Writing with Ms. Rivis

Hello! Welcome to the third grade writing page. I'm so excited about the writing that happens in third grade at Riverton School. We begin the year with a unit on writing "small moment" narratives. The third graders will tell true stories from their lives - about topics such as summer adventures, family time, birthday parties, and pets. Students will learn to generate an idea, make a plan before they begin, and write a structured, but creative draft. They will add details using their five senses (see, hear, smell, taste, touch) and by using dialogue. Then, they will revise and edit their work before publishing their stories. Here are some third graders orally planning their stories in the classroom, outside using their five senses to write details, and excitedly sharing their work with a partner:

Next, our writers will delve into an informational unit. They will generate lists of nonfiction topics they know all about. Last year, these topics included cats, space, dinosaurs, sharks, cooking, school, dance, bees, and soccer! The third graders will learn to engage their readers with a captivating lead, write facts using a teaching "voice", and create labeled diagrams to teach readers visually. At the culmination of the unit, students will publish their informational writing via digital slideshows, complete with photographs, which they will then present to the class. See some of last year's students presenting their slideshows below!

Third graders have strong opinions. During the persuasive writing unit, our writers will choose topics that matter to them. They will write "I believe" statements, such as, "I believe every child should learn how to swim" or "I believe we should save endangered species". They will learn to choose reasons to support their claims and elaborate on those reasons. They will write with their "readers" in mind, using their voice to make a difference in the world. Simultaneously, students will learn to organize their work into paragraphs, using transition words to begin new paragraphs. They will write leads that grab their readers' attention and endings to remind them of their opinion. To publish, students will type their essays on the Chromebooks and then use a secure website called Seesaw to record a video of themselves reading their work. Using their voices to incite change can be very powerful! See some samples from last year below.