Rachel Stacy

4th Grade
Organization and Effects that Changed the World Lesson

LESSON RATIONALE
As students prepare for standardized testing and creating essays, it is essential for them to
understand how the organization of one’s writing can benefit them in many ways. In this lesson
the students will be working on the prewriting portion of a writing activity about small effects
that have cause changes to the Earth, they will be focusing on the organization of their paper and
how to format the information and research to support their topic.
READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s)—
a. Students will be able to identify how small effects can have a great change on the
Earth and others.
B. Objective(s)-
a. After completing this lesson, student will be able to identify why organization is
important in writing.
b. During the writing period, student will be constructing the prewriting of a
research-based writing activity.
C. Standard(s) -
a. 4.W.5 Conduct short research on a topic.
 Identify a specific question to address (e.g., What is the history of the Indy
500?).
 Use organizational features of print and digital sources to efficiently to locate
further information.
 Determine the reliability of the sources.
 Summarize and organize information in their own words, giving credit to the
source.
 Present the research information, choosing from a variety of formats.
II. Management Plan-
a. Time: This lesson will be a total of 45minutes
i. Minilesson will be 10 minutes long.
ii. Writing period will be 25 minutes long.
1. Each conference will be 8 minutes long.
iii. Sharing will be 5 minutes long
iv. Closure will be 5 minutes long
b. Space:
i. During the minilesson the students will be seating at the front carpet
ii. During the writing period the students will be able to sit around the room.
iii. During the sharing period the students will be at their seats.
iv. During the closure the students will be seating at the front carpet
c. Materials:
i. Earthquake by Milly Lee
ii. Prewriting sheet for student who need additional support
iii. Student writing journals

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 iv. Student iPads for individual students to start drafting
PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION
III. Adaptation to Individual Differences and Diverse Learners
a. After our conference, Blake will stay at the teacher table to allow me to help him
stay on task and also allow me to support him in his writing.
b. I will walk around the room after my 2nd and 3rd conference meeting to check on
the other student and make sure that students are still on task.
c. If students complete their prewriting before the end of the writing period, they
will be able to start drafting their papers.
d. I will create a prewriting organizer for students who may need to have a more
structured format for their prewriting.
IV. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)
a. Minilesson
i. Anticipatory Set
1. “As we continue in our discovery of how small effects cause great
change. I found this story that I wanted to read to you. Earthquake
by Milly Lee is about a young girl and her families travel through
San Francisco while there was an earthquake and the town was
starting to catch fire. While I am reading the story think of why the
order of the story is important.” Read the story aloud. “What did
you think of the story?” Allow time for students to respond. “What
is something you liked or did not like about the story.” Call on two
or three students to share.
ii. Purpose Statement
1. “Today we are going to be working on how to organize our writing
when you papers organization is strong it will allow your audience
to gain a stronger understanding of what you are trying to convey.”
b. Lesson Explanation
i. “Looking back in Earthquake, how do you think that the writer organized
her story?” Allow time for students to think of an answer and call on one
student to respond. “She organized it from the first earthquake and ended
with the family being safe in the camp.” Do you think that the story would
have been as effective if the writer decided to start with them at the camp
and skip over the whole earthquake?” Call on one student to respond.
“Organization in writing is the structure of your paper that enhances your
central message. of your central message. “Today we are going to start
working on a writing activity, and while we are pre-writing, I want you
guys to focus on your how you are going to organize your writing to
support your central message strongly. As we go into our writing time, I
want you all to focus on creating a form of writing the addresses effects
that have caused a great change in history These can be natural disasters,
events in history, and inventions that have helped or harmed the earth. If
you think of another idea that you would want to write your paper about
come and talk to me.
c. Writing Period
i. Individual Writing Time

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 1. “You guys will be able to work around the room unless we are not
able to be productive. Today we are going to focus on pre-writing.
Start by thinking of an idea you would want to write about or go to
this website to look for an idea. Then look up some facts that could
support your topic and think of how you would want to organize
your paper.” Students will then go around the room and begin to
work on their pre-writing.
a. Students should focus on finding a writing topic and
researching information about their topic. Will a focus on
how they will organize their writing.
d. Conferences
i. During the individual writing time, I will be meeting with four of my
students to help them find an idea and start their research on their topics.
ii. I will meet with Blake to discuss some possible writing topics that he
would find interesting. “As we think of some of the effects that have
caused changes on the Earth are there any events or natural disasters that
you find interesting?” Allow him to answer and start looking up
information websites for him to find his research. After our conference,
Blake will stay at the teacher table to allow me to help him stay on task
and also will enable me to support him in his writing.
iii. I will be meeting with Melissa to discuss possible writing topics that she
would find interesting to write about, and I will also create a prewriting
worksheet for her to help with organizing her thoughts during her
research.
iv. Between meeting with Melissa and Becca and Keshawn, I am going to
walk around the room and check on students’ progress.
v. I will then meet with Becca and Keshawn to check in on their progress in
the prewriting stage and to confirm that both of them had an idea and
started to conduct their research for their writing.
vi. During all of the conferences, I will be taking anecdotal notes on how the
students are progressing through the prewriting stage and understanding
how to organize their lessons.
e. Sharing (Whole Group)
i. “Now that we have been able to get a good start on our writing, I would
like to hear about what some people are writing about.” Call on several
students to share. “Wow, those all sound like great ideas, does anyone
have an interesting fact that they would want to share?” Call on several
students to answer. “Now I want you to turn to a partner and talk about the
form of writing you are going to do. Allow time for students to talk to
each other and construct an idea of how they will be writing out the
information they have found. “If anyone would like to share what they
said raise your hand.” Call on students with their hand raised. “All of these
ideas sound like great topics for our writing activity.
V. Check for understanding

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 1. While the students are working on their writing during the writing period, I
will be walking around the classroom and observing the student progress and
process for writing their papers.
2. While conferencing with students, I will be working with students on
constructing their prewriting in an effective and organized matter with a focus
on what the student will be learning about.
VI. Review learning outcomes / Closure
1. “Okay Everyone come to the carpet. Who can tell me what organization is
when you are writing?” Allow time for student to process and respond to
question. “That is correct, organization in writing is the structure of your paper.
“Why is having a strongly organized paper important when writing?” Allow
time for students to process and respond to the question. “Having a strong
organized paper will help the readers understand your central message.”
PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT
o Formative Assessment Through my student conferences I will be keeping notes
about the student’s skills in organizing their information to help support their
writing and to see how they are able to figure out the prewriting stage with
forming their own ideas. I will also be observing students working on their
prewriting and organization and noticing if student have any misunderstandings
or misconceptions about organizations or the writing activity.
REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS
1. Were students able to correctly explain what organizations will do to help their writing?
2. Did my student meet the objectives that I had set for the lesson?
3. Where is an area that I could improve my lesson for the next time I teach it?
4. What was a strong aspect form my lesson?
5. During my conferencing time was I able to help my student better understand their prewriting
and how to properly organize their papers?

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 Prewriting Graphic Organizer

Topic of the Paper:

Facts about the Event: Other interesting or

(Was is it, how did it Facts about the change
it caused to the Earth: important facts.
happen, was it a good
or bad event.) (What happen because
of it?)

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