Personal Narrative Writing Unit THIRD GRADE

My third grade personal narrative writing unit includes 8 weeks of done-for-you writing lessons about how to write a small-moment story. This unit contains detailed lesson plans, mentor texts, anchor charts, student writing tasks, and rubrics–everything you need to be a capable, confident writing teacher with students who love to write.

If teaching writing has ever made you cry, weep, tear out your hair, question your existence, or binge-watch reality television—because it’s just that frustrating and overwhelming—this writing unit is perfect for you. 

If your students dread writing time more than meatloaf in the school cafeteria...this writing bundle is perfect for them, too. 

Teaching writing can be tough. Teachers tell me that their district-provided writing curriculum is

• too long.
• too wordy.
• too complicated.

Or worse, they don’t have any curriculum at all. Yikes! 

But my third grade personal narrative writing unit makes teaching writing easy. It takes all the guesswork out of teaching writing and gives you the tools you need to teach engaging and effective writing lessons without breaking a sweat.

This resource is part of a money-saving writing bundle! Click HERE to see the bundle!

The ready-to-use lessons and activities in this personal narrative writing unit will teach your students how to write a small-moment story with dialogue, a strong lead, interesting word choice, and paragraphs. And all you have to do is print and teach. The lesson plans are that simple. Seriously.

Student-friendly mentor texts make it easy to provide illustrative examples of new writing skills. You don’t have to waste your time and money hunting down just the right book.  Focused mini lessons and daily writing tasks simplify the writing process helping ALL students, even reluctant writers, experience success. Preprinted anchor charts make it easy to model new skills and engage in shared writing without wasting valuable time. 

And best of all, my personal narrative writing unit makes writing fun for ALL your students–from reluctant writers to excited writers. The Student Success Path helps you identify where your students are on their writing journey and plan just-right lessons and interventions. Short, focused lessons keep students engaged. Simple, direct writing tasks help kids develop confidence. Conference materials, including outlines and topic cards, you can use to guide small group discussion make it easy for you to differentiate lessons.

Choice empowers students to write about things they care about and makes them more invested in their writing. And that’s a big deal because students who enjoy writing and get lots of practice perform better on standardized testing. 

Plus, these materials are easy-to-use. Everything is organized in folders to help you find just what you need. A Quick Start Guide makes it simple to get started and provides tips on how to prep materials for long-term use. 

The 2-week Starting Writing Workshop mini-unit will help you start your writing instruction on the right foot. Detailed teacher directions show you exactly how to use all the resources and activities.

Want to make teaching spelling and grammar just as easy as teaching writing? This personal narrative writing unit is included in a money-saving bundle: 3rd Grade Writing, Grammar, and Spelling Unit 1. This incredible resource has everything you need to teach the first 8 weeks of all 3 subjects.

How Our Writing Bundles are Aligned with the Science of Reading:

1. Structured writing routine: Our writing bundle is organized into 4 genres. Each 8-week unit is carefully structured, beginning with foundational skills before moving into more advanced skills. Students are taught a systematic approach to writing including: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.
2. Explicit instruction: Daily lessons begin with explicit instruction including access to examples via mentor texts, modeling, and directed practice. Each skill is broken down into bite-size pieces so that students can learn one skill at a time. Students practice skills independently, working on one sentence or paragraph at a time.
3. Differentiation: Writing is differentiated through small group instruction that provides reteaching, additional practice, and support at appropriate levels.
4. Daily opportunities to write: The majority of the writing lesson is reserved for independent writing time, providing students with large blocks of time to write and practice skills every day. 
5. Demonstrates the connection between reading and writing: Mentor texts provide concrete examples of writing skills and allow children to experiment with and apply sophisticated skills and language in their own writing. In addition, constructing their own writing pieces helps students recognize, connect, and understand these strategies when reading. 

What’s Included:

• Detailed teacher directions and suggestions for simple implementation
• Unit-at-a-glance calendar for each unit (now with multiple options)
• 7 exclusive videos walking you through how to get the most out of these writing units
• 40 days of lesson plans that include guiding questions, materials, mini lessons, student work tasks, student share tasks, intervention, and several extension activities
• 14 original mentor text passages
• 24 personal narrative task cards (now also in black & white)
• 24 punctuating dialogue task cards (now also in black & white)
• 24 personal narrative writing prompts task cards (now also in black & white)
• 12 teacher anchor charts (blank and filled-in versions)
• Student anchor charts and printable for writing notebooks
• Conference and goal-tracking forms
• Writing grades tracking forms
• Rubrics
• List of 12 additional mentor textbooks (Remember, using them is optional, because I’ve included all the mentor texts you need) 
• 20 different writing publishing papers
• Student writing notebook cover and dividers
• Teacher notebook covers and binder spines
• Multiple ideas for author share celebration
• DIGITAL writing notebooks on Google Slides
• Conferencing Materials - Conference outlines, a sample conference, and topic cards you can use to guide your small-group conferences
• Student Success Path - Identify where your students are on their writing journey
• Starting Writing Workshop Bonus - Two weeks of writing lesson plans to help build stamina and set your students up for writing success

Skills Covered:

Students learn how to write a small moment story with dialogue, a strong lead, interesting word choice, and paragraphs. Lessons include:

• Setting goals
• What is a personal narrative?
• Generating story ideas
• Narrowing your story idea to a small moment
• Rehearsing and drafting
• Writing a lead
• Adding and punctuating dialogue
• Adding details
• Word choice
• Show, don’t tell
• Breaking writing into paragraphs
• Transition words
• Writing an ending
• Editing
• Publishing

How To Use the Personal Narrative Writing Unit in the Classroom:

A typical day of writing:

I recommend you set aside thirty minutes for writing each day (or more if you have it). Check out the sample schedules below. Each day follows the same plan:

• Mini Lesson (8-10 minutes): The day kicks off with a mini lesson to teach a particular skill. The mini-lesson uses mentor text (remember, it’s included in the unit) and anchor charts. For the teacher version of the anchor charts, you can project and fill them out with the class, or print and display them in your classroom. The student versions are smaller so they can fill them out and keep them in their writing notebooks for reference.
• Work Time (18-20 minutes): Students will apply the skill they just learned into their writing each day. The included writing tasks make it crystal-clear what to do during independent writing time–for you and your students. By the end of the unit, they will have completed two full masterpieces and many other independent writings. 
• Share Time (2 minutes): Students are encouraged to share a piece of their writing with a partner or with the entire class. This makes writing more meaningful to kids and holds them accountable.

Organization made easy:

• The personal narrative writing unit is organized into multiple folders and files so it’s easy for you to find what you need.
• Unit-at-glance schedules show you exactly what to teach each day. Multiple options allow you to select the option that’s right for your class.
• Detailed daily lesson plans make teaching writing easy.

Differentiation:

There are many ways to differentiate writing assignments:

• Use the Student Success Path to identify where students are on their writing journey and use the suggested interventions to modify lessons.
• These daily writing prompts are intentionally short and sweet so that all students, even those below grade level, can feel successful. Most tasks can be completed in 1-2 sentences.
• More advanced writers can write longer responses, or work on a second masterpiece if they finish early.
• Students can complete fewer task cards or work with a partner; you can also provide support to students as they work on task cards.
• The process for teaching writing includes group conferencing time. These groups should be based on ability so that you can individualize your instruction to meet the specific needs of the group. Use the topic cards to guide your small group lessons.

❤️❤️ Why You’ll Love This Writing Unit! ❤️❤️

• You’ll save hours of prepping and planning time. The daily lesson plans are easy to implement. All you have to do is print and teach. 
• Mentor texts are included. You do not need to hunt down or purchase any additional books! (Unless you want to. Far be it from me to stand between a teacher and new books.) 
• Digital anchor charts project onto your white board-so you don’t have to be Picasso or Renoir to anchor your kids in the lesson.
• Pre-printed student anchor charts make it easy for students to follow along without having to write every word and draw complicated diagrams.
• Digital student notebooks are perfect for 1:1 classrooms and a great way to save paper.
• These lessons work for all students, even students below grade level.
• Task cards incorporate movement, reinforce concepts, and make learning fun. Daily share time encourages students to take pride in their writing.
• Direct writing instruction provides a solid foundation of writing skills that leads to increased test scores.
• Aligned with the Science of Reading.

“I have never been very confident when it comes to teaching writing, and I am always looking for products to help me out. Until now, I have never been able to find something that just "fits" my style. This product is so thorough, everything that I need is right here, and I love how everything is laid out day by day. I am going into this school year more confident in my writing lessons than I have ever been.” - Jessica D.

FAQs

Q: Do you have other writing units available?

A: Yes. I also have informational report, opinion essay, and fiction writing units available.

Q: What grade level is this for?

A: This personal narrative writing unit is available for grade 3. I also have personal narrative writing units available for grades two, four, and five.

Q: What kind of notebooks do you prefer students to choose?

A: I prefer composition notebooks because they are sturdy and easy to use and store. But other teachers have used spiral-bound notebooks or three-ring binders. 

Q: Are these writing lessons based on Common Core standards?

A: Yes. These writing lessons are based on Common Core standards. 

Q: What grade level should I buy if I teach a combo class? Do I need to purchase both grade levels or can I use one grade level for both grades?

A: The lessons for consecutive grade levels are very similar because the standards are similar. The biggest difference is that the reading level on the mentor text passages is modified to meet the specific grade level. Other differences include new examples in the lesson plans and anchor charts and new task cards. It is generally fine to use units that are one level above or below grade level. You might want to select the lower grade level to ensure that the mentor texts are easier for students to read.

Q: How much time do you need to teach these lessons?

A: Each unit includes eight weeks of materials. I recommend spending 30-45 on writing each day. The lesson takes 8-10 minutes and the rest of the time would be used for independent writing.

Q: How many writing pieces do students write in each unit?

A: Students complete two masterpieces in each unit. But they may work on additional pieces if they finish daily assignments early.

Q: My school requires me to use a certain curriculum. Will your writing units align?

A: My writing units are a standalone curriculum. They are not based on or aligned with any other curriculum. However, they are based on the writing standards. My curriculum is organized into units of study and formatted in the workshop model and hundreds of teachers have successfully used my writing units with their district-provided curriculum. 

Q: I am very interested in your writing unit, but we have to teach Lucy Calkins. Can I use your materials to support the Lucy method? 

A: My writing units are a standalone curriculum. They are not based on or aligned with any other curriculum. With that being said, I have hundreds of teachers who have chosen to use my units as a supplement to their Lucy curriculum because it is more manageable and engaging for students.

Other Resources You May Like:

Third Grade Writing, Grammar, and Spelling Unit 1

Third Grade Writing Bundle

More Mini Writing Units:

Text Dependent Test Prep Writing Bundle

Compare and Contrast Nonfiction

Compare and Contrast Fiction

Text Dependent Opinion

Reading Response

Writing Units for Other Grade Levels:

Second Grade Writing Bundle

Fourth Grade Writing Bundle

Fifth Grade Writing Bundle

Additional Resources You Might Like:

Third Grade Spelling Bundle