4th Grade Language Arts
Narrative Writing
Unit 1
Unit 1: Narrative Writing
What is Narrative Writing?
Narrative writing is a type of writing that tells a story. The parts to a narrative story usually include a plot with a problem and solution, a well-developed character, a lesson that the main character has learned, and the end of the story which connects back to the beginning or end of the story.
Brainstorming
When authors brainstorm, they take time to stop and think about ideas that could become great stories. There are many ways writers can brainstorm: they create write lists, make circle maps, make a graphic organizer, make a word web, and more!
Pre-Writing
Brainstorming helps writers select and choose an idea. After the author decides on an idea to write about, it is time to plan out the whole story. Who are the characters? What is the setting? What happens in the plot of the story? Is there a conflict? Does something outrageous happen? Is the problem solved? Is there a lesson learned?
As authors, all of these ideas are running around in our brains. To help us get organized, we can do what we call pre-writing. Pre-writing can take on many forms like story mountain maps and other sorts of diagrams. You can choose whichever type of story planning strategy works best for you.
Story Mountain Example
Here is an awesome example of how a story could be planned out with a story mountain! It follows all the requirements needed for a narrative writing and helps the author plan out everything in between the major parts as well, such as any minor details.
Hooking the Reader
After writers have planned their stories across mountain maps, they are ready to start drafting. One of the first steps in drafting is to create an amazing story lead or "hook."
Here are 5 Different Leads You Can Try:
Inner Thoughts Lead (Also known as Flashback Lead):
The author is reflecting back on the memory and describing their emotions and memories in an intriguing way.
Dialogue Lead:
The story begins with an exchange of dialogue between two new characters. This lead is very entertaining, engaging, and introduces the reader to the new characters in a not boring way.
Sound Effects Lead (also known as onomatopoeia):
Begins with a heavy sound effect
ex: "SMASH! The window cracked, the wind howled, and the door flung open."
Action Lead:
The story begins with an action scene, and the author uses many juicy verbs to show the characters actions.
Description Lead (A.k.a Imagery Lead or Snapshot Lead):
Describes the setting or characters using description language and adjectives
Includes sensory imagery (5 senses: sight, touch, taste, sound, or smell)
Includes figurative language: simile, metaphor, personification
Drafting
Now that we have great story hooks and have engaged our readers, we want to make sure to keep them! We need to continue writing the beginning of our drafts, making sure to expose our reader to the characters and setting. This relates to the first box of our story mountain maps, and its called "exposition".
The Importance of Description
When writing, it's important to use a skill called show-don't-tell, which essentially challenges the writer to use their writing skills and set up the setting and important details in the story without exactly telling the reader, rather hinting at it instead.
Figurative Language
Remember learning about figurative language in your reading lessons? Well, figurative language is a skill you must have as a writer as well. As we continue to draft our personal narrative stories, we want to make sure that we are being creative authors who use figurative language. We can do this by using simile, metaphor, personification and by using idioms to express characters' emotions.
Rising Action & Suspense
Rising action is the part of the plot that builds up to the climax. In this part of the story, the author should create suspense to keep their reader hooked!
Suspense is the intense feeling that an audience goes through while waiting for the outcome of certain events. It should leave the reader holding their breath and wanting more information. The amount of intensity in a suspenseful moment is why it is hard to put a book down. Without suspense, a reader would lose interest quickly in any story because there is nothing that is making the reader ask, “What’s going to happen next?” In writing, there has to be a series of events that leads to a climax that captivates the audience and makes them tense and anxious to know what is going to happen.
Think You Got It So Far? Let's Try Writing a Closing
Closings are key to a story because you can't just leave the reader hanging in the middle of a story! You have to ensure your resolution resolves all the conflict and issues scattered around the plot and tie everything together. That is what makes a good conclusion to a narrative.
Revising & Editing
When writing a narrative, you can't just have one version of your story! Skilled writers usually spend most of their time revising and editing their story in order to make it just right. Sometimes while revising and editing, you might find a certain detail you forgot to add a resolution to, or a person you didn't give the correct dialogue to. This is why it is important to always ask peers to help you revise as well as for you as the writer to edit these mistakes over and over until it is perfect.
Let's Try to Write Our Own!
Here's a list of some writing prompts. Pick the prompt you like and try to write your own narrative essay! Remember, these will be discussed and possibly posted on blogs, so do your best! You can type it out in a document or write it down on a loose-leaf paper or notebook. Remember to have an introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. If you have any questions, head over to the blog and ask away!
https://www.thoughtco.com/writing-prompts-fourth-grade-4172492
Compound Sentences
An additional skill to enhance your writing (and also a very important grammar skill to know), is the world of compound sentences. Compound sentences are two sentences combined by a comma and a conjunction. It is important to not only be able to write compound sentences but also recognize them in reading.
Try to find one or two compound sentences in a book that you are reading and write them down in a notebook!
