Read this once — then you will not need it
How a Grade 3 writing lesson runs
The same six parts, in the same order, every lesson · 30 minutes · children write on a printed sheet until midyear, then the notebook
What never changes. Six parts, in this order, every lesson and every grade. LAUNCH is always context → recall → purpose. Exit Directions are always taken standing still, in full, before anyone moves. The worked example is always built piece by piece and never erased.
The shape
LAUNCH3-5 minRetrieval on MWB
Set the ground
Say where this sits · sixty seconds of retrieval on what today leans on · ten seconds on why it matters, in your own words
Context, then recall, then purpose — in that order, because that is the order the knowledge is needed in.
I DO3-4 minno boards — they watch
You model it
Build it on the board, one click per piece, and leave it up. They watch; they do not write.
A slide that arrives whole gives the answer before the question. Footsteps are never erased — the board copy stays for the whole lesson.
WE DO5-6 minPRIMARY MWB use
Together
Guided practice on whiteboards. Short answers, boards up on your signal, every child visible at once.
The main whiteboard moment. If the answer is a whole sentence rather than a word, take it on paper instead — a sentence on a whiteboard is written once and destroyed.
READno boards — they watch
They read the teaching page
Read it with them — read-aloud or FASE, never round robin. Stop at the worked example.
Our own page, so a child who was absent can still get the lesson.
YOU DO4-5 minWritten on the sheet
They work alone
Exit directions in full, standing still, before anyone moves. Then the ladder: match · choose · frame · write their own.
CHOOSE is the rung that shows you who actually has it. Do not rescue them for the first three minutes.
CLOSURE2-3 minDisplay answers on MWB
Close it
Take the Exit Direction from every child before anyone stands. Then say the anchor.
The anchor is the one line you want them to still have tomorrow.
What Grade 3 has in its writing block
| Layer | Lessons of 140 | Share |
|---|
| Avu | 58 | 41% |
| Project | 20 | 14% |
| Spine | 18 | 13% |
| Drill | 16 | 11% |
| Notebook | 14 | 10% |
| Dictation | 14 | 10% |
The scaffold comes off — on purpose
Sentence frames are available and rationed. The ration falls as the year goes on, so the class can feel the scaffold being let go rather than pulled away. Say both halves every time: the frame is there if they need it, and it is better writing without it.
| Stage | Frame given | May use it for |
|---|
| D1 | Use the frame as often as you need it today. | 3 of their own |
| D2 | You may use the frame for two of your three. Try the third without it. | 2 of their own |
| D3 | Only one of yours may use the frame. Choose which one needs it. | 1 of their own |
| D4 | No frames today. You have had them three times; the words are yours. | 0 of their own |
A full answer in Grade 3 is 1 paragraph (5–7 sentences). That target is printed on the sheet so a child can see what finished looks like instead of guessing how much is enough.
Where to look for what. The brief you read once before the lesson — what they are learning and how it will go. The guide sits open while you teach — slide by slide, what you say, what happens. The slides are what the class sees. The sheet is what the child writes on, and the teacher edition is that same sheet filled in, so you can hold it beside their work and compare.