• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Mrs. Russell's Room

  • Home
  • Meet the Teacher
    • Contact Me
    • Mrs. Russell’s Classroom Website
      • Dinosaurs Before Dark Activities
      • Mathematics & Science Activities Page
      • Social Studies Activities Page
  • Curriculum
    • Character Ed
    • Management
    • Common core
    • Math
    • Reading
    • Science
    • Social Studies
    • Writing
  • Seasonal
    • Fall
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Winter
    • Holiday Activities
  • Teacher Life
    • Lesson Plans
    • Professional Development
    • Teacher Rants
    • Culturally Responsive Teaching
  • Shop

Third Grade Writing

May 25, 2016 by Tamara 17 Comments

I am so excited to be ‘back in the saddle’ and teaching third grade again this year! I’ve been busily working on learning the new standards and crafting a plan that works for my new students in the fall.  If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that my favorite two grades are first and third.  Most of my career has been spent in either of those two grades.  Third grade is like first grade in that there’s lots of new content and its FAST!  I’m exchanging the pressure of getting my kids to read…for getting them prepared for the state tests.  Both grades are tough, but they are the most fun I’ve ever had in my teaching career!

 

Something that I’ve been working on over the last year is deepening my instruction using a standards based approach.  I always teach to the standards, but now, I’m engaging my students in evaluating the standards as I do before I start a lesson.  I’ve found that this really helps the students understand the end goal of instruction.  It also helps them articulate where they feel that they are personally in pursuit of that goal.

In an effort to bring that same style into my third grade instruction, I put together a few things for my own students. When you are creating a plan for your students, you need to think holistically.  Come up with a pacing and progression that will build throughout the course of the year.

The third grade standards for writing include opinion based writing, informational writing, and narrative writing.  There are additional standards for writing reports and utilizing technology to produce a finished product.  Beyond that, there are language standards that you can fold into your writing instruction throughout the year.  As I go through the year, I have my students review the standard, reflect on where they believe that they are with it, allow them to ‘prove’ that through writing and then I deliver instruction based on that.

1.) Create a progression that works for you and your students.

My overarching goal is mastery of the standard, and I build to a finished piece after I’ve had a good bit of time to help the students work on the smaller parts of it.  You’ll see in my progression that the three writing standards are broken up multiple times over the course of three to four weeks so I can teach to depth.

Want to check out this progression?  Click HERE to download it now.

2.) Use scaffolded rubrics that break up large goals into smaller more approachable ones.

One of the reasons why using a rubric approach to grading works for me is that I use this same language across all of my disciplines.  That common language helps my students really understand where I want my instruction to take them.

Would you like to see my narrative progressive rubrics?  Click HERE.

This particular rubric is a single column.  I give the students all the things that I expect for a ‘mastery’ performance.  When they show me MORE than that in some areas, they can earn a 4.  When they are missing parts of the Level 3 performance their score goes down.  I have to use percentage grades so, I convert the rubric score to percentage grades.  I’ll write more about how I do that in a different post.  As I’m going through the piece that they wrote, I just check off the highlighted things in the Level 3

3.) Have the students log their own performance.

I like having them graph their progress so that they can see their own growth.  I have one of these for each standard.  Super easy to type up…its just a table and some text.  I just add the dates across the top and have students log their progress with a bar graph.  Student accountability is huge.  Especially with students who have not had a lot of success with academics, or who need more support.  My growth scores have been so good since I implemented this component.  To add another dimension, have students come to the parent teacher conferences and share their progress with their parents.  So much fun to watch them talk about what they’ve been learning.  I will probably be making more of these throughout the year, but, not on any specific timeline. I won’t be making any edits to the free things on this page either. It’s just a lot to take on, and if creating resources for first and teaching all the while has taught me anything…over booking myself just brings a bunch of stress…and no teacher needs more stress! LOL! 🙂  I hope you can understand?

I hope that some of these suggestions help with your planning for writing this year! 🙂  Feel free to download my progression to give you a starting out place, if you don’t have one.

Narrative Writing Pack for Third Grade

I put together some lesson plans and rubrics in a pack on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Narrative Writing

The pack contains the pacing for a year of writing that you saw above.  The best part about the pack are the progressive rubrics.  They are scaffolded so that each week you’re working on a different part of the narrative writing standard for third grade.  I’ve offered you three different versions of the rubric and one editable version with the intent of that week’s lessons.  You can level it to your districts specifications.

writingpin2

I included sheets for brainstorming and drafting, along with some sample texts that you can use to help students learn how to peer edit and evaluate their own work.

Writingpin3

There are some great little anchor charts for you to use with your kids to help them strengthen their writing!  It’s a pretty comprehensive way to teach narrative writing to thirds.  Enjoy!

You May Also Like

  • Back to School Fun in ThirdBack to School Fun in Third
  • Stop Saying You’re A Bad Writing TeacherStop Saying You’re A Bad Writing Teacher
  • All About PumpkinsAll About Pumpkins
  • Best & Most along with a Firstie Friends Linky!Best & Most along with a Firstie Friends Linky!

Share this:

  • Share
  • Facebook

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: third grade, third grade writing, writing

Previous Post: « 6 Easy Steps for Teaching: Money
Next Post: Traditional Seating Is STILL Okay! »

Reader Interactions

Newsletter

subscribe for email updates!

Comments

  1. Kellyann Goring says

    June 19, 2016 at 5:53 pm

    I too will be teaching 3rd grade in the upcoming year as I loop with my kiddos. I am very excited about this adventure but I know I will have challenges. I love this writing resource. The rubric is so kid friendly, I can clearly see how this could work for my kiddos. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
    • Tamara says

      July 1, 2016 at 10:53 pm

      Hi Kellyann! 🙂
      Hope your summer is going well! 🙂 So glad you find this tool helpful! 🙂
      There will be more to come since I too am making the leap to third! 🙂
      Looking forward to sharing other ideas soon! 🙂
      XOXO,
      Tamara

      Reply
  2. Tara says

    April 19, 2017 at 12:03 pm

    This is wonderful! I cannot seem to find it on your TPT page! Help!

    Reply
    • Amber Romero says

      January 8, 2019 at 6:48 am

      I couldn’t either! I would love to use it though!

      Reply
  3. Bethany says

    August 8, 2017 at 6:52 pm

    Hi! I was wondering if you still had the packet available on TPT? I would so love to use your resources!

    Reply
    • Tamara says

      August 10, 2017 at 7:47 pm

      Hello!
      I took it down to add some things to it. It will be up in another week or so! Thanks for asking about it! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Fernanda says

    August 19, 2017 at 11:19 am

    Hi I just read some of the comments and I was in the same boat. I went into the TPt looking for your writing bundles for third and also the student friendly grading rubic and only was able to find it for first and second. Can you let us know when it’ll be available? Thanks for the amazing resources!

    Reply
  5. Amber says

    October 16, 2017 at 8:44 am

    I would really like to have this resource. I cannot seem to find it in you TPT store. Can you please help me with this? I really want to start implementing it next week, after fall break!

    Reply
  6. Ashley says

    May 30, 2018 at 5:03 am

    Hello,
    This looks like such a wonderful and helpful pack! I can’t seem to find it on your TPT account. Will
    you be adding it back ?

    Reply
    • Tamara says

      June 6, 2018 at 3:47 pm

      Hi Ashley,
      I will be adding it back this fall! 🙂 Thanks for asking!

      Reply
  7. Naomi says

    August 16, 2018 at 12:09 am

    Are you planning on adding this packet to TPT? We start school this week and I would love to use it ASAP.

    Reply
    • Tamara says

      August 19, 2018 at 4:38 pm

      I have changed it a bit and haven’t re-released it because I really want it to be RIGHT. Thanks for asking about it!

      Reply
  8. Cheryl Jensen says

    August 25, 2018 at 8:37 am

    Looking forward to getting your 3rd grade writing 101 packet as soon as you re-release it.

    Reply
  9. Carly says

    November 12, 2018 at 7:08 am

    I have not been able to find this packet on TPT. Is it still available? I would love to get it.

    Reply
  10. Suzanne says

    March 28, 2019 at 7:09 pm

    Any updates on when you are releasing the 3rd grade writing packet? Would love to give it a try as I need to revamp my writing.

    Reply
    • Tamara says

      April 19, 2019 at 9:26 am

      As soon as I am done with testing, I’ll get back to that!
      I add things all the time and then feel like it is never ‘just right’ enough to put out.
      Writing is so frustrating for so many and I want to make sure what I am offering is approachable.

      Reply
  11. Jordyn says

    December 20, 2020 at 11:36 am

    I am a first-year teacher and this resource looks to be very helpful in establishing a sound method for teaching writing. I cannot find this resource on TPT, however, will you be putting it back up?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Newsletter

subscribe for email updates!

Search

Grab a Button

Mrs. Russell's Room

Featured Post

Developing a Mathematician’s Identity in Learners

Third Grade Fluency for the YEAR

Second Grade Fluency for the YEAR

First Grade Fluency for the Year

Kindergarten Fluency

Kindergarten Fluency: Short Vowels

Close Reading: Aviation

Close Reading: Kitten’s First Full Moon

Accountable Talk Rubrics

Social Studies: Continents & Oceans

Mrs. Russell’s Room © 2021Built with and Genesis Framework by Bellano Web Studio