UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)

Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

Unit Overview

Lesson 1: Collecting Ideas as Essayists

Abstract: In this session, you will teach children how to collect writing
that can be developed into essays and invite them to become essay
writers. You’ll show them that writers observe the world with extra care
and alertness and then think hard about their observations, recording
them in writing.

Objectives:
• Students will understand the concept of essays.
• Students will make and record observations about the world
around them.
• Students will begin the writing process by making observations.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
compare/contrast).
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.

Assessment:
• Circulate the room as students are working for continual informal
assessment.
• Take home Essay Notebooks and provide feedback via sticky
notes (notes are personal yet removable so as not to ruin their
work).

Lesson 2: Growing Essay Ideas in Notebooks

Abstract: In this session, you will again teach children ways writers
collect writing for essays. You’ll teach them especially to be more
thoughtful about what they see, writing at greater length.

Objectives:
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

• Students will continue making observations.

• Students will record their thoughts about their observations.
• Students will share observations and thoughts with a partner.
• Students will become familiar with strategies for generating
essay entries.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
compare/contrast).
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,
supportive) in small and large group settings.

Assessment:
• Circulate while students are working for informal assessment.

Lesson 3: Contrasting Narrative and Non-narrative Structures

Abstract: In this session, you will orient children to the genre of

essays by contrasting essay structure with that of narratives. You will
teach children that writers need a sense of what they are aiming for in
order to collect, elaborate on, and structure their writing.

Objectives:
• Students will know and be able to recognize the differences
between narratives and non-narratives.
• Students will be able to tell a sequence of events in a narrative
way, and then a non-narrative way.
• Students will help one another expand on their ideas.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

compare/contrast).
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,
supportive) in small and large group settings.
• S.DS.03.03 Students will respond to multiple text types by
reflecting, making connections, taking a position, and/or showing
understanding.

Assessment:
• Collect Essay Notebooks from students and provide written
feedback about their ideas with sticky notes.
o Ask questions
o Make suggestions
o Probe further thinking

Lesson 4: MINILESSON: Using Conversational Prompts to Spur

Elaboration

Abstract: In this session, you’ll teach children that they need to stay
with their essay topics for longer stretches of time by talking about
their ideas.

Objectives:
• Students will choose one essay topic
• Students will use tactics to elaborate their thinking
• Students will help each other expand on ideas by using
‘constructive criticism’.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
compare/contrast).
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,

supportive) in small and large group settings.

Assessment:
• Circulate while students are working for informal assessment.
• Talk with individuals about probe for further thinking.

Lesson 5: Generating Essay Writing from Narrative Writing

Abstract: In this session, you’ll teach children to revisit narrative

entries collected earlier in the year, this time layering them with
insights and embedding them into ideas.

Objectives:
• Students will become familiar with and utilize questions writers
ask of earlier entries to expand on their ideas.
• Students will learn the benefits of rereading and reflecting on
past entries.
• Students will work with partners to answer questions about their
previous ideas.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
compare/contrast).
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,
supportive) in small and large group settings.

Assessment:
• Continually circulate the room while students are working for
informal assessment.
• Begin to hold individual conferences (5 minutes each) with
students during individual work.
Lesson 6: Finding and Crafting Thesis Statements

Abstract: In this session, you will teach children that writers reread
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

their writing to find or invent a seed idea – a thesis.

Objectives:
• Students will search through previously recorded ideas and
decide on a ‘seed idea’.
• Students will recognize a ‘seed idea’ as a ‘thesis’.
• Students will practice writing their thesis several different ways
in order to decide a way that sounds best or makes the most
sense.
• Students will use questions writers ask of theses with a partner in
order to best shape their theses.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
compare/contrast).
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,
supportive) in small and large group settings.
• L.CN.03.01 Students will ask substantive questions of the
speaker that will provide additional elaboration and details.
• L.RP.03.05 Students will respond to and retell what a speaker
said, paraphrasing and explaining the main idea, and then
extend their response by connecting and relating it to personal
experiences.

Assessment:
• Circulate while students are working for informal assessment.
• Continue to hold individual conferences to help students develop
their ideas.

Lesson 7: Boxes and Bullets: Framing Essays

Abstract: In this session, you will teach children that essayists frame
their writing before they draft. You will demonstrate some strategies for
doing so.
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

Objectives:
• Students will be able to recognize that essayists sometimes
support their thesis by providing reasons for a claim.
• Students will be able to contribute to each other’s work by
offering supports for classmates’ theses.
• Students will be able to revise their own theses as a part of the
writing process.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.01 Students will set a purpose, consider audience, and
replicate authors’ styles and patterns when writing a narrative or
informational piece.
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing.
• W.PR.03.04 Students will revise drafts based on constructive and
specific oral and written responses to writing by identifying
sections of the piece to improve sequence and flow of ideas

Assessment:
• Take home Essay Notebooks to provide individual feedback via
sticky notes.

Lesson 8: Composing and Sorting Mini-Stories

Abstract: In this session, you’ll teach children to write, angle, and

unpack mini-stories that support the ideas they want to advance.

Objectives:
• Students will understand that writers collect mini-stories to
illustrate their ideas.
• Students will use previously recorded boxes and bullets to
develop their mini-stories.
• Students will record mini-stories to support their thesis and
ideas.
• Students will share their mini-stories with one another and try to
angle them to support their ideas.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
compare/contrast).
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive

alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,
supportive) in small and large group settings.
• L.CN.03.01 Students will ask substantive questions of the
speaker that will provide additional elaboration and details.
• L.RP.03.05 Students will respond to and retell what a speaker
said, paraphrasing and explaining the main idea, and then
extend their response by connecting and relating it to personal
experiences.

Assessment:
• Take home Essay Notebooks to provide individual feedback via
sticky notes.

Lesson 9: Creating Parallelism in Lists

Abstract: In this session, you’ll teach children that writers structure

information to support a claim in the same way again and again.
Writers create parallelism that can begin in a list.

Objectives:
• Students will develop and incorporate lists into their writing.
• Students will be able to recognize lists in others’ writing.
• Students will revise their lists with a partner in effort to ensure
that their lists support their writing.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
compare/contrast).
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,
supportive) in small and large group settings.
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

• L.CN.03.01 Students will ask substantive questions of the

speaker that will provide additional elaboration and details.
• L.RP.03.05 Students will respond to and retell what a speaker
said, paraphrasing and explaining the main idea, and then
extend their response by connecting and relating it to personal
experiences.

Assessment:
• Take home Essay Notebooks to provide individual feedback via
sticky notes.

Lesson 10: Revising Toward Honesty

Abstract: In this session, you’ll teach children that writers strive to tell
the truth, even when inventing what happened.

Objectives:
• Students will reread their writing, pick out the things that are not
necessarily truthful, and rewrite them for honesty.
• Students will take broad or general statements and revise them
for specificity or details.
• Students will share their revisions with a partner and
constructively criticize one another to help specify the writing.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
compare/contrast).
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,
supportive) in small and large group settings.
• L.CN.03.01 Students will ask substantive questions of the
speaker that will provide additional elaboration and details.
• L.RP.03.05 Students will respond to and retell what a speaker
said, paraphrasing and explaining the main idea, and then
extend their response by connecting and relating it to personal
experiences.
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

Assessment:
• Take home Essay Notebooks to provide individual feedback via
sticky notes.

Lesson 11: Gathering a Variety of Information

Abstract: In this session, you will teach children that writers gather a
variety of information to support their claims. You’ll demonstrate
strategies writers use for collecting and writing with that information.

Objectives:
• Students will be able to use observations, statistics, and
interviews as a means of collecting more information for their
essays.
• Students will be able to record information they find in outside
sources
• Students will be able to incorporate new information into their
essays
• Students will be able to work with classmates to find new
information about their essay topics and proofread existing
information

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing.
• W.PR.03.04 Students will revise drafts based on constructive and
specific oral and written responses to writing by identifying
sections of the piece to improve sequence and flow of ideas
• W.PR.03.05 Students will proofread and edit writing using
appropriate resources both individually and in groups

Assessment:
• Circulate during their partner work for informal assessment.

Lesson 12: Building a Cohesive Draft

Abstract: In this session, you will teach children that writers create
cohesion with repeated phrases, logically sequenced information, and
transition words.

Objectives:
• Students will arrange their previous writing in a manner that
makes sense.
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

• Students will incorporate transition words into their writing to

achieve fluency.
• Students will work with partners to choose an order for their
body paragraphs.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.02 Students will apply a variety of pre-writing strategies
for both narrative and informational writing (e.g., graphic
organizers such as maps, webs, Venn diagrams) in order to
generate, sequence, and structure ideas (e.g., sequence for
beginning, middle, and end, problem/solution, or
compare/contrast).
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,
supportive) in small and large group settings.
• L.CN.03.01 Students will ask substantive questions of the
speaker that will provide additional elaboration and details.
• L.RP.03.05 Students will respond to and retell what a speaker
said, paraphrasing and explaining the main idea, and then
extend their response by connecting and relating it to personal
experiences.
• W.PR.03.04 Students will revise drafts based on constructive and
specific oral and written responses to writing by identifying
sections of the piece to improve sequence and flow of ideas

Assessment:
• Circulate during their partner work for informal assessment.

Lesson 13: Writing Introductions and Conclusions

Abstract: In this session, you’ll teach children the ways writers

commonly open and close essays. You’ll help children try these ways in
their own essays.

Objectives:
• Students will recap the work they have done thus far throughout
the unit.
• Students will learn ways to start and end an essay appropriately.
• Students will construct an introduction and a conclusion.
• Students will work with partners to revise each other’s
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

introductions and conclusions.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.HW.03.01 Students will fluently and legibly write the cursive
alphabet.
• W.AT.03.01 Students will be enthusiastic about writing and
learning to write.
• L.CN.03.02 Students will listen while demonstrating appropriate
social skills of audience behaviors (e.g., eye contact, attentive,
supportive) in small and large group settings.
• L.CN.03.01 Students will ask substantive questions of the
speaker that will provide additional elaboration and details.
• L.RP.03.05 Students will respond to and retell what a speaker
said, paraphrasing and explaining the main idea, and then
extend their response by connecting and relating it to personal
experiences.
• W.PR.03.04 Students will revise drafts based on constructive and
specific oral and written responses to writing by identifying
sections of the piece to improve sequence and flow of ideas

Assessment:
• Circulate during their partner work for informal assessment.

Lesson 14: Celebrating Journeys of Thought

Abstract: In this session, students will share the personal discoveries

they’ve made in this unit as they celebrate with family and friends.
They will not only celebrate their published essays, they will also
celebrate the writing that led to their essays and the ways this writing
helped them discover ideas about themselves and the world around
them.

Objectives:
• Students will be able to share the draft of their essay with their
peers.
• Students will be able to comment constructively on the work of
their peers.
• Students will be able to understand the importance of sharing
their work with their peers.

Standards/Benchmarks:
• W.PR.03.05 Students will proofread and edit writing using
appropriate resources, and grade-level checklists, both
individually and in groups.
UNIT: Breathing Life Into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

• W.PS.03.01 exhibit personal style and voice to enhance the

written message in informational writing (e.g., examples,
transitions, grammar and usage).
• W.AT.03.01 be enthusiastic about writing and learning to write.

Assessment:
• Circulate while students share their writing with group members
as a form of informal assessment.