Personal Narrative Writing Unit {My Life is a Story}

Get your students excited about informational writing! This complete informational writing unit includes daily lesson plans, notebook charts, mentor texts and more. This unit takes your students through the whole writing process. Students will begin with getting ideas and end with a published piece of informational writing. The informational writing lessons included can be used in two ways:

1. Students get their own ideas for their essay.
2. Students write based on a prompt.

✋🛑 The materials in this resource are the same ones included in The Literacy Loft Membership. If you are a monthly or annual member, please do not purchase! If you'd like to learn more about the membership, click here!

✋ This unit is also part of the Writing Units Bundle which includes Narrative, Opinion, & Informational Writing Units.

🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.

What is included in the informational writing unit?

✏️Writing Minilessons:

There are a total of 24 minilessons. The lessons can be skipped, moved around, modified as needed based on your students' needs.

1. Study a Mentor Text
2. Writers are teachers.
3. Getting Ideas
4. Prepare for research
5. Writers research
6. Look for Big Ideas (Main Ideas for Text)
7. Sort Information
8. Plan with Boxes & Bullets
9. Draft Paragraphs
10. Paragraphs with Purpose
11. Use Text Evidence
12. Balance Facts with Voice
13. Using a Teaching Tone
14. Elaboration: Using Mini Stories
15. Using Figurative Language
16. Craft Moves & Elaboration Strategies
17. Expert Words (Domain-Specific Vocabulary)
18. Transitional Words & Phrases
19. Introductions
20. Conclusions
21. Revise: Add Text Features
22. Revise: Eliminate Unnecessary Words
23. Edit
24. Polish & Publish!

✏️PowerPoint: 

For each lesson above, PowerPoint slides are included that can be used to model and teach the lesson. 

✏️Notebook Charts/Binder Charts for Students (see full list below):

For each lesson, a notebook chart is included to support student learning.

✏️More Writing Resources Included:

• Rubrics & Checklists
• Graphic Organizers
• Mini Word Wall
• Sort
• Teacher Example Essay + Planning
• Mentor Text Recommendations
• Publishing Paper

 ✏️ Writing Notebook Anchor Charts + Graphic Organizers

• Characteristics of an Informational Text
• Writing an Informational Text
• Wise Readers Ask Questions
• Cause and Effect
• Sort Out the Details
• What does the TEXT say?
• Using Text Evidence
• Transition Words for Informational Writing
• Organizing an Informational Text
• See, Think, Wonder
• See, Think, Wonder Notes on How to Use the Strategy
• Text Features
• Informational Writing Editing Checklist
• Informational Writing Checklist and Rubric
• Solving Our Spelling Problems
• Paragraphs with Purpose
• Instead of Says
• Introductions
• Conclusions
• Building the Main Idea of a Paragraph
• Craft Moves and Elaboration Strategies 1
• Craft Moves and Elaboration Strategies 2
• Craft Moves and Elaboration Strategies 3
• File it Away! (Graphic Organizer/Boxes and Bullets)
• Show Me the Evidence (Graphic Organizer for gathering evidence from 3 sources with lines)
• Show Me the Evidence (Graphic Organizer for gathering evidence from 3 sources without lines)
• Show Me the Evidence (Graphic Organizer for gathering evidence from 4 sources with lines)
• Show Me the Evidence (Graphic Organizer for gathering evidence from 4 sources without lines
• Sorting My Evidence (Graphic Organizer to sort information)
• 4 Square Boxes and Bullets Writing Planner
• Boxes and Bullets Planning Page
• Informational Writing Checklist

✅You can try a sample of this unit for FREE here!

✅You can also read THIS BLOG POST about the unit.

What other teachers are saying about the unit:

"My school adopted a curriculum which was just had guidelines as to what should be taught but was lacking resources. I purchased this writing unit and was so pleased with how comprehensive the lessons and graphic organizers are! I will definitely purchase the other units! Thank you!" - Jessica M.

"Your units are amazing and my students have benefited greatly. Before this, I used to hate teaching writing. But this is honestly now one of my favorite subjects to teach." - Brittney B.

"Excellent resource. This is jam packed with information and is everything you promise and more. Thank you for a thorough product." - Ms. Duffy's Dream

📹 Click play on the video to see the complete unit. 

You probably already know that conferring and working in small groups is the most organic and effective way to differentiate your instruction AND meet your students' needs. However, that requires YOU to be working with them. What about when you're not working with them? You want meaningful, rigorous writing opportunities that are skill-specific. That is precisely the purpose of these writing centers. 

There are 5 Types of Writing Centers with 5 of each writing center. That means you've got 25 Writing Centers to help your students grow! Each writing center also includes an Answer Key so that students can self-check or you can use as a grade if you prefer. The centers are available as color-coded or black and white. This particular set of Writing Centers are based on Scientific concepts.

✋🛑 The materials in this resource are the same ones included in The Literacy Loft Membership. If you are a monthly or annual member, please do not purchase! If you'd like to learn more about the membership, click here!

You can grab the Narrative Writing Centers here.

💻Google Slides

🖨Printable Pdfs

Click here for Writing Centers Volume 2 (Narrative)

What centers are included?

1. Fix it Up! Editing - Students edit a paragraph. The number of mistakes is located at the bottom so students know when they have found them all OR if they need to keep looking. An answer key is included so students can self-check.

Topics:

• Cool Critters! (Ants)
• Sluggish Situation (African Land Snail)
• Amphibians
• Salamanders
• Poison Dart Frog

2. Transition Mission- Students use a transitional words and phrases chart to add transitions to a paragraph. An answer key is included so students can self-check.

Topics:

• Crocs & Gators
• Metamorphosis
• Animals Impact Their Environment
• Oil Spills
• Endangered Species

3. Elaboration Station - Students are given a few sentences with facts about the topic. After the facts/evidences, students use elaboration strategies to add on to the paragraph. Sample responses are included.

Topics:

• Volcanoes (Informative)
• Grizzly Bears (Informative)
• Drought (Informative)
• College Athletes (Opinion)
• Physical Education (Opinion)

4. Paraphrase Practice - Each center has a paragraph. Students practice paraphrasing the paragraph. A chart for the STP (Stop! Think. Paraphrase) strategy is provided.

Topics:

• Indicator Species
• Pollinators
• Tracking Twisters
• Invasive Species
• Animals in Zoos

5. Sort + Write - This center includes 5 different science-based sorting activities. Students have directions for each sort. They are given words and phrases to sort for a specific purpose. After they have sorted, they write a multi-paragraph essay using the details and the sort to organize and write their essay. There are a total of 5 sorts. These could also double duty as a science center.

• Writing Rocks! (Classifying Rocks)
• Life Cycles (Complete + Incomplete)
• Heat Energy (3 Types)
• Writing Matters! (Solid, Liquid, Gas)
• People & Their Environment: Helpful or Harmful?

The centers are included in color + black and white. Ideas for storage and organization are included. Please see the preview for more information and to get a better look at these centers.

If you have any questions as to how you can use these in your upper elementary classroom, please email me at help@theliteracyloft.com.

- Jessica

🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.

These centers are the perfect supplement for our writing units and the monthly text sets.

• Informative Writing Unit
• Opinion Writing Unit
• Narrative Writing Unit
• Monthly Text Set Bundle

Let’s connect! 

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The Literacy Loft on Facebook

Email: help@theliteracyloft.com 

About this Product

This product came as a result of my students’ love of the biography series “Who Was…?” If you have not looked into this series, I recommend that you do! They are a fun, easy read that offers an engaging way for students to learn about historical figures and important people. Although this product is based on this series, this product could be used for any biography book or project. This is a nice way to integrate Reading, Writing, and Social Studies.

🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.

How I Used this Product

In my 3rd Grade classroom, I used multiple copies of the same book or books and paired students in partnerships. In my school, we have a 30 minute Reading Intervention Block. I began this project with students who were not pulled out or working with me in small groups during this time. This was a nice way for students to work independently or in partnerships. It also created an extension for what they could already do as readers. Plus, they had so much fun! I let them work on this project in their partnerships. This held several benefits. Many students who were not pulled out or working in small groups tend to be higher level students OR students who have untapped potential. Allowing them to work on a project like this can extend their learning, as well as find new ways to enjoy reading. While other students had special groups or went to see other teachers, it was nice for these students to have their own project too.

The Poster Page is a template that you could use for students to turn in with the essay or you could use this as a planning page and then have students create a larger poster on their own. I assigned it as homework and was pleasantly surprised at what my students turned in. I saw a wonderful increase in engagement by students who had shown little motivation or enthusiasm for reading. You can see the photos in the preview or in the product itself. Please know I updated the pages after the photos were taken with more detail and provided the poster template. Good luck to you with this project! If you have any questions, please contact me!

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🛑 Are you a member of the TLL Membership? These materials are already included. If you are not a member, click here to learn more. The TLL Membership gives you an all-access pass to hundreds of ELA resources for teachers in Grades 3-5.

This unit is 50% off through Thursday, July 14th!

Join the TLL Teachers Facebook Group to participate in all the fun!

This unit is a foundational unit to build craft, community, and confidence in your writing workshop. This is a 10 day unit that focuses on moving through the writing process and having students complete one narrative piece. The narrative unit will go deeper into crafting a personal narrative. 

What's included? 

• Unit Lesson Plans 
• Writing Notebook Charts
• Google Slides Presentation
• Google Slides Interactive Student Presentation
• Google Slides Interactive Student Notebook
• PowerPoint pdf

Need something else? Let me know in the comments! 

By the end of this unit, your students will be able to:

• Follow routines, procedures, and directions during each part of Writing Workshop. They listen quietly during the minilesson and participate with their partner.
• Begin working right away during independent writing time. They solve problems on their own and do not disturb others.
• Generate ideas for a personal narrative.
• Plan a personal narrative.
• Use their writing plan to draft a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
• Use strategies to spell unknown words.
• Effectively communicate and work with a writing partner.
• Revise their own work by using a checklist.
• Edit their own work by using a checklist to correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
• Collaborate with a partner to share and work on their writing.
• Name and apply the stages of the writing process.