Grade 1 Narrative Unit: Small Moments
- Write personal narratives about real experiences (4-5 pages each with 2-4 sentences
- per page).
- Focus on one “small moment” and stretch that moment across pages.
- Use the Word Wall to spell common words correctly.
- Re-read their writing to make changes or additions.
- Add details and dialogue to create a picture of what happened.
- Discuss their work and plans with writing partners.
- Select a piece to publish and celebrate.
Grade 2 Narrative Unit: Authors as Mentors
- Write several booklets each with five pages and approximately one paragraph per page
- Notice poignant moments in text
- Analyze the craft moves in the text
- Take these craft moves they are seeing and try them in their own writing
- Use punctuation to convey meaning
- Use dialogue as a detail to convey what a character says and feels
- Use strong beginnings and reflective endings
- Revise their writing as they write, or “on the run”, to include conventions that affect voice
- and craft
Grade 3 Raising the Quality of Narrative Writing: Personal Narrative
- Generate writing ideas based on their experiences
- Learn techniques from other authors and apply it to their own writing
- Write stories that are focused on one small moment with details to support it
- Write from their own perspective
- Plan, draft, revise, and edit stories
Grade 4 Raising the Quality of Narrative Writing: Personal Narrative
- Read published authors and notice their craft
- Know how to pull out a seed idea from their notebook that really matters
- Write powerful leads and endings
- Write about turning points in their lives
- Write about stories that triggered strong emotions
- Draw on what they already know as writers
- Know how to rehearse a story before drafting
- Write the external as well as the internal story
- Create a story arc for revision purposes
- Edit with different lenses
- Work with a writing partner with less teacher direction
- Publish a piece of narrative writing
Grade 5 Memoir
- Select small moments that reveal important memories from their personal lives
- Develop strategies for writing with depth
- Develop ideas for memoir from LIFE TOPICS
- Develop a repertoire of memoir structures in which to chose from for this final memoir
- Revise their ideas (also known as writing territories) for message and significance
- Select relevant emblematic details that enhance the writer’s message
- Engage in partner work as active listener who can offer revision ideas
- Publish final drafts to share with an audience