Writing Bundle: Personal Narrative, Informational, Opinion & Fiction 3RD GRADE

This HUGE BUNDLE includes everything you need to teach, practice, and assess writing for the entire year! Students will complete four major units of study: personal narrative, informational reports, opinion essays, and fiction narratives.

My third grade writing bundle includes 4 ready-to-use writing units to help you teach personal narratives, informational reports, opinion essays, and fiction narratives with ease. Each done-for-you 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—I made this resource for you.

If your students dread writing time more than meatloaf in the school cafeteria…I made this resource 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 writing bundle makes teaching writing easy. This HUGE bundle 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 HUGE MONEY-SAVING bundle has EVERYTHING you need to effectively teach a full year of writing to students in third grade, including 4 major units of study:

• Personal Narrative: Students learn how to write a small moment story with dialogue, a strong lead, interesting word choice, and paragraphs.
• Informational Reports: Students learn how to craft a strong lead, choose interesting details, write topic and concluding sentences, and structure paragraphs. 
• Opinion Essays: Students learn how to use supporting facts and reasons, write topic and concluding sentences, and structure paragraphs.
• Fiction Narratives: Students learn how to write dialogue, paragraphs, and transitions, and how to create strong characters, a problem, and a solution!

That’s 32 weeks of done-for-you writing lessons and activities! 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 writing bundle makes writing fun for your students. Short, focused lessons keep students engaged. Simple, direct writing tasks help kids develop confidence.

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. 

My writing bundles for grades 2-5 have received over 5000 reviews! So, if the thought of teaching writing leaves you more frazzled than a day with no wifi, this resource was made for YOU!! 

Want to make teaching spelling and grammar just as easy as teaching writing? This writing bundle is also included in a giant money-saving bundle of writing, grammar, and spelling. You can purchase the 3rd Grade Writing, Grammar, and Spelling Bundle for the entire year or spread your purchase out over time with our new Unit Bundles of writing, grammar, and spelling. Each 8 week unit has everything you need to teach all 3 subjects! Each 8-week unit has everything you need to teach all 3 subjects! Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, and Unit 4 are now available.

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
• 7 exclusive videos walking you through how to get the most out of these writing units
• 160 days of lesson plans that include guiding questions, materials, mini lessons, student work tasks, student share tasks, intervention, and several extension activities
• 55 original mentor text passages
• 10 sets of task cards
• 50 teacher anchor charts (blank and filled in versions)
• 57 student anchor charts and printables for writing notebooks
• Conference and goal-tracking forms
• Writing grades tracking forms
• Rubrics for all four genres
• List of 40 additional mentor text books (optional)
• Variety of writing publishing papers
• Student writing notebook covers and dividers
• Teacher notebook covers and binder spines
• Multiple ideas for author share celebrations
• DIGITAL writing notebooks on Google Slides

Personal Narratives
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

Informational Reports
Students learn how to craft a strong lead, choose interesting details, write topic and concluding sentences, and structure paragraphs. Lessons include:

• Setting goals
• What is an informational report?
• Generating report ideas
• Narrowing your report idea to a seed
• Research and note taking
• Paraphrasing
• Table of contents
• Subtopics
• Drafting
• Writing a lead
• Topic and concluding sentences
• Word choice- adding vocabulary and definitions
• Adding details
• Transitions
• Writing a conclusion
• Text features
• Editing
• Publishing

Opinion (Persuasive) Writing
Students learn how to use supporting facts and reasons, write topic and concluding sentences, and structure paragraphs. Lessons Include:

• Setting goals
• What is an opinion essay?
• Generating essay ideas
• Drafting
• Writing strong opinion statements
• Writing a lead
• Supporting your opinion with reasons
• Considering your audience
• Consider opposing opinions
• Supporting your opinion with examples
• Paragraphs
• Writing a lead
• Topic and concluding sentences
• Word choice
• Transitions
• Writing a conclusion
• Editing
• Publishing
• Generating deeper topics (research-based)

Fiction Narratives
Students learn how to write dialogue, paragraphs, and transitions, and how to create strong characters, a problem, and a solution! Lessons include:

• Setting goals
• What is a fiction narrative?
• Developing characters
• Developing setting (show-don’t-tell)
• Problem & solution
• Author's point of view
• Writing a lead
• Creating suspense
• Adding and punctuating dialogue
• Word choice (strong verbs)
• Paragraphs
• Transitions
• Writing an ending
• Editing
• Publishing

How To Use the Writing Bundles 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 Writing Bundles are divided into 4 units of study: personal narrative, informational report, opinion essay, and fiction narrative which each comes in its own unit folder.
• Each unit folder is further organized into multiple folders and files so it’s easy for you to find what you need.
• Each unit comes with a daily schedule so you know exactly what to teach each day.
• Detailed daily lesson plans make teaching writing easy.

Differentiation:

There are many ways to differentiate writing assignments:

• 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.

❤️❤️ Why You’ll Love These Writing Bundles! ❤️❤️

• 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.

“BEST RESOURCE I’VE EVER BOUGHT!!!!!!!!! PERFECTION!!!!!!!!!  You get it. You get what I need! You get what writing workshop is REALLY like!  You get that the mini-lessons need to be MINI! You get what a 3rd grader can handle in one lesson.  You get that a teacher doesn’t have time to read a 6-page lesson plan in a teacher’s edition. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!” – Kristen K.

FAQs

Q: In what order do you teach these units?

A: After much experimenting, I found the following order worked with my class: 

1. Personal narrative - It's a great way to get to know your class

2. Informational - Learning how to write this way helps in science and social studies throughout the year

3. Opinion - This goes well after informational because some opinions need research

4. Narrative -  It's a fun way to end the year. 

But the units do not build off of one another. They can be taught in any order that works for you and your students. 

Q: Does this bundle include all four writing genres?

A: Yes. These writing bundles include personal narrative, informational report, opinion essay, and fiction writing units.

Q: Does this bundle include all four grade levels?

A: I have separate writing bundles for grades two, three, four, and five. When you purchase a bundle you will get four writing genres for one grade level. Each grade level is a separate resource.

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 bundle 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 bundle, 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.

This bundle includes the following units:

Personal Narrative

Informational Report

Opinion Writing Unit

Fiction Narrative

Writing Units for Other Grade Levels:

Second Grade Writing Bundle

Fourth Grade Writing Bundle

Fifth Grade Writing Bundle

More Mini Writing Units:

Compare and Contrast Nonfiction

Compare and Contrast Fiction

Text Dependent Opinion

Reading Response

Additional Resources You Might Like:

3rd Grade Writing, Grammar, and Spelling Bundle

3rd Grade Spelling Curriculum Bundle