Interdisciplinary Writing Unit: Integrating Science and Social Studies for Third Grade Presentation By Laura Williamson Valdosta State University

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE SCORING GUIDELINES FOR THE GEORGIA GRADE 3 WRITING ASSESSMENT Stage 6 The Extending Writer Writing samples produced by students at this stage exhibit most or all of the following characteristics: A topic that is fully elaborated with rich details. Organization that sustains the writer’s purpose and moves the reader through the piece. Audience awareness techniques that engage and sustain the reader’s interest. Effective use of varied sentence patterns. Creative and novel language. Errors in surface features that do not interfere with the reader’s understanding of the writer’s message.

Georgia Writing Test for 3 rd Grade Types of Writing- Relating a Personal Experience Creating an Imaginative Story Responding to Literature Responding to QCC Content Area Information

Introduction to the unit: 3 rd grade Genre/mode of writing- Informational/ Comparing and Contrasting Content Area Integration: Science/Rocks and Minerals

Pre-assessment prompt You are going to be given thirty minutes to compare and contrast your school term in kindergarten to your school term in third grade, you may compare your sibling to yourself, or you may compare events during the summer to events during the winter. You are going to plan and write a draft. Do not worry so much about conventions. You may not ask questions or communicate with your partner or me during this writing.

Grouping Arrangement Prewriting stage- two groups to brainstorm rocks and minerals Practice Activity for all stages- whole class except publishing Students are in small groups for publishing. Assessment Activity for all stages- individually In the revising and editing stages, the class broke into small groups of 4 with one group of 3 after the assessment to get feedback from peers, asking for suggestions.

Describe expository Writing to learn, inform, and share information The audience is usually an unknown audience. reports are the most common type of informative writing Students use expository writing to give directions, sequence steps, compare one thing to another, explain causes and effects, or describe problems and solutions.

Prewriting Prewriting should first include choosing a topic. You should then consider the function (to entertain or to inform), audience, form of your writing (report, journal, letter, etc.). Finally, you should organize your thoughts and ideas into a graphic organizer.

Graphic Organizer

Practice Activity for Prewriting Stage I will use a shared writing activity. In shared writing, I will work with the students to compose a report in the expository format, and I will process as a scribe. We will complete a graphic organizer of rocks and minerals together.

Assessment Activity for prewriting Since we have completed a graphic organizer together, you are going to make your own graphic organizer. Be sure to consider the function for writing, form, topic, purpose, and your audience.

Scoring rubric for prewriting

Rubric Cont’d

Drafting Stage you will write a rough draft of your writing do not concentrate on mechanics focus is on content and grabs the readers’ attention Drafting is forming ideas into complete sentences using the prewriting graphic organizer. Next, you will put your sentences into paragraphs. Concentrate on explaining and supporting and connecting the ideas in your writing.

Practice Activity for drafting stage Today we are going to use our class graphic organizer in which we created the other day to write the rough draft in the drafting stage of the writing process. Since you know what a rough draft is, we should write one together. I will use the shared writing technique again, using the students’ ideas.

Assessment Activity for drafting Now that you have seen my rough draft and have written a rough draft together with me, you know what a rough draft is. I think it is time for you to make one on your own. I will give everyone wide- ruled paper. This will be done individually.

Scoring Rubric for Drafting

Drafting Rubric

Drafting Checklist

Revising Stage revise what we have written on our first draft add, substitute, delete, and rearrange our ideas from our rough draft reread through the rough draft and make revisions Use a couple proofreading marks (deleting, transposing, and caret)

Practice Activity for revising stage I will place the class draft on the overhead. We will complete the practice activity as a whole class, using shared writing technique. This is our class draft comparing rocks and minerals. We are going to make revisions together. Let’s read the draft together first. The changes on the class draft should be made according to the students’ feedback and suggestions.

Assessment Activity for revising stage Each student will make appropriate revisions to his or her own draft using the proofreading marks with a different colored pen. Each student will do this in the whole-class instruction time. After everyone has completed his or her revisions, I will break the students into their small-groups. The small groups will allow the students to receive feedback for revisions. Each student will receive a checklist for revisions.

Scoring rubric for revising stage

Revising rubric

Checklist for revising

Checklist for small group

Editing Stage we will proofread our reports A good writer should begin to edit his or her compositions after setting the revision aside for a few days. The writer should pay close attention to spelling, grammar, punctuation, formation, and capitalization. Proofreading marks are to be used to correct any mistakes.

Practice Activity for editing stage The revision of the class draft comparing rocks and minerals will be on the overhead. We will edit this piece together as a whole group. Look for spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes. We will use the proofreader’s marks from our chart.

Assessment Activity for editing stage You are now going to edit your own paper. I will give each of you an editing checklist just like the one we have been using with our class draft of the report. Proofread your writing using the proofreading marks chart. Remember to check for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Scoring Rubric for editing stage

Editing Rubric

Editing Checklist

Publishing Stage Publishing is the final stage of the writing process. writer puts the composition in final written form any mistakes should be corrected grammar should be checked review our handwriting skills Share published piece

Practice Activity for publishing stage I will place the class copy of the editing stage on the overhead projector. I will provide a piece of chart paper to each group of four members with a marker. Each group will be assigned to write the final form of the introduction, paragraph about similarities, paragraph about differences, or the conclusion. Each student in the group will have the opportunity to write a sentence from the edited draft onto the final form. The group of three will be the students who read the entire final form to the class.

Assessment Activity for publishing stage Now you are ready to write your own published drafts. Everyone needs to take out your revised and edited version of your report. Write slowly, spell correctly, and use the proper cursive handwriting. You will share your report in the author’s chair. Once you have shared in the author’s chair, you may place report in the class book.

Scoring rubric for publishing stage

Accommodations and/or modifications The students who are very shy and do not like to present in front of the class will not get points deducted from the rubric for author’s chair if another student reads their report to the class. All students may not have the ability and confidence to present, so I cannot count off points for this student. I will place the student with emotional or behavioral disorders close to the overhead to monitor his behavior for close proximity to reduce off task behaviors.

Accommodations Cont’d The student with speech impairments will be asked to repeat the problematic sounds over if mispronounced while she is reading in the author’s chair. This will provide practice and corrective feedback to assist her speech therapy. The students with learning disabilities will be allowed to use the word processor if there fine motor skills are too weak to rewrite the final form.

Accommodations Cont’d The student who has a visual impairment will be seated in the front of the room where he can see the overhead projector. I will ask the two students who come from a different linguistic and Hispanic culture if they didn’t mind reading their reports in Spanish in the author’s chair. This will expand the cultural aspect to the rest of the class. The bilingual students can teach the class how to say rocks and minerals in Spanish and important vocabulary related to rocks and minerals. Then, the Spanish speaking students can read his or her reports using English.

References Lorochelle, B. Young auhors’ workshop: Getting started: Publishing. Retrieved May 17, 2006, from aroch/indexb.html aroch/indexb.html This website is a great resource for teachers and students to guide them through the writing process with additional resources available at each stage of the writing process. Root, T. (n.d.). The writing process: Prewriting & beyond. Unpublished manuscript, Valdosta State University, GA. Tompkins, G. E. (2004). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (4th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Introduction to the unit: 3 rd grade Genre/mode of writing- Persuasive/ Persuasive Essay Content Area Integration: Social Studies/Civil Rights, Separate but equal

Pre-assessment Prompt for persuasive writing You are going to be given thirty minutes to write an essay on either of two topics: your opinion about wearing uniforms in school with justification or your opinion about having a bottled drink during instructional time in the classroom with justification. You are going to plan and write a draft. Do not worry so much about conventions. You may not ask questions or communicate with your partner or me during this writing.

Grouping Arrangement Practice Activity for all stages- whole class except publishing Students are in small groups for publishing. Assessment Activity for all stages- individually In the revising and editing stages, the class broke into small groups of 4 with one group of 3 after the assessment to get feedback from peers, asking for suggestions.

Persuasive writing to argue logically with reasons to present other viewpoints to sway opinions, and to persuade someone to do something it is crucial that writers have a sense of audience and adapt their writing to their audience The different forms of persuasive writing may include posters, letters, letters to the editor, essays, advertisements, and commercials

Prewriting Prewriting should first include choosing a topic. You should then consider the function (to entertain or to inform), audience, form of your writing (report, journal, letter, etc.). Finally, you should organize your thoughts and ideas into a graphic organizer.

Graphic Organizer

Practice Activity for Prewriting I will use a shared writing activity. In shared writing, I will work with the students to compose an essay in the persuasive format, and I will process as a scribe. We will complete a graphic organizer of rocks and minerals together.

Assessment Activity for Prewriting Since we have completed a graphic organizer together, you are going to make your own graphic organizer. Be sure to consider the function for writing, form, topic, purpose, and your audience.

Prewriting rubric

Drafting you will write a rough draft of your writing do not concentrate on mechanics focus is on content and grabs the readers’ attention Drafting is forming ideas into complete sentences using the prewriting graphic organizer. Next, you will put your sentences into paragraphs. Concentrate on explaining and supporting and connecting the ideas in your writing.

Practice Activity for Drafting Today we are going to use our class graphic organizer in which we created the other day to write the rough draft in the drafting stage of the writing process. Since you know what a rough draft is, we should write one together. I will use the shared writing technique again, using the students’ ideas.

Assessment Activity for Drafting Now that you have seen my rough draft and have written a rough draft together with me, you know what a rough draft is. I think it is time for you to make one on your own. I will give everyone wide- ruled paper. This will be done individually.

Scoring rubric for drafting

Rubric Cont’d

Drafting Checklist

Revising revise what we have written on our first draft add, substitute, delete, and rearrange our ideas from our rough draft reread through the rough draft and make revisions Use a couple proofreading marks (deleting, transposing, and caret)

Practice Activity for revising I will place the class draft on the overhead. We will complete the practice activity as a whole class, using shared writing technique. This is our class draft about our opinion of separate but equal. We are going to make revisions together. Let’s read the draft together first. The changes on the class draft should be made according to the students’ feedback and suggestions.

Assessment Activity for Revising Each student will make appropriate revisions to his or her own draft using the proofreading marks with a different colored pen. Each student will do this in the whole-class instruction time. After everyone has completed his or her revisions, I will break the students into their small-groups. The small groups will allow the students to receive feedback for revisions. Each student will receive a checklist for revisions.

Scoring rubric for revising

Checklist for revising

Checklist for small group

Editing we will proofread our reports A good writer should begin to edit his or her compositions after setting the revision aside for a few days. The writer should pay close attention to spelling, grammar, punctuation, formation, and capitalization. Proofreading marks are to be used to correct any mistakes

Practice Activity for editing The revision of the class draft comparing rocks and minerals will be on the overhead. We will edit this piece together as a whole group. Look for spelling, punctuation, and grammar mistakes. We will use the proofreader’s marks from our chart.

Assessment activity for editing You are now going to edit your own paper. I will give each of you an editing checklist just like the one we have been using with our class draft of the report. Proofread your writing using the proofreading marks chart. Remember to check for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Scoring rubric for editing

Rubric cont’d

Checklist for editing

Checklist for small group

Publishing Publishing is the final stage of the writing process. writer puts the composition in final written form any mistakes should be corrected grammar should be checked review our handwriting skills Share published piece

Practice Activity for publishing I will place the class copy of the editing stage on the overhead projector. I will provide a piece of chart paper to each group of four members with a marker. Each group will be assigned to write the final form of the introduction, body paragraph #1, body paragraph #2, or the conclusion. Each student in the group will have the opportunity to write a sentence from the edited draft onto the final form. The group of three will be the students who read the entire final form to the class.

Assessment activity for publishing Now you are ready to write your own published drafts. Everyone needs to take out your revised and edited version of your report. Write slowly, spell correctly, and use the proper cursive handwriting. You will share your report in the author’s chair.

Scoring rubric for publishing

Accommodations and/or modifications The students who are very shy and do not like to present in front of the class will not get points deducted from the rubric for author’s chair if another student reads their report to the class. All students may not have the ability and confidence to present, so I cannot count off points for this student. I will place the student with emotional or behavioral disorders close to the overhead to monitor his behavior for close proximity to reduce off task behaviors.

Accommodations Cont’d The student with speech impairments will be asked to repeat the problematic sounds over if mispronounced while she is reading in the author’s chair. This will provide practice and corrective feedback to assist her speech therapy. The students with learning disabilities will be allowed to use the word processor if there fine motor skills are too weak to rewrite the final form.

Accommodations Cont’d The student who has a visual impairment will be seated in the front of the room where he can see the overhead projector. I will ask the two students who come from a different linguistic and Hispanic culture if they didn’t mind reading their reports in Spanish in the author’s chair. This will expand the cultural aspect to the rest of the class. The bilingual students can teach the class how to say rocks and minerals in Spanish and important vocabulary related to rocks and minerals. Then, the Spanish speaking students can read his or her reports using English.

References Lorochelle, B. Young auhors’ workshop: Getting started: Publishing. Retrieved May 17, 2006, from aroch/indexb.html aroch/indexb.html This website is a great resource for teachers and students to guide them through the writing process with additional resources available at each stage of the writing process. Root, T. (n.d.). The writing process: Prewriting & beyond. Unpublished manuscript, Valdosta State University, GA. Tompkins, G. E. (2004). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (4th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.