Lesson

Plan Week #4
Writing // Brilliant Beginnings

Name: _____________________________ Cooperating Teacher Initials: _________________
Subject:____________________________ Date Turned In: ________ Date Taught: ________

Objective(s): Students will be able to list the 3 different ways to start a story and be
able to use these brilliant beginnings in their stories.
TEKS:
(18) Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and
feelings about real or imagined people, events, and ideas. Students are expected to:

(A) Write brief stories that include a beginning, middle, and an end

Materials:
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Dolphins by Melissa Stewart (National Geographic Kids)
Long Shot by Chris Paul (Powerpoint Version used)
Computer & Smartboard
Writers Notebook (1/student 19 - they already have in desks)

Teaching Procedure:
1. Motivation: Alright boys and girls, I need you to come down to the floor. I am
going to start off by reading to you the very beginning of one of my favorite
books (Read the first page of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good,
Very Bad Day).

2. Prior Learning: We have spent the last several days learning about different
ways we can make our writing better. We have learned about adding dialogue,
replacing overused words, writing with details and using showing, not telling
language.

3. Statement of Objective: Today, we are going to look at another way to make
our writing better; we are going to learn about 3 different ways to start our
stories. These ways, along with others, are called brilliant beginnings.

4.
Purpose (statement/question): Every story we write needs to grab the
readers attention so they want to read the rest of our story. Heres how we do
that.
5. Instructional Steps: There are several ways to start off a story that is going to
grab the readers attention. One of these ways is by using descriptions to
describe a setting or a character. That is what Judith Viorst did in the story I
started to read to you. She told you a lot of details about what was happening in

Alexanders room that morning, and left us wanting to continue to hear about his
day. When an author uses descriptions, he/she sets the scene to draw the reader
in so the reader wants to know more.

Another way to start off is by asking the reader a question. In this National
Geographic Kids book, the author asks the reader a series of questions. (Read
the first page of Dolphins by Melissa Stewart). How many of yall want to know
the answer to this question? See, the author drew you in and captured your
attention by asking you questions. Now, you would have to keep reading the
book to find out the answer.

There is one other way that we are going to talk about to begin your stories.
This third way is called using an onomatopoeia. Has anybody heard that word
before? It is a sound word. (Read the first page of Long Shot by Chris Paul). Do
you want to know what comes next? What other sound words can we think
of?(Allow students to list onomatopoeias).

Guided Practice So, if we were writing a story about going to the beach and seeing
a shark, how could we start the story off if we were trying to describe the scene?
(Let students answer). What about if we were trying to begin the story with a
question? What kind of question could we ask the reader? (Allow students to
answer) What if we wanted to start with a sound word. How could we do that?
(Let students answer).

See, there are different ways that we can start the same story. The goal is to start
the story with a brilliant beginning that is going to make the reader want to read
more.

Independent Practice: Now it is your turn to write. When you go back to your
desk, you are going to get out your Writers Notebook and turn to a clean page. I am
going to let you write about whatever you want to: you could write about something
exciting that happened at recess, you could write about a family vacation, you could
write about your pets, your siblings its completely up to you! But, what do you
think I want you to work on when you write? Yes, I want you to have a brilliant
beginning! We are going to write for a while and then I will let a few people share.

Before I release the students to walk back to their desk, I will remind them of their
goals and expectations: What are you going to do when you get back to your desk?
Are you going to talk to your friend? How are you going to get my attention? Alright,
Happy Writing!


Closure: Before we share, I want you to turn and talk with your table and see if you
can list the 3 different ways we talked about earlier to start a story. Make sure you
talk quietly so that no other table will hear your answers.


Review: I will have students share their brilliant beginnings and as a class we will
try to figure out which of the 3 starting strategies the student used to come up with
their opening sentence.

Future Learning: We are going to continue to keep working on writing. We are
going to start writing a biography soon, and I am excited to see how you will use
these brilliant beginnings to start out your story!


Lesson Extension and/or Modification:

Extension: For my GT students, I will walk around and ask them to start the same
story in a different way. How else could they capture the readers attention? I wont
make them write an entirely knew intro, but they will be able to be creative and
think of a second way.

Modifications: I will provide lots of encouragement for my struggling writers. I will
help them talk through the beginning so they have some ideas going; this will make
their transition to actually writing it easier.


Assessment of Learning: The assessment will be informal. I will assess the
students as I walk around during the independent writing time to gauge whether
they are understanding the different ways to start a story. I will also see during the
closure if they can list the three different ways to start a story this will tell me if
they did grasp the initial concepts discussed or if they only remembered the one
they chose to use in their writing sample.