Unit Plan 4 (Grade 4 ELA): Small-Moment Narrative Writing

Focus: Narrative structure (orienting reader, event sequence, closure)

Grade Level: 4

Subject Area: English Language Arts (Writing, Language)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 45–60 minutes per session

I. Introduction

This week, writers craft small-moment personal narratives that zoom in on a single experience. Students learn to orient the reader (who/where/when), sequence events with purposeful pacing, and provide a satisfying closure that reflects on the moment’s meaning. They’ll also practice narrative techniques—dialogue, description, and inner thoughts—and edit for conventions (capitalization, punctuation, spelling) with special attention to dialogue punctuation. By Friday, each student will publish a polished, one-page small-moment narrative.

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…

1. Plan and write a small-moment narrative that orients the reader (situation, narrator, setting), uses event sequence, and ends with closure.
2. Develop experiences and characters with dialogue, description, and inner thoughts, and control pacing.
3. Use transition words/phrases to signal time and shifts.
4. Revise and edit with feedback; apply L.4.2 conventions (especially dialogue punctuation and correct spelling).

Standards Alignment — CCSS Grade 4

• W.4.3a–e (narratives: orient reader; use dialogue/description; sequence events; signal time; provide closure)
• W.4.5 (revise/edit with guidance and support)
• L.4.2 (conventions of capitalization, punctuation—including quotation marks—and spelling)

Success Criteria — student language

• My opening tells who, where/when, and what small moment I’ll tell.
• Each scene flows with time words and pacing; I used dialogue/description/thoughts to show what happened.
• My ending reflects on why the moment matters.
• My dialogue has quotation marks and commas in the right places; my spelling and capitalization are correct.