4th Grade Writing Scope & Sequence

with Daily Activities

A plan for your whole year!

Weeks   Proposed  Dates   Focus   Skills   TEKS  

1  –  2      

(2  weeks)  

August  24  –  September  4  

*Set  up  notebooks  *Tell  stories  *WriDng  Process  *Introduce  plan  sheet  *Gathering  Lists  

*LisDng   4.28  

MisconcepDons   Take-­‐Aways  

*All  wriDng  goes  in  notebooks  *We  plan  differently  for  narraDve  and  expository  *We  publish  ALL  wriDng  

*Writers  can  choose  stories  from  lists  *Writers  use  a  process  when  wriDng  *I  can  plan  the  SAME  WAY  for  narraDve  or  expository  *WriDng  lists  helps  me  choose  a  topic  when  I’m  struggling  to  come  up  with  one.  

Overview  C

reate

d b

y Texas

Teach

ing F

ana

tic

INTRODUCTORY  NARRATIVE  UNIT  Weeks   Proposed  Dates   Focus   AcDviDes   TEKS  

3  –  6      

(4  weeks)  

September  7  –  October  2  

*NarraDve  wriDng  *Create  Writer’s  Tools  Chart  *Kernel  Essays  *Text  Structures  *Rubric  *Past  tense  verbs  

*Color  It  Up  *Thoughts  *Vivid  Verbs/DescripDons  *Ba…Da…Bing  *Kernel  Essays  *Writer’s  CelebraDon  

4.15    a,  b,  c,  d,  e  4.17  

MisconcepDons   Take-­‐Aways  

*My  kernel  essay  IS  my  rough  drab.  *Ba…Da…Bings  have  to  be  only  one  sentence  *When  I’m  finished  with  my  rough  drab,  I’m  ready  to  publish.    It’s  already  perfect!  *I  don’t  add  my  revisions  to  my  final  copy.  

*Writers  add  dialog,  thoughts,  acDons,  and  descripDons  to  make  their  wriDng  beeer.  *Ba…Da…Bings  help  readers  understand  the  writer  beeer  (skin  slippage!)  and  can  be  one  or  more  sentences  to  add  effect.  *Good  writers  reread  their  papers  when  they  are  finished.  *Writers  use  others’  feedback  to  improve  future  wriDng.  *NarraDve  wriDng  tells  a  story.  

Overview  C

reate

d b

y Texas

Teach

ing F

ana

tic

August 2015 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

3 4 5 6 7

10 11 12 13 14

17 18 19 20 21

24 25 26 27 28

31

Tell stories

Tell stories; Put tabs in notebooks, number pgs.; collect first writing sample

Tell stories; decorate notebooks

Create neighborhood map in Lists section

Create heart map; tell stories; Go over writing process

Created by Texas Teaching Fanatic

Notes to the teacher for Week 1:

*Allow time every day for students to tell stories about memories they have. This sets the stage for writing. If they can’t tell a story, they can’t write one! *When creating lists with students, always show your example FIRST! *Writing Sample: Use any prompt (maybe favorite day of summer) for a starting point. *In the composition books, have students create a section for Lists (10 – 15 pgs) and Entries (the rest of the notebook). Use tabs or small Post-It notes with tape. *When students number the pages, have them only number the pages under Entries. *Consider using a piece of ribbon taped or hot-glued to the back cover of the notebook that would be long enough for a place holder/bookmark. *Go over the steps of the writing process on Friday. If time allows, students can play the Writing Process Battle Game found in my TpT store. Lists: *Neighborhood Map: Have students draw a picture of their neighborhood, street, yard with house…any place that holds memories for them. This will allow them to think of stories they might not think of otherwise. Then students can create a list of memories after drawing/coloring this map. *Heart Map: Draw a picture of a heart and divide it into sections such as: family, friends, school, sports, hobbies, favorite places, traditions, etc. Choose as many or as little as you want.  

Cre

ate

d by T

exas T

eaching

Fana

tic

September 2015 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

31 1 2 3 4

7 8 9 10 11

14 15 16 17 18

21 22 23 24 25

28 29 30 1 2

3rd Kernel Essay; Begin draft

Finish Draft

Writer’s Celebration

Discuss common trends in writing thus

far; new Kernel Essay; Vivid Verbs

2nd Kernel Essay; Discuss thoughts;

Thoughts

Create a Times I Felt... list; tell stories; Writing

Process Battle

Create a Best/Worst Memories list; tell stories; Writing Process Battle

Create a Narrative Quick List; Introduce plan sheet; Set up Writer’s Tools Anchor Chart

Quick write about topic of choice.; Assess

parts of writing process

Catch Up Day!

HOLIDAY!

Create a Kernel Essay for topic of

choice; Start Color It Up lesson

Discuss revision; Revision stations

Create one more Kernel Essay for topic of choice; Add icons

to Writer’s Tools chart

Begin draft of story on flip book; Assess

purpose of plan page/Kernel Essay

Create a new Kernel Essay for topic of

choice; Finish Color It Up lesson

Publish

Continue revision stations; edit for spelling/grammar; share with a peer

Continue drafting; put flip book onto large construction paper

Continue drafting Ba...Da...Bing; Students color up their writing

Publish

Color up thoughts and actions; Add in more

where needed. Share with partners Review Narrative

Created by Texas Teaching Fanatic

Notes to the teacher for Week 2: *It is OK for students to have the same story on multiple lists—this means that it’s probably important, and students should choose that story to write about! Lists: *Times I Felt... is a list of emotions such as scared, frustrated, angry, excited, surprised, loved, successful, sad, etc. (Choose 5 or 6) *Best/Worst Memories is a list of just that. *Narrative Quick List is a timed event to get students to quickly write down lists of time they did things: spent the day with a friend, had fun at school, went somewhere special, did something they enjoyed...anything that could become a story. Give about 1 minute for students to think of 2 topics for each category you tell them. Students should compile a list of 6 – 12, depending on the number of categories you give them. *The planning page is on my blog under Writer’s Workshop! *Keep take-aways in mind when introducing the plan sheet. *Use a piece of butcher paper or large chart paper for your Writer’s Tools anchor chart. Add icons (tools from mentor text lessons) as you introduce them. *Choose your method of assessment for assessing their progress with understanding the steps in the writing process. You could use pencil & paper or an online tool such as Quizlet, Kahoot, Socrative, or a Google Form.

Cre

ate

d by T

exas T

eaching

Fana

tic

Notes to the teacher for Week 3: *The goal is to create 2 – 3 Kernel Essays with a text structure before actually choosing one to take to drafting. You will use the Memory Reflection text structure, the same one used in all narrative examples in Gretchen’s book, Fun Size Academic Writing. *Color It Up is in Fun Size Academic Writing, page 14 – 15. This lesson usually takes a couple of days to completely finish and reflect back on it. Any time you use a mentor text, make a copy for each student to keep in his/her notebook or writing folder to refer back to in the future. *Once you are finished with the Color It Up lesson, add Actions, Talking, Thoughts, and Descriptions to your Writer’s Tools anchor chart. *It’s a good idea for kids to also start their own copy in their notebooks or in writing folder of the icons you add to the anchor chart. Be sure to use the same colors throughout the class! This helps them store it in a different place in their brains!! *If you aren’t comfortable with flip books, then just have students draft in their notebooks. Using the flip books helps them to take just one step at a time. There are examples on my blog, www.texasteachingfanatic.com. I will also be posting videos and pictures throughout the year. Additional information on flip books can be found in Crunch Time on pg 36 – 47.

Cre

ate

d by T

exas T

eaching

Fana

tic

Notes to the teacher for Week 4: *Conference with students as they are drafting! *Use a tool for writing conference notes so that you remember what you talk about with each student and can hold them (and yourself) accountable for it in the future. You can use the one I have attached or one of your own. *Information on flip books is on pages 36 – 37 in Crunch Time. *Guide students through each paragraph. If students finish early, they can help others around them, but discourage them from moving ahead this first time. *Have students color up their own writing BEFORE gluing it to another paper. *Once finished with flip book, have students reread for errors. Then they should cut it apart (each paragraph) and glue it onto a large piece of manila paper vertically and in order of the paragraphs. This allows more room for them to add in sentences when they do revision stations. *Ba...Da...Bing lesson is on pages 98 – 101 in Crunch Time. *Use revision stations (I have a set in my TpT store) to help students add details to their writing. Students should reread their paper each time they get to a new station BEFORE adding in more details. They can write their new sentences out to the side and draw an arrow to where they want to add the sentences. Examples on my blog. *When editing, have students circle words that they KNOW are misspelled. Fix those and any word wall words they should already know. Relieve yourself of the responsibility of correcting EVERY misspelled word!

Cre

ate

d b

y Texas

Teach

ing F

ana

tic

Notes to the teacher for Week 5:

*Be sure to give students quiet time to publish. Put on some soft music and put up your NO TALKING ZONE sign (if you have one!). *A great way to have students buy into the publishing part is to allow them to publish on cute computer paper that is decorated. It can be found at Dollar Tree for $1 each! You can create a lined page to put behind it so that students can see the lines through the page, but when they take their piece off of the lined piece, their page has no lines! Genius, I know! (I stole that idea from someone a long time ago!) *I have a Writer’s Celebration page on my blog if you would like to use that. We put our published piece along with the Writer’s Celebration page on our desks with a pencil, and then walk around the room and make positive comments on each others’ writing, all while some fun music is playing in the background. We wrap up with some refreshments. *I also have a rubric that is geared toward STAAR in my TpT store. It has both narrative and expository rubrics, teacher AND student version, and a grade correlation chart, too. (I grade very leniently at the beginning of the year, but it gets the students used to seeing the rubric and allows them to see where they need to upgrade their papers. *Discuss what you noticed as a class for the first piece of writing. *Vivid Verbs Mentor Text is on page 68 – 69 of Fun Size *Thoughts Mentor Text is on page 38 – 39 of Fun Size

Cre

ate

d by T

exas T

eaching

Fana

tic

Notes to the teacher for Week 6: *Because you don’t have as much time, just have students draft in their notebooks for this second piece of writing. *Guide those who still need your help, but many will already be confident enough to go ahead and go for it on their own. *Remind the students that each piece of the text structure is one paragraph. *Have students highlight the thoughts in their own papers. Then they should add in more thoughts (I usually require at least 3 more) where they feel they could add them. *The publishing for this piece will be sharing out with others. This can be done in partners or small groups. *Always give an opportunity for at least 3 people to share out with the class. Then you can teach from those papers! *Review everything you have learned about narratives: the process, the Kernel Essay, how to add details, the writer’s tools you have added to the list, etc.

Cre

ate

d by T

exas T

eaching

Fana

tic

Thank you for previewing my Writing Scope & Sequence!

Like what you see? Visit my TpT store for the

complete product...and more! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Texas-

Teaching-Fanatic

If you have questions, please feel free to e-mail me at texasteachingfanatic@gmail.com

Graphics by Lovin Lit Clipart by Melonheadz Digital Paper by Jena Hudson Fonts by kevin and amanda