Writing
Third Grade uses the Writing Workshop to teach writing.
During the year, the children will concentrate on three major types of writing: personal narratives, informative pieces and persuasive pieces.
Personal Narratives
Personal narratives are stories about ourselves. In this unit, we will be developing stamina as writers, learn to write with more independence, and write stories with longer and more descriptive scenes. We will use the writing process to improve our writing. We will use examples of what other authors have done to help us build our stories. We will use dialogue and learn how to better use rules of grammar. In this unit, we will develop our writing skills and write paragraphs.
A video to teach you what personal narratives are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCQtkCSR9PM
A video to help with understanding how to punctuate dialogue: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLB1IUNdoSE
Informative Pieces
Informative writing pieces are pieces that teach knowledge. This unit will include lessons on organizing and reorganizing our information so it makes sense to the reader. We will work on making the chapters connect to be a whole book. We will research facts and learn how to write to make the facts interesting. We will study mentor authors to use as models. We will begin using the many text features of informative pieces such as headings, subheadings and pictures with captions. We will create articles and brochures all while using the writing process.
A video to teach you what informational writing is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53L-5zE7Ibw
A video to teach paragraph structure for informational writing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPGhEJicbC4
Persuasive Pieces
Persuasive pieces are essays that express an opinion or feeling. In this unit we will learn how to write our opinions for a specific audience and learn to address that audience directly. We will learn how to collect evidence and use examples of proof in our writing to defend our opinion. We will even learn how to conduct interviews and surveys to use as more evidence. We will be writing speeches, letters, and essays about our causes. We will continue to develop paragraph structure and grammar as we write. We will continue to use the writing process to edit and revise.
A video to teach you what persuasive writing is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD9arWXIddM