4 th Grade Writing Information

1. 4th Grade Writing Information Ms. Stein 4th Grade Writing Teacher

2. Goals: • Teach all students the fundamentals and skills to be good writers. • Have students prepared for STAAR writing test at the beginning of April. • Teach students the power of their words and to enjoy writing.

3. What is STAAR Writing? • STAAR = State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness • The students will be tested over the traits of good writing, revising, and editing. • It will be over a 2 day period with 2 papers being completed (Narrative and Expository). • The test if given on April 2nd and 3rd

4. How is STAAR assessed? • Students will receive a 1, 2, 3, 4 on their papers. Each paper will be assessed on an individual basis. • Students will be tested over revising and editing in a multiple choice format over the 2 testing days. • All scores will be returned in May along with the STAAR reading and math scores.

5. Traits of Writing • Expectations are of a high standard for 4th grade writing. • The STAAR rubric is based off of 3 main traits: Organization, Development of Ideas, and Use of Language. • Students will be expected to write a narrative paper and an expository paper.

6. Organization • Write from experience • Stay in control of topic • Narrow the topic to something specific • Keep focus on characters, events, and/or ideas • Use meaningful transitions • Clearly show relationships between ideas • Sense of completeness (introduction and conclusion) • All writing adds to understanding

7. Development of Ideas • Connect with the reader • Use specific, well chosen details • The story is thoughtful and engaging • Care about what you have written • Use expression and personal experiences • Add meaningful details that add to the story • Give the reader a sense of yourself behind the words • Narrow down the topic and “explode” the moment in detail

8. Use of Language • Use correct capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, and homophones • Proofread and edit paper • Avoid repetition • Use powerful parts of speech • Use words that create a mental picture for the reader • Word choice should be thoughtful • Sentences are purposeful • Clear sentence and paragraph boundaries

9. Narrative Writing • The paper will be a short 3 paragraph paper about a personal experience in his/her life. • Students will be taught to “explode the moment” in time that they want to write about. • Each student will brainstorm, complete a plansheet, and then write a 1 page narrative paper (only 26 lines to write on). • Please see the narrative rubric at the end of the packet for expectations and grading.

10. Expository Writing • The paper will be a short 3 paragraph paper informative paper. • Students will be taught to decide on a topic sentence, use central ideas to elaborate (simple facts, details, explanations), and restate their topic sentence. • Each student will brainstorm, complete a plansheet, and then write a 1 page expository paper (only 26 lines to write on). • Please see the expository rubric at the end of the packet for expectations and grading.