words in your own writing (Teacher Toolkit:
Sensory Words).
Day 2
 Guide students in choosing sensory words to add to their compositions from
last week.
 Have them do the foldable with their own writing Teacher Toolkit: Sensory
Words Foldable).
 Begin to conduct small group (4 students) conferences with students
(Teacher Toolkit: Small Group Conferences)
Day 3
 Have students continue their topics from last week.
 Continue to conduct small group conferences with students.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
 find sensory words using the sensory words foldable
 add sensory words to their own writing
 find sensory words in their writing with the foldable
 confer with teacher in small group
Writing Grade 4
Page 11 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Day 4
 Teach the students how to do sharing groups in order to revise (Teacher
Toolkit: Group Sharing)
 Ask students to make changes according to the advice of the group. Make
sure sensory words are included.
 Have students whisper read and refer to the editing checklist for editing
changes.
Day 5
 Have students publish their writing by sharing in the Author’s Chair (Teacher
Toolkit: Author’s Chair)
 Score the students’ papers.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period

k
 confer with other students in small group
 make necessary revising and editing changes to their writing using the Editing Checklist
 share in the Author’s Chair
Writing Grade 4
Page 12 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
TAKS Vocabulary:
Vocabulary
English
 memoir
 topic
 prewriting
 draft
 editing
 revising
 publishing
 portfolio
 toolkit
Vocabulary
Spanish
 memorias
 tema
 antes de escribir
 borrador
 corregir
 revisar
 publicar
 portafolio
 caja de herramientas
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Suggested Mentor Texts
English
 Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
 “Childtimes” by Eloise Greenfield – Harcourt Language pp,
73-75
 The Name Jar by Yansook Choi
 The Memory String by Eve Bunting
 Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad,
Day by Judith Viorst
 Emma Kate by Patricia Polacco
 Teammates by Peter Golenbock and Paul Bacon
 The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
 Family Pictures by Carmen Lomas Garza
 The Art Lesson by Tomie de Paola
 Lilly’s Big Day by Kevin Henkes
Spanish
 Family, Familia by Diane Gonzales Bertrand
 A Movie in My Pillow/Una película en mi almohada by Jorge
Argueta
 Los Masai y yo por Virginia Kroll
 Los discos de mi abuela por Eric Velasquez
 Arroz con frijoles y unos amables ratones por Pam Muñoz
Ryan
 Béisbol en los barrios por Henry Horenstein
 ¡Qué sorpresa de cumpleaños! por Loretta López
 Gracias a Winn-Dixie por Kate DiCamillo
 Icy Watermelon/Sandía fría por Mary Sue Galindo
 In My Family/En mi familia by Carmen Lomas Garza
 Abuela por Arthur Dorros
 Just Like Home/Como en mi tierra por Elizabeth I. Millar
 La maestra del pántano negro por Mike Thaler
 Cuadros de familia por Carmen Lomas Garza
Writing Grade 4
Textbook:
Harcourt Language
 Declarative and Interrogative
Sentences, pp. 24-25
 Imperative and Exclamatory
Sentences, pp. 26-27
 Punctuating the Four Kinds of
Sentences, p.28-29
 Common and Proper Nouns, pp.
92-93
Harcourt Lenguaje
 Oraciones declarativas e
interrogativas, pp. 24-25
 Oraciones imperativas y
exclamativas, pp. 26-27
 La puntuación en cuatro clases de
oraciones, p.28-29
 Sustantivos comunes y propios,
pp. 92-93
Professional Book for Mini Lessons:
Razzle Dazzle Writing by Melissa
Forney
Page 13 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Evidence of Learning
Formative Mini Assessments
Refer to Margaret Kilgo’s Question Stems in the
Teacher Toolkit.
TAKS
Sample Questions
English: Revising and Editing – 2006
The student must look back on the test to the passage
where the sentence is found. The following is the original
sentence as it appeared in the passage.
College-Readiness i.e.,
Anticipated Skills for SAT/ACT/College Board/Career/Life
SAT: Improving Paragraphs
The student must look back on the test to the paragraph
where the sentence is found. The following is the original
sentence as it appeared in the paragraph.
1.
(21) Can you guess what the new robots will be
called.
Here is the question about that sentence:
20. What change, if any, should be made to sentence 21?
F Change guess to geuss
G Change will be to being
H Change the period to a question mark
J Make no change
Written Composition 2004
Write a composition about an adventure you have had.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
In context, which of the following is the best
version of sentence 10 (represented below)?
There are portraits and there are landscapes.
(A) (As it is now)
(B) You can see both portraits and landscapes.
(C) Therefore, both portraits and landscapes are
among her works.
(D) Johnson painted both portraits and landscapes.
(E) Among them Johnson has portraits and
landscapes.
Spanish: Revisión y corrección - 2005
The student must look back on the test to the passage
where the sentence is found. The following is the original
sentence as it appeared in the passage.
SAT: Writing Prompt
(3) Yo ya había aprendido en clase de estudios
sociales que en esta ciudad es dónde vive el
presidente de los estados unidos.
Here is the question about that sentence:
17. ¿ Qué cambio se debe hacer en la oración 3?
A Cambiar había aprendido por habré aprendido
B Cambiar es por fue
C Cambiar estados unidos por Estados Unidos
D No se necesita ningún cambio
Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of
success and achievement, they must forget the past,
repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the
opposite view. They see old memories to reckon with the
past and integrate past and present. – adapted from Sara
Lawrence – Lightfoot, I I’ve Known Rivers: Lives of Loss
and Liberation.
Writing Grade 4
Think carefully in the following excerpt and the
assignment below.
Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their
effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present?
Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point
of view on this issue. Support your position with
reasoning and examples taken from your reading,
studies, experiences, or observations.
Page 14 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Writing– Grade 4
Unit of Study: Writing
in Response to Literature
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
First Grading Period – Week 6 - 7
Enduring Understandings (Big Ideas)
Responding to text helps students reflect on their understanding in a way
that’s both personal and critical. Writing about text increases understanding.
Unit Rationale
Writing is a way to help students think about literature.“
in middle school, high school and in college students will be required to reflect critically on a literary
text using text evidence.
Essential Questions
 How can writing help me to better understand what I have read?
Guiding Questions





How can I write about literature so that I better understand it?
How can I support my understanding with text evidence?
How do I understand and react to the main message of the text?
How can I identify and use complete simple, complex, and compound sentences?
What is the best way to edit spelling by using my knowledge of the correct spelling of
commonly misspelled words?
 How does writing legibly in cursive help me better communicate my message?
 What do I need to do to write more complete sentences?
TEKS (Standards)
TEKS Specificity - Intended Outcome
(6) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw
conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their
understanding.
(16) Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about real or
imagined people, events, and ideas. Students are expected to:
(20) Oral and Written Conventions/Conventions. Students understand the function of and use the
conventions of academic language when speaking and writing. Students continue to apply earlier standards with
greater complexity. Students are expected to:
(B) use the complete subject and the complete predicate in a sentence; and
(C) use complete simple and compound sentences with correct subject-verb agreement.
(21) Oral and Written Conventions/Handwriting, Capitalization, and Punctuation. Students write legibly
and use appropriate capitalization and punctuation conventions in their compositions. Students are expected to:
(A) write legibly by selecting cursive script or manuscript printing as appropriate;
Fourth Grade Figure 19 TAC Chapter110
(D) make inferences about text and use textual evidence to support understanding
(22) English Oral and Written Conventions/Spelling. Students spell correctly. Students are expected to:
(A) spell words with more advanced orthographic patterns and rules:
(i) plural rules (e.g., words ending in f as in leaf, leaves; adding -es);
(ii) irregular plurals (e.g., man/men, foot/feet, child/children);
(iii) double consonants in middle of words;
(iv) other ways to spell sh (e.g., -sion, -tion, -cian); and
(v) silent letters (e.g., knee, wring);
(B) spell base words and roots with affixes (e.g., -ion, -ment, -ly, dis-, pre-);
(C) spell commonly used homophones (e.g., there, they're, their; two, too, to); and
(D) use spelling patterns and rules and print and electronic resources to determine and check correct
spellings.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
I can:
 write about literature (6, 16)
 provide evidence from the text to demonstrate my
understanding (6. Figure 19 D)
 understand and react to the main message of the text (6)
 identify and use complete simple , complex, and
compound sentences (20C)
 edit spelling by using my knowledge of the correct
spelling of commonly misspelled words (22 A-D, ELPS
5C,D)
 write legibly in cursive (21A)
 write complete sentences with complete subjects and
complete predicates (20B)
Yo puedo:
 escribir sobre la literatura (6, 16)
 dar apoyo textual para dmonstrar mi comprensión (6.
Figure 19 D)
 entender y reaccionar al mensaje central del texto (6)
 identificar y usar las oraciones simples, compuestos, y
complejos (20C)
 editar la ortografía usando mi conocimiento de las reglas
de la ortografía (22 A-F)
 escribir en letra pegada (21A)
 escribir oraciones completas con sujetos y predicados
completos (20B)
Page 15 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
(22) Spanish Oral and Written Conventions/Spelling. Students spell correctly. Students are expected to:
(A) write with increasing accuracy using accent marks including:
(i) words that have a prosodic or orthographic accent on the last syllable (palabras agudas) (e.g., feliz,
canción);
(ii) words that have a prosodic or orthographic accent on the second-to-last syllable (palabras graves)
(e.g., casa, árbol); and
(iii) words that have an orthographic accent on the third-to-last syllable (palabras esdrújulas) (e.g.,
último, cómico, mecánico);
(B) spell words with hiatus and diphthongs (e.g., le-er, rí-o, quie-ro, vio);
(C) spell base words and roots with affixes (e.g., ex-, pre-, post-, -able);
(D) spell words with:
(i) Greek roots (e.g., tele-, foto-, grafo-, metro-);
(ii) Latin roots (e.g., spec, scrib, rupt, port, dict);
(iii) Greek suffixes (e.g., -ología, -fobia, -ismo, -ista); and
(iv) Latin derived suffixes (e.g., -able, -ible, -ancia);
(E) differentiate the meaning or function of a word based on the diacritical accent (e.g., dé, de; tú, tu);
(F) mark accents appropriately when conjugating verbs in simple and imperfect past, perfect,
conditional, and future tenses (e.g., corrió, jugó, tenía, gustaría, vendrá);
English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)
(5) Cross-curricular second language acquisition/writing. The ELL writes in a variety of forms with
increasing accuracy to effectively address a specific purpose and audience in all content areas. ELLs may be at
the beginning, intermediate, advanced, or advanced high stage of English language acquisition in writing. In
order for the ELL to meet grade-level learning expectations across foundation and enrichment curriculum, all
instruction delivered in English must be linguistically accommodated (communicated, sequenced, and
scaffolded) commensurate with the student's level of English language proficiency. For Kindergarten and Grade
1, certain of these student expectations do not apply until the student has reached the stage of generating
original written text using a standard writing system. The student is expected to:
(C) spell familiar English words with increasing accuracy, and employ English spelling patterns and rules with
increasing accuracy as more English is acquired;
(D) edit writing for standard grammar and usage, including subject-verb agreement, pronoun agreement, and
appropriate verb tenses commensurate with grade-level expectations as more English is acquired;
Evidence of Learning (Summative Assessment)
 Given a choice of independent reading, students will earn a score of 2 or 3 (out of 3) on the Response to Literary/Expository Texts Rubric.
 90% of students will incorporate at least two compound or complex sentences in their writing.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Page 16 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
CURRICULUM GUIDE
First Grading Period
Guiding Questions
Essential Pre-requisite Skills





How can I write about literature so that I better understand it?
How can I support my understanding with text evidence?
How do I understand and react to the main message of the text?
How can I identify and use complete simple, complex, and compound sentences?
What is the best way to edit spelling by using my knowledge of the correct spelling of
commonly misspelled words?
 How does writing legibly in cursive help me better communicate my message?
 What do I need to do to write more complete sentences?
First Grade
21(B) recognize and use basic capitalization for:
(xvi)
the beginning of sentences
(xvii)
the pronoun “I”
(xviii)
names of people
The Teaching and Learning Plan
Instructional Model & Teacher Directions
Week 6
The teacher will…
Follow this weekly plan. You will need to access the Teacher Toolkit and the Mentor Texts to
conduct the lessons.
This week students will go through the following stages of the writing process:
 Prewriting
 Drafting
 Revising
 Editing
Remember that writing is not a linear process. This means that writers may revise and edit
in all other stages, or return to prewriting, or write a new first draft, etc. And, stages do not
necessarily fall neatly into days of the week.
TAKE FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY TO PRACTICE CURSIVE WRITING
Writing the Literary Essay (6, 16, Figure 19D, 20B, C, 21A, 22A-D)
Day 1
 Read aloud or refer to a text read aloud or read by all students (such as Old Henry by Joan
Blos).
 Tell students that you will be teaching them how to write a response to literature (Teacher
Toolkit: Letter-Essay)
 Define what it means to respond to text and how it will help them better understand and enjoy
what they read.
 Demonstrate how you skim the text to select a part that you felt was significant and make
some notes about what you will write and what part you will cite. Have students help.
 Have students search through what they have read in the last five weeks that they would like
to write about in their essay.
Day 2
 Refer to the lesson in the toolkit about the literary essay (Teacher Toolkit: Letter-Essay)
Day 3
 Review complete sentences and subjects and predicates (Harcourt Language).
 Brainstorm ideas for the literary essay.
Day 4
 Have students write more of the essay.
 Ask that students edit for spelling
 Conduct group conferences.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
So students can….
Writing the Literary Essay
 use the ideas and vocabulary of mentor text to influence their own writing
 observe the teacher as she/he models how to prepare for the essay.
Assist her in skimming the text.
 choose a selection to write about
 understand the parts of the literary essay
 review complete sentences and subjects and predicates
 brainstorm ideas for the literary essay
 write the essay
 edit for spelling
 participate in group conferences
 publish the essay
Page 17 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Day 5
 Have students whisper read to revise and edit.
 Conduct group conferences.
 Score with Literary Essay Rubric (Teacher Toolkit: Literary Essay Rubric)
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Page 18 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
CURRICULUM GUIDE
First Grading Period
Guiding Questions
Essential Pre-requisite Skills




How can I write about literature so that I better understand it?
How can I support my understanding with text evidence?
How do I understand and react to the main message of the text?
How can I identify and use complete simple, complex, and compound
sentences?
 What is the best way to edit spelling by using my knowledge of the correct
spelling of commonly misspelled words?
 How does writing legibly in cursive help me better communicate my
message?
 What do I need to do to write more complete sentences?
First Grade
21(B) recognize and use basic capitalization for:
(xix)
the beginning of sentences
(xx)
the pronoun “I”
(xxi)
names of people
The Teaching and Learning Plan
Instructional Model & Teacher Directions
Week 7
The teacher will…
Follow this weekly plan. You will need to access the Teacher Toolkit and the
Mentor Texts to conduct the lessons.
This week students will go through the following stages of the writing process:
 Prewriting
 Drafting
 Revising
 Editing
Remember that writing is not a linear process. This means that writers may
revise and edit in all other stages, or return to prewriting, or write a new first
draft, etc. And, stages do not necessarily fall neatly into days of the week.
TAKE FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY TO PRACTICE CURSIVE WRITING
Writing the Literary Essay (6, 16, Figure 19D, 20B, C, 21A, 22A-D)
Day 1
 Choose a new selection to write about
 Have students search through what they have read in the last five weeks that
they would like to write about in their essay.
Day 2
 Refer to the lesson in the toolkit about the literary essay (Teacher Toolkit:
Letter-Essay)
Day 3
 Review complete sentences and subjects and predicates (Harcourt
Language).
 Brainstorm ideas for the literary essay.
Day 4
 Have students write more of the essay.
 Ask that students edit for spelling
 Conduct group conferences.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
So students can….
Writing the Literary Essay
 use the ideas and vocabulary of mentor text to influence their own writing
 observe the teacher as she/he models how to prepare for the essay. Assist her in
skimming the text.
 choose a selection to write about
 understand the parts of the literary essay
 review complete sentences and subjects and predicates
 brainstorm ideas for the literary essay
 write the essay
 edit for spelling
Writing Grade 4
Page 19 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Day 5
 participate in group conferences
 Have students whisper read to revise and edit.
 publish the essay
 Conduct group conferences.
 Score with Literary Essay Rubric (Teacher Toolkit: Literary Essay Rubric)
TAKS Vocabulary:
Suggested Mentor Texts
Vocabulary
English
English
 Old Henry by Joan W. Blos and Stephen Gammell
 response
 Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
 literary essay
 “Childtimes” by Eloise Greenfield – Harcourt Language pp,
 compound sentence
73-75
 combining sentences
 The Name Jar by Yansook Choi
 conjunctions
 The Memory String by Eve Bunting
 subject
 Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
 predicate
 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad,
 prewriting
Day by Judith Viorst
 draft
 Emma Kate by Patricia Polacco
 editing
 Teammates by Peter Golenbock and Paul Bacon
 revising
 The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
 publishing
 Family Pictures by Carmen Lomas Garza
Vocabulary
 The Art Lesson by Tomie de Paola
Spanish
 Lilly’s Big Day by Kevin Henkes
 responder
Spanish
 ensayo literario
 Family, Familia by Diane Gonzales Bertrand
 oración compuesta
 A Movie in My Pillow/Una película en mi almohada by Jorge
 combinar oraciones
Argueta
 conjunción
 Los Masai y yo por Virginia Kroll
 sujeto
 Los discos de mi abuela por Eric Velasquez
 predicados
 Arroz con frijoles y unos amables ratones por Pam Muñoz
 antes de escribir
Ryan
 borrador
 Béisbol en los barrios por Henry Horenstein
 corregir
 ¡Qué sorpresa de cumpleaños! por Loretta López
 revisar
 Gracias a Winn-Dixie por Kate DiCamillo
 publicar
 Icy Watermelon/Sandía fría por Mary Sue Galindo
 portafolio
 In My Family/En mi familia by Carmen Lomas Garza
 Abuela por Arthur Dorros
 Just Like Home/Como en mi tierra por Elizabeth I. Millar
 La maestra del pántano negro por Mike Thaler
 Cuadros de familia por Carmen Lomas Garza
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Textbook:
Harcourt Language
 Complete and Simple Subjects, pp.
34-35
 Complete and Simple Predicates,
pp. 52-53
 Sentences, pp. 62-63
 Simple and Compound Sentences,
pp. 64-65
 Combining Sentences, pp. 66-67
 Conjunctions, pp. 104-105
Harcourt Lenguaje
 Sujetos completes y simples, pp.
34-35
 Predicados simples y compuestos,
pp. 52-53
 Oraciones, pp. 62-63
 Oraciones simples y compuestas
pp.64-65
 Combinar oraciones, pp. 66-67
 Definición de la conjunción, pp.
104-105
Page 20 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Evidence of Learning
Formative Mini Assessments
Refer to Margaret Kilgo’s Question Stems in the
Teacher Toolkit.
TAKS
Sample Questions
English: Reading – 2006
20. Which sentence from the selection shows that Kathy
is a patient person?
F Luke almost always keeps his brown eyes on his
owner Kathy.
G Training a deaf dog can take more time than
teaching a hearing dog.
H An owner must use signs to communicate
commands.
J If Luke is sleeping while people visit, Kathy asks
them not to wake him.
English: Revising and Editing – 2006
The student must look back on the test to the passage
where the sentences are found. The following are the
original sentences as they appeared in the passage.
(13) Because the snow was so wet.
(14) We were able to make huge snowballs
Here is the question about those sentences:
20. What revision, if any, is needed in sentences 13 and
14?
A Because the snow was so wet, we were able. To
make huge snowballs.
B Because the snow was so wet, we were able to
make huge snowballs.
C Because the snow was so wet and we were able to
make huge snowballs.
D No revision is needed.
College-Readiness i.e.,
Anticipated Skills for SAT/ACT/College Board/Career/Life
College Essay Prompt from University of Chicago
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.
—"Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes
Perhaps you recognize this poem. If you do, then your
mind has probably moved on to the question the next line
poses: "I wonder if it's that simple?" Saying who we are is
never simple (read the entire poem if you need evidence
of that). Write a truthful page about yourself for us, an
audience you do not know—a very tall order. Hughes
begins: "I am twenty-two, colored, born in WinstonSalem./I went to school there, then Durham, then here/to
this college on the hill above Harlem./I am the only
colored student in my class." That is, each of us is of a
certain age and of a particular family background. We
have lived somewhere and been schooled. We are each
what we feel and see and hear. Begin there and see what
happens.
Spanish: Lectura – 2006
20. ¿Qué oraciones de esta historia muestran que es
muy probable que Lupe participe en el concurso?
F Sin embargo, para cuando llegó a su casa, ya no
se sentía igual.
G Después de lavar los trastes, Lupe fue a su cuarto
y sacó una bola que estaba debajo de su cama.
H Se sentó y pensó por un largo rato.
J Mientras sostenía su historia favorita, pensó: “Sólo
hay una manera de saberlo.”
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Page 21 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Spanish: Revisión y corrección - 2006
The student must look back on the test to the passage
where the sentences are found. The following are the
original sentences as they appeared in the passage.
(5) Mi hermana y yo nos volteamos a ver.
(6) Nos vimos con cara de aburramiento.
Here is the question about those sentences:
20. Cuál es la MEJOR manera de combinar las oraciones
5 y 6?
F Mi hermana y yo nos volteamos a ver con cara de
aburrimiento.
G Mi hermana y yo nos volteamos pero a ver con
cara de aburrimiento.
H Mi hermana y yo nos volteamos. A ver con cara de
aburrimiento.
J Mi hermana y yo nos volteamos a ver porque con
cara de aburrimiento.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Page 22 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Writing– Grade 4
Unit of Study: Procedural
Text/Oral Presentations
CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
First Grading Period – Week 8 - 9
Enduring Understandings (Big Ideas)
Writing procedural text involves breaking down a task into logical sequential steps.
Unit Rationale
Much of the writing that students will be required to do in the
future will be for the purpose of instruction of how to accomplish
a task.
Essential Questions

Guiding Questions
How can writing a procedure help me better understand a task?
TEKS (Standards)
 What are the components of a procedural text?(18 Ai, ii, iii)
 What is the correct way to form noun plurals? (20Aii)
 How can I effectively present my procedural writing? (28)
TEKS Specificity - Intended Outcome
.
(18) Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts. Students write expository and procedural or work-related
texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes. Students are
expected to:
(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;
(20) Oral and Written Conventions/Conventions. Students understand the function of and use the
conventions of academic language when speaking and writing. Students continue to apply earlier standards
with greater complexity. Students are expected to:
(A) use and understand the function of the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing, and
speaking:
(ii) nouns (singular/plural, common/proper);
(28) Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using the conventions of
language. Students continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to
express an opinion supported by accurate information, employing eye contact, speaking rate, volume, and
enunciation, and the conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively.
I can:
 write a procedural text (18 Ai, ii, iii)
 form noun plurals correctly (20Aii)
 do an oral presentation of their procedural text (28)
Yo puedo:
 escribir pasos en un proceso (18 Ai, ii, iii)
 formar los plurales de los sustantivos correctamente (20Aii)
 hacer una presentación oral de la escriturat (28)
Evidence of Learning (Summative Assessment)
 Students will score 90% “Sometimes” ratings on the “Thinking About My Listening, Speaking, and Viewing” checklist (Harcourt Language).
 Students will score a 3 or 4 on the Student-friendly Rubric for their compositions.
 Students will use the correct form of singular and plural nouns and singular and plural possessives 905 of the time in their written procedural text.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Page 23 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
CURRICULUM GUIDE
First Grading Period
Guiding Questions
Essential Pre-requisite Skills
First Grade

21(B) recognize and use basic capitalization for:
(xxii)
the beginning of sentences
(xxiii)
the pronoun “I”
(xxiv)
names of people
What are the components of a procedural text?
The Teaching and Learning Plan
Instructional Model & Teacher Directions
Week 8
The teacher will…
Follow this weekly plan. You will need to access the Teacher Toolkit and the Mentor Texts to
conduct the lessons.
This week students will go through the following stages of the writing process:
 Prewriting
 Drafting
 Revising
 Editing
 Publishing
Remember that writing is not a linear process. This means that writers may revise and
edit in all other stages, or return to prewriting, or write a new first draft, etc. And,
stages do not necessarily fall neatly into days of the week.
So students can….
TAKE FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY TO PRACTICE CURSIVE WRITING
Writing Procedural Text (18Ai, ii, iii)
Day 1
 Refer to the toolkit for the lesson teaching procedural text (Teacher Toolkit:
Procedural Text, Harcourt Language).
 Tell students that procedural (or “how to”) texts are written to help readers follow a set
of steps to achieve an intended purpose.
 Read a procedural text to the students (Mentor Text) and notice the features of the text
(concise detail information, specific words denoting time, amount, color, size, distance,
present tense in the command form)
 List on an anchor chart the components of a procedural text to include a central idea in
a topic sentence, supporting sentences with simple facts, details, and explanations,
and a concluding statement.
Day 2
 Demonstrate by planning out information and specific words you need to include
(brainstorm words together) in your own procedural text (Teacher Toolkit:
Procedural Texts)
 Write a procedural text as a class to serve as a mentor text in front of the class.
 Have students pair up and choose a topic together (Teacher Toolkit: Procedural
Text: Procedural Topics)
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Writing Procedural Text
 listen to a procedural text read aloud and identify its components
 Assist the teacher in composing the anchor charts
 copy the anchor chart into the Writer’s Notebook
 brainstorm vocabulary with the teacher
 pair up and choose a topic
Page 24 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Day 3
 Provide students with a list of transitional words and their use (Teacher Toolkit:
Transitional Words, Harcourt Language)
 Present a lesson on using transitional words.
Day 4
 Have students write their first draft with their partners, referring to the anchor chart.
 Tell students that they will need to develop an oral presentation next week with the
procedural text they write.
 Have students whisper read to heck for logical sequence of ideas, transition words,
and other items on the anchor chart.
 Confer with student pairs (Teacher Toolkit: Conferring)
Day 5
 Have students refer to the editing checklist for items learned to date.
 Have students write their final draft.
 Confer with student pairs.
 Score with rubric.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
 practice using transitional words
 write first draft with their partners, referring to the anchor chart
 whisper read for revising and editing
 write final draft with their partners
Page 25 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
CURRICULUM GUIDE
First Grading Period
Guiding Questions
Essential Pre-requisite Skills
 What are the components of a procedural text?(18 Ai, ii, iii)
 What is the correct way to form noun plurals? (20Aii)
 How can I effectively present my procedural writing? (28)
First Grade
21(B) recognize and use basic capitalization for:
(xxv) the beginning of sentences
(xxvi)
the pronoun “I”
(xxvii) names of people
The Teaching and Learning Plan
Instructional Model & Teacher Directions
Week 9
The teacher will…
Follow this weekly plan. You will need to access the Teacher Toolkit and the
Mentor Texts to conduct the lessons.
TAKE FIVE MINUTES EACH DAY TO PRACTICE CURSIVE WRITING
So students can….
Making an Oral Presentation of Procedural Text (18Ai, ii, iii, 20aii, 28)
Day 1
 Have students review their papers one more time for revision and editing.
 Teach how to form plural nouns (Harcourt Language).
Day 2
 Have students brainstorm how the class could actually try to follow their
procedure.
 Ask that students look over how they will be graded on their presentation
on “Thinking About My Listening, Speaking, and Viewing,” p. R93 in
Harcourt Language
Day 3
 Ask that students practice their oral presentations.
Days 4 and 5
 Have students take turns presenting their procedural text so that others can
follow.
 Grade them with the rubric (R93) in Harcourt Language.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Making an Oral Presentation of Procedural Text (18Ai, ii, iii, 20aii, 28)
 review paper one more time for revision and editing.
 practice forming plural nouns correctly.
 brainstorm how the class would be able to complete their procedure

understand the rubric
 practice their oral presentations
 present
Writing Grade 4
Page 26 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
TAKS Vocabulary:
Vocabulary
English
 procedural text
 instructions
 specific
 transition words
 command form (verbs)
 possessive
 plural
 singular
 oral presentation
Vocabulary
Spanish
 texto de procedimiento
 instrucciones
 palabras específicas
 palabras de secuencia
 la forma imperativa
 plural
 singular
 presentación oral
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Suggested Mentor Texts
English
 Sidewalk Games Around the World by Arlene Erlbach
 100 Best Games by Eulalia Perez and Maria Rius
 The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons
 Outside and Inside Sharks by Sandra Markle
 Kids Garden! The Anytime Anyplace Guide to Sowing and
Growing Fun by Avary Hart
 How to Draw Fantasy Characters by Christopher Hart
 How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie
Priceman
 Kids’ Book of Soccer: Skills, Strategies, and the Rules of
the Game by Brooks Clark
Spanish
 Family Pictures/Cuadros de familia por Carmen Lomas
Garza
 Los cien vestidos por Eleanor Estes
 Béisbol en los barrios por Henry Horenstein
 ¡Que sorpresa de cumpleaños! por Loretta López
 Animals Day and Night/Animales de día y de noche by
Katharine Kenah
 Ballenas asesinas por Seymour Simon
 El águila calva por Gail Gibbons
Writing Grade 4
Textbook:
Harcourt Language
 Singular and Plural Nouns, pp.
96-97
 Singular Possessive Nouns, pp.
102-103
 Plural Possessive Nouns, pp.
104-105
 Possessive Noun or Plural
Noun? Pp. 106-107
 Listening and Speaking: Giving
Spoken Directions, p. 119
 Ordering Ideas, p. 114
 Using Sequence Words, p. 115
 Writing Directions p. 116
 Thinking About My Listening,
Speaking, and Viewing, p. R93
Harcourt Lenguaje
 Sustantivos en singular y en
plural, pp. 94-95
 Abreviaturas y títulos, pp. 96-97
 Escuchar y hablar: Dar
instrucciones, p. 119
 Organizar información, p. 114
 Uso de palabras de secuencia,
p. 115
 Escribir instrucciones p. 116
 Reflexionado sobre mi forma de
escuchar, hablar y ver, p. R93
Razzle Dazzle Writing by Melissa
Forney
 Transitional Words and Phrases,
pp. 37-38
 Examples of Expository Writing,
p. 91
Page 27 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.
Evidence of Learning
Formative Mini Assessments
Refer to Margaret Kilgo’s Question Stems in the
Teacher Toolkit.
TAKS
Sample Questions
English: Revising and Editing – 2006
The student must look back on the test to the passage
where the sentence is found. The following is the original
sentence as it appeared in the passage.
(11) We packed water food, and tents.
Here is the question about that sentence:
20. What change, if any, is needed in sentence 11?
F Change packed to pack.
G Insert a comma after water.
H Change tents to tent’s.
J Make no change.
College-Readiness i.e.,
Anticipated Skills for SAT/ACT/College Board/Career/Life
Sample Collage Essay Prompt
You are hosting a brunch for historical, literary, or other
disreputable persons (think: Mad Hatter's Tea Party).
What is your menu? Who are your guests? In answering
this question, imagine a scenario: We want some
exposition, serious or silly, we would accept some
dialogue, and we are willing to trust you to respond in
such a way that your brain power, your imagination, your
sense of taste, and your capacity to tell a story reveal
something true about you.
Spanish: Lectura – 2006
Spanish: Revisión y corrección - 2006
The student must look back on the test to the passage
where the sentence is found. The following is the original
sentence as it appeared in the passage.
(10) El agua es tan clara que se pueden ver algunos
pezes.
Here is the question about that sentence:
25. ¿Qué cambio se debe hacer en la oración 10?
F Cambiar El por La.
G Cambiar es por son.
H Añadir un punto después de clara.
J Cambiar pezes por peces.
SAISD © 2010-2011 – First Grading Period
Writing Grade 4
Page 28 of 28
Power Standards represent the essential knowledge and skills students need for success in high school and beyond. Power Standards must be mastered to successfully pass the required
assessments at each grade level. All TAKS eligible knowledge and skills are identified as Power Standards.