Authors+as+Mentors

**Writing Grade 4**  **Unit:** Authors as Mentors Duration:  **Purposes:** Authors as Mentors, [|6 Traits of Writing,] Writing Strategies, Craft (similes, personification, word choice, metaphors), Poetry and narrative writing
 * Essential Questions:** What can we learn from authors? How can reading help our writing?

 **Description:**  The focus during October-December is on lifting the quality of writing by focusing on craft and using authors as mentors. Students will learn about literary techniques and strategies for improving writing through lessons using mentor texts. Students will write a variety of narrative and poetry pieces, selecting at least one narrative to take through the entire writing process.

Desired Results

 **Common Core State Standards**
3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. b. Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. c. Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events. d. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events. 4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 5. With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. 6. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single sitting. 10.Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes and audiences. 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking 2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. 3. Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. a. Choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely. b. Choose punctuation for effect. 5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
 * Writing**
 * Text Type and Purposes**
 * Production and Distribution of Writing**
 * Range of Writing**
 * Language Standards K-5**
 * Conventions of Standard English**
 * Knowledge of Language**
 * Vocabulary Acquisition and Use**
 * Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs.


 * Connecticut Language Arts Grade Level Expectations **
 * Use complete sentences in writing.
 * Write a variety of sentence beginnings, e.g., starts with an introductory adverb clause: //If you want to see an ant up close, you should use a magnifying glass.//
 * Write a variety of sentence lengths.
 * Write a variety of sentence structures, e.g., //My dog enjoys music and howls when we listen to certain songs. It makes me laugh. After his song is over, I give him a treat//.
 * Write a descriptive anecdote within a narrative to enhance elaboration
 * Write an imagery poem
 * Use literary devices, e.g. personification, metaphor, similes
 * Apply spelling knowledge in writing


 * Writing Process**
 * ** Plan: ** choose an appropriate written, oral or visual format based on audience and purpose
 * ** Draft: ** complete a draft demonstrating connections among ideas
 * ** Revise: ** revise a completed draft, incorporating feedback from peers and teacher, e.g., … //helped me understand the topic more clearly//, //I was confused by//…, //Be more clear about// …, //Use a better word for// …
 * ** Edit: ** use multiple resources, e.g., dictionary, glossary, thesaurus, for proofreading and editing
 * ** Publish/Present: ** publish and present final products in a variety of ways, including the arts and technology, e.g., book of poetry, a theatrical performance, a newscast
 * ** Reflect: ** critique one’s own and a peer’s writing, using established criteria, e.g., //I improved on// …, //This piece demonstrates how well I elaborate.//

Direct Assessment of Writing
 * Connecticut Mastery Test Objectives**


 * **Understandings** || **Essential Questions** ||
 * Authors can be mentors for our own writing. || How can reading help us as writers? ||

//The student will know...// || **Skills:** //The students will be able to...// || flow and rhythm variety of sentence beginnings and how they enhance writing, lengths and structures literary devices and how they enhance writing: similes, personification, word choice, sensory details techniques for improving writing || Plan, draft, revise, edit, publish/present, reflect
 * **Knowledge:**
 * editing resources

Use complete sentences in writing. Write a variety of sentence beginnings, sentence lengths and sentence structures Write poems and narratives using literary devices Write a descriptive anecdote within a narrative Enhance elaboration Apply spelling knowledge in writing ||  ||

draft revise edit publish reflect elaboration description sensory details word choice personification similes metaphor organization 6 Traits:
 * Content Vocabulary ||
 * plan
 * [|Ideas], the main message;
 * [|Organization], the internal structure of the piece;
 * [|Voice], the personal tone and flavor of the author's message;
 * [|Word Choice], the vocabulary a writer chooses to convey meaning;
 * [|Sentence Fluency], the rhythm and flow of the language;
 * [|Conventions], the mechanical correctness;
 * and [|Presentation], how the writing actually looks on the page. ||

Assessment Evidence
 * **Performance Tasks**

Published Story

6 Trait Rubric || **Formative Assessments** [|Six Traits post-it notes] Writing Samples


 * Summative Assessments**

Writing Prompt

Reflections [|Six Traits post-it notes] ||
 * Student Self-Assessments**

Learning Plan [|The Writing Fix] Empowering Writers books Wondrous Words by Katie Wood Ray Cracking Open Author's Craft by Lester Leminack Using Picture Books to Teach 6-Traits [|List of Transitional Words]
 * Resources**

Cracking Open Author's Craft || George's Marvelous Medicine || [|Halloween word cards 2.docx] [|Halloween word cards.docx] [|Halloween word bank.docx] Hoot and Howl Hallowilloween || Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street || All The Places to Love || A Quiet Place [|Voice Thread Poetry] || Dav Pilkey’s story, __Dog Breath__, involves a family's distress over their dog, Hally Tosis, and his horrible breath. After enjoying the story, the writer will plan a detailed and sequenced story about an animal with a silly problem. While planning and revising, students will think about their use of memorable details and their story's pacing. || [|Lesson] Dog Breath || This strategy helps the reader almost feel like they've "slipped into the skin" of the writer or character. It consists of three parts: where the speaker was physically, what they saw, and what they thought. || [| Lesson] || The writer will imagine and compose a descriptive paragraph that focuses on a gigantic object moving through a specific setting and leaving destruction in its wake. The writer will choose an object and a setting in which the catastrophe will take place. Using high-quality details and strong verbs will help the writer create a showing paragraph. || [|Lesson] James and the Giant Peach || This writing activity is inspired by Bruce Coville’s __Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher__, and students will be asked to write about an original magical object that they have discovered in the "Elives’ Magic Supplies," just as Jeremy does in the story. Students will need to imagine themselves in the magic store where the proprietor tells them to look around until they find what they "need." The students will then create an organized scene based upon the magical object and how they will take care of it or use it, depending on their choice of objects. || [|Lesson] Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher [|4P Homework – The Magical Object.docx] [|For part one of your story.docx] [|For part two of your story.docx] [|For part three of your story.docx] [|Dragon Description.doc] [|This is a grocery list.doc] ||
 * **Possible Anchor Activities** ||
 * **Essential Question:** Introduce the concept of learning from other authors. Use an example from own life about how you get ideas from other for something you do (gardening, sports, sewing, cooking) Ask "How might reading other people's stories help our own writing?" ||  ||
 * **Author's Craft Inquiry** As students read mentor texts they ask "What do I see the author doing? Why does the author do this? Have I seen this in other writing? What is it called? How might I use it in my own writing?" || Wondrous Words
 * **Simile City:** Students learn how to identify similes and discuss their purpose through inquiry, a skit, and a hunt for similes. || Chris' folder
 * [|Hoot and Howl]Joan Horton’s book of Halloween poems inspires students to try their hands at writing spooky poems. When your students build and decorate a large enough word bank for their writer's notebooks, they'll feel more empowered to attempt the dense, compacted writing of poetry. || [|Lesson]
 * **Using 90th Street's Advice:** First, writers will search for all four pieces of advice that young author, Eva, receives from her neighbors and then uses in her story found in the book __Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street__. Next, writers will apply the four pieces of advice as they brainstorm details about a person, place, and thing they have chosen to write about. Finally, writers will each create a descriptive paragraph that interestingly describes the person, place, and thing they have chosen. || [|Lesson]
 * ** Special Places to Love: ** Students write a paragraph about a special place they remember, then search for prepositional phrases in their rough draft. After a read-aloud of __All the Places to Love__, students talk about Patricia MacLachlan's use of prepositional phrases to give her sentences flow. Students revise their special place paragraphs to use meaningful prepositional phrases that share memorable details. || [|Lesson]
 * **My Favorite Place** The writer will imitate the poetic style of the setting descriptions in Douglas Wood’s __A Quiet Place__. Using figurative language techniques like simile, personification, and sensory images, the writer will develop a short poem about a setting inspired by our interactive setting generator or a special place from their own lives. || [|Lesson]
 * **Silly Animal Problems**
 * **Ba Da Bing!**
 * **You're on a Gigantic Roll:**
 * **Adventurous Magic**