ELA Writing Tasks

My district has a big focus on writing and each unit has a "Module" that outlines the writing tasks.  Each week we complete thinking maps and write 2-3 sentences about our story.  This week's story was My Lucky Day and we wrote about which character we thought was smarter.  On the first day of writing, we completed a circle map about Piglet, who we thought was the smarter character.  The middle circle has the main idea, "Piglet," and the bigger circle has details about why Piglet is smarter.  On the next day, I model how to transfer the information from our circle map to the sentence frame.  We do a partner talk to orally practice the sentence frames.

Sidenote- The circle maps are outlined in green and yellow to expose students to "Step Up To Writing."  In later writing tasks, we will also use an outline T-chart.  They use the circle map to brainstorm, the T-chart to organize their thoughts, and the sentence frame to publish their writing.  With guidance and support, of course!

Now we are ready to write!  Students use their own circle map to fill out the sentence frames.  The circle maps have 3 or more details and they get to chose 2 for their sentence frame.