Briana McLeland

Writing Lesson Plan

CAEP K-6 Standards
LESSON RATIONALE
This lesson is being taught so that students can understand the importance of order and how it affects the flow and
understanding of a story. Students need to know how to order the events in their own story so that they can understand
other texts when reading themselves. Writing in order is a trait that students must know in order to become efficient
writers and readers.

READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s): Students will know the importance of order of events and how to write a story in order.
B. Objective(s):
1. After the lesson, students will be able to explain the importance of order of events in a story.
2. After the lesson, students will be able to independently write a story in sequential order.
C. Standard(s):
1.W.4:
Apply the writing process to – With support, develop, select and organize ideas relevant to topic,
purpose, and genre; revise writing to add details (e.g., sentence structure); edit writing for format and
conventions (e.g., correct spelling of frequently used words, basic capitalization, end punctuation); and
provide feedback to other writers.

II. Management Plan-

-Time: 60 minutes.
-Anticipatory set: 10 minutes
-Modeling: 15 minutes
-Independent work/conferencing: 27 minutes
-Closure: 3 minutes
-Sharing: 5 minutes
-Space: Students will start out on the carpet and be there until independent work. Independent work will be at
their desks and conferencing will be at my desk.
-Materials:
- “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves” by Lucille Colandro
- Anchor Chart
- Paper
- Pencil
- Notecards

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

III. Adaptations:
 Students who may not be able to write will be able to voice record on their ipads. They will be given First, Then,
Next, and Last notecards to put in order. They will video the notecards and point to them as they talk. They will
say first…., then…., next…, last….. and tell their story as they point.
 The students will also have papers with boxes that say First, Then, Next, and Last in them wit a dotted print so
that they can trace them.
IV. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)
o Minilesson (Whole Group)
 Anticipatory Set
 “Hello Friends, I would like to tell you a little story about my morning today. First, I left
for school. Then, I got dressed. Next, I ate breakfast. Last, I brushed my hair.” I will
have four notecards that say First, Then, Next, Last on them, and then four notecards
with the four actions on them. As I talk I will put these up on the board in the order I
say them in. “When I got to school this morning, I just felt like I was not feeling right
and got to thinking that maybe my morning routine was not done right. Can you guys
help me figure out my morning routine?” I will allow time for natural response before
calling on students. “Can someone tell me what I should have done when I first got
up?” I will call on students and they will help me put investigate the order of
sequence of my story on the board to say “First, I ate breakfast. Then, I got dressed.
Next, I brushed my hair. Last I left for school.”

1 Revision Date: October 31, 2018

  Purpose Statement
 Today we are learning how to organize our sentences so that our writing makes sense.
If we were to write the way that my story originally was, people reading the story
would be very confused! Let’s practice how to write in order so that readers can read
our stories and understand them.
 Introduce Trait
 “Today, we are going to be learning about organizing our writing to make sure our
story goes in order.” I will have placed an anchor chart that has first, then, next, and
last on it, along with examples underneath. “When we are writing, we want to use
First, Then, Next, and Last to show that our stories are going in order of how the events
happened.”
 Share Examples
 “I’m going to read a short story to you called ‘There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed
Some Leaves’ by Lucille Colandro. As I read this book, I want you to think about the
order of what is happening in the book. You don’t have to remember all of the events,
but think about a few that happen in the story.” I will read the story. “WOW! The old
lady really swallowed many things! Who can tell me one of the first things she
swallowed?” Call on a student and write it on the board. Continue this two more
times. “Now, who can tell me what happened last in the story?” Call on a student or
students. “She threw up a scarecrow! That’s right!” I will have all of the responses on
the board in order. “I am going to change the beginnings of the sentences to first, then,
next, last. Does this seem right to you?” Students should say yes and we can move on
to modeling.
 Provide Information
 “Today you are going to write your own short story! Each of you will have a paper with
four boxes. The four boxes start out with either First, Then, Next, or Last. I would like
for each of you to write a story about one of your favorite memories. Write down what
happened in order in the boxes.
 Supervise Practice (Shared Writing)
 Check for Understanding
o Writing
 What students will be doing:
 Today you are going to write your own short story! Each of you will have a paper with
four boxes. The four boxes start out with either First, Then, Next, or Last. I would like
for each of you to write a story about one of your favorite memories. Write down what
happened in order in the boxes.”
 Before you start to write your story, I want you to write down on a separate piece of
paper your favorite memory and what you remember from it. After you have done
that, you can write on the paper I have given you.
 Conferences:
 I will meet with only one student at a time. I will wait to start the conferences until a
few minutes into their prewriting process of of their memories. Once I start calling
up students I will ask them about their memory and what they are wanting to write
about. After they tell me their memory and what they are going to write about, I will
ask if they have any questions. This will be a time where I can clarify anything they
need me to or I can help with brainstorming some ideas of what they could write
about. If they don’t have an idea on what memory to write about I will ask them
about Thanksgiving memories since that will be the next holiday they have. I will
ask them about their Thanksgiving memories and go from there.
 During the conferences, I will take anecdotical notes on if students are
understanding the sequence/order of writing just through verbal conversation.
o Sharing (Whole Group)
 In the last five minutes of the writing block I will ask for two students to share their stories.
After the two students have shared, I will allow the students to use the remaining time to
share their story with their partner sitting next to them. That way everyone can share their
story with someone.

V. Check for understanding.

 During conferences I will take notes on where the student is at by seeing if they can verbally explain
their memory in order.

2 Revision Date: October 31, 2018

  I will read their stories to see if they were able to write their memory in an order that makes sense to
other readers.
 I will also have the students rate their own understanding by a thumbs up, to the side, or down based
on how they are feeling about using organization/sequencing/order.
 If there are only a few students that do not understand, I will use a small group time to go over this
lesson again.
VIII. Review learning outcomes / Closure
 This will take about three minutes. “Today we learned so much about how important it is to have
events in order. Can someone remind us about why it’s important for our stories to go in order?” Call
on a student or two to answer. “That’s right! Other people reading our stories need to know how
things happened so that they can understand it.” We will then move into sharing for the last five
minutes.

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

 Informal: Students will be able to self evaluate where there are at in their understanding of
organizing their writing with a thumbs up, to the side, or down. I will also use notes that I took
during conferencing to assess where they are at in their understanding.
 Formal: Students will have written a story about a memory. I will use this to assess whether they
can independently write/organize a story. This will be done more than once over a period of time.

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students were able to understand the concept?
2. How many students will need to have more help?
3. How can I differentiate my instruction more?
4. What do I need to change to make this easier or more challenging?
5. Overall, how well did this lesson benefit student learning?

3 Revision Date: October 31, 2018