Critical Content
Power Standards
- Write opinion pieces on authentic topics supporting a perspective with a clear introduction, structured reasons, and a concluding statement. (W 3.1, 3.1a & L 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, & 3.5)
- Write explanatory texts about authentic topics logically organizing and sequencing details and information while incorporating appropriate academic language. (W 3.2, 3.2b & L 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, & 3.5)
- Write narratives to develop authentic or imaginative experiences by using the characters’ actions, thoughts and feelings while choosing words and phrases to convey ideas precisely. (W 3.3, 3.3b & L 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, & 3.5)
*See student writing examples on Appendix C of the Common Core document
Power Standards Critical Content
In the language of instruction, students will…
- Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences
- Write 3 or more long-form writing pieces to final draft
- In all types of writing:
- Plan, develop, and organize writing according to task, purpose and audience
- Understand writing as a process of planning, revising, and editing
- Use precise and/or academic language and vocabulary specific to the topic
- Choose words and phrases to add effect or interest when writing or speaking
- Apply conventions of the written language
- Write opinion pieces on topics and texts supporting points of view
- Create an organizational structure* to:
- Introduce the topic and opinion
- Provide and explain an opinion and organize and support with reasons
- End writing by providing a concluding statement or paragraph
- Use linking words or phrase (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example)
*(Organizational Structures include: chronological, compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution)
- Write informational/explanatory texts that tell about a topic and convey ideas and information clearly
- Introduce a topic clearly and group related information together
- Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details and include an illustration in written pieces if necessary
- End the pieces by providing a concluding statement or paragraph
- Use words and phrases like “also”, “another”, “and”, “more”, and “but” to connect ideas that should be grouped together
- Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events
- Begin a story by describing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters
- Organize a series of events in order
- Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to tell the story
- Show the response of the character to the events
- Use temporal words and phrases such as before, during, and after
- Write a conclusion that provides a sense of closure
- Apply Grade-Level Conventions of Grammar (See ELA specific considerations)
Additional Critical Content
- Identify and use technology to research, produce and publish writing
- Define research and explain how it is different from other types of writing
- Research a topic to answer questions and/or gain information
- Gather relevant information from print and digital sources about a topic
- Remember and share information from experiences about a topic
- Take brief notes and sort information into categories using graphic organizers
- Explain how spoken language differ from written language