Fourth grade

Narrative writing unit

Day 8: Conclusions: Wrapping it up
Lesson Overview: In this lesson, students will finish their personal narratives by ending with
a strong conclusion. Students will be asked to complete the Self-Evaluation Rubric

(provided in Lesson 2) before completing their final draft.

Time: 60 minutes

Resources or Materials Needed

• Mentor Text: Excerpt from Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

• Student Writing Notebooks

• Pencils

• ELMO

• SMART Board

Performance Objective: Given a prompt, students will demonstrate an understanding of

appropriate closing paragraph writing. Student work will be formatively evaluated using a

criterion-based rubric, in which a minimum of 3 out of 4 is achieved.

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Step 1: Pre-Instructional Activities

• Students will engage in a “Quiet 10”, during which time, students are to silently write for

ten minutes without stopping.

• Students are given the prompt, “My Favorite Vacation” and are encouraged to write

about the best family vacation they have had. This could mean a time that they went on a
trip, or even the best summer vacation at home they’ve had!

Step 2: Content Presentation

• Students will join teacher at carpet area

• Teacher explains that every great writer knows the importance of wrapping up their

works with strong endings!

• Teacher will read aloud an example of a strong ending, by reading the last page of Gary

Soto’s “Too Many Tamales”

• Students are instructed to turn to their partners and discuss what they noticed about

the ending of this story.

• Teacher will guide a discussion about the way this author chose to end his story. Instead

of just saying “And then Maria went to bed. The End,” which would be a really boring way

to end his story, the author showed us how the main character, Maria, was feeling. This is

an excellent way to end your story with a strong conclusion! Today you are going to wrap
up your story by showing (not just telling) your readers how this small moment made you

feel.

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• Teacher will instruct students to return to their seats to craft their closing paragraph.

After they have wrapped up their story, students are to take out their Self-Evaluation

Rubric (provided in Lesson 2) and make any final edits necessary to meet all expectations

before rewriting their story into their final draft.

Step 3: Learner Participation

• Students return to their seats to write their closing paragraph

• After finishing the final paragraph, students will complete their Self-Evaluation Rubric

(provided in Lesson 2) and make any final edits necessary to meet all expectations before

rewriting their story into their final draft.

Step 4: Assessment

• During learner participation, teacher will be walking around, formatively assessing

students on their conclusion using a criterion-based rubric.

Step 5: Follow-Through Activities

• Students may opt to ask for an ‘editor’ by writing their name on the board when they

are ready to move on to their final draft if they would like someone to help check their

work.

• Any student that has finished is allowed to buddy-up quietly with a partner to help

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 Printable RESOURCES
• Criterion-Based Rubric (Page 5)

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