Chelsea Mueller Professor Rich ELD 307 March 12, 2013 Grade: Third Subject/Topic/Activity: Writers Workshop Turning

jots into Realistic Fiction Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3a Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3b Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3c Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3d Provide a sense of closure. Objective: Students will be able to create a realistic fiction story based upon their own jots. Materials: Easel Chart Paper Jot Book Pencils Procedure: Mini-Lesson: Connection: Have the students come to the rug with their jot journal. In the students jot journals they have jots that they have written every weekend about anything they wish. These jots may include problems, events they are excited for, events that happened over the weekend and so on. When the students sit down the teacher will talk to them about their night. Class, Id love to tell you about a problem I had last night. Last night I came home and while I was making my lunch realized that someone ate all of my applesauce. I needed the applesauce for my lunch the next day or I would not have a snack. I went around the house and asked everyone if they ate it and no one confessed to doing so! After telling them this story, the teacher will ask if anyone else has ever had a problem like this. On the easel write on the board Millie was making her lunch and could not find

applesauce. Ask the students what they realize about this story on the board. The students should realize that this is the same story the teacher just told but with a different name. Tell the students that when authors use their real life stories but with different character and place names it is called realistic fiction. The authors are using their everyday activities and events to create a story that others can relate to. Say to the students During writers workshop today we are going to make our own realistic fiction stories just like authors do. We are going to use our jots to create these stories. We are going to go through our journals and pick a jot that has a problem that most students in this class can relate to. Some of these problems can be worrying about an upcoming math test, doing your homework, having to do chores and Im sure there are a lot more. Can any of you think about some of the problems you have written in your jots? On the easel create a list of the problems that the students come up with. Talk to the students about how easy it is to change their names in the stories. Explain to them that because many people can relate to these problems they can easily be turned into stories. Tell the students that they will have to use their short jots to create a longer realistic fiction story. Teaching: Talk to the students about what stories need to include in order for it to be longer than their jots. Make a list of the responses that the students give on the board. The students should respond with character(s), setting(s), a problem, a solution, dialogue, explicit details, beginning, middle, and end. If the students need help give them an example of a book that they have read as a class and ask them what that story had in it that kept them interested in reading it. After the students have come up with the responses above, tell them that they are going to use those elements to create their own story. Turn to the students and say, Now that we know the elements of a story, we are going to use them to turn my problem with the applesauce into a realistic fiction story. On the board write out character, setting, problem, and solution, have the students tell the teacher what to fill in based upon the story the teacher told. Make sure that the students understand that in order for this to be considered realistic fiction it cannot use the teachers name or the name of the actual setting. Allow the students to come up with a creative name and setting. They are not necessarily changing the setting, just the places name, for example if their problem was at McDonalds they should call it ODonnells. Tell the students that the problem and solution can be the same. If there was no solution given, they can think of their own ending that has happened to them in this situation. Talk with the students about the process that they just took as a class. Have them see how easy it is to turn their stories into realistic fiction and to become realistic fiction authors. Active Engagement: Allow the students to get with their partner of the month that was teacher selected at the beginning of the month. With their partner they will talk about problems that they have encountered. After giving the students a few minutes to talk about possible problems say, Now, with your partner you are going to discuss the elements needed in a story. Think about your problem and connect the problem with the story elements. Let the students talk for about five minutes. Once they are done talking, tell the students that now they are going to use their jots to do this same process.

Link: Have the students look through their jot book and find a jot that they would like to turn into a realistic fiction story. Instruct the students that when they have found a jot to quietly go back to their desks and begin to write out the story elements based on their jot. Time to Confer: While the students are working at their desks walk around the room and observe their work. Stop at each student and be sure to ask them how their work is going. If there are struggling students guide them in the right direction. The teacher may even have to reteach the mini-lesson in order to get the concept of realistic fiction across. If many students are struggling in the same area take note of that and have the students come back to the rug and talk about this. While observing, check to make sure that students are not using the real names of people from their story. Tell them to be creative when it comes to names. Also, make sure that students have a problem in their stories. If the students are struggling to find a problem, look through their jots with them to find one. Be sure to take note of two to four students who are on the right track. By doing this it will be easy to pick on students to share to the class. After the Workshop Share: After about fifteen to twenty minutes have the students bring what they wrote to the rug and sit next to their partner. Recap to the students what was done, Today we learned that authors write in a genre called realistic fiction when they are using their real life stories with different character names and place names. They use their past events and story elements to create stories that we as readers can relate to. After the recap, let the students turn and talk to their partner about what they wrote. Tell them that they should be asking each other questions about how they changed their story to make it realistic fiction. After three to five minutes have them turn back to the front. Thinking back to the students who were on the right track during the conferences, the teacher will call on those students to read their outlines to the class. While they are being read to the class the teacher will say how she liked their creativity with the names. Also state how relatable the problem is to her students and herself. Tell the students that they did a great job today, especially since it was their first day being realistic fiction writers. Tell the students that they need to keep their list of story elements in their writing folder, so that they can begin to write their realistic fiction story tomorrow. Assessment: Throughout the lesson the students will be assessed informally. The teacher will listen during partner discussions to see if the students are grasping the concept. The teacher will be listening to hear if the students are coming up with new names but keeping the same problem. During conferencing the students will also be assessed. This will be informal as well; the teacher will walk around and see if the students can fill out the different story elements based upon their jots. The teacher will take note of who is struggling and who is surpassing this task. Management Issues/Transitions:

When the students come to the rug they will be called by their birthday month. When they get to the rug they will sit with their assigned partner. Each person in the class will be given a homogenous partner at the beginning of the month that they will work with in writing and reading. When it is time to go back to their desks they will do so quietly and on their own. To get back to the rug, they will be called over by partners. This will be done after at least fifteen minutes in order to give them enough time to fill out their story elements.

Differentiation: The story elements will be written on the easel in the front of the room for all the students to see. Students who are at a lower writing level will just have to complete the top part of the elements such as, characters, setting, problem and solution. Students who are gifted and talented will be able to fill in elements such as beginning, middle, end, dialogue, and any other specific details. The last section does not need to be completed at the time of this activity, but will be in the finished written product later in the week.