The Units of Study in Opinion/Argument, Information, and Narrative Writing Series
Building on the best practices and proven frameworks in the original Units of Study for Teaching Writing series, this new series by Lucy Calkins and her colleagues from the Reading and Writing Project offers grade-by-grade plans for teaching writing workshops that help students meet and exceed the Common Core State Standards.
Now Available Separate from the Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing! The Guide to the Writing Workshop, first introduced as a part of the Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing, is now available for separate purchase. The Guide can be an essential manual for principals, curriculum coordinators, coaches, and others who are supporting implementation... more
Marie Mounteer, Lizzie Hetzer, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project
About the Unit This engaging new book-length unit will transform your kindergartners into inventive spellers, giving them the tools and strategies they need to approximate the words that are most meaningful for them in their own writing. The unit celebrates invented spellings as kids develop foundational skills, knowing that your front-and-center goal will be to persuade your kids that they can write, that they too can... more
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project
The Kindergarten Trade Book Pack includes three age-appropriate trade books that are used in the units to model effective writing techniques, encourage students to read as writers, and provide background knowledge.
* Creak! Said the Bed by Phyllis Root
* Freight Train by Donald Crews
* My First Soccer Game by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
“Any... more
Lucy Calkins, Amanda Hartman, Natalie Louis, Laurie Pessah, Elizabeth Moore, Elizabeth Franco
About the Kindergarten Units The kindergarten units begin with Lucy and her colleagues helping children approximate writing by drawing and labeling first in all-about books and then in stories. The first unit, Launching the Writing Workshop, acknowledges that most children will be labeling their drawings—and the letters in those labels will include squiggles and diamonds. The second unit, Writing for Readers,... more
"For decades now, the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project has been piloting, refining, adapting, and developing a K-8 system of writing instruction. Many of the Reading and Writing Project's ideas on teaching writing have been, from the start, a part of the Common Core, but the Common Core also issued new challenges—ones that the Reading and Writing Project began working towards when the Common Core was just a whiff of a draft. This... more
"For decades now, the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project has been piloting, refining, adapting, and developing a K-8 system of writing instruction. Many of the Reading and Writing Project's ideas on teaching writing have been, from the start, a part of the Common Core, but the Common Core also issued new challenges—ones that the Reading and Writing Project began working towards when the Common Core was just a whiff... more
The Units of Study in Writing series is designed to support students’ abilities to be strategic, metacognitive writers. Within and across grades, the units fit tongue-and-groove alongside each other. Together, they help students consolidate and use what they have learned to meet and exceed world-class standards for each grade. What makes the Units of Study particularly magical is the way that one day’s teaching links to the next. Skills... more
Lucy Calkins, Abby Oxenhorn Smith, Rachel Rothman-Perkins
About the Unit The first bend in the road swings, like a pendulum, between lessons that help children write the stories of their lives and lessons that establish the routines and structures of the workshop so that this writing work can be done independently. Children learn to touch and tell their stories, then sketch and write, so they can move independently through the writing process again and again. They learn to use... more
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project
The Grade 1 Trade Book Pack includes three age-appropriate trade books that are used in the units to model effective writing techniques, encourage students to read as writers, and provide background knowledge.
- Night of the Veggie Monster by George McClements
- Sharks! (National Geographic Reader) by Anne Schreiber
- Henry
Lucy Calkins, Abby Oxenhorn Smith, Rachel Rothman-Perkins, Kristine Mraz, Barbara Golub, Celena Dangler Larkey, Elizabeth Franco, Christine Holley, Mary Ehrenworth
About the Grade 1 Units The first-grade units are written for children who are just tapping into their burgeoning powers as readers as well as writers, and believe they can do anything. Students begin with the always-popular unit Small Moments: Writing with Focus, Detail, and Dialogue. In this unit students take the everyday events of their young lives and make them into focused, well-structured stories, then... more
About the Grade 1 Units The first-grade units are written for children who are just tapping into their burgeoning powers as readers as well as writers, and believe they can do anything. Students begin with the always-popular unit Small Moments: Writing with Focus, Detail, and Dialogue. In this unit students take the everyday events of their young lives and make them into focused, well-structured stories, then... more
The Units of Study in Writing series is designed to support students’ abilities to be strategic, metacognitive writers. Within and across grades, the units fit tongue-and-groove alongside each other. Together, they help students consolidate and use what they have learned to meet and exceed world-class standards for each grade. What makes the Units of Study particularly magical is the way that one day’s teaching links to the next. Skills... more
Valerie Geschwind, Jennifer Russo, Edited By Lucy Calkins
About the Unit This accessible unit welcomes second graders into the world of nonfiction writing by rallying them to write lots of little nonfiction books. Youngsters learn that they can take anything they know a lot about—soccer, an ice cream shop, ladybugs—and write in ways that teach their readers about the topic. The unit helps second graders feel that puffed-up pride of being an expert and taps into their... more
About the Grade 2 Units The second-grade units are written with seven-year-olds in mind. These youngsters are chomping at the bit for something new. They feel very big now and want work that feels big and important. That’s what they’ll get—this series invites second-graders into author studies that help them craft powerful true stories, science investigations and lab reports, and finally, into some very grown-up writing... more
Lucy Calkins, Amanda Hartman, Julia Mooney, Monique Knight, Lauren Kolbeck, Shanna Schwartz, Alexandra Marron, Elizabeth Franco, Mary Ehrenworth, Stephanie Parsons, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
About the Grade 2 Units The second-grade units are written with seven-year-olds in mind. These youngsters are chomping at the bit for something new. They feel very big now and want work that feels big and important. That’s what they’ll get—this series invites second-graders into author studies that help them craft powerful true stories, science investigations and lab reports, and finally, into some very grown-up writing... more
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project
The Grade 2 Trade Book Pack includes four age-appropriate trade books that are used in the units to model effective writing techniques, encourage students to read as writers, and provide background knowledge.
- Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
- The Leaving Morning by Angela Johnson
- Forces and Motion by John Graham
The Units of Study in Writing series is designed to support students’ abilities to be strategic, metacognitive writers. Within and across grades, the units fit tongue-and-groove alongside each other. Together, they help students consolidate and use what they have learned to meet and exceed world-class standards for each grade. What makes the Units of Study particularly magical is the way that one day’s teaching links to the next. Skills... more
Now Available Separate from the Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing! The Guide to the Writing Workshop, first introduced as a part of the Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing, is now available for separate purchase. The Guide can be an essential manual for principals, curriculum coordinators, coaches, and others who are supporting implementation... more
Lucy Calkins, Marjorie Martinelli, M. Colleen Cruz, Kelly Boland Hohne, Shana Frazin, Maggie Beattie Roberts
About the Grade 3 Units The third-grade units of study take into account that many third-graders are writing on full sheets of notebook paper and in writers notebooks for the first time. The opening unit, Crafting True Stories, extends students’ work with personal narrative while engaging them more fully in the complete writing process, with increasing emphasis on drafting and revising their work. In the second... more
About the Grade 3 Units The third-grade units of study take into account that many third-graders are writing on full sheets of notebook paper and in writers notebooks for the first time. The opening unit, Crafting True Stories, extends students’ work with personal narrative while engaging them more fully in the complete writing process, with increasing emphasis on drafting and revising their work. In the second... more
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project
The Grade 3 Trade Book Pack includes three age-appropriate trade books that are used in the units to model effective writing techniques, encourage students to read as writers, and provide background knowledge.
- Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse
- Deadliest Animals (National Geographic Reader) by Melissa
The new Graphic Novels units asks you to reinterpret your definition of writing—you will teach true writing skills, but they will be disguised in a fun new medium that will help your students grow much smarter at reading and writing stories in multiple media. Even though students may not create pages and pages of paragraphs, they are writing:
- Structuring a well-paced story is writing.
Lucy Calkins, M. Colleen Cruz, Kelly Boland Hohne, Cory Gillette, Anna Cockerille, Kathleen Tolan, Alexandra Marron
About the Grade 4 Units Written for children on the cusp of writing more academic texts, the fourth-grade units familiarizes students with the genres they will regularly encounter throughout school—thesis-driven persuasive essays, literary essays, and research reports. Each of the units begins where children are and then provides a progression of instruction that brings students step by step toward increasing proficiency.... more
About the Grade 4 Units Written for children on the cusp of writing more academic texts, the fourth-grade units familiarizes students with the genres they will regularly encounter throughout school—thesis-driven persuasive essays, literary essays, and research reports. Each of the units begins where children are and then provides a progression of instruction that brings students step by step toward increasing proficiency.... more
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project
The Grade 4 Trade Book Pack includes four age-appropriate trade books that are used in the units to model effective writing techniques, encourage students to read as writers, and provide background knowledge.
- Fireflies by Julie Brinkloe
- Pecan Pie Baby by Jacqueline Woodson
- Revolutionary War (Cornerstones
Teachers College Reading & Writing Project, Edited By Lucy Calkins
The Literary Essay, Grade 5 Trade Book Pack includes books that are used in the unit to model effective writing techniques, encourage students to read as writers, and provide background knowledge.
- Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant
- Marshfield Dreams by Ralph Fletcher
- Eleven and Papa by Sandra Cisneros
Katie Clements, Mike Ochs, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project, Edited By Lucy Calkins
About the Unit This unit helps fifth graders meet sky-high expectations for writing literary essays. Members of the class begin by writing an essay about a shared story—a poignant video clip that they watch and discuss together. With that shared experience work as a foundation, fifth graders then learn to design, write, and revise interpretive essays about short stories. Throughout this work, the children—and you, their... more
Katie Clements, Mike Ochs, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project, Edited By Lucy Calkins
About the Unit This unit helps fifth graders meet sky-high expectations for writing literary essays. Members of the class begin by writing an essay about a shared story—a poignant video clip that they watch and discuss together. With that shared experience work as a foundation, fifth graders then learn to design, write, and revise interpretive essays about short stories. Throughout this work, the children—and you, their... more
About the Grade 5 Units By the time children enter fifth grade, they will have been introduced to most if not all of the new skills expected of fifth-graders. The sequence of fifth grade units consolidates those skills and introduces the learning objectives called for in the sixth-grade standards: how to conduct research using primary sources, how to write narratives that are reflective and theme-based, and how to write... more
Lucy Calkins, Alexandra Marron, Emily Butler Smith, Annie Taranto, Mary Ehrenworth
About the Grade 5 Units By the time children enter fifth grade, they will have been introduced to most if not all of the new skills expected of fifth-graders. The sequence of fifth grade units consolidates those skills and introduces the learning objectives called for in the sixth-grade standards: how to conduct research using primary sources, how to write narratives that are reflective and theme-based, and how to write... more
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project
The Grade 5 Trade Book Pack includes three age-appropriate trade books that are used in the units to model effective writing techniques, encourage students to read as writers, and provide background knowledge.
- When I Was Your Age: Original Stories About Growing Up, Vol. 1 by Amy Ehrlich, ed.
- Who Settled the West? (Life in
Now Available Separate from the Units of Study in
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project, Stacey Fell, Alexandra Marron, Kate Roberts, Kathleen Tolan, Maggie Beattie Roberts, Emily Strang-Campbell, Audra Robb, Gerrit Jones-Rooy
About the Grade 6 Units Sixth-grade writing begins with Personal Narrative: Crafting Powerful Life Stories. This unit helps students draw on their lives, learning strategies to generate meaningful story ideas, manage pace, elaborate on important scenes, and deepen insights. This unit especially emphasizes the importance of setting goals, practicing strategically, and aiming for high productivity.... more
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project
“The Common Core State Standards call for high levels of writing proficiency. Meeting these standards requires a planned, sequential, explicit writing program, with instruction that gives students repeated opportunities to practice each kind of writing and to receive explicit, assessment-informed feedback at frequent intervals. The tools in these units of study can be the bedrock of such a writing program.” —Lucy Calkins About... more
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project, M. Colleen Cruz, Audra Robb, Kelly Boland Hohne, Annie Taranto, Gerrit Jones-Rooy
About the Grade 7 Units Seventh graders relish their growing sense of control over their own lives and their sense of agency. In this first unit of the year, Writing Realistic Fiction: Symbolism, Syntax, and Truth, students write engaging short fiction. They lift the sophistication of their writing through attention to individual scenes, symbols, and writing techniques they’ve discovered from close... more
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading & Writing Project, Mary Ehrenworth, Cornelius Minor, Kate Roberts, Katy Wischow, Julie Shepherd, Audra Robb, Gerrit Jones-Rooy
About the Grade 8 Units Eighth grade is the year your writers will tackle writing for social activism and writing to illuminate complexity. In their first unit of study, Investigative Journalism, students learn to use sharp observations of life to write news and investigative articles about meaningful topics, crafting vivid narratives and elaborating multiple perspectives. They’ll write to shine... more