First Grade PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING

Description

First grade personal narrative writing has NEVER BEEN EASIER OR MORE FUN! We are talking LOW PREP, experience-based first grade personal narrative lessons and activities that require less than 5 minutes of planning each day. A consistent personal narrative graphic organizer and a  narrative writing rubric are included.

 

Experience-based means students engage in a common experience and then write personalized stories about what happened. This experience-based approach ensures ALL students have experiences to write about and provides you, the teacher, with common student experiences to structure your teaching around.

 

The best part…ALL the planning has been done for you – making writing instruction stress-free, painless, and FUN!

 

This Common Core Standards Aligned resource includes digital, daily lesson plans, all the blackline masters you’ll need, experience ideas with directions and resources, assessment tools, and colorful posters to make your teacher life as stress free as possible.

 

This first grade personal narrative writing unit sets ALL learners up for success. It’s written in an organized, systematic format that helps students gradually learn how to write personal narrative papers. You will LOVE how easy it is to implement.

Grab this Low Prep, Stress Free, and Effective DIGITAL personal narrative writing unit TODAY!

 

 

WHAT’S INCLUDED IN THIS  RESOURCE?

 

40 DIGITAL LESSON PLANS – No need to search for your lesson plans or spend an enormous amount of time reading them each day. We have them right on the slides – making your teaching life stress-free.

 

Digital Lessons Include:

· “I Will” Statements – To focus students’ attention on what they will be doing for the day. We use “I will” statements instead of “I can” statements as they hold the students more accountable.

· Writing Chats – To introduce topics and build background information and vocabulary.

· Experience Ideas & Directions – To engage students in an experience that will ensure EVERY student has a story to write.

· Watch Me Slides – For the teacher to show the objective through thinking aloud and modeling. This is oftentimes interactive to keep student engagement high.

· Our Turn Slides – For students to practice the new skill or standard with you.

· Your Turn Slides – For students to independently practice the skill learned.

 

 

60 PRINTABLE PAGES – Each day students complete a story plan, writing page, or skill activity page. Extra printable planning and writing pages have been included to offer you quick and easy resources to differentiate assignments for your students.

 

 

OBSERVATION CHECKLISTS – Great for formative assessment! As you walk around and observe students, record your findings. This easy to use checklist helps you remember who is meeting targeted standards and who needs extra help. This is a helpful tool to refer to when planning for parent-teacher conferences.

 

First Grade PERSONAL NARRATIVE WRITING RUBRIC – This handy resource is perfect for grading personal narrative papers and discussing goals and progress with students and parents.

 

POSTERS – Set of 10 personal narrative writing posters to display in your classroom.

 

 

HERE IS A GLIMPSE OF THE FOCUS FOR EACH WEEK

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 1 – Exposure to features of a personal narrative (what a personal narrative is; beginning/middle/end; temporal words; closure)

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 2 – Together, make a story plan for a class personal narrative (Quick Sketch)

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 3 – Together, make and use a story plan to write a class personal narrative (lesson on adding details)

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 4 – After teacher modeling, write a personal narrative with details (specific actions character does, feelings, adjectives)

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 5 – Make a story plan and write a personal narrative with details

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 6 – Make a story plan and write a personal narrative with details

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 7 – Make a story plan and write a personal narrative with details

· WRITING FOCUS WEEK 8 – Make a story plan and write a personal narrative with details

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WHY EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION FOR WRITING?

It’s simple… IT WORKS!

 

Explicit instruction (also called direct instruction) works for all writers…not just the stronger ones. It’s a strategy that allows teachers to scaffold learning by giving structured, sequenced lessons targeting specific skills or standards. It’s teacher led with a gradual release of responsibility to students. This method truly allows all students to succeed.

 

If you are thinking, that doesn’t sound like Writer’s Workshop, you’re right. It’s not. Years ago, we implemented Writer’s Workshop in our classrooms, but it didn’t work for us… or our students.

 

The biggest problem was that it was very difficult to manage and keep students on track. It was also a planning nightmare trying to find mini-lessons to match our students’ diverse needs. And to make matters worse, when we gave mini-lessons students didn’t necessarily practice the targeted skill because they were at a different stage of the writing process.

 

We were disappointed, frustrated and knew we had to do something different.

 

We decided to put structure and intentionality into our teaching. We clearly state what students will be working on, give thoughtful instruction through modeling and discussion, and provide time to practice as we observe and guide. It is so simple to manage and gives students the support they need. The result? Student writing like we’ve never seen. This method truly works!

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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING THIS WRITING RESOURCE?

· All students have something to write about because it’s experience-based.

· The entry point for this unit is assessable to all learners.

· The lessons and thoughtfully scaffolded, ensuring success for all.

· The Watch Me, Our Turn, Your Turn format sets your first-grade writers up for success.

· Your students will be highly-engaged and motivated to write.

· At completion of this unit, your students will be confidently writing personal narrative papers with ease.

 

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WHO IS THE RESOURCE FOR?

· First grade teachers looking for a strong, yet easy to implement, writing curriculum that is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and fun for kids.

· Special Education Teachers who need to teach students the basics of personal narrative writing using a direct instruction approach.

 

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is this resource aligned to the Common Core State Standards?

Yes! We built this whole resource around the Common Core State Standards for first grade.

Do students complete a writing assignment each day?

Yes, students complete a story plan, writing page, or skill activity page each day.

Does this follow a Writers’ Workshop model?

No. Writers’ Workshop worked great for us in second grade, but not so much in first. Instead, students are taught concepts and skills explicitly, are given guided practice, and are then provided time to practice independently.

 

If you are interested in more effective, easy to implement NO PREP digital first grade writing units, check these out.