Narrative Non-Fiction Unit

Third Grade Autobiographies

Casey Bowe
JM Hill Elementary
Fall 2018
 Narrative Non-Fiction/Autobiographies Unit
Casey Bowe

Topic

Overall Topic: Narrative Non-Fiction/Autobiographies

Topic for all lessons:

1. Build background knowledge on culture and how people are different.

2. Recognize the characteristics of an autobiography
3. Tell how Gary the Dreamer is an autobiography. Compare yourself to Gary. Are
you alike or different? In what ways.
4. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective
technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
5. Completion of an autobiography planner that lays out life events in sequence.
6. Complete a rough draft of their biography. Read and respectfully critique the
autobiographies of their peers
7. Students will take their rough draft and peer reviewed papers and turn them into
the final project

Goals

Overall:

The students will understand what makes up an autobiography and be able to write one

for themselves.

Individual Lessons:

1. The students will build background knowledge on culture and how people are

different.

2. The students will define what a narrative non-fiction consists of and determine

key characteristics of an autobiography.

3. The students will read the short story “Gary The Dreamer” by Gary Soto and give

reasons to why it is an autobiography.

 4. The students will understand the importance of sequence in an autobiography and

write narratives putting certain events in an order.

5. The students will complete an autobiography that puts their life in order from

early life to family and finally future.

6. The students will create a rough draft of their autobiography from their planning

page. Students will respectfully critique their peer’s autobiographies.

7. The students will create a final autobiography from their rough draft.

Scope

The scope of my unit started with different stories about different cultures and

how each and every person is different. I decided it was important to work with the

students about different cultures and traditions, since the unit before this was all about

family traditions. Then after that I felt it was appropriate to move onto what an

autobiography was and how it was written.

Sequence

1. Different types of traditions and culture

2. Intro to Autobiographies and how they are written

3. Read “Gary the Dreamer” an autobiography about Gary Soto and discuss how it is

an autobiography

4. Discuss what sequencing is and why it is important to an autobiography

5. Autobiography Planning Page

6. Intro to rough drafts and peer edits

7. Final Project
 I chose this order because I believe it was important to start the students by

understanding the that an autobiography is all about themselves. Introducing them to the

genre and having them read about it showed them examples about how an autobiography

is set up. After discussing how it was set up the discussion ended in what a sequence was.

This set up our discussion about sequencing and why it is important to autobiographies.

Having the students peer review each other’s work helped them with spelling and

grammar.

Assessment Types

Different assessments I chose for this unit were having students complete a tradition

packet that laid out their family’s traditions. This allowed students to connect the last unit

into this unit and allowed for an easy transition. Another assessment I choose to complete

was an autobiography planning page from teacherspayteachers.com. This planning page

allowed for students to put their thoughts in a certain sequence in which it help set up

their autobiography. Having students put together a rough draft was a good way for me to

assess their writing style and if they followed the sequence of the paper. The final

assessment students completed was a written autobiography and a head of themselves.

Lessons

1. Different Cultures

2. Intro to Autobiographies

3. Gary the Dreamer

4. Sequence

5. Autobiographies Planning Paper

6. Rough Drafts of Autobiographies

 7. Final Autobiographies

Technology Incorporation

For my unit, I used the Chromebooks for the students to research more about

autobiographies. We listened to different songs and raps about autobiographies as well as

watched a video about it. I was surprised to see how the students reacted to the videos.

They loved the music behind it and were excited to write about themselves.

“Ah Ha”

My “Ah Ha” moment during this unit was when I learned that students in third

grade are willing to work a lot harder when they get to talk about themselves. During the

unit, many students would approach and say to me “Ms. Bowe did you know I was born

in New Jersey” or “Ms. Bowe when I grow up I want to be a professional Youtuber!”.

My students wrote a lot about themselves and were eager to share with not only their

peers but with me and my host teacher. Another “Ah Ha” moment I had is when I told

my class to go home and ask their parents about their early life so they could write about

it. I had a student come up to me and say “Ms. Bowe what if I don’t have parents at home

and I don’t know who to ask”. This was really sad to me but also made me think about

how I was wording things to my students. Where I was doing my student teaching

experience it was in an area of poverty and a decent amount of students did not know

their parents.
 FALL STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN 2018

Miss Bowe Essential Learning Question:

CO-OP Teacher: Mr. Smith Explain how the family shared their culture.
Grade: 3rd Grade What is a culture?
School: JM Hill Elementary School How does your family share your culture?

Subject: Reading/ ELA Objective:

Topic: Narrative Non-Fictions Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied
Week 2 Day 1 required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and
other information known about the topic to explore ideas
under discussion.
PA Standard(s):
 SL.3.1a Come to discussions prepared, having Ask questions to check understanding of information
read or studied required material; explicitly presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the
draw on that preparation and other information remarks of others.
known about the topic to explore ideas under
discussion. Build background knowledge on culture and how people
SL.3.1c Ask questions to check understanding are different.
of information presented, stay on topic, and link
their comments to the remarks of others.
Instruction:
Motivation/Engagement:
Explain to students that “Room to Grow” is the story of a girl who adjusts to living in a new community.
After reading the story, have partners discuss what they have learned about moving to a new community.
Review eight new vocabulary words with students. Look for them in the text.
Demonstration/Direct:
Paragraphs 1–2: Tell students that you are going to take a closer look at the first two paragraphs of “Room
to Grow” on page 55. Ask: How is Kiku’s new home different from her old home? Model how to cite
evidence to answer the question.
Paragraph 3: Tell students that you are going to look closely at the third paragraph on page 55. Help
students connect to the text by recounting their own experiences of going to a new school, or their very first
day of school. Discuss: Kiku is scared to start school. I can better understand why she is scared when I
remember my first day at a new school.
Have students discuss the topic using relevant, descriptive facts and details and speaking clearly at an
understandable pace.
page 56: Tell students that you are going to take a closer look at page 56. Ask: How did Kiku’s mother
learn to make tea? Model how to cite evidence to answer the question.
page 57: Tell students that you are going to take a closer look at page 57. Ask: Why do you think Jill’s
mother asks Kiku’s mother for help with the community garden project? Model how to cite evidence to
answer the question. Discuss with students how Kiku’s mother’s help with the community garden is a good
example of how people can demonstrate volunteerism in their communities.
Guided Practice: Have students go back in the text for evidence as they talk about how Kiku and her family
helped their community. Ask students to explain how the family shared their culture.
Model students worksheet about their family culture and things that are unique to their family.
Independent Practice:
Students complete the worksheet. Share when finished.
Materials: Assessments (formative/summative): Closure:
Worksheet Worksheet
Reading Wonders book Students share their family
cultures.
 FALL STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN 2018

Miss Bowe Essential Learning Question:

CO-OP Teacher: Mr. Smith How does our culture make us different? Do you have
Grade: 3rd Grade specific family traditions that you like.
School: JM Hill Elementary School

Subject: Reading/ ELA Objective:

Topic: Narrative Non-Fictions By the end of the year, read and comprehend
Week 2 Day 2 informational texts, including history/ social studies,
science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades
2–3 text complexity band independently and
PA Standard(s): proficiently. RI.3.10
RI.3.10 By the end of the year, read and Recognize the characteristics of an autobiography.
comprehend informational texts, including
history/social studies, science, and technical
texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text
complexity band independently and
proficiently.
Instruction:
Motivation/Engagement: Tell students about childhood.
Demonstration/Direct:
Discuss the following key characteristics of an autobiography.
 An autobiography is a kind of narrative nonfiction. It tells the true story of a person’s life.
 The author is who the text is about. You can tell because it uses pronouns such as I and me.
 An autobiography usually tells the events of the author’s life in chronological order.
 Autobiographies often contain text features such as headings and maps. These features help readers
understand the events in the person’s life and picture where they took place.
Model identifying clues on page 55 that indicate “Room to Grow” is an autobiography.
Point out the heading “Spring in the City.” Explain that headings tell what a section is mostly about.
Explain that a map is a flat drawing of a real place. Have students tell how the map adds to their
understanding of the story.
Guided Practice:
Go to reading wonders.com and
Select the genre mini-lesson. Use “Room to Grow” to model how to identify the characteristics of
narrative nonfiction. Click through the mini-lesson or use the tools to model identifying clues that show
that the story is an autobiography.
Have students work with partners to find examples in “Room to Grow” that help them know it is an
autobiography. Have them tell their partners what they have learned about Kiku and her family’s culture.
Then have them share their work with the class.

Independent Practice:
Students complete the first two pages of packet about themselves.. Share when finished.
Materials: Assessments (formative/summative): Closure:
Worksheet Worksheet Students share about their
Reading Wonders book families.
 FALL STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN 2018

Miss Bowe Essential Learning Question:

CO-OP Teacher: Mr. Smith How does our culture make us different? Do you have
Grade: 3rd Grade specific family traditions that you like?
School: JM Hill Elementary School

Subject: Reading/ ELA Objective:

Topic: Narrative Non-Fictions Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding
Week 2 Day 3 of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for
the answers
Tell how Gary the Dreamer is an autobiography.
PA Standard(s): Compare yourself to Gary. Are you alike or different? In
RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to what ways.
demonstrate understanding of a text, referring Recognize the characteristics of an autobiography.
explicitly to the text as the basis for the
answers.
Instruction:
Motivation/Engagement: Have students take out their reading wonders books and find the story Gary the
Dreamer
Demonstration/Direct: Explain to students that an autobiography is a type of narrative nonfiction and
discuss the characteristics of an autobiography on page 59
Point out that Gary Soto is a real person and that “Gary the Dreamer” is a true story. Help students identify
the story as autobiography.
Who wrote the story? (Gary Soto)
Who is the writer telling about? (The writer uses the pronouns I, me, and my to tell about when he was a
little boy. The writer is telling about himself.)
Since this is a true story in which a real person tells about himself, it is an autobiography.
Guided Practice:
Help students see that the author has a purpose for writing this autobiography.
Think about the title, “Gary the Dreamer.” What does the word dreamer mean?
How do pages 60–61 show that Gary is a dreamer?
What else might the author be trying to show about his childhood? Do you think Gary was a happy child?
 Point out that authors of autobiographies may include details about their culture, like the
description of the mariachis, to show the impact that their culture had on their lives.
Independent Practice:
Explain to students that we are going to make autobiographies of our lives like Gary Soto. Explain the
process of the rough draft planner, rough draft, peer edits and teacher edits before the final project. Today
students are going to make a poster of themselves at the center they are at. Show students a poster of you
and have them model what you did. Explain to them that they must draw themselves and write family
traditions.
Materials: Assessments (formative/summative): Closure:
Worksheet Start of planning worksheet Students share about their
Reading Wonders book families.
 FALL STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN 2018

Miss Bowe Essential Learning Question:

CO-OP Teacher: Mr. Smith How does our culture make us different? Do you have
Grade: 3rd Grade specific family traditions that you like?
School: JM Hill Elementary School

Subject: Reading/ ELA Objective:

Topic: Narrative Non-Fictions Recognize the characteristics of an autobiography.
Week 2 Day 4 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences
PA Standard(s): or events using effective technique, descriptive details,
 W.3.3a Establish a situation and introduce a and clear event sequences. Establish a situation and
narrator and/or characters; organize an event introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event
sequence that unfolds naturally. sequence that unfolds naturally.
Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.
 W.3.3c Use temporal words and phrases to
 Analyze models to understand the sequence of
signal event order.
events in a story.
 Add words that show order to revise writing.
Instruction:
Motivation/Engagement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la33tw5otM0 show youtube video about
autobiographies. Many version of it. But it always tells about a person’s life Today we are going to work
on our planners and focus on the sequence that they are set up in. Explain how sequence is important to
autobiographies since it is the story of a person’s life. Play the song My Personal Story (reading wonders)
Demonstration/Direct:
Have students open small reading books to page 72 and 73. Read the story Polkas and Pitas. Tell students
that the author describes how people in different cities share their culture. Although the cultures are not
directly compared, students should think about ways they are alike and different.
How are the Polish people of Chicago and the Middle Eastern people of Detroit alike?
How is the way they share their culture different? Ask students about their culture and things relative to
them. Do they have anything that makes them unique? Partner share
Guided Practice: Provide students with the prompt below. Write about something that really happened to
you. Put your ideas in order. Have partners list interesting things that happened to them. Ask them to think
about the order of the events within each experience.
Tell students they will be writing about their personal family history and important events in their lives
that have shaped who they are today. Discuss that a family is composed of people living together and
functioning as a unit.
Students are encouraged to talk to their parents and family members about their writing. They can discuss
important events in their childhoods such as, the day they were born, learning to walk and talk, funny
things they use to do, etc. After students complete their information gathering, they can work on their
autobiographical timelines and scrapbooks
Independent Practice: Have students take out their planning worksheet from last lessons. Explain that the
questions are all in order from the time they were born to when they grow older.

Materials: Assessments (formative/summative): Closure:

Worksheet Start of planning worksheet Tell students about what we are
Reading Wonders book doing tomorrow
 FALL STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN 2018

Miss Bowe Essential Learning Question:

CO-OP Teacher: Mr. Smith Do you have specific family traditions that you like?
Grade: 3rd Grade What was your life like as a child?
School: JM Hill Elementary School

Subject: Reading/ ELA Objective:

Topic: Narrative Non-Fictions
Week 2 Day 5
PA Standard(s):
 W.3.3a Establish a situation and introduce a
narrator and/or characters; organize an event
sequence that unfolds naturally.
 W.3.3c Use temporal words and phrases to
signal event order.
Recognize the characteristics of an autobiography.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences
or events using effective technique, descriptive details,
and clear event sequences. Establish a situation and
introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event
sequence that unfolds naturally.
Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.
 Analyze models to understand the sequence of
events in a story.
 Add words that show order to revise writing.

Instruction:
Motivation/Engagement: Ask students if they remember anything about me. Throughout the school year I
have been telling them little details about my life and I have been seeing if they remember anything lilke
how many siblings I have, what I want to be when I grow up how many dogs I have etc.
Demonstration/Direct:
Call students to the front of the room. On the hover cam put up the planning page for students to see. Go
through the planning page and talk about each the subsections in detail. Describe in details what they
should be writing. This does not have to be complete sentences.
Guided Practice: While still on the front board have students discuss what they want to write for each
one. Explain to students that I was born on May 21st in Newark Delaware which is far away from where
we are at school. Talk about my siblings and their ages and well as their names. All the details I am giving
them about my life, I expected to get about their life.
Independent Practice: Have students take out their planning worksheet from last lessons. Let them work on
them until they are complete!

Materials: Assessments (formative/summative): Closure:

Worksheet Start of planning worksheet Tell students about what we are
Reading Wonders book doing tomorrow
 FALL STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN 2018

Miss Bowe Essential Learning Question:

CO-OP Teacher: Mr. Smith Do you have specific family traditions that you like?
Grade: 3rd Grade What was your life like as a child?
School: JM Hill Elementary School Why do we write rough drafts?

Subject: Reading/ ELA Objective:

Topic: Narrative Non-Fictions
Week 2 Day 6
PA Standard(s):
L.3.2f Use spelling patterns and
generalizations (e.g., word families,
position-based spellings, syllable patterns,
ending rules, meaningful word parts) in
writing words.
Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word
families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns,
ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.
Consult reference materials, including beginning
dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.
Write a rough draft from planning page.
Read and respectfully critique the autobiographies of
their peers

Instruction:
Motivation/Engagement: On the board write the following;
1. Did you pick a dayt to visit Tom’s house? (date)
2. I picked a roas from the bush. (rose)
3. I smiyl when I get a good graid. (smile, grade)
4. The playn flew over a very large laik. (plane, lake)
Have students correct the four sentences in journal. Ask students why its important to proof read their
work.
Demonstration/Direct: Put my rough draft under the hovercam with many mistakes. As a class read
through the rough draft and see how many errors students can pick out. Ask them if it was hard to read
with all the silly mistakes. As a class go over the right way to correct the mistakes. Things to remember:
Capital letter at the beginning of every sentence
Punctuation
Vocab and spelling words MUST be correct
If you if about a word look it up
Every sentence needs a subject and a predict
The sentence should make sense
It should be in order

Independent Practice: Students return to their desks and take out their planning page. They should write
the rough draft from their planner. Explain to them that this should not take more than 45 minutes since
they already have the thoughts on their paper

After 45 minutes Hocus Pocus Everybody Focus

Tell students to partner up and peer review their partners autobiography
If they do not if something is correct come ask me!
Materials: Assessments (formative/summative): Closure:
Worksheet Rough drafts Put rough draft in red folder
 FALL STUDENT TEACHING LESSON PLAN 2018

Miss Bowe Essential Learning Question:

CO-OP Teacher: Mr. Smith How does your autobiography differ from yours friends?
Grade: 3rd Grade
School: JM Hill Elementary School

Subject: Reading/ ELA Objective:

Topic: Narrative Non-Fictions Recognize the characteristics of an autobiography.
Week 2 Day 7 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences
PA Standard(s): or events using effective technique, descriptive details,
 W.3.3a Establish a situation and introduce a and clear event sequences. Add words that show order to
narrator and/or characters; organize an event revise writing.
sequence that unfolds naturally.
Instruction:
Motivation/Engagement: Autobiography video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4cRR1md4BA
Demonstration/Direct: Show students what their final project will look like. Show them how to cut their
heads and decorate them. Explain to students that once they write the autobiography they have to show it
to me before decorating their head.
Guided Practice: show students the completed autobiography. Have them look at mine as an example and
teach them how to make the head. Tell students that it should be written neatly or they will have to rewrite
it. Leave example under the hovercam.
Independent Practice: Have students take out their rough draft from the day before and have them write
their autobiographies on the paper.
Have students decorate their heads ONCE THEIR WRITING IS FINISHED!

Materials: Assessments (formative/summative): Closure:

Rough draft Final Project Have students share their
Final paper autobiographies
Family Traditions Posters:
Final Project Page:
Final Projects:
Final Bulletin Board:
Casey Bowe

Third Grade Narrative Non-Fiction Unit Reflection

For my third-grade unit plan I chose for students to have a unit about the genre:

narrative non-fiction. At the end of the unit students had to create an autobiography

about themselves. Before this unit, we did a unit about family traditions and culture

which lead for a smooth transition into the autobiographies. In third grade students

learn to prewrite, prepare a rough draft, go through peer review conferences and

come up with a final product. During this unit, we went through the full process and

my students ended up with some awesome projects. This unit went extremely well.

Students were eager to find out more about themselves and they could not wait to

share with me what they knew about their families and their life. When we

transitioned from family traditions packets to an autobiography planning page I

was surprised with how smoothly the transition went. Students knew a lot about

themselves and were excited to write. The majority of my class asked for more

paper to write on because of how much they had written. As a teacher this was

heart-warming to see especially when in my classroom it was like pulling teeth to get

my students to write two to three sentences on a test. Seeing that my students could

write paragraphs about themselves also set the standard higher for their upcoming

tests! Another great thing about this unit was exposing the students to the full

writing processes. From planning pages to the final project they spent over 4 days

writing and creating the autobiographies knowing that people were going to be

reading them in the halls. It made me extremely proud that most of the students

were concerned about spelling and grammar and went through not only peer edits
but also teacher edits. Overall I think this unit went great and I am glad I got to

know my students on a more personal life!