Units of Study in Writing, K–2

Units of Study in Writing, Grade K

The Units of Study in Writing for Kindergarten are designed to help you introduce your students to the writing workshop, and to welcome them into the world of school. With these units, you will teach the routines of a writing workshop while helping your students embrace their identities as writers. Unit 1, Launching the Writing Workshop, introduces students to their new identities as writers and invites them into the structure of a writing workshop. In Unit 2, Show and Tell Writing, children will learn to make texts that are a written version of show-and-tell time, harnessing the natural power of show and tell to write words that come closer to conventional spelling, and to use high-frequency words to write longer labels and sentences. Unit 3, Writing for Readers: Writing Readable True Stories, introduces students to narrative writing, highlighting the importance of telling and writing true stories that honor their families and cultures and value ordinary everyday life. Unit 4, Persuasive Writing of All Kinds: Using Words to Make a Change, is a persuasive writing unit that teaches students not just how to write, but also why writers write, immersing them in real-world purposes for writing.

Units of Study in Writing, Grade 1

In The Units of Study in Writing, Grade 1, students learn how to make their opinion writing even more convincing by using a variety of reasons to support their opinions. They’ll practice noticing tiny details to come up with a list of reasons to support their opinions. In Unit 1, Small Moments, children learn to write stories, and to write bit by bit, including details. But the unit also teaches youngsters to participate in a first-grade writing workshop as they learn the habits, conventions, and mindsets of a workshop classroom. Unit 2, Topic Books, gets students writing informational or “topic” books, laying the foundation for all of the information writing that students will do in the future. First-graders will learn to appreciate the power and purposes of opinion writing in Unit 3, Writing Reviews, as they explore how people sort, rank, categorize, explain, convince, persuade, argue, give in, change, and ultimately are changed. The focus of Unit 4, From Scenes to Series: Writing Fiction, is realistic fiction. This unit has been carefully designed to make sure students draw on everything they have learned about narrative writing while simultaneously learning essentials about writing fictional narratives.

Units of Study in Writing, Grade 2

The Units of Study in Writing for Grade 2 is designed to help your second graders take all of the writing skills in their possession to the next level, and to prepare them with the skills they’ll need to be successful in third grade and beyond. In Unit 1, Making Small Moments Big, you’ll draw on the first-grade notion that stories can be about small, every day, beautifully mundane moments—but now, you’ll offer a new angle. You’ll nudge students to consider not only times in their lives, but also the feelings they felt, to find moments that matter. Unit 2, Chapter Books: Writing Nonfiction from the Heart, emphasizes writing nonfiction from the heart on topics that matter deeply to your students while reminding students that nonfiction can be more than just listing facts. In Unit 3, Finding Awesome Everywhere: Celebrating through Opinion Writing, you’ll teach writers to become the kinds of people who pay particular attention to the awesome parts of life, encouraging students to write more thoughtfully about their lives, the things they love, and the books they read. The second-grade writing workshop concludes with Unit 4, Writing Research-Based Nonfiction, in which you’ll invite your kids to become researchers, learning through study and note-taking, through gathering facts and growing ideas about a topic.