6 Lesson Writing Unit:

Personal Recount for Grade 3 SEI, ~WIDA Level 2 Writing

Kelsie Drown
Boston College
 Table of Contents

1. Purpose
2. Sequence
3. Development of an Event
4. Verbs (long form)
5. Adjectivals (long form)
6. Adverbials

 Additional student templates and anchor chart templates, along with a mentor text
overview in supplementary materials document
 All lessons are guided by Brisk’s work on teaching writing to students across genre
 Lessons 1, 2, 3, and 6 utilize the short form
 Lessons 4 and 5, both language focused lessons, utilize the long form.
 LESSON 1 - Lesson Template Short Version

Genre: Personal Recount Grade Level: 3 (~WIDA Level 2 Writing)

Context
Before the lesson, we will already have read Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean
It!) Going to Move. This book chronicles Alexander’s thoughts about how he does not want to
relocate with his family for his dad’s job. In this book we get to see Alexander’s personality in
his stubbornness, anger, and humor. This will help as we read Alexander and the Terrible,
Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day as we will have some familiarity with Alexander as a
character and his family members.
This lesson is the first of six. After the lesson there will be lessons on sequencing, event
development, verbs, adjectivals, and adverbials. Students will continue to develop their
uncoached pieces throughout the unit, now with purpose and entertaining qualities.

Objectives SWBAT…. demonstrate understanding of purpose and entertainment in a

personal recount by orally identifying the purpose and entertaining qualities
within a mentor text and writing to include these qualities in their own
writing.

Lesson Plan

Lesson Topic Purpose/Entertainment

Introduction Activate Background Knowledge
- “Today we are going to read Alexander and the Terrible,
Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst”
- “Before, we had read a different book featuring Alexander
written by the same author titled Alexander, Who's Not (Do You
Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move”
- “What do you remember about what happened in that book?”
- “What do you remember about Alexander?”
- “What did you like about the story?”
Make Predictions
- “Based on the title and cover of the story, what do you think is
going to happen in this Alexander story?”
Instruction What is Purpose? What is Entertainment?
& - “Before we read this story, let’s learn about author’s purpose.”
Application - “Do you know what purpose means? What about the purpose of a
personal recount?”
- “Purpose is the reason we write. There are two purposes, or
reasons people write a personal recount. One is to tell the story of
what happened. The reader should understand the events that
happen in the story.”
- Add correct student responses and teacher created response to
anchor chart to definition
- “The second purpose or reason that we write a personal recount is
 to entertain. What do you think entertainment is?”
- “If a story is entertaining it means people enjoy reading it. It
makes the reader want to keep reading. If someone is entertained
they are not bored.”
- Add correct student responses and teacher created response to
anchor chart to definition
- “When we read this story, I want you to think about what
Alexander is trying to tell about and how the author tries to
entertain us, or keep us reading. We are going to add these things
to our chart.”
Read Story
Reflect with Anchor Chart
- Ask questions below
- Add student ideas and teacher ones listed below
What is the purpose of this story? (add to anchor chart)
- The author writes to tell the story of Alexander’s bad day.
How do we know the purpose?
- “The title is one hint. It tells us that it is about Alexander, the
character, and a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. It will
tell the story of the day that was bad.”
- ““terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day” was repeated
throughout the story”
- “There are different events that made the day bad like waking up
with gum in his hair, falling in mud, and having a bath that was
too hot”
What makes this story entertaining and fun?
- “Alexander repeats a phrase”
- “Alexander says he will move to Australia, even though he is a
little boy and can’t, and you don’t move to Australia because of
one bad day”
- “The writing is specific (his friend’s desserts, the descriptions of
the sneakers, what type of pajamas)”

Assessment Independent Student Work

- “Your job is to now fill out a sheet that looks like our big chart to
think about your story.”
- “Write your purpose, or what you want your readers to get from
reading your story. What are you telling?”
- “Brainstorm ideas for how to make your story entertaining! What
descriptions will you use? What will make the reader enjoy the
story and want to keep reading? It can be ideas that we didn’t say
for Alexander that you think would be fun.”
- Independent student work on template followed by time to revise
draft. Conferencing should take place at this time.
LESSON 2 - Lesson Template Short Version
Genre: Personal Recount Grade Level: 3 SEI (~WIDA Level 2 Writing)

Context
Prior to this lesson we would have completed the included Purpose/Entertainment lesson.
Ideally, if done over more than 6 lessons, we would work on orientation as well. The subsequent
lesson will be about developing events. While the Brisk text placed the lesson on development of
events before sequencing, for the child this unit is developed for, this order made more sense in
order to put the story events in order, then deepen the events individually. This does incorporate
a few different levels of deconstruction in one lesson because it was intended for 2 students and
only 6 lessons are selected.

Objectives SWBT…. sequence events in a mentor text by sorting visual/textual cards

on a timeline and sequence their own story on a timeline by writing on a
graphic organizer

Lesson Plan

Lesson Topic Sequencing

Introduction What is sequencing?
- “Today we are going to talk about sequencing. Do you know
what sequencing means?”
- “Sequencing means putting the story in order. In a personal
recount we put events, or parts of the story, in the order they took
place in real life”
What is a timeline?
- “Do you know what a timeline is?”
- “A timeline is a great learning strategy to put things in order
because it helps us to see the events all at once. It tells you what
happens from the beginning to the end. You read it from left to
right, with the first event on the left, in order until the last one is
on the right side.”
- “This is a timeline (show). They are used to tell what events took
place over time. Here is an example of a timeline to tell about a
small part of the day, the order of events in lunch and recess”
- “I chose lunch and recess because personal recounts do not have
to take place from the beginning to the end of a day. It can be a
part of the day. Notice how for each event, I just put what it was,
not all of the details that go with it. If I wrote a personal recount
about lunch and recess, I would include more details like how
maybe I played soccer outside. We will talk about this a different
day. Notice how the first event in on the left, and the last one is
on the right (point to these events). ”
Instruction Re-read Alexander Mentor Text
& - “We are going to practice sequencing together. We are going to
Application reread Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad
 Day so the events in Alexander’s day fresh in our minds”
- Read Alexander book
Sequence Events
- “Now that we have read the story, I have cards with pictures on
them for the major events in the story, as well as a bigger copy of
the timeline. We are going to put them in order on the timelines.
When we have the picture cards in place we can write what each
event was.”
- (see subsequent materials for picture cards and the correct order
for the 10 major events in the book that will be determined
together)

Assessment Independent Writing Time

- “Now that we have put the events of Alexander’s personal recount
of his bad day in order, you will get time to work independently to
fill out a timeline. Think about the major events in your story. You
can refer to your pictures, and just write each event on the
timeline instead of re-drawing all of the pictures”
- Provide blank timeline for student to use with space to write what
each event is
- The student can refer to the pictures they drew in their rough draft
rather than drawing new ones in the interest of time and
organizing their thoughts
- Conference with student to make sure events make sense in the
order they happened
- Options for additional support and scaffolding if necessary
- *The major events can be written separately on cards like done
with Alexander to reorder on the timeline and glued down.
- There is also the option to have the student physically reorder
their draft by reorganizing pages or cutting and reordering
sentences on a separate paper so they can play around with them
before committing on a clean document if this seems best, after
completing the graphic organizer.
- As time permits, allow them to rewrite a new copy, or assign it as
homework/a different day between lessons

LESSON 3 - Lesson Template Short Version

Genre: Personal Recount Grade Level: 3 SEI (~WIDA Level 2 Writing)

Context
Prior to this lesson we completed lessons on purpose/entertainment and sequencing. Now that we
have worked on the order of our story, we are going to work on expanding on a major event to
provide more details. We will expand on one event from Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible,
No Good, Very Bad Day since lesson two identified and sequenced the ten major events. This
provides familiarity with the events and allows us to focus on one section of the mentor text
rather than a whole text at this time. After this lesson, the focus will shift to choosing precise
language and cover verbs, adjectivals, and adverbials.

Objectives SWBAT…. develop details of a major event to make personal recounts

more interesting by identifying details in mentor text and writing their own
details in a graphic organizer and their draft.

Lesson Plan

Lesson Topic Development of Events

Introduction What is an event? Activate Background Knowledge
- “Today we will talk about how we can make our stories more
interesting by developing the events to have more details.”
- “What do you remember about what we talked about major
events last time?” (They are what happened, not the details too.
Ex: go play outside at recess is the major event, it does not tell us
anything else)
- “It is important to know what our main events are so that we can
organize our thinking and writing for readers when we think
about more information to include for them.”

Details Make Stories More Interesting

- “Do you know what details are and why we use them?”
- “Details are additional information to tell us more about what is
happening. With details, we understand the story more, can
picture it, and enjoy the events”
- “Let’s look at one of the major events we talked about in
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
yesterday. Then we can come up for details for my recess event
from yesterday.”

Instruction Alexander Goes to School

& - “One major event we talked about was “Alexander goes to
Application school”. Can you find this on our timeline?”
- “We are going to read just this part of the book and write down
the different details and smaller events that happen during this
time. We are going to use this outline to organize our thinking”
- Read excerpt from Alexander; use from “At school Mrs. Dickens
– forgot to put in dessert”)
 - Allow the student to name the details included about the day.
Have visual cue cards of the details ready if struggling to recall
details. When the student does recall details, put the picture up
next to the information written down in the correct space on the
anchor chart. Go in order (I think that is a great detail, I think
there was one before it). Simple sentences are fine.

Expanding on Lunch and Recess Event Together

- “Before you work on your writing, let’s take a couple minutes to
look at my major events from my lunch and recess timeline. One
major event was “go outside to play at recess”. If you just read: I
went to play outside at recess, would you be interested in the
story?. Let’s write some details for this together.”
- Brainstorm details with student. Write them down in simple
sentences on the student outline copy to model using this
document.

Assessment Independent Writing Time

- “Now it’s your turn to think of details to add to your story. On this
paper, pick one major event you want to work on today. Write
down details underneath it.”
- Provide student worksheet. Allow time to complete it.
- Conference with student to make sure there are sufficient details
as are appropriate for the story and help them develop them if
needed.
- If time permits, allow them to rewrite the event as they would
write it in their stories. If not, have this done in between formal
instruction lessons.

UNIT GENRE: Personal Recount Grade: 3 SEI (~WIDA Level 2 Writing)

LESSON 4 - Full Lesson Template

 Lesson # Title Duration
4/6 Verbs 60 minutes

Standards - MA.W.3.3 Write narratives in prose or poem form to develop

(MCF) experiences or events using effective literary techniques, descriptive
details, and clear sequences.
- MA.W.3.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning,
revising, and editing.
- MA.W.3.4.b Demonstrate the ability to choose and use appropriate
vocabulary

Objectives SWBAT… identify verbs with verbal and nonverbal communication, understand
why and how authors use them to strengthen writing, and write to identify verbs
they can include or vary in their own written pieces.

Mentor Texts The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

Other Materials Instructional Equipment

 Verb Checklist  Projector, white board and dry erase
 Verb Brainstorm Chart markers or chart paper sized excerpt
from book

Lesson Plan

Lesson Topic Verbs

Introductio What is a Verb?
n - “Today we are going to work on how we use verbs. Do you know what
a verb is?”
- “Verbs are actions that tell us what people and things in the text do.
Can you think of examples of some verbs? We can write any up on this
paper so we have a list of verbs to use!”
- Ask students to act out verbs as they come up to involve kinesthetics
and increase engagement, give examples of verbs if necessary to
scaffold for students (option to provide bowl of verbs to play charades
if time permits or students are familiar with the game)
- If certain verbs cannot be acted out, ask a student to explain what it
means or draw it to make sure all students have the vocabulary to
understand the verbs and be exposed to new vocabulary
- “In writing, verbs are very important so that we know what is
happening in the story. We don’t just want to know who is there, but
what they are doing. It is really important to use lots of different verbs
too, so readers do not get bored.”

Introduce Mentor Text

- “We are going to read The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant today. In
 this story, there is a family. Relatives are family members. Some of the
relatives are driving from Virginia, a state in the US, to visit the rest of
their family far away and stay over for a few weeks. This author has
lots of verbs in the story so we know what everyone is doing. Keep an
ear out for them.”

Instruction Read Mentor Text

& - If possible, it would be a good idea to have read this text prior to the
Application lesson as a read aloud and focus solely on the excerpt or a larger part of
the story to identify verbs, but with the six-lesson planning, reading
during this one may be necessary.
- “When you hear what you think is a verb, give a thumbs up as we read
so that we can practice listening for those words.”
- Read text, stop to confirm verbs and point out any not identified
periodically and as flows, stop for comprehension periodically as well
to ensure students understand what is happening in the story in so they
can tie meaning into it with the verbs. Teacher can also give thumbs up
for verbs for nonverbal confirmation.
- “Who thinks they can summarize what happened in the story? What
did the relatives do together?”

Focus in on Excerpt from Mentor Text

- Excerpt from when the relatives left
- “I’m going to post one page of the story on the board. It is from the end
when the relatives say goodbye and leave to go back to Virginia”
- “When we look at how verbs are used in writing, we are going to use
this checklist to help us. This is a learning strategy to help us keep
track of what we are writing and reading.” [display checklist]
- “Let’s find the verbs on this page.” Allow students to underline the
verbs on the page. “Let’s write those down in the box next to the first
question on our checklist. I will separate them with a comma [model
comma]. Commas can separate things in lists.”
- “The next thing we look for is: What do all of these verbs talk about?
We write that on the right next to the question on the checklist.”
- Facilitate discussion about how all of the verbs on this page have to do
with leaving a place and why they connect. They “loaded up their ice
chest” because they had to take it with them to go back. The verbs
“headed back, at, disappear” all discuss the act of leaving. They
“watched, waved” to show they cared when saying goodbye and that
they were now separate. They “crawled back” to bed and “fell asleep”
now that the goodbye was over and they were alone.
- “Now that we have found how the verbs are connected and like each
other, let’s talk a bit about how they are still different. The next
question on the checklist is: Are the same verbs repeated, or used over
and over, too much? If the answer is yes, circle yes and write the verbs
that are repeated too much. If no, circle no and write the different verbs
 you see that mean the same thing.”
- “This last part is important to get our brains thinking, especially when
looking at our own writing. It is to think of other verbs that have to do
with the topic. What other actions and verbs can you think of that have
to do with leaving, saying goodbye, or traveling. We can write these in
the last box. When you look at your story or piece of your story, you
will brainstorm for your own topic here.”
- (For the purpose of this lesson, the brainstorm feelings suggested by
Brisk has been omitted to scaffold EB learning and due to time
constraints within the six lesson)

Assessment Independent Student Analysis & Writing

- “It is now your turn to practice with your writing. You will use the
outline for either your whole story, or a part of it if your story is long.
Go through each question on the checklist. Once you have, revise your
writing to include verbs and new ones. Make sure not to repeat the
same ones over and over.”
- “When you brainstorm verbs, come add them to the class chart so we
all get ideas.”
- Conference with students. Provide additional time to revise after lesson
if necessary.

UNIT GENRE: Personal Recount Grade 3 SEI (~WIDA Level 2

Writing)

LESSON 5 - Full Lesson Template

 Lesson # Title Duration
5/6 Noun Groups & Adjectivals 60 minutes

Standards - MA.W.3.3 Write narratives in prose or poem form to develop

(MCF) experiences or events using effective literary techniques, descriptive
details, and clear sequences.
- MA.W.3.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning,
revising, and editing.
- MA.W.3.4.b Demonstrate the ability to choose and use appropriate
vocabulary

Objectives SWBAT… demonstrate an understanding of how adjectivals strengthen noun

groups by orally identifying the impact in a mentor text, analyzing their own text
using an outline, and revising their writing to include adjectivals.

Mentor Texts Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

Other Materials Instructional Equipment

 Adjective/5 senses visual and chart  If whole group instruction, projector
 Excerpts with and without adjectives and computer to display visuals and
 Post its or paper to cover words text or chart paper sized materials to
 Copy of adjective outline on chart display
paper
 1 copy of adjective outline per student
 Student draft

Lesson Plan

Lesson Topic Noun Groups & Adjectivals

Introductio Nouns and Adjectivals Review
n - “Today we are going to talk about nouns and adjectives in our writing
and how adjectives help make our writing even stronger.”
- “Do you remember what a noun is?”
- “A noun is a person, place, thing, animal, or idea. It is what we are
talking about in a sentence”
- “Do you remember what an adjective is?”
- “An adjective describes the noun and tells us more about it. There are
lots of ways to think about adjectives. One way is with the five senses
[show visual and have child help name that you can describe what
things sound, look, taste, feel, and smell like] Can you think of
examples? What are some adjectives you would use to describe
[something nearby in the room]? We are going to add these to a chart
we can all look back on for ideas [add to chart as arise]. If you think of
 others later, let me know and I will let you add it. If one does not seem
to fit in a five senses category, we can put it around the outside.”
- “When an author uses really strong adjectives, the readers understand
more of the story, can picture it, feel it, understand it, and enjoy it
more.”

Transition into Mentor Text

- “Today, we are going to look at just a part of the story Owl Moon, by
Jane Yolen. This author does a fantastic job at using adjectives to
describe and make it so we can picture what is happening. In this story,
the little girl is owling with her dad, looking for owls under the moon
at night. This is a book we can read the whole one of on a different day,
but even its first page is a great example for our own writing.”
- Discuss what an owl is if he student is not familiar with the animal.
Instruction Play Adjectives Game
& Read Chunk of Mentor Text with Adjectives Hidden/Ask to Describe with
Application Worksheet Guide
- “With the first page of this story, we are going to play a game. I have
covered some words on the page. We are going to read this together,
then your job is to describe what it is like outside.”
- Read text with adjectives covered and discuss

Read Chunk of Mentor Text with Adjectives/Ask to Describe with Worksheet

Guide
- “This time I am going to uncover the words we could not see before.
We will read it together, then try to answer the same question”
- Read the text with adjectives
- “What was it like outside?”
- After students provide descriptions: “What words made it so you knew
that?”
- “Which piece did you like reading more? Would the first one make you
want to keep reading the book? This is how adjectives make our stories
stronger and help keep the reader interested.”
- “Jane Yolen uses many adjectives throughout her story so that we can
hear, see, and feel what is happening. To talk about this, I have this
outline to help us think about how we can describe our nouns. I
included questions to think about [read from paper] and space to write
the noun and how it is described. Now that we have the adjectives in
the story, we can write them down to see what other authors do, and
talk about how it makes the story better. When we have a noun, we will
write in on the list on the left. When we have the adjective to describe
the noun, we will write it on the same number line on the right side
[demonstrate this as you complete activity together]”
- Points for student and/or teacher to highlight as nouns and adjectivals
are identified: The girl in the story isn’t just up late, she’s up long past
her bedtime, making it later in the night. We could tell there was no
 wind, not just because she said so, but because the trees were still and
not moving, like statues that never move. We might think it was dark,
when really the moon was bright that night. We feel like we can hear
the whistle too because we are told it is long and low and sounds like a
sad, sad song.”
- Add adjectives from above to the master chart as they come up as well
(“That is a great idea to add to our chart! Where do you think it
belongs?”)

Assessment Independent Student Analysis & Writing

- “Now it is your turn to think about how you can describe nouns in your
stories.”
- “Take one paragraph of your story and list the nouns like we did
before. On the right, write adjectives to describe your nouns to add into
your story. If you finish today, you can start rewriting your paragraph,
otherwise you will have time later.”
- Assessment is collected orally from contribution to the discussion on
Owl Moon and from independent outline completion to demonstrate
understanding of adjectives enhancing nouns, as well as their writing
production.

LESSON 6 - Lesson Template Short Version

Genre: Personal Recount Grade Level: 3 SEI (~WIDA Level 2 Writing)

Context
This is the final of the six lessons. Prior to this, purpose, sequencing, event development., verbs,
and adjectivals have been covered. This will focus on adverbials and how they are necessary to
show the context and circumstances of verbs. This lesson will use The Relatives Came by
Cynthia Rylant. It has an excellent use of adverbials to describe the circumstances around which
relatives go from Virginia to see their family and stay with them. The student(s) will be familiar
with it as it was read in a previous read aloud for the verb lesson (lesson 4). After this lesson, the
student will be equipped to type their final draft of the lesson.

Objectives SWBAT…. orally identify adverbials in a mentor text and produce them to
expand on a simple clause and revise writing independently to include
adverbials that more accurately describe the circumstances

Lesson Plan

Lesson Topic Adverbials

Introduction Review Verbs
- “What do you remember about what a verb is?”
- “A verb is an action and tells us what the people and things in the
story are doing” (if student does not produce)

Introduce Adverbs and Questions

- “Today we are going to talk about adverbs. Do you know what an
adverb is?”
- “An adverb describes the verb in the story and what is happening.
Sometimes this can be one word. In the sentence ‘Saed walked
quietly.’ [show sentence] quietly tells us about how you walked,
which is the verb or what you are doing. Adverbs can be more
than one word as well. If I say ‘Saed walked quietly down the
hall.’, [show sentence] I am saying that your walking is quiet, and
telling where it is, in the hall”
- “When we think about adverbs to use to describe actions, we can
think of a few questions. Today we will just talk about five.
When, where, how, with whom, and why. Authors write with
these in mind to try to share information with the reader.” Point
out visuals for each question on the outline.

Introduce Mentor Text

- “Today we are going to look at a small chunk from The Relatives
Came by Cynthia Rylant. This is the story we read 2 lessons ago.
Can you tell me what you remember took place in it?”
- “The part we will are going to look at closely is from the drive
from Virginia to visit the family.”
Instruction Introduce Outline
& - “When we think about adverbs, we are going to use this outline.
Application Remember that outlines are a good learning tool to help us
organize our thinking.”
- “This has the five questions we just talked about. We will use it
together when we read, then after practice using it to think about
 writing. Above the table we write the verb. On the left are the
questions. On the right we write what adverbs are used to tell us
about what is happening.”

Deconstruct Mentor Text Excerpt

- Read page from story
- Student identifies the verb [drove/traveled are both acceptable]
- Possible answers to guide towards if not readily given below
- When: all day long and into the night
- Where: past strange houses and different mountains
- How: N/A, student may say what they thought
- With whom: each other (indicated more than one with they)
- Why: Their family is waiting for them

Joint Expansion on Simple Clause

- “Now let’s practice using the template to write. I will show you a
simple sentence, and your job is to come up with adverbs that
answer these questions to tell us about what was happening.”
- Show sentence, allow student to read: She wrote.
- On the outline/worksheet, come up with answers to the five
questions. Write just the word on the box, but model the whole
sentence on a whiteboard or chart paper. Model proper sentence
composition and grammar for child. Sample answers below:
- When: She wrote yesterday.
- Where: Yesterday she wrote at school
- How: Yesterday she wrote at school happily.
- With whom: Yesterday she wrote at school happily with Ms.
Kelsie
- Why: Yesterday she wrote at school happily with Ms. Kelsie
because she liked to write. OR She wrote because she liked to
write.
- “When you do this, not every sentence has to have everything in
it. Cynthia Rylant did not write all of her adverbs in one sentence.
Our sentences could say ‘Yesterday she wrote at school. She was
happy to write because she liked to write. Her teacher Ms. Kelsie
wrote with her.’”

Assessment Independent Student Work & Writing

- Give student their own copy of the outline.
- “Pick one sentence or a couple of sentences to include adverbs in.
Decide what the verb is you are describing, then write what you
could say about it that makes sense in your story in the box on the
right like we just did. You will then take your answers to revise
that part of your story.”
- Conference with students
- Allow additional revision time between lessons as necessary.