Grade 4 Writing Curriculum

Students will be able to: 

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
  • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
  • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
  • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
  • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
  • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
  • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
  • Work respectfully with others and show value for individual contributions.
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Engage in writing as a process.
  • Select audience and purpose. 
  • Narrow the topic. 
  • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
  • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Use correct spelling, including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
  • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
  • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
  • Support opinions with examples and details.
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and speaker in seminars. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
  • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
  • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
  • Use description, details, and examples.
  • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
  • Develop persuasive writing skills.
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Develop linguistic competency

Students will be able to: 

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
  • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
  • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
  • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions.
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Engage in writing as a process.
  • Select audience and purpose. 
  • Narrow the topic. 
  • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
  • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
  • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
  • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
  • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
  • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose.
  • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
  • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
  • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and speaker in seminars. 
  • Lead and contribute to discussions and viewpoints with others across content areas and in seminars.
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
  • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message.
  • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
  • Use description, details, and examples.
  • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
  • Develop persuasive writing skills. 
  • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
  • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing.
  • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence. 
  • Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
  • Use descriptive details and examples.
  • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
  • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.

Students will be able to: 

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
  • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
  • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
  • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Engage in writing as a process. 
  • Select audience and purpose. 
  • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
  • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
  • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Correctly use adjectives and adverbs. 
  • Use correct spelling including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals.
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Lead and contribute to discussions and viewpoints with others across content areas and in seminars.
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.  
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
  • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
  • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Develop linguistic competency.

Students will be able to:  

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
  • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
  • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
  • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
  • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
  • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
  • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
  • Work respectfully with others and show value for individual contributions.
• Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
  • Locate, organize, and analyze information from a variety of multimodal texts. 
  • Speak audibly with appropriate pacing. 
  • Use language and style appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose. 
  • Make eye contact with the audience. 
  • Ask and answer questions to gather or clarify information presented orally.
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Engage in writing as a process. 
  • Select audience and purpose. 
  • Narrow the topic. 
  • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
  • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
  • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
  • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
  • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
  • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
  • Express an opinion about a topic and provide fact-based reasons for support. 
  • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
  • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
  • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information. 
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Use noun-pronoun agreement. 
  • Use commas in series, dates, and addresses. 
  • Use correct spelling including common homophones.
• Demonstrate comprehension of information resources to create a research product:
  • Collect and organize information from multiple resources. 
  • Evaluate the relevance and reliability of information. 
  • Give credit to sources used in research. 
  • Avoid plagiarism and use own words. 
  • Demonstrate ethical use of the Internet.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
  • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
  • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
  • Support opinions with examples and details.
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
• Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
  • Know the type of information found in various reference materials including atlases, dictionaries, and websites.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
  • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
  • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
  • Use description, details, and examples.
  • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
  • Develop persuasive writing skills.
  • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
  • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
  • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
  •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
  • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.    
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Develop linguistic competency. 
• Demonstrate comprehension of information resources to create a research product:
  • Conduct authentic research by applying skills of questions, information gathering, data analysis and synthesis. 
  • Assess the strengths and limitations of sources in terms of organization, language, format, purposes, and audience.
  •  Develop analytical and interpretive skills while applying research skills.
  • Use technology, including the Internet, to gather information from authoritative print and digital sources.

Students will be able to: 

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
  • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
  • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly.
  • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
  • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
  • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
  • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
  • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Engage in writing as a process. 
  • Select audience and purpose. 
  • Narrow the topic. 
  • Use a variety of prewriting strategies.
  • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization.
  • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
  • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
  • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
  • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
  • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
  • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
  • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information. 
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Use quotation marks with dialogue. 
  • Use correct spelling including common homophones.
  • Use singular possessives.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
  • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
  • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
  • Support opinions with examples and details.
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
  • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
  • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
  • Use description, details, and examples.
  • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
  • Develop persuasive writing skills.
  • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
  • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
  • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
  •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
  • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.   
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Develop linguistic competency.

Students will be able to: 

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
  • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
  • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
  • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
  • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
  • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions. 
• Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
  • Locate, organize, and analyze information from a variety of multimodal texts. 
  • Speak audibly with appropriate pacing. 
  • Use language and style appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose. 
  • Make eye contact with the audience. 
  • Ask and answer questions to gather or clarify information presented orally. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Engage in writing as a process. 
  • Select audience and purpose. 
  • Narrow the topic. 
  • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
  • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
  • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
  • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
  • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
  • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
  • Express an opinion about a topic and provide fact-based reasons for support.
  • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
  • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.
  • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Use subject-verb agreement.
  • Eliminate double negatives. 
  • Use correct spelling including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
  • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
  • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
  • Support opinions with examples and details.
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
• Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
  • Know the type of information found in various reference materials including atlases, dictionaries, and websites.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker.
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
  • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
  • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
  • Use description, details, and examples.
  • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
  • Develop persuasive writing skills.
  • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
  • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
  • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
  •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
  • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.   
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Develop linguistic competency.

Students will be able to: 

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules.
  • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
  • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
  • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
  • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions.
  • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
  • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
  • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions. 
• Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
  • Locate, organize, and analyze information from a variety of multimodal texts. 
  • Speak audibly with appropriate pacing. 
  • Use language and style appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose. 
  • Make eye contact with the audience. 
  • Ask and answer questions to gather or clarify information presented orally. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Engage in writing as a process. 
  • Select audience and purpose. 
  • Narrow the topic. 
  • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
  • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
  • Organize writing to convey a central idea.
  • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
  • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
  • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
  • Express an opinion about a topic and provide fact-based reasons for support.
  • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
  • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation. 
  • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
  • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
  • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
  • Support opinions with examples and details.
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
• Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
  • Know the type of information found in various reference materials including atlases, dictionaries, and websites.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker.
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
  • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
  • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
  • Use description, details, and examples.
  • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
  • Develop persuasive writing skills.
  • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
  • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
  • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
  •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
  • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.

Students will be able to: 

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules. 
  • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
  • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
  • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
  • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
  • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
  • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work.
  • Work respectfully with others, and show value for individual contributions.
• Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
  • Locate, organize, and analyze information from a variety of multimodal texts.
  • Speak audibly with appropriate pacing. 
  • Use language and style appropriate to the audience, topic, and purpose. 
  • Make eye contact with the audience.
  • Ask and answer questions to gather or clarify information presented orally. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Engage in writing as a process.
  • Select audience and purpose.
  • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
  • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
  • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
  • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
  • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
  • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
  • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
  • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.
  • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Use quotation marks with dialogue. 
  • Use correct spelling including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
  • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
  • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
  • Support opinions with examples and details.
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
• Create and deliver multimodal, interactive presentations:
  • Know the type of information found in various reference materials including atlases, dictionaries, and websites.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas.
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
  • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
  • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
  • Use description, details, and examples.
  • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
  • Develop persuasive writing skills.
  • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
  • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
  • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
  •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
  • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.   
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Develop linguistic competency.

Students will be able to: 

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Listen actively and speak using appropriate discussion rules.
  • Contribute to group discussions across content areas. 
  • Orally summarize information expressing ideas clearly. 
  • Ask specific questions to gather ideas and opinions from others. 
  • Use evidence to support opinions and conclusions. 
  • Connect comments to the remarks of others. 
  • Use specific vocabulary to communicate ideas. 
  • Demonstrate the ability to collaborate with diverse teams, while sharing responsibility for the work. 
  • Work respectfully with others and show value for individual contributions. 
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Engage in writing as a process. 
  • Select audience and purpose. 
  • Narrow the topic. 
  • Use a variety of prewriting strategies. 
  • Recognize that different forms of writing have different patterns of organization. 
  • Organize writing to convey a central idea. 
  • Write a clear topic sentence focusing on the main idea. 
  • Write related paragraphs on the same topic. 
  • Elaborate writing by including details to support the purpose. 
  • Express an opinion about a topic and provide fact-based reasons for support. 
  • Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety. 
  • Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.
  • Revise writing for clarity of content using specific vocabulary and information.
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Use correct spelling including common homophones.

Extended Standards: In addition to the Virginia Standards of Learning named above, students who receive full-time Advanced Academic (AAP Level IV) Services engage with these extensions.

• Use effective oral communication skills in a variety of settings:
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Participate in group discussions as a listener and a speaker in seminars. 
  • Articulate understanding of a reading to a partner.
  • State the main ideas or themes of the story.
  • Engage in a dialogue about the meaning of a selection.
  • Develop listening/oral communication skills.
  • Make informative and persuasive oral presentations using purposeful structure and visuals. 
  • Ask clarifying questions and take notes when listening to a speaker. 
  • Develop skills of argument formulation in persuasive communication. 
  • Support opinions with examples and details.
  • Engage in discussions with others by exchanging ideas, asking questions, actively listening, and responding thoughtfully to the comments of others.
• Write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository:
  • Select a topic and develop a plan for writing for a variety of purposes and audiences. 
  • Focus, organize, and elaborate to create an effective message. 
  • Synthesize author techniques to improve or create a new piece of writing.
  • Use description, details, and examples.
  • Reflect individuality through word choice and style.
  • Develop persuasive writing skills.
  • Evaluate the effective use of words, sentences, and paragraphs in context.
  • Use the elements of reasoning to develop strong, convincing arguments in persuasive writing. 
  • Provide evidence and data to support a claim, issue, or thesis sentence.
  •  Vary sentence type, length and order to maximize the written message.
  • Revise based on peer review, teacher feedback and self-evaluation by adding, deleting, and changing information to improve writing.   
• Self- and peer-edit writing for capitalization, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraphing, and Standard English:
  • Develop linguistic competency.