Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing Book 2
Reading with a Writer’s Eye
Lesson # 01
This lesson will teach students that one way writers make writing powerful is by emulating
narrative writing we admire.
Materials: “Eleven” red-sweater excerpt on chart, “Eleven” student copies, “Papa who Wakes Up
Tired in the Dark” student copies for homework
Anchor Chart: Lessons from Mentor Personal Narratives, other personal narrative books,
Connect
Teach
Discuss the recent publishing experience
Teaching Point (TP) Writers emulate each other
by searching for an appropriate mentor text,
experiencing the text, and then reading as a writer
for techniques used in the text.
Read “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros as a mentor
text of narrative. (pg 4 -5). Model the experience
of the story by acting out small parts. Model
thinking like a writer as you point out what could
be useful in a future narrative you write.
Engage
Pull out the techniques that are used in the
mentor text “Eleven”
Link
Send students off to write and try some of the
techniques
Mid Workshop
Teaching Point
Homework
MidTeaching Point: Reread text to examine more
closely how an author uses techniques previously
identified.
Pass out “Papa who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark”
and have students mark up the text with what they
notice about it.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing Book 2
Starting With Turning Points
Lesson #
02
In this lesson you’ll remind students to use strategies they already know for generating narrative
writing and introduce a new way-first times, last times, times of important realizations.
Connect
Teach
Discuss what was noticed in Eleven and Papa story from yesterday
Teaching Point (TP) Use turning points
moment/personal narrative writing topics.
to
generate
small
Specifically: Students learn to list turning points in their lives to use as
story starters. Listing Firsts, Lasts and Ah-ha moments.
*Key to teaching before, middle and end story concepts.
e.g. My first day as a teacher.
The last time I petted my very old and sick dog.
The lesson I learned about giving gifts that matter to the people they are
intended for.
Engage
Lead students in generating a list of these turning point moments for
their writers’ notebooks.
Link
Send students off to continue listing first times, last times, turning points
Have students share with their writing partners and add more to the
lists.
Students should choose one idea and start writing.
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Homework
Mid-Workshop Teaching Point: Writers Plan. Students should look over
what they have written and what their ideas and utilize a graphic
organizer or planning box to plan their next piece.
Writer’s notebooks-record little things that happen in your life today.
Students should still be using all of the strategies from book 1-timelines/story arcs, step by step showing/not telling,
conventions, etc. Hold them accountable.
Planning boxes require students to look at the anchor charts and task charts from book 1 and make a planning
box of what they need to do next.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Starting With Strong Feelings
Lesson #
03
This lesson will teach students that writers can generate personal narrative
writing by choosing a strong feeling and writing the story of one particular time
feeling that feeling.
Connect
Discuss some turning first times/last times from yesterday
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Use emotions to generate story ideas
Specifically: Students learn to list items that evoke a feeling that
may lead to a story topic (hope, fear, worry, joy, etc.)
*Key to teaching analytical story writing/reading.
e.g. Worry
The time I knew my mom had gone to see the doctor. The time a
report card came in the mail.
The time the phone rang and I felt it would be bad news.
Engage
Lead students in generating a list of these emotional moments for their
writers’ notebooks.
Link
Students will continue to create lists and then write a story or add on to
a started story.
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Homework
Mid-Workshop Teaching Point: Remembering to Paragraph. Review
when to use paragraphs in narrative writing
 When a new character comes along
 When a new even happens; new idea is introduced
 New setting
 New person speaking
 Time moves forward or backwards
Notebooks: Take a topic from your life (hair, pet, relative, etc.)
Create a timeline of things that happened with that topic.
Choose one dot on timeline and write about it.
Daily Grade: Set an expectation for the amount of writing you expect students to be
generating- quantity and quality
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Yesterday’s Revisions Become Today’s Standard Practice Lesson #
04
In this lesson you will guide students to set goals for the quality of their
narrative entries by using all they have learned so far.
Connect
Teach
Discuss different ways to get ideas for stories, share that sometimes
looking back at writing can help too.
Teaching Point (TP) Reviewing our own writing teaches us the ideas
that we’ve mastered. Those skills now become part of our drafting,
not revising.
Share a story about a child that has successfully examined their own
writing to identify how far they have come as writers.
Lead students in examining their own writing.
Engage
Students take a piece that they have already revised or finished and
examines it for lessons they have already mastered
Students create a list of what they have learned in their notebooks.
Goal Setting with students.
Link
Tell students that from this day forward they need to take action in
their writing to insure that what they have learned appears in their
writing.
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Mid-Workshop Teaching Point: Remembering to Paragraph. Review
when to use paragraphs in narrative writing
Check current writing for paragraphs using chart from yesterday.
Homework
Notebooks: Take a topic from your life (hair, pet, relative, etc.)
Create a timeline of things that happened with that topic.
Choose one dot on timeline and write about it.
Mechanics-collect student papers today and notice their use of mechanics. Create
groups based on the following:
Second language learners
almost all correct mechanics
Lots of errors
Common mistakes, but about 80% correct
When conferring, meet with groups to work on mechanics this week-differentiates!
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Listening for Significance in Seed Ideas
Materials: Checklist for Monitoring My Writing Progress
Lesson #
05
Connect
Review what you saw students doing with writing yesterday.
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Listening deeply to the seed idea of a piece is
one way to help a writer develop an idea into story.
Share a story about a writing conference you had where you
listened and demonstrated listening through support, empathy
and forming connections (as appropriate) so the writer could
verbally draw out his story as part of planning.
Engage
Lead students in listening to each other.
Students listen to each others’ stories and help each other draw out
the internal story.
Link
Invite students to tell the internal story today. Student choice activity
Students revise and continue to write deeper stories.
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Mid-Workshop Teaching Point: Drawing on Strategies. Remind
students to look over their pages of notes regarding how to develop
seed ideas.
Homework
Notebooks-collect details to help you write your personal narrative
seed idea chosen today. Observe and really pick out details to
include in your writing.
**It is time to begin assessing your students. Look for ways to guide them
towards a completing draft for you to look at.
Make a rubric for expectations:
Ideas-seed story, step by step, show not tell; organization-lead/conclusion; voiceinternal story; word choice-interesting words; sentence fluency-variety; conventionsword wall words, spelling the best you can, and appropriate capitals/punctuation
If most of the class is still writing summary writing rather than a narrative with a
character progressing through a sequence of events, spend the next week showing
students how to plan and write with the story arc. Use new mentor texts. Then asses
again.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Writers Ask, “What am I Really Trying to Say?”
Lesson #
06
In this lesson, you will teach students that writers always consider what their
stories are really about, since this decision guides all choices in crafting and
revising narratives.
Materials: “Eleve” excerpt again, monitoring my writing checklist
Connect
Review what you saw students doing with writing yesterday.
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Student will learn how to focus in on the
most important message of their story. This will develop theme or
big idea of their stories.
Tell students they must learn to answer the question “What am I
trying to say in this story”.
Re-read sections of the mentor text Eleven
Engage
Identify through discussion the big idea that Sandra Cisneros was
writing about.
Link
Invite students to find the big idea in their writing. Student choice
activity
Students revise and continue to write deeper stories.
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Homework
Mid-Workshop Teaching Point: Angling Teach students through
examples that word choice influence the point of view and message
of a piece.
Notebooks- write a new story
**Continue to encourage students to complete a draft for assessment.
It is time to begin assessing your students. Look for ways to guide them towards
completing a draft for you to look at.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Studying and Creating Leads
Lesson #
07
Materials: Owl Moon, other books with interesting leads, story on chart
Connect
Remind students/help them recall the types of leads they already
know how to write.
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Looking at mentor texts can help students to
draft and revise leads.
Read leads from mentor texts for more ideas. Highlight what
the author did (technique) with what they could have done.
Chart these responses.
Engage
Link
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Homework
Create chart that contains the author’s lead that the class identifies
from the mentor text, and the technique used.
Invite students to write their own lead that mimics what was done
by the author.
Mid-Workshop Teaching Point: Elaborating on Important Parts
teach students to make choices about what they stretch out. Make
sure that it is important to the big idea they are writing about.
Leads search again. Look for 3-4 different interesting leads.
Choose a story in your notebook and try out a similar lead.
**Plan to take a daily grade soon–leads tried or have students go on a hunt and
create their own chart of types of leads.
You could have students try 3 different leads for several of their stories and
circle their favorite one per story.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Telling the Story From Inside It
Lesson #
08
Materials: draft on chart, Qualities of Good Personal Narrative Writing Anchor
Chart (started earlier), Homesick by Fean Fritz, story samples
Connect
Review what you saw students doing with writing yesterday.
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Writing from the narrator’s point of view.
Tell a story that requires you to maintain the perspective of the narrator
even if you want to go deeper into another point of the story.
Students listen to the story and provide a thumbs up or thumbs down as
the narrator’s perspective stays or changes during the story.
Engage
Students practice telling a story (orally) to a friend who monitors their
narrator’s perspective.
Link
Students can copy their leads and begin writing from their narrator’s
perspective
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Mid-workshop Teaching Point: Asking ourselves if our details ring true.
The writers should focus on real details that they experienced or saw
during the moment.
Homework
Reread entries in notebook and visualize the story. Sticky note any parts
that need more details.
Possible grading opportunity: Ideas, organization
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Bringing Forth the Internal Story
Lesson #
09
Materials: “Eleven” on chart, Passage from Olive’s Ocean by Kevin Henke
chapter 11, examples of writing
Connect
Discuss length of their stories
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Writing both the internal and external
story.
Explain that sometime our focused stories are really short. To
lengthen them and explain the significance we need more than
just the actions of the story, we need the thoughts and feelings
that the characters experienced with these actions.
Read a mentor text (Eleven) and discuss the internal story.
Engage
Link
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Homework
Read an excerpt of Olive’s Ocean pg 106 (or other book of
choice) and instruct students to listen for the internal and
external story.
Students relay the events in order (external then internal).
Invite students to tell the internal and external part of their story.
Students work on individual pieces of writing at various stages of
the writing process.
Mid Teaching Point: Read another
student’s efforts at telling the internal story of a piece.
Notebook-reread your draft and find the heart of the story.
Check for thoughts and feelings. Add if needed.
During the writing/monitoring time keep a log of student conferences and look for
growth or trends in their writing.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Adding Scenes From the Past and Future
Lesson #
10
In this lesson you will teach students that writers use scenes from the past or
future to bring out the internal story and add power to their personal narratives.
Materials: “Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark” by Sandra Cisneros,
Timeline for Papa story, examples of narratives that show back and forth time.
Connect
Discuss what they have been trying in their writing.
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Writers use scenes from the past or future
to bring out the internal story and add power to their narrative.
Share writing by professional and student writers that show both
imagined future events and remembered past events.
Engage
Students listen to the story and participate in a discussion of the
many ways and reasons an author chooses to use this strategy.
Link
Invite students to try telling a scene from the past or flash forward
to the future. Students work on individual
pieces of writing at various stages of the writing process.
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Mid Teaching Point: Using flashback to convey the main feeling of
a piece
Homework
Try adding “I remember…” to a part of your story to go into the
past.
During the writing/monitoring time keep a log of student conferences and look for
growth or trends in their writing.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Bringing Forth the Story Arc
Lesson #
11
In this lesson, you will teach students that one powerful way to revise their
narratives is to bring out the story structure.
Materials: Peter’s Chair by Exra Jack Keats, Shortcut by Donald Crews, Anchor
Chart: How Stories Tend to Go, story example with story structure, story mountain
for Peter’s Chair.
Connect
Discuss planning tools used in writing
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Teach students that their narratives should
follow the story structure.
Make reference to other planning tools you have provided (maps,
timelines, etc).
Review stories’ basic story structure by reading Peter’s Chair by
Ezra Jack Keats Guide students through the moments of a story:
exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
Engage
Create an arc of the story, asking students to provide the
events as you place them along the arc.
Link
Have students choose a piece of writing and create a story arc for
the events in the story.
Students work on individual
pieces of writing at various stages of the writing process.
Students revise their writing by creating a story arc and then revising
that arc.
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Mid Teaching Point: Developing Story Mountains. Point out that it
may be easier to start the story close to the action/problem so that
the mini-stories you write get to the point quickly.
Homework
Choose a story from your notebook and plan the story mountain for
that story. If it is missing parts, put them in the mountain plan, you
can always add more to your story.
During the writing/monitoring time keep a log of student conferences and look for
growth or trends in their writing.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Ending Stories
Lesson #
12
In this lesson, you will teach students that writers don’t just end stories, they
resolve problems, learn lessons, and make changes to end them effectively.
Connect
Discuss story arc and the way stories unfold across the arc
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Teach students that we don’t just end stories
we resolve problems, learn lessons and make changes to end them
effectively.
Share several possible endings to a story that you may have been
working on.
Engage
Students listen to the story and participate in a discussion of the
endings and help to determine which could be the best solution.
Link
Students work on individual
pieces of writing at various stages of the writing process.
Students revise their writing by creating a powerful ending to their
story arc.
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Mid Teaching Point: Developing Story endings. Brainstorm with
students possible endings for one child’s paper.
Homework
Reread story and make any changes to story. Read it aloud and
make sure it sounds great.
Take a grade: Story Planning-story arc, lead, conclusion.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Editing: The Power of Commas
Lesson #
13
In this lesson, you will teach students about punctuation, commas in particular,
by looking at mentor texts.
Materials: books with commas, chart: Examples of Commas in Mentor
Text/What Does the Comma Do/Using the Comma in My Writing
Connect
Discuss hard to read writing. Make a chart of expected
conventions for your grade level.
Teach
Teaching Point (TP) Set students up to learn about
punctuation, commas in particular, from writing they admire.
Set up an exploratory chart for punctuation study
Model a few examples
Engage
Provide examples of text that use commas in different ways.
As a group complete a comma inquiry
Link
Students work on individual
pieces of writing at various stages of the writing process.
Students edit and revise their text to utilize this new punctuation
appropriately.
Mid
Workshop
Teaching
Point
Mid Teaching Point: Discuss comma use in the students’ own
papers.
Homework
Final fix ups of writing.
Take a daily grade: Conventions-Tell students to edit a piece of writing for capitals,
ending punctuation, commas,paragraphing and word wall words. They should make
any needed corrections.
Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study Narrative Writing
Book 2
Author’s Celebration Planning
Minutes
Teacher Behavior
Teaching Point (TP) Plan for an
author’s celebration
*Share in groups
*Invite parents
*Share with another class
*Read Around the Circle
You choose!!!
Set up a rubric for this unit of study:
Planning story arc/time line
Ideas-turning point
Flash back/flash forward
Internal/external story
Conventions including commas
Students should be working to publish a
piece of their writing.
Lesson #
14
Student Behavior
Students share
published work with an
audience.