4th GRADE WRITING GOALS AND CONTENT
Goals for the 4th Grade Writing Program: We want children to…
- write different types of prose (narrative, persuasion, process, comparison, informative)
- begin to use plot structure, characterization, and setting in their own fiction
- experiment with poetic and literary devices in their own poetry and fiction
- understand different audiences and practice writing for those audiences
- use different types of conflict in their own writing
- begin to revise and edit their own work independently
- begin peer conferencing and editing (toward the end of the year)
- share their writing to the class to gain feedback from peers and teachers
- use that feedback to improve the clarity and effectiveness of their writing
- write to inform in all subject areas
Writing Content
Writing is a skill, not a subject area. However, there are several skills that also serve as topics around which the 4th grade writing curriculum is organized:
- writing different forms of prose
- exploration of plot structure, setting, and characterization in fairy tales, movies, short stories, and novels
- writing workshop in which the students write one story for the Schlow Book Contest with attention to the writing process (revising and editing many times until the story represents the best work of the student)
- exploration of conflict – human vs. human, human vs. nature, human vs. self
- researching and writing two reports using proper essay structure
- researching family history and writing an autobiography
- written explanation of math thinking
- learning parts of speech in order to understand the concept of a “complete” sentence
- lessons on paragraphing
- practice writing complete sentences and paragraphs
- spelling lists generated from the students’ writing with attention paid to most commonly used words as well as Gruesome Spelling List of words based on most
- short story writing
- standard based on “best work” (individualized)
- sentence structure (complete and run on sentences)
- paragraph structure (topic sentence and supporting details)
- writing for a variety of purposes
- writing across the curriculum
- mechanics and punctuation
- parts of speech with an emphasis on verbs of being used in writing
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