We recently completed our unit on Essay Writing, and for the most part it was successful! The objective of this unit was for students to understand and use a 4-paragraph organizational structure to support their opinion on a "big idea." You know....Common Core stuff. I also wanted students to use this structure to write several essays, so that they had enough practice to become fluent essay writers. This happened....with about 98% of my third graders. The "essay" organizational structure is a big one and students will be assessed on their ability to use this structure over and over again throughout their school career. By "essay organizational structure" I am talking about "Intro Paragraph - Supporting Paragraph - Supporting Paragraph - Conclusion". They NEED to be able to do this, without being told, EVERY time they put pencil to paper to write on a prompted topic. I know I am over-simplifying a bit, but the truth is...if they can do this, they have won half the battle. In our district their first big writing assessment happens in fourth grade (the state writing assessment). Our students flop on this year after year, and of course, I blame myself personally for this failure since I was their third grade teacher. So for the past two years, I have worked really hard to find ways to teach this skill in a way that students understand and can put into practice. "Chunking" my instruction has been extremely helpful in teaching how to write an organized essay. I put together these graphic organizers for the specific purpose of showing students how to write an essay, bit by bit. As I stated, this worked GREAT for most of my students! But..... I had about 3 kiddos that just didn't get it......at all. I worked with them rigorously throughout the unit, conferring and one-on-one-ing like crazy with these little ones, but they still didn't get it. This factoid left me with a giant pit in my stomach. If you are like me, your failures are way more shiny than your successes. I knew I needed to do something for these struggling writers. I decided to come up with an intervention plan for these students to help bring them up to speed on organizing an essay. I put together a very simple packet, that they now work on as part of their nightly homework. I had a conference with the parents of these students, and those parents enthusiastically agreed to help and support their child with this initiative. However, it could also be done during the school day, since it is pretty simple. Students begin the week by receiving a prompted topic and then completing a very basic graphic organizer to organize their ideas around the topic. Then, they spend one (or more if needed) day writing each part of the essay: the introduction paragraph, two supporting paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. These reference sheets help them to see the "big" picture of their essay and gives them some sentence starters for each section (since I have found that my struggling writers don't know how to start). After they write out each section, they write out the whole thing on notebook paper and spend some time checking over their work using a checklist: At that point, they could (or not) write out their essay in a final copy format. The next week....wash.....rinse.......repeat. Students work with a new topic each week. This repetition has really helped my struggling writers to understand the organizational structure of an essay, while also giving them some much needed practice with their overall writing skills. They are actually beginning to get it and they have definitely shown improvement in their writing. Improved learning....that is truly the important thing...and why I do what I do!! But..... This has also given me some"evidence" to add to my teacher data notebook. Let's face it...when your principal asks you during your post-evaluation chat, "So, what did you do when they didn't get it?" You need to have your butt covered!! I will have a whole lot of evidence to show that I responded to my struggling writers with an effective intervention!! If you are looking for an intervention program for your writers who just don't get how to organize and write an opinion essay.....you may want to check it out. It includes 18 different writing prompts with graphic organizers (enough to last the whole year if needed). I also created one for informational writing. They are both available in a bundle. Love and peace,
Please excuse my absence, friends! I’m having one of those years that makes you feel like a brand new teacher again, and makes you appreciate the fact that, conversely, you have years of experience to fall back on. 🙂 I am really enjoying my year, and I absolutely LOVE my kiddos. I really like the …
Dig deep with these fun activities!
Teaching prose, drama, and poetry is quick and easy. Your third and fourth grade students just need a little vocabulary and practice.
Get details about my SoR-aligned, NO PREP, weekly Word Study Units for kindergarten, first, second and third-grade students.
Looking for 3rd grade anchor charts? We put together some of our favorites to use in your third grade classroom this year!
Our fabulous new teacher, Mrs. Wheeler, is acclimating herself to the 3rd grade team beautifully! She is part of the 2-teacher team of Jacks...
Hello darlings! Amy here from That Teaching Spark! When I teach spelling, I am often on the hunt for fun, yet practical activities for my students to practice their spelling pattern for the week. This year, I am meeting with my students in small groups to work on differentiated spelling lists. One of my rotations is called Choice. This is where students get the “Choice” of the activity they would like to complete. They are allowed to choose from a list of activities on their Choice Board. We glue these boards onto the inside cover of our Word Study Journals so students have them all year. (Freebie at the end of post!) At the beginning of the year, I introduce each activity choice and have students practice it. That way when rotations come along, I have a well oiled machine with students working independently. While I completely agree that activities such as these are NOT effective in long term application of spelling words, research shows that adding kinesthetic activities helps with memorization. I teach the understanding and the word pattern “rules” during my Teacher Rotation. A few Favorites…. I created the Michelangelo Spelling activity after our art teacher did a project with my kiddos about the Sistine Chapel. My kiddos LOVE taping their paper to the underside of their desks and “painting” like Michelangelo. Of course, they are just writing their spelling words, but it is incredibly motivating. My kiddos also love Ghost Spelling. They write their words on paper with a white crayon and then color over the crayon with a marker. It “magically” shows up. Another favorite of mine is Context Clues. Students must write a sentence with the word that is so detailed, that another student could figure out the word if the word was covered up. I use the little sticky flags for this activity. I wanted to give this Choice Board to you FREE!
I kinda have a thing for chart paper. No, really, I have issues! :) My co-workers tell me I spend way too much time on them. They always tel...
Let's take a little peek in a day in first grade! I love my job and working with the kids, tap to get some tips and tricks you can use too!
One of my favorite language arts lesson to do in teaching students about synonyms. Using the idea of a "synonym roll," every year my students are extremely engaged by the lesson. Want a terrific synonym lesson complete with the outlines for the cinnamon rolls themselves? Here is my lesson plan typed up along with 36 words with synonym examples, 3 different sizes of rolls, and a synonym brainstorming page for students. Synonym Roll Lesson Plan You can also head over to my TPT store and download the outlines.
Critical thinking are a set of skills children need to make good independent decisions. Critical thinking abilities involve children analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information in order to recognize patterns, distinguish right from wrong, offer opinions, anticipate reactions to their actions, compare scenarios to choose favorable outcomes, as well as consider a variety of solutions to
If you are looking for comprehensive and kid-friendly no-prep 2nd grade language arts worksheets, you've come to the right place.
We have been working on geometry this week and have been using pattern blocks to create some very cool polygons. I loved having them share these using "Team Talk" (read more HERE) and we worked on sharing our shapes on the overhead projector and the different ways you could create the same polygon using different blocks. While our curriculum only calls for knowing 3,4,5,6,8, and 10-sided shapes, it was fun introducing heptagons and nonagons, so I created this fun freebie to look at all of the polygons together and practice their names. I didn't require them to use rainbow colors, just a different color for each polygon, and it turned out to be a great way to cover a lot of shapes in a fun, one page activity. To pick up this freebie in my TpT Store, click HERE.
