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Writing in District 25

Kindergarten, first, and second grade teachers will begin to implement the Lucy Calkin’s Units of Study for Primary Writing program. Lucy Calkin’s Units of Study is a research-based writing program that uses a writer’s workshop approach to introduce a variety of writing genres to students.  It is a spiraling program, focusing on the instruction of a sequential set of developmentally appropriate writing skills.  Opportunities for students to engage in the writing process are frequent and meaningful. Units of Study is divided into 7 instructional units:  Launching a Writing Workshop, Small Moments: Personal Narrative Writing, Writing for Readers: Teaching Skills and Strategies, The Craft of Revision, Authors as Mentors, Nonfiction Writing: Procedures and Reports, Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages. 

Third through eighth grade teachers will be implementing The Writer’s Express program.  The Writer’s Express (WEX) is a program developed in Boston.  It is an engaging method for building a foundation of writing skills and motivating writers. WEX follows a researched based sequence of writing skills, and creates classrooms routines for writing.  Students are motivated and can set goals based on constructive, weekly feedback from their teacher.  Each week, writing is focused around a targeted skill and students are given the opportunity to revise their work for improvement.  In the words of the WEX authors:
“Through a highly-structured instructional method, students will learn the fundamental behavioral habits they need to focus on the work at hand, the academic engagement required to take their education seriously, and the core writing skills to communicate their ideas clearly and persuasively.”

We have high expectations of our students in the area of writing.
Kindergarten Writing Learning Standards:

• Dictate two or more complete sentences
• Use hand-eye coordination to perform fine motor tasks
• Write letters and numbers
• Write simple sentences
• Print first and last name
• Recognize that letters form words
• Use sound-letter associations in writing
• Identify capital letters in text
• Capitalize first letter in first and last names
• Capitalize first word in a sentence
• Capitalize I
• Identify punctuation in printed text

First Grade Writing Learning Standards:

• Identify telling and asking statements
• Recognize word order that makes sense
• Distinguish between complete and incomplete sentences
• Write complete sentences
• Write a brief narrative to describe an experience
• Write an appropriate title for a text
• Write a brief expository describing a real object, person, place, or event
• Identify the subject of a sentence

Second Grade Writing Learning Standards:

• Identify the subject and predicate
• Identify and write groups of words as questions, statements, or exclamations
• Write increasingly complex sentences
• Write 3 paragraphs with a main idea and supporting details (narrative, persuasive, expository)
• Indent paragraphs
• Write short stories with a beginning, middle, and end
• Write a story that makes a point and is focused
• Use simple transition words

Third Grade Writing Learning Standards:

• Rewrite incomplete sentences into complete sentences
• Combine simple sentences to create compound sentences
• Change word order and keep the same meaning of the sentence
• Replace common words to more precisely convey meaning
• Write 3-5 paragraphs with a main idea and supporting details (narrative, expository, persuasive)
• Use vivid action verbs
• Use vivid adjectives
• Combine sentences in complex sentences with the subordinating conjunctions: because, is, since, although, that
• Write an expository passage describing or explaining something unfamiliar

Fourth Grade Writing Learning Standards:

• Vary sentence structure; start with predicate instead of subject
• Identify compound subjects and predicates
• Write 3-5 paragraphs with a main idea and 2nd order details
• Use a variety of sentence beginnings
• Write purposeful leads and endings
• Revise to improve writing quality
• Combine sentences with nor, so, yet
• Use correlative conjunctions: either, or, neither, nor, not only, but also
• Combine sentences using subordinating conjunctions
• Write an expository passage describing or explaining something familiar
• Take a stance on one of two topic choices and give reasons for the stance

Fifth Grade Writing Learning Standards:

• Use a variety of sentence types: including interrogative, imperative, declarative, and exclamatory
• Write an expository passage describing or explaining something familiar
• Take a stance on one of two topic choices and give reasons for the stance
• Write a thorough set of instructions on how to do something, make something, get from one place to another, play a game, etc
• Write clear, coherent, and focused paragraphs
• Use dialogue, switching paragraphs between speakers
• Compose sentences to elicit a variety of emotions
• Vary the type and length of sentences within a paragraph
• Revise writing to improve the quality of content, organization, style, and word choice

Sixth Grade Writing Learning Standards:

• Elaborate on main ideas using facts, statistics, quotations, definitions, anecdotes, incidents, examples, reasons, and comparisons
• Revise writing to improve the quality of content, organization, style, and word choice
• Write sentences in which phrases are parallel in structure
• Avoid using passive voice
• Reduce wordiness and/or redundancy
• Write an expository passage describing or explaining something familiar
• Take a stance on one of two topic choices and give reasons for the stance
• Write a personal narrative about a problem and how it was solved

Seventh Grade Writing Learning Standards:

• Use effective transitions when changing thoughts from paragraph to paragraph or sentence to sentence: show location, show time, compare things, contrast things, emphasize a point, add information, conclude or summarize
• Revise writing to improve the quality of content, organization, style, and word choice
• Write an expository passage comparing and contrasting two things
• Take a stance on one of two choices and give reasons for the stance
• Write a fictional narrative with a main character, a problem, attempts to solve the problem, and a reasonable solution

Eighth Grade Writing Learning Standards:

• Use words that are precise, original, and vivid to elaborate on ideas
• Write with cadence, rhythm, and flow
• Revise writing to improve the quality of content, organization, and word choice
• Compare and contrast two short literary pieces or excerpts such as two short poems or two different scenes from a play
• Write an expository passage comparing and contrasting two things
• Take a stance on one of two choices and give reasons for the stance

Write a fictional narrative with a main character, a problem, attempts to resolve the problem, and a reasonable solution

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1200 S. Dunton Avenue
Arlington Heights, Illinois 60005