Writing

Writing instruction will focus on the newly adopted Common Core State Standards.

Students focus on the following aspects of the writing process: creation of clear, coherent paragraphs developed around a central idea and with a specific purpose and audience in mind, developing a composition through the stages of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing), journaling, and note-taking.

Students in 3rd grade develop the following writing genres: Personal Narratives, Literary Essays, Informational/Explanatory Books, Opinion Pieces, and Fairy Tales. In order to strengthen their reading comprehension, students also write summaries and literature responses.

The following grammar skills will be developed: identifying parts of speech, using correct punctuation and capitalization, mechanics and word usage, and expanding sentences, paragraphs, and essays.

Writing resources may include Lucy Caulkins, Step Up to Writing, 6+1 Traits of Writing, Write Sources, and teacher selected resources.

Paragraph Color Coding:

Topic Sentence

Main Idea 1

reasons, examples, details

Main Idea 2

reasons, examples, details

Main Idea 3

reasons, examples, details

Conclusion (restate the topic)

Resources

Common Core Standards for Language Arts are found at the following website:

http://www.scoe.net/castandards/agenda/2010/ela_ccs_recommendations.pdf

Lucy Calkins' Writer's Workshop https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mmq8h04XcpIN8uCwCLY7M6y5G0qUmFNvu58ZSVH94ns/edit

Animated Cursive Writing Site (Lower Case Letters): http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/cursive/animation/lowercase.htm

Animated Cursive Writing Site (Upper Case Letters): http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/cursive/animation/uppercase.htm

3 Common Core Text Types (Poster) (DOC 30 KB) Transitions (Poster size) (DOC 34 KB)

NEED HELP DOWNLOADING:

• Step-Up to Writing Transitions

Source: www.grammarcheck.net