Fictional Narrative Writing Unit

Name: Skylar Corey

Grade Level: 5th

School: Burton Elementary

Purpose and Audience: The overall purpose of the writing sequence is to teach fictional narrative.
The purpose of fictional narrative writing is to entertain the audience. It is also a way for students
to understand plot, characterization, setting, and sequence of events. The students will engage in
this because for this assignment, I let them all vote for a setting that they were interested in. I
gave them all the same setting that they were able to vote on, and they get to create a character
that they want instead of being told what they must be writing about. The reason for them all to
write on the same topic is because we are writing a story and all of our stories together will be put
in a book about forest creatures. The same setting will allow for their stories to flow together and
they are able to get their own book of their writings if they would like. The audience will be
children around their age as well as their parents because we will take all of the stories we wrote
and put them into a “storybook” that they can bring home to share.

Genre and Mentor Texts: The genre I am teaching is fictional narrative. A mentor text I will be
using is Stripes by David Shannon. I will be teaching about the characterization, sequence of
stories, as well as setting using this book. I want the students to understand problem and solution
as well by reading this story.

Writing Sequence Goals:

1. Students will be able to write a story involving a character and setting that provides
details. These details will allow for the audience to know the characters’ personalities and
the senses of the setting the character is in. The audience must be able to know where
the character is and how they feel.
2. I can write a story with a problem and solution that involves the character. We should
know how the character feels and why they feel that way. We must also know how they
solved their problem.
3. I can write a story with a beginning, middle, and end that includes significant details and
transitions. The beginning of the paragraph should involve a transition word that moves
the story along well.

Rationale: I chose to give the students a setting because they already know what setting is in a
story, but I want them to be able to add details to describe a setting. I also gave them the choice
of the setting because I want these stories to be something they are excited about doing. I gave
everybody in the class a chance to pick a setting and explain why they think that would be the
best setting. I then had the students vote on which setting they wanted to write on. This allowed
for them to be excited about what they are doing and want to continue to write about it. I am
giving them the choice of which character to write about as long as somebody else in the class is
not writing about that character. This also engages the students and makes them more interested
in the story overall. The skills they will learn are important because they need to learn how to tell
a story using a problem and a solution. This is important in daily language and in writing
creatively. The skills show that they understand the progression of a story and how to describe
details about events, settings, and characters.
Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using

effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3.D

Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences
and events precisely.
Differentiated Instruction: As a way to differentiate my instruction for the slower writers in my
class, I will provide a graphic organizer for them to use as a way to know what they need to
include and how to organize it. This will allow for the students who don’t know how to start where
to begin. The graphic organizer also clears up what should be in the writing for those who need a
visual on what they should be including.

Another way to differentiate for specific students is by providing a checklist of everything

they should have when they finish their writing. This will benefit both the fast writers and the
slower writers because it allows for the students who write faast to have something to go back to
and double check. It also gives the students who take a longer time to write, or have a hard time
to know what to include an idea of what to complete. I also will use this same checklist as a peer
review tool. This will help the students know where to start when looking at a friend’s writing.

For the students who have a hard time writing in the time frame I allow, I will have them
write less paragraphs. This is because they will still be able to write well written, detailed
sentences but won’t have to be worrying about writing multiple paragraphs. I will still be receiving
good work but just at a shorter length.

I will have the anchor chart available for the ELL students as well as provide them the
ability to look up words on their Ipad. They are usually not allowed to use the Ipad to look up the
words through Google Translate, but since I am focusing on their ability to write a fluent story and
not focusing on their word choice, I’m going to allow them to use their resources so they can
explain their stories as well as they can.

Teaching Outline Chart:

Day 1 Day 2
Date: Monday, November 6, 2017 Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Daily Objective: Students will know the components of Daily Objective: Students will know how setting is
fictional narrative writing used in fictional narrative.

Mini-Lesson Focus: We will go over important Mini-Lesson Focus: How to describe a detailed
information about what a fictional narrative is as well setting and character using your 5 senses.
as describe its components.
Mentor Text: Mentor Text: Elisa’s Diary
Elisa’s Diary Stripes

Instruction:
I do: Make an anchor chart of what Fictional Narrative
is. I will write the definition of what it involves.
Introduce idea of creating their own fictional narrative.
We do: Fill out the definitions of the specific words
that I choose to talk about. (sensory details, voice,
dialogue, point of view)
Instruction:
I do: I will read Stripes by David Shannon to the
class.
We do: We will discuss the setting in the book
“Stripes”.
You do: Write the setting paragraph for their
fictional narrative story. I changed this because the
You do: Have kids break into groups to focus on one
topic of fictional narrative writing. (Setting, Character,
Problem, Solution, Climax, Beginning/Middle/End)
Planning for Conferring: No conferring today
Assessment: We will be making an anchor chart
together, so I will be able to assess them on their
knowledge by how they are able to help me put it
together after their group work.
Teaching Notes:
Fictional Narrative:
 Imaginative (fake) story
 Has a problem AND a solution
 Characters have personalities
 Includes sensory details
 Climax
Materials:
 Anchor Chart
 Markers
Resources:
Lessons adapted from :Baumann, J. F. (2012).
Journeys. Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt.
Reflection: I don’t plan on changing anything for
tomorrow because the students seemed to pick up
everything I wanted them to. They showed me this by
the information they provided on their posters. I knew
all of the students learned because they had to
present their posters, and each student had to talk
about some aspect of the poster. This showed that
every student learned something about an aspect of
fictional narrative.
Day 3
Date: Thursday, November 9, 2017
Daily Objective: Students will learn how to create a
character.
Mini-Lesson Focus: We will be looking at characters Mini-Lesson Focus: We will be looking at examples of
and dialogue. how we
Mentor Text: Elisa’s Diary
Stripes
Instruction:
I do: Explain how we use dialogue to understand
more I thought about it, the more I realized how this
wasn’t very interactive. I decided to bring a few
bags of popcorn and have them describe our
experience with the popcorn using our senses. I
then had them come up and put down one word
they thought described what they heard, felt,
tasted, saw, or smelled. They put this under the
correct column. They then left to do their setting for
their own story.
Planning for Conferring: No conferring today
Assessment: Determine if the setting they created
has sensory detail.
Teaching Notes:
Sensory Details in the book
Materials:
 “Stripes”
 Pass out graphic organizer
Resources:
None
Reflection: The students loved the popcorn activity
and I had every single student participate. This
showed me that they were engaged and using their
senses to describe what was happening. I don’t
plan on changing the plans for tomorrow because
they were all very engaged and seemed to be
picking up the topic really well. Since I had 100%
participation, I know that every student was picking
up what I wanted them to. I had every student give
a description of at least one sense that they picked
up on while popping the popcorn.
Day 4
Date: Friday, November 10, 2017
Daily Objective: Students will learn how to write about
a problem and solution.
Mentor Text: Elisa’s Diary
Stripes
Instruction:
I do: Show a “plot mountain”. Explain what it is.
characters. Explain voice. Explain the idea showing
and not telling about characters. Write examples of
showing and not telling about characters.
We do: Decide on characters for our own stories.
Make our character page in our notebooks
You do: Use the graphic organizer given to create
information on your character.
Planning for Conferring: No conferring
Assessment: The character they write will show me
if they understood how to show what the character
is like and not tell what they are like.
Teaching Notes: Characters are described by their
thoughts, feelings, actions, and dialogue.
Materials:
 Character Graphic Organizer
 Markers
Resources:
Adapted from:
Baumann, J. F. (2012). Journeys. Orlando,
FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Reflection: The students were very excited about
our writing today and showed this by the amount of
writing they did on the character graphic organizer.
They all added more details to this graphic
organizer than I have ever seen them put on one
before. It was very exciting to see them engaged in
this. I checked the students’ papers as I went and I
saw every student add descriptive details on their
appearance and their personality. There was also a
lot of details on the activities their character does.
Some students didn’t get enough time to write that
much but they were able to get a lot of details on
other aspects of their characters.
Day 5
Date: Monday, November 13, 2017
Daily Objective: To have half of the rough draft finished.
Mini-Lesson Focus: To learn how to put all the pieces
together into one coherent story.
Mentor Text:
None
Instruction:
Start rough draft writing
Planning for Conferring:
Meet with Table Groups #3 and #4 individually to show
how to put it together and create one fluent piece. I
We do: Reflect on the problem and the solution in
Stripes. Where in the story is the problem and where is
the solution?
You do: Write the problem and solution on their paper
Planning for Conferring: No conferring
Assessment: Their writings show a clear
understanding of a problem and how a character can
solve it.
Teaching Notes:
Materials:
 Picture of a “plot mountain”
 Problem/Solution Graphic Organizer
Resources:
Adapted from:
Serravallo, J. (2017). The writing strategies book: your
everything guide to developing skilled writers.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Reflection: This was very successful. The students
were able to answer my conversation about the
problem and solution in the book we are reading as a
class very well. They also were able to begin to write
the rough draft. This shows that they are excited and
ready for the writing assignment. I will not be changing
anything for the next lesson.
Day 6
Date: Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Daily Objective: To finish the rough draft
Mini-Lesson Focus: To learn how to put all the
pieces together into one coherent story.
Mentor Text:
None
Instruction:
Start rough draft writing
Planning for Conferring:
Meet with Table Groups #1 and #2 individually to
see how the draft is coming along. I was able to
changed this halfway through the class because I
noticed that it was taking me much longer to meet with
all the students. I am now having them peer review
before they come see me and have their partner tell me
about their writing.
Assessment:
None
Teaching Notes:
None
Resources:
None
Reflection: Today was very successful with the rough
draft writing. I changed how my conferring went
because I wasn’t getting through the student's fast
enough. I began to have the students check each others
again while I was working with someone else and then
to report to me how the other person’s story was. I was
then able to build off of that with my own suggestions.
This was very successful and I will be using this again
tomorrow.
Day 7
Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Daily Objective: To learn basic editing and
Mini-Lesson Focus:
None
Mentor Text:
None
Instruction:
Self Revision Day
Planning for Conferring: Meet with Table Groups
#3 and #4 individually to do some editing.
Assessment: I will be giving them a quiz on their
Ipads that covers all topics in a fictional narrative.
They will be matching the words setting,
character, problem, solution, and climax to
definitions about them.
Teaching Notes:
Materials:
 Online Quiz
 Editing Checklist
Resources:
I will look at their checklists to make sure they
have everything written down so they know what
they need to work on.
Reflection: The students did fairly well on the quiz
about fictional narrative. The average was an 88%
and they seemed to understand the majority. I
believe that after self editing their own work, they
have students look at each other’s writings first
and then give me a quick summary of what they
noticed and how to change it. I then gave a few
notes based off of their summary and allowed
them to improve what they wanted.
Assessment: The completion of their rough drafts
will tell me if it their writing time was successful or
not as well as if they included the correct parts of
fictional narrative.
Teaching Notes:
None
Resources:
None
Reflection: I used the same method as yesterday.
It went really well again and showed me that the
students are able to correct their peers work
which improves their own self editing skills. I know
the students learned how to edit because they
were all using different colored pens to show the
edits. I will not be changing anything for tomorrow.
Day 8
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2017
Daily Objective:To learn how to give suggestions
Mini-Lesson Focus:
None
Mentor Text:
None
Instruction:
Peer Revision Day
Planning for Conferring: Meet with Table Groups #1 and
#2 to check their progress and finish the editing.
Assessment:
None
Teaching Notes:
Materials:
 Editing Checklist
Resources:
I will look at their checklists to make sure they have
everything written down so they know what they need to
work on.
Reflection: Since some students already peer reviewed
the other students, I randomly drew the partners in
hopes of mixing up the groups. This was a very
successful method, and all students ended up working
will understand it better because they have to fill
out a sheet that involves them proving they have
the key features of a fictional narrative.
Day 9
Date: Friday, November 17, 2017
Daily Objective: To finish half the final draft.
Mini-Lesson Focus:
None
Mentor Text:
None
Instruction:
Final Draft Writing Day
Planning for Conferring:
I will be conferring with students who are behind on
their drafts and corrections.
Assessment:
None
Teaching Notes:
None
Resources:
None
Reflection: All of my students finished their rough
drafts and were able to get very far on their final.
The students seemed to be very eager about this
story and have gotten very far on their story. I met
with a few students who were a little behind on their
rough draft and figured out it’s because they are
perfectionists and were worried they were going to
mess up their draft. I read over it one more time to
give them a few more tips and they felt much more
confident. I won’t be changing anything for
tomorrow.
really well together. I was able to conference with two
students at a time and help them peer review as well.
The students were learning basic editing skills as well
as the elements of fictional narrative because they had
a checklist that required them to write down these skills
and elements. This showed me that each student
understands what they are looking for because they
were held accountable for providing information on their
partner’s work.
Day 10
Date: Monday, November 20, 2017
Daily Objective: To finish the rest of the final draft.
Mini-Lesson Focus:
None
Mentor Text:
None
Instruction:
Final Draft Writing Day
Planning for Conferring:
No conferring
Assessment: I will use their final draft to determine
whether or not they have all concepts using the
checklist I give them for their own revisions.
Teaching Notes:
None
Resources:
None
Reflection: Every student was able to finish their
writing today. I was able to help students as needed,
but there was very little conferring since they were
finishing their writing instead of starting something
new. I was very surprised that every student
managed to finish on time but it is a great show of
growth. They usually don’t all complete assignments
by the deadline but were all able to with this
assignment.