Identify Lesson Plan:

Name: Sarah Fitzpatrick

Topic: Narrative Writing
Grade level: 3rd
Time: 30 minutes a day for 3 days
Source: Teacher created
http://bsteinicke.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-trip-to-disneyland.html (Attachment A)
http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/drawastorysequencing1234.pdf (Attachment E)
http://stepintosecondgrade.blogspot.com/2011/10/adjective-activities.html (Attachment B)
Rationale: It is essential for students to understand strong writing skills; therefore, students must
learn how to write specifically by using strong adjectives, painting pictures with their words, and
writing in-depth stories. This lesson will explore how to lead students into strong specific writing
habits.
DAY ONE
Objectives:
1. NCTE/IRA #12: Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their
own purposes
2. ACOS #W.3.3c: Use dialogue and descriptors of actions, thoughts, and feelings to
develop experiences and events or show the response to characters in situations.
3. LESSON OBJECTIVES:
a. Students will use narrative text to classify strong adjectives and how they make
the story sound more exciting.
b. Students will verbalize what they believe to be a strong adjective.
c. Students will use their understanding of adjectives to create an adjective poster.
Materials and Preparation:
Personal story (ATTACHMENT A)
Adjective poster (ATTACHMENT B)
Examples of strong and weak sentences (ATTACHMENT C)
White board
EXPO markers
Poster Paper
Construction Paper
Elmo
Procedures:
Engage:
Use Elmo to show students an example of a good sentence with strong adjectives and a very
plain sentence.
Invite students to raise their hands if they know the difference between these two sentences.
Invite students to discuss what an adjective is and how they are used in writing.
Ask students Why are adjectives important in writing? Do you think that you would enjoy
a book that did not use many adjectives? Why do you think that?

 Inform students that we will be reading a personal story to aid us in learning how to
properly use adjectives in writing.
Tell students that they need to listen for adjectives that they think stick out as strong and
really help make the story feel real.
Read personal story using the Elmo. Have students take turns reading sentences.
Explore and Explain:
Ask students to share some adjectives they heard in the story that really stuck out to them
and why they chose those adjectives.
Place students in groups of four and ask them to come up with a list of the adjectives that
they believe were the most important in making the story come alive.
Inform each group that they are to come up with a sentence using the adjectives they chose.
Have each group share their sentence with the class.
Have the whole class verbalize how they would define a strong adjective. Once the class has
shared, give students a piece of construction paper and markers. Have students create an
adjective sheet that defines an adjective and lists strong adjectives to use in their writing.
The teacher creates his/her own adjective sheet on poster paper to put on showcase in the
classroom.
Wrap-up:
Ask students what they learned today about adjectives.
Have students talk about why adjectives were helpful in the personal story.
Discuss how often adjectives are used in every day life to describe and challenge students
to be more aware of adjectives when they are listening to other peoples stories. Inform
students of the importance of adjectives in writing in order to keep the attention as well as
entertain the audience.
DAY TWO
Objectives:
1. NCTE/IRA #12: Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their
own purposes
2. ACOS #W.3.3c: Use dialogue and descriptors of actions, thoughts, and feelings to
develop experiences and events or show the response to characters in situations.
3. LESSON OBJECTIVES:
a. Students will use their knowledge of a strong adjective to discuss how
incorporating adjectives in writing can make the story seem more real.
b. Students will discuss how they must paint a picture with their words when
writing.
c. Students will write down sentences that are plain and compare them to sentences
that are specific.
Materials and Preparation:
Personal story
Adjective Poster
Plain sentences (ATTACHMENT D)
Poster paper from yesterdays lesson
Notebook paper

Pencils
Elmo
Procedures:
Engage:
Ask the students what they remember about adjectives from yesterday.
Tell the students that today we will be discussing how we can paint a picture with our
words.
Inform students that painting a picture with words involves a variety of different writing
aspects, but specifically adjectives.
Discuss with students that painting a picture involves the story being descriptive enough so
that the reader is able to accurately paint a picture of the story in their mind.
Explore and Explain:
Provide students with a plain sentence.
Ask students to amp the sentence up using strong adjectives.
Once all students finish making the plain sentences into descriptive sentences, pair them up
with a partner.
Have students switch sentences and inform them that they are to come up with one thing
they like and one thing they would change.
Wrap-up:
Ask students what makes a reader able to paint a picture in their mind? Why are plain
sentences not as helpful to a reader?
Discuss the plain sentences vs. paint a picture sentences activity. Ask students what they
gained from the activity?
Inform students to keep this aspect of writing in mind for a project we will be completing
tomorrow. Discuss with students that adjectives are used in every day life such as day to day
conversations, books, magazines, etc.
DAY THREE
Objectives:
1. NCTE/IRA #12: Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their
own purposes
2. ACOS #W.3.3c: Use dialogue and descriptors of actions, thoughts, and feelings to
develop experiences and events or show the response to characters in situations.
3. LESSON OBJECTIVES:
a. Students will create a list of strong adjectives that they would like to see used in
the narrative story.
b. Students will draw/paint a picture of three parts of the narrative story.
c. Students will verbalize their drawing using their list of strong adjectives to a
group.
d. Students will come up with their own short narrative story.
e. Students will share their story with their small group.
Materials and Preparation:
Personal story (ATTACHMENT A)

Adjective poster (ATTACHMENT B)

Poster paper
Draw the story worksheet (ATTACHMENT E)
White board
EXPO marker
Notebook paper
Elmo
Rubric (ATTACHMENT F)
Procedures:
Engage:
Discuss with students what we went over the past two days.
Inform students that they are going to create a list of strong adjectives that they would have
liked to be used in the personal story.
Have students share the adjective they chose and why they chose them.
Inform students that today, they will be writing their own narrative story today using their
new knowledge of adjectives and specific writing.
Explore and Explain:
Give each student a draw the story worksheet.
Inform students that they are to draw their four favorite parts of the personal story.
Have students share their drawings with the class and explain why they drew what they
drew (make sure students are talking about adjectives in relation to their drawing). Ensure
that students share how their list of adjectives would have been beneficial to use in the story
for a better picture.
Inform students that the writing is now in their hands. Tell students that they are going to
write their own narrative short story that includes strong adjectives they think will entertain
their audience and allow the story to flow easier. Each student should write his or her
narrative story about their favorite family vacation or family memory.
Pass out notebook paper and pencils to students for the rough draft of their story.
Once students finish their story, have students underline the adjectives they used throughout
their story.
Have students share their stories.
Wrap-up:
Discuss narrative writing in relation to specific writing.
Ask students what was going through their mind as they were writing their stories?
Description? Adjectives? Painting a picture?
Have students illustrate each page thinking about how they painted a picture with words and
how they are going to draw that picture.
Elaboration/Extension:
Students will read their short story to a first grader.
Each students book will be placed in the classroom library.
Assessment:
Students will be assessed using notes through observation of activities for all three days to
determine whether they were grasping the concept and applying it to their own work.

 Students will be given a participation grade for how they spoke up in class and how well
they worked together in groups.
Students will be graded on the story they create based on a rubric that ensures that the
students understood the concept of an adjective, how to incorporate them into narrative
writing, and how descriptive writing should be a picture painted with words.
Accommodations:
Students with difficulty writing and reading comprehension will receive extra prompting.
Students who require more one-on-one help will be paired with a partner.
ELL students will use a translator if needed, along with their ELL coach, if available.
Students who exhibit proficiency early in the lesson will be encouraged to write longer and
more in depth stories.
Students who exhibit proficiency early in the lesson will be encouraged to research other
qualities of narrative writing.

ATTACHMENT A: Personal Story

A Trip to Disneyland
Back when I was younger I always loved Disneyland, it was my favorite place to go on
vacation/ I loved getting away and experiencing shows and rides and a lot of other things that
you couldnt do while you were at home. I still remember how excited I would get when my
parents told me we were going to Disneyland. One time in particular, when I was about six years
old, my parents told me we were leaving for Disneyland the next day. I was really excited to go
and ride the rides.
The next day we started packing our bags for the trip. We all scrambled to get everything
we needed for the plane ride and for the trip. We arrived at the airport then went through security
and got on the plane. When we arrived in California I was very excited. We drove over to the
hotel and got checked in and put our luggage in our rooms. After that we all got in the car to
drive over to Disneyland.
We parked our car and took the shuttle over to the park. When we got off the shuttle I
still remember the sight of the park. When we got inside the first thing we did was take a picture,
then we went and ate some lunch, and then it was off to ride rides. I had an extremely fun time
with my brothers and parents while we were walking around experiencing all kinds of different
rides. We were all having a really good time.
After we had a chance to ride the rides we wanted that day, we went to one of the
firework and character shows. These shows got very crowded, and they were at night, so it was
very dark. I remember I was walking with my family on the way to the show in a huge crowd of
people. I got sidetracked because I saw some cotton candy and I wanted to get some, but when I
looked back to ask my dad if he could buy me some, I couldnt see him anywhere. I got very
frightened very quickly. I frantically searched around looking for anyone in my family but I
couldnt see anything because it was too dark and it was way too crowded from everyone
gathering for the show.
I didnt know what to do, so I started to cry, I had no idea where to go or how to find
them. As I was walking around crying, I had caught one of the amusement park workers
attention. She came walking over and asked me what was wrong, I told her the whole story and
she immediately took action. She grabbed my hand and walked me over to a high point on a
bridge to look for my family. As I searched, my mom and dad walking around searching for me
caught my eye. I told the worker that I saw them and she took me down to them, me and my
family were both so relieved. We thanked the worker and watched the show.
Throughout the rest of the trip I remembered to stay with my family no matter what after
this experience. It taught me that I shouldnt get distracted in big crowds. This was a very scary
experience for me when I was that young. It scared bad enough to make me always stay with my
family in any situation that I could get lost in. I still liked going to Disneyland, I was just more
careful from then on.

ATTACHMENT B: Adjective Poster

ATTACHMENT C: Examples of Strong and Weak Sentences

Weak:
I woke up and went on a walk.
My cat is big.
My dog is big.
It is a pretty day.
Strong:
One beautiful and hot afternoon, my face became extremely red and sweaty after my long hard
workout outside.
I woke up this morning to the warm snuggles of my sweet and soft cat Buster.
My dog scares some people because he is so large and looks like a scary wolf even though he is
incredibly friendly, soft, and loving!
It is a gloomy and sad looking day outside.

ATTACHMENT D: Plain Sentences

My cat likes to meow.
My dog likes to play.
I like to play outside.
Ten puppies are playing in the grass.
Where is the frying pan?
Sam has a bicycle.
The kitten was playing with a ball.
Do you know the man in the jacket?
I have seven pens for school.
There are toys in that shop.
He ran through the field.
Hand me the bowl.
I like cheese.
We enjoyed eating at the restaurant.
We went on a walk outside.
I like to run.
She likes listening to music.
The dog is playing fetch outside.
The cat likes his toy.
She rode her bike down the street.
He went to the lake yesterday.
She enjoyed the movie.
He went to a restaurant.

ATTACHMENT E: Draw the story worksheet

ATTACHMENT F: Short Story Rubric

3 points

2 points

1 point

Understanding
of a narrative
story

Student exhibited a strong

understanding of a
narrative story, including
all of its elements.

Students exhibited
somewhat of an
understanding of a
narrative story, including
some of its elements.

Use of strong
adjectives

Student incorporated a
large amount of
appropriate adjectives in
their story that made it
entertaining and flow.

Student incorporated
some appropriate
adjectives in their story,
which made it flow
easier.

Student did not

exhibit an
understanding of what
a narrative story is,
only including a
minimal amount or
none of its elements.
Students did not
incorporate many
adjectives in their
story. The story did
not flow well.