1. Edge of Your Seat Stories:
Unit 3 – 3rd Grade
Edge of Your Seat Stories:
Writing with Control and Craft
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

2. Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft
Writers Look Back on Strategies They Already Learned and Use Those Strategies Over and Over Again Forever…
1. Prewriting 2. Drafting/Writing 3. Revising 4. Editing Publishing
TP 1
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

3. Writers generate entries in their Writing Notebook that could make gripping stories.
Think of times when you felt
something strongly.
2. Think of feelings to help you remember.
(sad, hopeful, worried, scared,
anticipating something, impatient,
thrilled, etc.)
TP 2
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

4. Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft
Writers find moments that “matter”… *First Times *Last Times *Times when you learned a lesson
Think of “Turning Point” times.
2. Turning Points are when things change…
sometimes that might be the first time…
or the last time something happened.
TP 3
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

5. Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft
Writers find
moments that
“matter”… First Times… Last Times…
-Think about the first time you did something
that now you do everyday…
like coming to school, coming to this classroom,
or walking or biking your bike to school
-Think about a hobby you have or
a thing you love to do.
When was the first time you did that thing?
-Think about the last time you saw a person (or a pet)
and then the person or pet who left you…
_ Think about the first time you went fishing…
TP 3
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

6. Writers reread their notebooks to find Gripping Stories that “matter” to them.
1. Put yourself in the reader’s place. 2. Which story idea matters to you. 3. Ask, “Would I want to read this???
TP 4
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

7. Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft
Writers reread their notebooks to find Gripping Stories that “matter” to them.
One day I played in my backyard. I saw something shiny in the grass. I ran over to it. I found a metal ball! I wondered how it got there. I put the ball in my pocket and found something else to do.
On Saturday I went to my big brother’s football game. It was hot outside and sweat dripped in my face. Drip! Drip! Drip! I ran to the food hut and ordered a drink. Slurp! I sucked that drink down in about two seconds. BURP! Excuse me!
On Christmas morning my brother and I ran to the tree to open our presents. We heard some shuffling around from the back of the tree. We looked at each other with wide open eyes. There was a big box with a huge red bow. My brother and I lifted the top off the box at the same time. Inside the box were two puppies – one for my brother and one for me! Our first puppies ever!
I’ll never forget the day I got lost at our campsite. We were leaving the springs to head back to our tent. My brother said, “It’s this way!” I said, “No, it’s this way.” So my brother went one way and I went the other way. I walked and walked and walked. No sign of our tent anywhere. I saw helicopters flying overhead. I jumped and screamed, but they didn’t see me through the trees. A few hours later I saw a policeman canoeing down the river. My dad was waiting for me at the end of the dock. I hugged him tight and cried and cried. I’d never been so scared in all my life!
TP 4
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

8. Writers Develop Our Stories by Making a Timeline that Builds Suspense and Keeps Our Readers on the Edges of their Seats
1. Use chronological Order
(Time Order) to make a timeline.
Unit 3 - Grade 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

9. Straight timeline… ugh Edge of our seat… Yeah!
My story could go like this (draw a straight timeline
------* * * *
Leaving mall baby doll is gone found baby went home
* Spot her hiding behind EB.
*Scurried to *Breathe…
Easter Bunny *Relief…
* panicing…
not at food court * We’ll be
* Not in Macy’s able to sleep
* Raced… retrace steps Tonight!!
* Realized baby doll missing
TP 5
Unit 3 Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

10. Active Engagement… Shared Story Ideas…
-There was a knock on your classroom door and you didn’t know who it was
-Your class waited and waited and waited for __________ and finally the day came
or the moment happened.
-The first time/last time your class (used a writer’s notebook, took a spelling test, went to a special, walked in the library, had a special visitor, had a fire drill – is it real or just a drill?)
-A lizard was in the classroom and you tried and tried and tried to catch it to set it Free
-The office buzzed, “You have a new student, send down two friends.” Everyone wondered who it would be… a boy? A girl?
TP 5
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

11. Writers Prepare to draft by Creating a Physical Timeline Across Pages
Use post it notes so you can move pages of your story.
(Each post-it would be another page. Some writers make a storyboard.)
Create a Freytag’s Pyramid timeline to help you build suspense.
3. Try our your rising action and add or move post-it notes so that you can physically move the timeline around.
TP 6
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

12. Unit 3 -Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft
Writers remember all the writing strategies they know in order to put our characters into “action”.
Writing Strategies
Show… not tell
S l o w down the action so the reader can see what the character looked like (expressions) as they reacted.
(Mini-movie… or slow motion technique)
Internal Thinking
Dialogue (be careful… not too much.(
The “narrator” moves the story along.
Decide “who” will be telling the story (point of view)
TP 7
Unit 3 -Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

13. Writers animate every scene with ACTION.
Use what you know about
stories YOU like to read.
You should be able to understand
WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, & WHY
in every scene!
3. Animate with WORDS to paint
a picture for the reader.
“Mommy, where’s Baby?” Ella said.
I glanced at Ella in the rear-view mirror.
Her eyes widened and her lip started quivering.
“I don’t know,” I replied.
Unit 3 - Grade 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

14. Writers animate by REVISING to add details!
Amanda’s – first draft “Why are you staring at me?” I asked. “I’m not staring at you,” said Jack. “Yes you are. Stop.” I said. “I’m staring at the pudding.” “Oh, well don’t.” I said. “Fine, let’s go.” said Jack. Amanda’s – next draft “Why are you staring at me?” I asked. I slammed my hands on the cafeteria table. My tray rattled. “I’m not staring at you,” said Jack. He touched his hand to his face and made a wiping motion. He opened his eyes real big and looked at me. “Yes you are. Stop.” I said. Why is Jack acting so weird? My eyes traveled down the table catching a quick glance of Belinda. Thank goodness, I thought to myself, Belinda is busy torturing someone else today. My eyes turned back to Jack. “I’m staring at the pudding,” Jack whispered through clenched teeth. Again, he motioned with his hand. Only this time I got it. “Oh, well don’t,” I said quickly wiping the pudding from the front of my shirt. I looked up at Jack with anembarrassed grin. “Fine, let’s go.” said Jack. We hopped up, dumped our trays and burst through the cafeteria doors to the outside patio. We escaped the lunchroom torture, for the moment….
TP 8B
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

15. Writers animate by REVISING verbs to use better action words and improve word choice!
Amanda’s – first draft “Why are you staring at me?” I asked. “I’m not staring at you,” said Jack. “Yes you are. Stop.” I said. “I’m staring at the pudding.” “Oh, well don’t.” I said. “Fine, let’s go.” said Jack. Amanda’s – next draft “Why are you staring at me?” I asked. I slammed my hands on the cafeteria table. My tray rattled. “I’m not staring at you,” said Jack. He touched his hand to his face and made a wiping motion. He opened his eyes real big and looked at me. “Yes you are. Stop.” I said. Why is Jack acting so weird? My eyes traveled down the table catching a quick glance of Belinda. (nternal thinking) Thank goodness, I thought to myself, Belinda is busy torturing someone else today. My eyes turned back to Jack. “I’m staring at the pudding,” Jack whispered through clenched teeth. Again, he motioned with his hand. Only this time I got it. “Oh, well don’t,” I said quickly wiping the pudding from the front of my shirt. I looked up at Jack with an embarrassed grin. “Fine, let’s go.” said Jack. We hopped up, dumped our trays and burst through the cafeteria doors to the outside patio. (Series) We escaped the lunchroom torture, for the moment….
TP 8B
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

16. Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft
Writers SHOW not tell!
We show our feelings
rather than telling about them.
NOT TELL We were very scared when we heard the
train whistle.”
SHOW
“Back to the cut-off!”
“RUN!”
“THE TRAIN! THE TRAIN! GET OFF! GET OFF!
GET OFF THE TRACKS!”
We jumped off the tracks onto the steep slope. We didn’t think about the briers or the snakes.
NOT TELL We knew we were wrong.
We walked home without a word. We didn’t tell Big Mama. We didn’t tell Mama. We didn’t tell anyone. We didn’t talk about what happened for a very long time. And… we didn’t take the shortcut again.
TP 9
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

17. Writers add a repeating line to build tension and suspense.
TP 10
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

18. Many writers work on their leads and endings at the same time.
Listen to the beginning,
“We looked… we listened… we decided to take the shortcut home. We should have taken the road. But it was getting late, and it was getting dark, so we started down the track.”
Now listen to the ending.
“We walked home without a word. We didn’t tell Big Mama. We didn’t tell Mama. We didn’t tell anyone. We didn’t talk about what happened for a very long time. And we didn’t take the short-cut again.”
TP 11
Unit 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

19. Unit 3 -Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft
Writers use circular leads (beginnings) and endings to tie everything together.
The ending is the same as the beginning…
BUT it is different, right?
The difference between the two shows how the characters have changed.
On the way to the tracks, they knew they shouldn’t take the short cut… but they did it anyway.
On the way home from the tracks, after almost getting run over by a train, they still knew they
shouldn’t go on the tracks… and now they also know they are never going to tell anyone
(Mama, really,) about what happened… and that next time, they won’t take that short cut.
From the beginning to the ending of the story something changed.
A lot is the same, but the character has changed.
TP 12
Unit 3 -Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

20. Unit 3 -Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft
Writers Edit and Revise Our Writing . • Writers Use the Ellipsis to Build Suspense • Writers Add Paragraphs to Show Change • Writers Use Resources to Spell Words Correctly • Writers Use Print to Influence Readers
TP 12
Unit 3 -Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

21. Editing Checkklist
Unit 3 Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

22. Writers Use the Ellipsis to Build Suspense.
TP 12
Unit 3 -Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

23. Unit 3 -Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft
Writers use paragraph breaks like traffic signs that guide the reader down the road.
A paragraph can be as short as one sentence. Usually it is several.
Each speaker gets a new paragraph.
A paragraph ties together related ideas. When the action/scene shifts, for example, you should begin a new paragraph.
Each new paragraph is indented about 3 – 5 spaces.
TP 12
Unit 3 -Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

24. Writers use resources to spell words correctly.
1. Reread your writing slowly and carefully circling words that don’t “look right.” 2. Circle the word. 3. Check the word wall. If the word is there, great! Continue rereading your story. 4. If the word isn’t there, try spelling the word three more times in the margin. 5. Check the dictionary or use the “speller” tool at the writing center.
Unit 3 - Grade 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

25. Unit 3 - Grade 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft

26. Writers publish and celebrate their writing!
Unit 3 - Grade 3 - Edge of Your Seat: Writing with Control and Craft