Writing Narrative Texts: Pacing – Slowing Down Time, Part I | EL Education Curriculum

You are here

Home › Our Curriculum › ELA Grade 5 › ELA G5:M2 › ELA G5:M2:U3 ›

ELA G5:M2:U3:L7

Writing Narrative Texts: Pacing – Slowing Down Time, Part I

In this Lesson

You are here:

These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:

  • RL.5.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
  • W.5.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
  • W.5.3b: Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
  • W.5.3d: Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.
  • W.5.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
  • W.5.5: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
  • L.5.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
  • L.5.1a: Explain the function of conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections in general and their function in particular sentences.
  • L.5.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
  • L.5.2b: Use a comma to separate an introductory element from the rest of the sentence.
  • L.5.3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
  • L.5.3a: Expand, combine, and reduce sentences for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style.
Download Materials

Daily Learning Targets

  • I can revise my narrative writing to slow down time when something interesting, relevant to the plot, is happening. (W.5.3)
  • I can identify conjunctions and their function in writing. (L.5.1)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Annotations on "Bite at Night" (W.5.3)
  • Revised partner narrative (W.5.3)
  • Description of function of conjunction on sticky note (L.5.1)
  • Peer critique on sticky notes (W.5.5)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Reviewing Learning Targets (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Analyzing a Model: Slowing Down Time, Part I (20 minutes)

B. Partner Practice: Slowing Down Time, Part I (20 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Review: Conjunctions (15 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Complete a Conjunctions Practice (Conjunctions Practice II) in your Unit 3 homework.

B. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt to respond to in the front of your independent reading journal.

Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

  • In this lesson, students continue to consider pacing in their partner narratives, specifically slowing down time by expanding sentences to add concrete words and phrases and sensory details to describe important/interesting/exciting events/experiences (L.5.3a). They analyze "Bite at Night" for descriptions of thoughts, actions, and feelings that slow down time when something of interest is happening and revise their partner narratives written in the first half of the unit (W.5.3b, W.5.5).
  • Students also review and revise their partner narratives for conjunctions (L.5.1a, and L.5.3a). This is a review of the mini lesson from Lesson 3. If students are still unclear about the function and use of conjunctions, this is a good place to repeat the mini lesson. As with Lesson 3, this learning is focused on coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, as this is something all students will have encountered, according to the L.1 standard.
  • Students who finish quickly or require an extension can choose another place in their partner narrative to revise with a focus on building anticipation to the main event, using the example in "Bite at Night" when Meg almost falls down after tripping on something.
  • The research reading that students complete for homework helps build both their vocabulary and knowledge pertaining to the rainforest, specifically rainforest species and research. By participating in this volume of reading over time, students will develop a wide base of knowledge about the world and the words that help describe and make sense of it. Inviting students to share what they have been learning through independent reading holds them accountable.
  • In this lesson, the habit of character focus is working to become an effective learner. The characteristic students are reminded of specifically is collaboration, as they continue to work with a partner to revise their partner narrative.

How it builds on previous work:

  • In the first half of the unit, students wrote narratives in pairs. In this half, they revise those narratives in the same pairs.
  • In Lesson 3, students were introduced to conjunctions, and they review that learning in the Closing and Assessment.
  • Continue to use Goals 1-3 Conversation Cues to promote productive and equitable conversation.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

  • Concrete words and phrases can be a challenging concept for students to understand. They may need to compare additional examples from the text or from another text to fully understand what it means and how to apply it to their work.

Assessment guidance:

  • Review student narratives during and/or after the lesson to determine whether students have appropriately slowed down time in places where action is happening by describing thoughts, actions, and feelings.
  • Review student sticky notes about the function of a particular conjunction to check their understanding.
  • Refer to the Narrative Writing Rubric: Grade 5 when reviewing student work to determine areas in which students require more instruction and/or support (see the Tools page).
  • Consider using the Writing: Writing Informal Assessment: Observational Checklist for Writing and Language Skills when students revise in Work Time B (see the Tools page).
  • Collect the Conjunctions Practice I homework from Lesson 3 for assessment. See Conjunctions Practice I (answers, for teacher reference).

Down the road:

  • For the End of Unit 3 Assessment, students will revise their Mid-Unit 3 Assessment narrative using the techniques and skills they have learned and applied to their partner narratives in the lessons leading up to the assessment.
  • In this lesson, students focus on slowing down pacing through adding detail, particularly sensory details, as this is a first person narrative. In the next lesson, they will continue to slow down time by adding dialogue to show characters' responses to a problem.
  • In later modules, when L.5.1a is addressed again, students will move on to explore the function of other kinds of conjunctions: conjunctive adverbs and correlative conjunctions.

In Advance

  • Post: Learning targets, Performance Task anchor chart, Concrete and Sensory Language anchor chart, Narrative Texts anchor chart, Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart, and Parts of Speech anchor chart.

Tech and Multimedia

  • Work Time A: Students use a collaborative digital copy of the "Bite at Night" text in a Google Doc, for example.
  • Work Time B: If students used a word processor for their partner narrative, they will revise their writing using the same tool. To show their revisions from this lesson, students should highlight in green.
  • Closing and Assessment A: If students used a word processor for their partner narrative, conjunctions can be highlighted in orange and peer critique notes can be added through the comment function. 

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 5.I.B.5, 5.I.B.6, 5.I.B.7, 5.I.C.10a, 5.I.C.11a, 5.I.C.12a, 5.II.A.4, 5.II.A.5, 5.II.C.6

Important points in the lesson itself

  • The basic design of this lesson supports ELLs with opportunities to visualize sensory details, analyze multiple written models, observe multiple teacher models, and discuss their narratives and give feedback in pairs.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to produce sensory details in English. Invite them to use their home language to facilitate generating ideas that can then be discussed or translated in English. Consider providing students with several English adjective phrases and noun phrases to select from that they could use to slow down their big moment. See additional suggestions in the Meeting Students' Needs column.

Levels of support

For lighter support:

  • Invite students to ask family and friends to share examples of interjections--like Wow! Ouch! Yikes!--in their home language for use in Lesson 8.
  • Allow students to revise their conjunctions glossary begun in Lesson 3, based on their current understanding.

For heavier support:

  • For Work Time A: Use The Most Beautiful Roof in the World to create two or three sentence strips that have a big moment written on them. Also create a dozen phrase/clause strips with sensory phrases written on them that correspond to the big moments. Invite students to match the sensory phrase strips to the appropriate big moment. Example:

Big moment:

    • The rainforest is alive around Meg and her sons as she reads a book to them.
    • Meg's sons are climbing into the canopy.

Sensory phrase/clause strips:

    • thick, humid air
    • a frog slaps its sticky, padded feet on a palm frond
    • it swoops through the night
    • "Oh man, oh man!"
    • his feet are so small he can rest both of them easily on a staple
    • they reach the walkway
  • For Work Time A, reuse the speed-up/slow-down strips prepared in Lesson 6.
  • In preparation for the End of Unit Assessment, review the 11 conjunctions introduced in Lesson 3: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, when, while, because, though. Find an example of each of the 11 conjunctions in The Most Beautiful Roof in the World. Print them on a worksheet, omitting the conjunctions. Invite students to fill in each blank with the proper conjunction and explain its purpose.

Universal Design for Learning

  • Multiple Means of Representation: Students are asked to identify areas where the model text slows down and then apply it to their own writing. This will involve multiple levels of comprehension both of the model text and their own writing. More than just comprehending the plot, they will also need to connect it to the author's purpose and use of concrete words and sensory details. Offer varied representations of the model text and their own writing (e.g., visual representations, thoughtful discussions, and questioning to make the author's purpose explicit). Supports in this lesson include displaying information in sentence strips and a T-chart to facilitate increased comprehension.
  • Multiple Means of Action and Expression: Some students may need additional support when identifying concrete and sensory details. Provide opportunities to engage with the text in different ways to emphasize the details. The supports in this lesson include a matching activity and the use of highlighters. As students engage with the text in multiple ways, they will be better able to apply and generalize the new learning to their own writing.
  • Multiple Means of Engagement: The conjunction mini lesson within this lesson requires that students review each other's writing, provide feedback, and then revise based on this feedback. Peer review can be threatening to some students. Emphasize the benefits of peer review and feedback for all students by emphasizing effort and growth over relative performance. Make this activity relevant by reminding students that real authors have editors who provide feedback for their writing all the time. Rather than getting upset, writers welcome this feedback because it improves their writing.

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)

  • relevant, slow down time, pacing, expanded, concrete, sensory, abstract, conjunctions (L)
  • sharp, searing, bite-like (T)

Materials

  • Conjunctions Practice I (answers, for teacher reference)
  • Performance Task anchor chart (begun in Unit 1, Lesson 1)
  • "Bite at Night" (from Lesson 1; one per student and one to display)
  • Green colored pencils (one per student)
  • "Bite at Night" Pacing (from Lesson 6; for teacher reference)
  • Expanding Sentences with Concrete Words and Sensory Details (one per student and one to display)
  • Concrete and Sensory Language anchor chart (begun in Unit 2, Lesson 5)
  • Narrative Texts anchor chart (begun in Lesson 2; added to in advance; see supporting materials)
  • Narrative Writing Checklist (from Lesson 2; one per student and one to display)
  • Narrative Writing Checklist (from Lesson 2; example, for teacher reference)
  • Steps for Revising My Writing anchor chart (begun in Lesson 6)
  • Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
  • Partner narrative drafts (begun in Lesson 2; revised in Work Time B; one per student)
  • Parts of Speech anchor chart (begun in Module 1)
  • Orange colored pencils (one per student)
  • Sticky notes (five per pair)

Assessment

Each unit in the 3-5 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reviewing Learning Targets (5 minutes)

  • Collect the Conjunctions Practice I homework from Lesson 3 for assessment. See Conjunctions Practice I (answers, for teacher reference).
  • Direct students' attention to the posted learning targets and read the first one aloud:
    • "I can revise my narrative writing to slow down time when something interesting relevant to the plot is happening."
  • Review the meaning of the word relevant.
  • Underline the words slow down time.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What does 'slow down time' mean? Does it mean you literally slow down time in your narrative?" (It doesn't mean to literally slow down time; it is figurative language. It means the reader spends a long time in a specific moment of time, which may only be a few seconds in real time, because of the way the author spends a lot of time describing it.)

"Why might an author want to slow down time when something interesting is happening relevant to the plot?" (to help the reader really understand how that moment felt/looked/sounded/smelled to engage them in the plot)

  • Direct students' attention to the posted Performance Task anchor chart and the bullet:
    • "Uses narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to show what characters are doing, thinking, and feeling and how they respond to situations, and to help the reader imagine experiences or events."
  • As in the previous lesson, focus students on the word pacing and remind them that when you speed up and slow down time in a narrative, this is pacing.
  • Direct students' attention back to the learning targets and read the remaining one aloud:
    • "I can identify conjunctions and their function in writing."
  • Remind students that they learned about conjunctions in Lesson 3 and explain that they will review that learning later in this lesson.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: Repeat and then rephrase the first learning target: "Sometimes, there is a very interesting event in my narrative. It helps tell the main story in an interesting way. I can add details to that event to make it longer, with more description." Ask:

"When are we going to slow down time in our narrative?" (when something interesting or relevant to the plot is happening) (MMR)

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Analyzing a Model: Slowing Down Time, Part I (20 minutes)

  • Display and invite students to retrieve "Bite at Night." Remind them that they have read this text multiple times now and explain that this author slowed down time at certain points in the story when something interesting relevant to the plot was happening.
  • Remind students that when looking for where the author has slowed down time, they are looking for where the reader spends a long time in a specific moment, which may be only a few seconds in real time but seems longer because the author spends a lot of time describing it.
  • Ask students to take their texts and move to sit with the partners with whom they wrote their narratives in the first half of the unit.
  • Invite pairs to whisper-read "Bite at Night" together and determine places in the text where the author slowed down time and how it was done.
  • Distribute green colored pencils and invite students to annotate where and how the author slowed down time.
  • Circulate as students work. Identify and clarify misunderstandings and select students who have correctly identified places in the narrative to share with the whole group after students have finished working.
  • After 10 minutes, refocus whole group.
  • Invite selected students to come up and underline places in the displayed narrative where the author slowed time. Refer to "Bite at Night" Pacing (for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"Looking across the parts you have underlined in green, what do you notice about what the author did to slow down time?" (described interesting/exciting moments and action in great detail and used dialogue to show the character response)

  • If productive, cue students with a challenge:

"Can you figure out why the author slowed down time in these places _____? I'll give you time to think and discuss with a partner." (because they are big moments, interesting/exciting points in the story that really engage the readers' attention and draw them into the action. It also builds anticipation. For example, when Meg stumbles and nearly falls to her knees, the reader might wonder what happens next.)

  • Tell students that over the next two lessons, they are going to slow down time in their narratives using two different techniques.
  • Display and distribute Expanding Sentences with Concrete Words and Sensory Details.
  • Invite students to close their eyes and imagine they are the narrator as you read the first two sentences aloud.
  • Invite students to open their eyes again.
  • Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"From listening, what do you notice about the two sentences? Which one was easier to imagine? Why?" (It is much easier to imagine how the narrator felt in the second sentence because of the description.)

"Look at the sentences as they are written on your handout. What do you notice?" (The second sentence describes how the pain felt.)

  • Explain that in the second sentence, the author has expanded the sentence, which means to make it longer, to add concrete words and sensory details to explain the pain in more detail.
  • Focus students on the Concrete and Sensory Language anchor chart from Unit 2. Invite them to review what concrete and sensory language is.
  • Emphasize to students that on its own, the word pain doesn't explain the feeling clearly, but the words sharp, searing, and bite-like are concrete words that provide precise details and specific identifying information about how it actually felt.
  • Again, invite students to close their eyes as you read the next two sentences aloud for the whole group.
  • Encourage students to create a picture in their minds as they listen.
  • Invite students to open their eyes again.
  • For ELLs: Mini Language Dive. Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group. Write and display student responses next to the language:

"What color was the sky? What shape and color were the clouds?" (purple sky; streak shapes; yellow, orange, and pink clouds)

"What do the words at, with, and that do?" (They help the writer add on different types of detail to sky: when--"at sunset"; what--"with clouds"; what kind of clouds in the sky--"that created streaks.")

"From listening, what do you notice about the two sentences? Which one was easier to imagine? Why?" (It is much easier to see the picture created in the second sentence because the details are precise in the description.)

"Compare these two sentences. What do you notice?" (The second sentence describes the sunset so that the reader can actually imagine what it looked like.)

  • Emphasize to students that beautiful is not a concrete word because it doesn't tell us anything about how the sky actually looked. Instead, beautiful is an abstract word.
  • Tell students that the author has expanded the second sentence to describe how the sky was beautiful with a description of the colors, which are concrete words and sensory details because they tell us exactly how the sky looked.
  • Select a student to read aloud the next sentence for the whole group.
  • Remind students that the word amazing is abstract because it doesn't tell the reader how the moon actually looked.
  • Invite students to close their eyes for a minute and to picture the moon in their imagination. Encourage them to notice details.
  • Invite students to turn to an elbow partner to discuss concrete words and sensory details they would add to expand this sentence, based on what they saw in their imagination. (white, yellow, big, round)
  • Consider inviting home-language use to enhance creativity, inclusion, and communicative success. Say: "To make this even more interesting and successful, you can take a minute to discuss concrete words and sensory details with a partner who shares your home language. Then we can share in English. _____ (student's name), since you are the only student who is able to speak in wonderful _____ (e.g., Urdu), feel free to think quietly or write in _____ (e.g., Urdu) if you like."
  • Using a total participation technique, invite students to share their responses with the whole group. Listen for students to use words like white, yellow, big, round.
  • Display the Narrative Texts anchor chart and point to the bullet:
    • Describing important parts of the story in great detail; expanding sentences to add concrete words and phrases and sensory details to build anticipation and help readers imagine events and experiences.
  • Display and invite students to retrieve their Narrative Writing Checklist.
  • Focus students on the W.5.3b criteria:
    • "I 'slow down' important events by adding detail and use transitions to 'speed up' events that are not important."
  • Ask:

"Are there any specific criteria based on your analysis of 'Bite at Night' that you should be aware of and list in that column on the checklist?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Record students' suggestions in the Characteristics of My First Person Narrative column as needed. Refer to the Narrative Writing Checklist (example, for teacher reference).
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with new vocabulary: Using their vocabulary log, word clusters, and word maps for support, students can explore spelling and pronouncing aloud various word forms, synonyms, definitions, translations, and collocations (words frequently used together) to increase understanding of abstract, concrete, and sensory. (MMR)

Example:

sensory

S-E-N-S-O-R-Y

sense (body's ability to smell, touch, taste, see, hear) + -ory (suffix to create an adjective)

relating to the body's ability to smell, touch, taste, see, and hear

madaling in Tagalog

sensory ability, sensory detail, sensory experience, sensory memory

  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with writing: Display a T-chart with the first column labeled "abstract words" and the second labeled "concrete words." As you review the sample sentences from Expanding Sentences with Concrete Words and Sensory Details, categorize the abstract and concrete words you discuss on the T-chart, e.g., sharp, amazing, round. (MMR, MMAE)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: Model the task of finding language that slows down time in "Bite at Night." Think aloud as you read: "I could still hear the rustling of something moving around nearby. Hmm. Does that slow down time? Yes, I think so, because it includes a sensory detail, hearing rustling. I think I'll underline that sentence in green." (MMR)
  • For ELLs: To provide heavier support, identify a couple of big moments in "Bite at Night" where the author slowed down time. Invite students to act out the details of those moments in sequence so that students feel confident about the meaning of all of the details.

B. Partner Practice: Slowing Down Time, Part I (20 minutes)

  • Tell students that in this lesson, they are going to choose one important part of their partner narrative to focus on and to slow down time in. Remind them that this should be a part of the story where something important/interesting/exciting is happening and they will slow down time by expanding sentences to add concrete words and sensory details. This will build anticipation and help readers imagine events and experiences.
  • Display the Steps for Revising My Writing anchor chart. Select volunteers to help you read it aloud.
  • Explain that as students underlined in green on the model narrative, green is also the color you would like them to use to revise their work in this lesson.
  • Focus students on the Working to Become Effective Learners anchor chart and remind them specifically of the collaboration criteria. Remind them that as they will work together to revise their partner narrative, they need to be conscious of working effectively with others.
  • Invite students to retrieve their partner narrative drafts.
  • Give students 2 minutes to read through their partner narrative in pairs and to choose the big moment they will focus on.
  • Invite students to close their eyes for 1 minute and to imagine that big moment. Encourage them to notice the details they can see and perhaps feel in their imagination that they can refer to as they begin.
  • Remind students to refer to the relevant criteria on their Narrative Writing Checklist.
  • Emphasize that they should revise only where it is necessary (i.e., where something interesting/exciting relevant to the plot is happening or where it might build anticipation that something is going to happen).
  • Circulate to support students as they work. Ask questions to guide student thinking:

"Where are the big moments? Where is something interesting happening relevant to the plot? Where can you build anticipation, and how? Where can you slow down time?"

"What senses are most relevant to this action/experience that you want to add more detail to? Why?"

  • Refocus students on the first learning target and invite them to show a thumbs-up, thumbs-down, or thumbs-sideways to indicate how close they feel they are to meeting that target now. Be aware that this gesture may mean something different in other cultures, so in this situation choose a different way for students to self-assess progress or use it as a teaching point for what this means in the United States. Scan the responses and make a note of students who may need more support with this moving forward.
  • Invite students to record 'Y' for 'Yes' and the date in the final column of their Narrative Writing Checklist if they feel the criteria marked on their checklists have been achieved in their writing in this lesson.
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with social skills: Help students negotiate areas where they will add details by providing negotiation phrases. Examples: (MMR)
    • "That sounds good. In my opinion, however, _____."
    • "What if we _____?"
    • "Another thing I was thinking we might do is _____."
    • "I agree. And I would add that _____."
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with writing: Help students identify big moments (perhaps by highlighting) where they might slow down time in their narratives. Ask them to explain why the sentences are big moments (they are especially interesting or exciting or both), and then help the students through a process of thinking aloud to add sensory details. (MMR, MMAE)

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Review: Conjunctions (15 minutes)

  • Refocus students.
  • Remind them of the work they did on conjunctions earlier in the unit. Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group:

"What is a conjunction?" (a word that combines words, phrases, or clauses)

"What is the function of conjunctions? Why do we want to use conjunctions in our writing?" (to combine/join together words, phrases, or clauses to show the relationship between them and to make the writing read smoothly)

"What are some examples of conjunctions?" (for, and, but, because, if)

  • Focus students on the Parts of Speech anchor chart and invite them to whisper-read the information about conjunctions with their partner.
  • Distribute orange colored pencils and sticky notes.
  • Tell students they are going to give critique to their peers on their narratives. Remind students that they should be familiar with providing kind, specific, and helpful feedback to a peer, as they have done it multiple times in Modules 1 and 2.
  • Invite students to pair up with another pair to form a group of four. Post the following directions:
  1. Swap partner narratives.
  2. Read the narrative and underline in orange any conjunctions you find.
  3. Choose one conjunction and discuss the function of this particular conjunction in the sentence.
  4. Record the function of this particular conjunction on a sticky note.
  5. Reread the writing and look for places where you think another conjunction might improve it. Make a suggestion on a sticky note.
  6. If you think a conjunction has been used that doesn't work well, make a suggestion on a sticky note.
  • Model #3 and #4 on the displayed "Bite at Night" using the following sentence: "I was just reaching for another leaf when suddenly there was a loud bang."
  • Explain that when is the conjunction in this sentence and that it explains how two events--reaching for the leaf and a loud bang--are connected through time. She reached for another leaf, and at the same time there was a loud bang.
  • If productive, cue students with a challenge:

"What if we remove the word when? I'll give you time to think and discuss with a partner." (Responses will vary, but could include: We have a run-on sentence, the sentence sounds awkward.)

  • Invite students to follow the directions to do the same on the other partner narrative.
  • Circulate to review student understanding of the function of the conjunction they have chosen. Remind them that as this is the work of another pair, they are to take care to underline neatly.
  • After 10 minutes, invite students to return the work with the sticky note feedback to the other pair.
  • Explain that students are going to spend the rest of the time working in their pairs reviewing the sticky notes and revising their work accordingly. Remind them that if they don't agree with the peer feedback, they don't have to revise their work.
  • Request that students leave the sticky notes from their peer reviewers on their work for you to review.
  • Refocus students on the second learning target and invite them to show a thumbs-up, thumbs-down, or thumbs-sideways to indicate how close they feel they are to meeting the target now. Scan the responses and make a note of students who may need more support with this moving forward.
  • Repeat, inviting students to self-assess against how well they collaborated in this lesson.
  • For ELLs: Remind students of the deep learning they engaged in during the Language Dives about the conjunctions even though and though. Encourage them to start by searching for and discussing these conjunctions in the partner narratives. Invite them to suggest places where adding even though might improve the writing.
  • Provide students with a list of common conjunctions to reference as they read their partner's narrative and underline conjunctions. (MMAE)
  • Develop an accepting and supportive classroom climate by reminding students that professional writers use editors all the time to give them feedback. They do not get discouraged when their editor offers suggestions because they know it just makes them a better writer. (MME)

Homework

HomeworkMeeting Students' Needs

A. Complete a Conjunctions Practice (Conjunctions Practice II) in your Unit 3 homework.

B. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt to respond to in the front of your independent reading journal. 
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with writing: Read and rephrase the homework directions. Model and think aloud one of the exercises. Provide sentence starters. (Example: "The function of the conjunction _____ in the sentence above is to _____.") (MMR)
  • For ELLs and students who may need additional support with reading and writing: Refer to the suggested homework support in Lesson 1. (MMAE, MMR)

Copyright © 2013-2024 by EL Education, New York, NY.

Get updates about our new K-5 curriculum as new materials and tools debut.

Sign Up

Help us improve our curriculum.

Tell us what’s going well, share your concerns and feedback.

Terms of use. To learn more about EL Education, visit eleducation.org

Leave feedback