Geneva College

Writing Lesson Plan

Name: Angie Duncan Date: 4/1/21

Subject: Writing/ELA Grade Level: 4

I. Topic
Using graphic organizers to write paragraphs about landforms.

II. PA or Common Core Standards

CC.1.4.4.E Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or

explain the topic.

CC.1.4.4.F Demonstrate a grade- appropriate command of the conventions of

standard English grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

CC.1.4.4.H Introduce the topic and state an opinion on the topic.

CC.1.4.4.I Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.

III. Lesson Objectives

1. The students will be able to take notes on landform in a bubble map graphic
organizer.
2. The students will be able to use the notes from the graphic organizer to write a
paragraph.
3. The students will use content-specific words to describe one landform in writing.
4. The students will specify reasons for their opinions about landforms in writing.

IV. Materials
For the students:
- Landform passages
- Landform cards
- Bubble map graphic organizers
- Pencils
- Lined paper
- Crayons

For the teacher:

- one copy of the bubble map
- one landform card
- one copy of the landform passage
- Expo markers
- paper with the writing prompt and sentence frames written on it
 - Document camera
- projector
- white board

V. Lesson Development
a. Introduction
This lesson is occurring in conjunction with a three-part reading lesson. This lesson
will take place on the second and final day of the lesson. The students will already
have the landform passages from the previous day.

I will introduce the next portion of the lesson by having the students take out their
landform passages from the previous day. I will explain that the words we
highlighted will help them with what they will do today. I will explain the objectives
for the day by saying, “You guys are going to write about one landform, which I will
assign to you. Then, you’re going to tell your classmates about your landform and
your opinion about your landform. I’m going to display your writings in the pod so
that you all can read each other’s responses. Before I let you start your
paragraphs, I wanted to show you a way to remember the details about your
landform from the passage so that you can write your paragraphs. These bubble
maps help us put all of our findings from readings in one place.”

b. Lesson Development
I will move into the first direct-instruction portion of the lesson, where I will explain
how to use the bubble maps. I will have cards with landform names and pictures on
them, which I will hand out to the students as their assigned landform topics to
write about. I will also have bubble maps to pass out to them at this point.

I will pass out the landform cards (one per student) and the bubble maps. I will
use the GRRM to show them how to use the bubble map. I will choose an
isthmus to take notes on my bubble map as a model. The bubble map will be
under the document camera while I demonstrate.

GRRM procedures: (closer to 10 minutes)

1. I will say “On our bubble maps, the middle circle shows the topic of what
we’re taking notes on. The landform card I gave you shows you what your
topic is. My landform card says ‘Isthmus’, so I will write ‘Isthmus’ in the
center bubble.” (I will fill in the center bubble as I explain this.)
2. I will then explain that the bubbles around the middle bubble are for notes
that describe the topic. I will say, “To describe an Isthmus, I need to go back
to the passage to find information.” I will go back to the passage and say, “In
the fourth paragraph, it says that an isthmus is narrow. I am going to write
 ‘narrow’ in a bubble. I don’t need to use complete sentences because I am
just taking notes.”
3. Then, I will ask the students to look back at the passage and tell me another
detail about an isthmus that we could fill a bubble with. (This is the gradual
release of responsibility.) I will write their answers in the bubbles as they tell
me what they found in the passage.
4. I will say, “Great job, guys! Now you guys are going to do this same thing
with your bubble maps, except that you will be finding details about the
landform that is on your card.”

I will have the students start to use the passage to take notes on their landform. I
will tell them that they do not need to fill out every bubble, but they should find as
many details as they can. I will also tell them that if they have bigger handwriting,
they can write their notes next to the bubble instead of inside of the bubble. (10-
15 minutes)

For the next part of the lesson, I will tell the students that they will use their notes
and details about their landform from their bubble map to write a paragraph that
answers the following prompt, which I will have written on a paper and projected
onto the board through the document camera. I will read the prompt aloud to the
students: “Explain your landform. Then, tell whether or not you would want to live
there, and explain why or why not.” (2 minutes)

Before I let the students start writing their paragraphs, I will explain to them that
they need to write in complete sentences with a capital letter to start the sentence
and a punctuation mark to end the sentence. I will also review what kinds of words
they can use to explain why a landform would or would not be a good place to live. I
will have written some sentence frames on a piece of paper to guide their
paragraphs. I will put read the sentence frames from the paper that will be projected
through the document camera onto the board.

Sentence frames I will display and read aloud:

“A (An) _______ is a piece of land that ___________.”
“A (An) _______ has ___________.”
“I would (not) want to live on a (an) _________ because __________.”
“In my opinion, a (an) ________ would (not) be a good place to live because
____________.” (2 minutes)
 Then, I will let the students write their paragraphs. I will circulate the room and
assist students who need help with letter spacing. I might need to remind the
students of how to use their finger to make spaces between words. As they finish
their writings, I will ask them to color their landform card neatly because I will
display their writings when they are done. (20 minutes)

**The next portion of the lesson is dependent on time. If there isn’t enough time to
do peer editing, I will remind the students to re-read their paragraph and make sure
they have any pronouns capitalized, the first letters of the sentence capitalized, and
the correct punctuation include din their paragraphs.

**When everyone has finished their writing, I will have them do some oral peer
editing. I will get their attention and ask them to read their paragraph to a partner. I
will say, “Make sure you have the right letters capitalized and punctuation after
each sentence. If you made any mistakes, stop reading, erase your mistake, and fix
it. When you listen to your partner reading their paragraph, stop them if any
sentences don’t make sense or if they may have left out a word.” (5-10 minutes)

I will have the students raise their hand when they are finished coloring their
landform cards and writing their paragraphs. I will go around and staple their
landform card to their paragraphs and collect them.

c. Closure
Once I have stapled and collected the writings, I will tell the students that I will hang
their writings on the wall for them to see on Friday. I’ll also tell them to read each
other’s writings to learn about the other landforms. I will thank them for working
hard and telling them what a good job they did! I’ll then tell them to get their books
and Chromebooks ready for the next class and line up so they can switch classes.

VI. Assessment
1. I will circulate the room to make sure the students are filling in their bubble
maps with relevant information from the passage about their landforms.
2. While they are writing their paragraphs, I will circulate and watch to make sure
they are using the notes from their bubble maps in their paragraphs.
3. After I collect their writing, I will read them and look for the use of content-
specific words to describe their landforms. (e.g., words like “delta, sediment,
topsoil”)
 4. After I collect their writing, I will read them and look for the use of opinion-based
statements and descriptions (as modeled with the sentence frames).

VII. Evidence of Differentiated Instruction

Process:
- Modeling the use of the bubble map will help students know what they are
supposed to use it for and make their personal use of the graphic organizer more
efficient and beneficial.
- I will help students with finger spacing during the writing process because a few
students need to work on their spacing.
Content:
- I will give the students sentence frames to help them write their paragraphs with
correct syntax.
Product:
- I allowed some students to just explain their landform in writing instead of
explaining their landform and writing their opinion about the landform. Modified
the assignment because many students in the third class struggle with reading
and lack phoneme-grapheme awareness. I had to help these students decode
words to spell them, and this was taxing for them. Allowing them to write half
the amount as the other students was the same as giving the other students the
full assignment because it is harder for the struggling students to write.

VIII. Interdisciplinary Connections

Science: I am introducing the students to landforms found on earth, which they will
be covering in science class.

IX. Self-Evaluation
I could have been more explicit or direct when describing the purpose of the bubble
map. In the first two classes, I explained how to use the bubble map well and I told
the students that the bubble map makes it easier on us when we go to write a
paragraph about a topic. However, I didn’t explain exactly how or why the bubble
map makes it easier to write. In the third class, I explained that after we fill out the
bubble map about a topic, we don’t have to read through entire passages every time
we want to find a detail and that we can just read a passage once or twice to find its
main topic and details. I told the students that it is much easier to just look at the
simple bubble map notes to find ideas for writing. Two of my three classes were very
engaged with the lesson, but the last class struggled to focus and to complete the
bubble maps and paragraphs. Many students even drew pictures of houses on their
landforms to show their imagination of what it would look like to live there. I loved
to see the students collaborating while they read each other’s paragraphs and
checked for errors. I also loved to hear them sharing their opinions with each other
and defending their opinions both orally and in writing. As I collected the students’
paragraphs, I noticed some spelling errors that were left behind after the peer
editing. I figured this was because a good majority of the students in the pod
struggle with spelling and they have not had much writing instruction this year, so
they have not been corrected in their spelling very often. This worries me because
they will be going to fifth grade soon, and they will need to write more often and
write with correct mechanics. Some of the students could have done with at least 3
days’ worth of lessons to catch them up on writing skills to prepare them for this
lesson. I say this because many of them did not try to form a complete sentence
even after I told them that in paragraphs, we have to write in complete sentences so
that we can make our point clearly. Overall, the lesson flowed smoothly, but my
third class really struggled to stay on task and to perform the tasks I asked them to.