I am going to do a little throw back Monday.  Oh that is supposed to be on Thursdays?  Well, I never formed to the mold so I might as well keep being me.  I created a post on writing goals last year and I didn't have anything to add at this point.  So read on!


Before moving on, I wanted my students to create a writing goal.  Since we have already covered complete sentences, fragments, run-ons, capitals, punctuation, and some spelling patterns, I told them to choose something that I frequently have to correct in their writing.  If I don't have to correct many errors (just a select few) then they may use things like using a thesaurus or adding figurative language.  I had a student say, "I can't wait to write this story!"  I love hearing their anticipation.  I explained that everyone who listens to the lessons and follows directions in the notebooks, should have no problem getting an A on the final product because we are going to go through this first writing piece step-by-step so they completely understand the best strategy to take them through the writing process.  Here are some of my students' goals.  I was proud of them for thinking about these goals.  I probably would have chosen the same ones for them!

Now that your students are excited about writing a narrative story and finished their brainstorming, it is time to make sure your students understand the task at hand, the purpose for their writing, and the audience who will be reading their stories.

Common Core Standard W.4.4. "We can produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience."

Task:  What are you asked to write?  (Make sure to read all the task expectation.)

Purpose:  What is the reason for your writing?  (Ex.  narrate?  persuade?  debate or express opinion?  provide information?  entertain?  describe?)

Audience:  Who is the intended audience?  Do you need a formal voice or casual voice or combination of the two?  (peers, family, school administrators, businesses)





 The next mini lesson will be on creating goals in writing!!!!!!

Moving forward from Elements of Narrative Writing, we are ready to ROCK 'N' WRITE!!!!  I am going to jump back in time and use part of a post from last year and mix it with some examples and ideas from this year!

I love love love our notebooks and referring back to our previous lessons!  I hold my little elves accountable for the skills already introduced!  For example, since we've already covered complete sentence structure and paragraph writing, I expect my class to use these skills in their writing.  I even have my Math/Science partner on board and she keeps them accountable too!  Woo woo!

Step One of the Writing Process is PREWRITING.  Let the writing begin!!!!!  I showed my class this poster about brainstorming:



Next lesson:  Stay tuned for task, purpose, and audience. 

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Welcome back to the next lesson to get your students ready to ROCK 'N' WRITE!  Now that your students have been exposed to paragraph writing and the writing process, it is time to move onto Narrative Writing.

1.  Begin by reading a mentor text, Uncle Jed’s Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell.  Place the poster for Narrative Writing Elements on the board and discuss each element and how it relates to the mentor text.  For the student portion, I've done this two different ways.  I've had them take notes from the story or I've had students draw pictures relating to the element.  Then have students place the printable in their interactive notebooks.

3.  Last you will need to plan out a few things.  Decide how you would like to have students write for this essay.  If you follow my mini-lessons, it is designed to form a 5-paragraph story.  Since this is the first large paper my students write in my classroom, I like to pair them up for partner writing.  This may take a little time to pair up students who work together efficiently.  I expect both of them to do the writing portion but they collaborate to help think deeply about their story elements.  Also, plan to be working on Narrative writing for several weeks!  I take each mini-lesson and allow students time to take notes in their notebooks about the skill AND time to work on their story focusing on that lesson.  Finally, decide on a prompt that works for your age level or allow them to decide on their own plots.  If you have my Interactive Writing Bundle, there is a prompt fully modeled with all the bells and whistles along with a list of prompts that you may use.  



STAY TUNED FOR LESSON #11- PREWRITING FOR NARRATIVE WRITING!