Grade by grade, elementary mathematics expectations are clear-cut. Grade-by-grade writing expectations are more subjective.
Looking at the “English–Language Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools” below, one can see why figuring out precisely what you want your students to accomplish this year can be challenging. Notice the writing content standard “Writing Strategies 1.0” is word for word the same in Grade 1 as in Grade 4. In grade 5, there is a subtle switch to using the word “essays.”
Grade 1 Writing Strategies 1.0: Students write clear, coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea. Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing successive versions).
Grade 4 Writing Strategies 1.0: Students write clear, coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea. Their writing shows they consider the audience and purpose. Students progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing successive versions).
Grade 5 Writing Strategies 1.0: Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays. The writing exhibits the students’ awareness of the audience and purpose. Essays contain formal introductions, supporting evidence, and conclusions. Students progress through the stages of the writing process as needed.
How does repeating the same wording year after year help teachers understand what they should teach? Answer: It doesn’t!
A Note on the Writing Standards’ Grade-by-Grade Progression
When you read most state writing standards, it’s often difficult to tell what the differences are from one year to the next. When you compare 1st grade to 5th grade, you can easily see the differences. However, you must read carefully to see the difference from one year to the next.
Every grade-level year, a few words are changed, a few concepts are made more complex, and a few concepts are added.
The changes are subtle because students’ brains don’t handle “new information” well. Therefore, we spend most of the school year reviewing and integrating new information with old information. The writing standards above illustrate this point. One way to think of it is that we add a rather small amount of “new” to the “knew.”
A Summary and Explanation of Elementary School Writing Standards Grade by Grade
These conversational summaries provide an excellent overview of how students progress in their writing skills year by year. By reading these summaries, you will grasp the grade-by-grade progression far better!
Grade 1 Writing Expectations
Students write main ideas with supporting details. Students may not have the skills needed to write a closing sentence for their paragraphs. Students experiment with prewriting organizers, but there is no great connection between their prewriting and writing. Students learn to focus their writing to a prompt, and their stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Students use correct simple sentence structure and sometimes use new and exciting words in their word choice. Many of their sentences will have the same basic structure. Day by day, spelling and punctuation improve. Students need help with editing. They are not very successful at self-editing.
Grade 2 Writing Expectations
Students have added a concluding sentence to the main idea and supporting details, creating a proper paragraph structure with a beginning, middle, and ending. Students understand prewriting and can connect their prewriting to their writing. Their narratives (stories) have a clear beginning, middle, and ending. Their sentences have some variety; not all start the same. Students are developing skills in applying verbs and adjectives. Spelling and punctuation are of growing importance. Students are using many of the verb tenses correctly. They are capitalizing most proper nouns correctly and using a variety of punctuation. Students can do basic editing. They understand the concept of “trying to make it better.” They also understand the stages of the writing process. Students know how to use a dictionary, but it will take them a while to check all those words they are unsure about.
Grade 3 Writing Expectations
Students’ paragraphs contain more compelling details. Details are more specific and provide reasons and facts. Students are getting better at “proving their main idea.” Students use declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences correctly. A lot of their writing is based on personal experience or creative stories. They are not adept at researching. Their narratives (stories) contain some skill in applying story elements, including character and conflict/resolution. However, the stories are simple and may not incorporate all the story elements. Students use varied sentence structures and interesting vocabulary. This means a unique voice is starting to develop. Spelling and grammar are now considered “mistakes” because they have heard the rules before. In other words, they are consciously incompetent with grammar. Students are skilled at the writing process. They understand that it takes a dictionary and a thesaurus to make their writing the best it can be. Students also learn cursive this year.
Grade 4 Writing Expectations
Students’ paragraphs are becoming more purpose-specific. The paragraphs clearly inform, persuade, narrate, etc. Students are writing multi-paragraph compositions. These are not proper essays, as there is no requirement for a proper introduction, conclusion, or thesis statement. Students are learning to gather data through research and organize their research before writing. Their narratives (stories) incorporate all the story elements. Students are not writing just for themselves anymore. They write for their audience. Friendly letters sound friendly, and reports sound like reports. Students continue to grow in their writing and now get most of the verb tenses correct. Students use quotation marks. In fact, they may use them too often. Students are skilled at using resources to edit their work. Students not only correct their spelling but get rid of ideas that don’t work. Students polish up paragraphs and structure.
Grade 5 Writing Expectations
All of the students’ prior knowledge is now being put to use in complete essays. The terms essay and thesis statement are part of their vocabulary, and their writing is expected to have effective introductions and conclusions. Last year, students learned how to gather information, and now their writing is expected to have an “academic” appearance. Students will use transitions that effectively link paragraphs together in a clear line of thought. Their narratives (stories) contain an attention-getting narrative hook, conflict and complications, yet all is resolved in the end. Fifth graders use complex sentences and write with a purpose. Can you convince someone at the North Pole to buy snow? Well, let’s give it a try! Students are skilled at using many punctuation marks that their parents may have forgotten. When students edit, along with grammar and punctuation, they are interested in editing the quality of ideas and flow.
What the Standards Get Right
The fifth-grade writing requirement is right on target. Fifth graders are expected to write about as well as their parents. Obviously, not as well as all parents, but note the TV show, “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” There is a reason that the creators of the show chose fifth grade.
The standards also encourage teachers not to let children use poor grammar. We don’t want them to practice bad habits. The standards add a little complexity in grammar and mechanics each year; students are expected to meet those standards.
What the Standards Get Wrong
The standards are lacking in how they address proper multi-paragraph writing. The standards expect first graders to write stories with a beginning, middle, and ending, yet the standards don’t use the word multi-paragraph until fourth grade.
In reality, if students can fill out a good part of a page, you must teach them proper multi-paragraph form with a simple introduction and conclusion. Years of writing the wrong way makes breaking the bad habits in the upper grades extremely difficult.
Many teachers teach basic multi-paragraph writing long before the state standards explicitly require it. Why? Because the children are ready for it.
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