3rd Grade · Writing · W.3.5, L.3.2

Writing Process Lesson Plan for 3rd Grade

A ready-to-teach writing process lesson for 3rd Grade, built around planning a piece before writing, revising for details, order and focus, using descriptive language, and editing for capitals, commas, run on sentences and spelling. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 45 minutes

Learning objective

Plan stories, opinions and reports with organizers
Narrow a big topic into one they can write about
Take notes from an article in their own words

Materials

Plan Writing with a Main Idea Web
Revise Writing for Details
Edit Writing for Capitals and Commas
Show, Not Tell, Describe a Feeling
Plan a Personal Narrative on a Story Mountain
Revise a Paragraph by Adding Details
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Notice it first (5 min)
Put two sentences on the board, one that uses writing process correctly and one that does not. Ask students which sounds right before you name any rule. Noticing comes before naming.
2. Name the rule (I do) (8 min)
Now name writing process and state the rule in one sentence. Write it where it can stay all week. Model correcting the broken sentence from the warm-up.
3. Fix them together (we do) (12 min)
Work through four or five sentences as a class. Mix in one that is already correct, because students who are pattern-matching rather than thinking will "fix" it anyway and reveal themselves.
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "Plan Writing with a Main Idea Web". Students work independently. Circulate and watch for the students who can do the exercise but cannot explain the rule, since that gap shows up later in their writing.
5. Apply it to real writing (5 min)
Students find one place in their own writing folder where writing process applies, and fix it. This is the step that moves the rule from worksheet to writing.

Check for understanding

Read the last two sentences of each student's independent work. Applying writing process correctly in their own sentence matters more than getting the exercise items right.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild writing process with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own writing process problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand writing process.

Skills covered in this lesson

Prewriting · Revising · Descriptive language · Editing

Questions teachers ask about teaching writing process

What is the writing process in 3rd grade?

It is the set of steps writers use: plan, draft, revise, edit and share. CCSS W.3.5 asks 3rd graders to strengthen their writing with guidance from adults and peers by planning, revising and editing. These sheets give each step its own page, so a child can practice one step at a time.

What is the difference between revising and editing?

Revising changes what the writing says: adding details, putting events in order or cutting a sentence that does not belong. Editing fixes the rules: capital letters, commas, end marks and spelling. Revise first, since there is no point fixing commas in a sentence that may be cut.

How do I use the planning sheets with my child?

Talk the topic through first, then have your child fill the organizer with words and short phrases, not full sentences. The plan becomes the draft on lined paper. Keep the planner beside the draft so your child can check that every part made it in.

Do the 3rd grade writing process worksheets have answer keys?

18 of the 28 sheets have an answer key, including every revising and editing page. The 10 planners and open writing pages have no key, since each child writes about their own ideas. For those, check that every box is filled and the plan fits the topic.