Duration: 1 day

Illinois State Standards

Demonstrate focus, organization, elaboration and integration in written

compositions (e.g., short stories, letters, essays, reports). (3.B.1b)

Construct complete sentences which demonstrate subject/verb agreement;

appropriate capitalization and punctuation; correct spelling of appropriate, highfrequency words; and appropriate use of the eight parts of speech. (3.A.1)

Objectives

Students will be able to creatively express knowledge on their favorite animal

(3.B.1b)
Students will be able to have practice their new spelling words (3.A.1)

Materials
Paper
Markers/crayons/colored pencils
A stapler
Procedures
1
2

3
4
5

After being introduced to the thematic unit on animals, the students will be
asked to think about their favorite animal.
The students will then be asked to create a short story on their favorite
animal. They will write one sentence per page and the book will have no
more than five pages.
Since the spelling words will be introduced at this time, the students will be
asked to include at least five new spelling words into their story.
The students will also be asked to use their creativity and include pictures on
each page.
When they finish, they will ask the teachers help to staple their book
together

Assessment
Short Story, Rubric
Spelling Words

Sheep
Bear
Tiger
Robin
Spider
Hamster
Eagle
Whale
Barn
Rabbit
Termite
Goat
Sparrow
Dolphin
Butterfly
Lizard
Woodpecker
Caterpillar
Octopus
Ocean

http://www.spellingcity.com/sample-spelling-lists.html

Story Writing: What's your favorite animal?

Teacher Name: Ms. Banks and Ms. Dalluge

Student Name:
CATEGORY
Creativity

Focus on
Assigned Topic

Illustrations

Spelling and
Punctuation

________________________________________
4
The story
contains many
creative details
and/or
descriptions that
contribute to the
reader's
enjoyment. The
author has really
used his/her
imagination.
The entire story
is related to the
assigned topic
and allows the
reader to
understand
much more
about the topic.
Original
illustrations are
detailed,
attractive,
creative and
relate to the text
on the page.
There are no
spelling or
punctuation
errors in the final
draft. Character
and place names
that the author

3
The story
contains a few
creative details
and/or
descriptions that
contribute to the
reader's
enjoyment. The
author has used
his/her
imagination.
Most of the story
is related to the
assigned topic.
The story
wanders off at
one point, but
the reader can
still learn
something about
the topic.
Original
illustrations are
somewhat
detailed,
attractive, and
relate to the text
on the page.
There is one
spelling or
punctuation
error in the final
draft.

2
The story
contains a few
creative details
and/or
descriptions, but
they distract
from the story.
The author has
tried to use
his/her
imagination.
Some of the
story is related
to the assigned
topic, but a
reader does not
learn much
about the topic.

1
There is little
evidence of
creativity in the
story. The author
does not seem to
have used much
imagination.

Original
illustrations
relate to the text
on the page.

Illustrations are
not present OR
they are not
original.

There are 2-3

spelling and
punctuation
errors in the final
draft.

The final draft

has more than 3
spelling and
punctuation
errors.

No attempt has
been made to
relate the story
to the assigned
topic.

invented are
spelled
consistently
throughout.

Requirements

All of the written

requirements (#
of pages, # of
graphics, type of
graphics, etc.)
were met.

Almost all (about

90%) the written
requirements
were met.

Most (about
75%) of the
written
requirements
were met, but
several were not.

Many
requirements
were not met.