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Units of Study in Writing, Grades 3-5
Brand new units now available for the 2024-2025 school year!
The new Units of Study in Writing, Grades 3-5 complement the updated K-2 units for a full K-5 trajectory
of state-of-the-art instruction in writing. The units are easier than ever to use, more-research based,
and are fully-updated for today's classroom. For the first time, they include a sequential
standards-based curriculum in grammar, opportunities to tap the power of digital technologies, more
discipline-based writing, and a compendium of tools to support responsive small group instruction.
"Students have become much more confident in their abilities as writers. In fact, they now see themselves as authors, not just students of writing."
-- 3rd Grade Pilot Teacher
New units are now available!
Have a Sales Rep contact you about ordering the brand new Units of Study in Writing, Grades 3-5.
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Digital Overview
The NEW Units of Study in Grades 3–5 are on the Heinemann Flight platform, provide a deeper
digital experience for teachers, and—for the first time—a digital experience where students
can submit writing. Teachers can use AI-suggested comments, informed by Units of Study instruction, to
provide each student with customized feedback. The feature also helps teachers more easily see patterns
in students’ writing and identify areas of support. The Digital Teacher License also provides
digital access to all the printed books in the core units of study set, along with a rich array of
resources to support each unit. These resources include downloadable versions of charts, handouts, book
lists, exemplar texts, supports for Spanish-speaking students, and more, all arranged session by session
to streamline each day’s preparation.
More About the Units
Hundreds of teachers piloted the new units, and we have heard, “the new units are worlds easier
to teach,” and the clear, clean layout makes them easy to navigate. Some key features:
- Each grade has 4 completely reimagined units, providing a cross-grade sequence in Informational
Writing, Argument, Literary Essay and Narrative. You’ll find entirely new units on Writing in
the Disciplines and Journalism, as well as a new unit designed to bring even third graders into the
work of writing literary essays.
- The entire curriculum is designed so that all children see themselves in the units. Tips for supporting Multilingual Learners (MLLs) are embedded in the unit and each minilesson has an introduction in Spanish. Each session provides supports to ensure that all students have access to the essential points. Watch the video to hear more about MLL supports in the new units!
- There are more than 200 grab-and-go resources for small groups and 1:1 conferences.
- Exciting new mentor and demonstration texts that promise to enthrall your students and to help them
work with clarity towards crystal clear learning targets.
GRADE 3
The Units of Study in Writing, Grades 3 includes:
- Four Units of Study for each grade level.
- A Guide to the Writing Workshop, 3–5
- Writing Pathways: Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions, 3–5
- Supporting All Writers: High-Leverage Small Groups and Conferences, 3–5
- Grammar and Spelling Conventions
- Spelling Modules: Essential Building Blocks, 3-5
- Access to Online Resources
- Anchor Chart Sticky Notes
- English and Spanish Trade Book Packs
Unit 1, The Art of Information Writing, teaches students a particular
template for strong information writing. You will get kids into the swing of thinking of a topic,
imagining the different things they know about that topic, and writing about those different things on
different pages. In Unit 2, Changing the World, students will not only learn
to write argument texts but also realize that they are changemakers, channeling their passions and ideas
into writing that aims to better the world. In Unit 3, Structuring Episodes: Writing Series
Fiction, students will learn to develop short, realistic-fiction stories, which
supports their comprehension of all stories and helps them to understand one way stories go. In Unit 4,
An Introduction to Literary Essays, kids will write a variety of stories about
characters’ feelings and traits which help them learn to write clear, structured essays that
center around an idea, or claim, and are supported by text evidence.
GRADE 4
The Units of Study in Writing, Grade 4 includes:
- Four Units of Study for each grade level.
- A Guide to the Writing Workshop, 3–5
- Writing Pathways: Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions, 3–5
- Supporting All Writers: High-Leverage Small Groups and Conferences, 3–5
- Grammar and Spelling Conventions
- Spelling Modules: Essential Building Blocks, 3-5
- Access to Online Resources
- Anchor Chart Sticky Notes
- English and Spanish Trade Book Packs
Unit 1, Spinning True Stories into Gold, serves three purposes: to launch the
fourth-grade writing workshop, to introduce students to the art of keeping writers’ notebooks, and
to reinforce and extend students’ understanding of the essentials of narrative writing. Unit
2, Boxes and Bullets: Writing Essays and Arguments, is
an introduction to academic essay writing and includes entirely new minilessons to support the
all-important work of writing to learn. Unit 3, Literary Essay: Writing About
Fiction, strengthens not only students’ writing, but also their reading. It
gives young writers access to the skill of writing quick, well-structured essays about texts and
includes lots of scaffolding, repetitive practice, and clear, straightforward tips.
Discipline-Based Writing, Unit 4, aims to deepen students’ skills with
both independent and collaborative research, and to help them write compelling nonfiction.
GRADE 5
The Units of Study in Writing, Grades 5 includes:
- Four Units of Study for each grade level.
- A Guide to the Writing Workshop, 3–5
- Writing Pathways: Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions, 3–5
- Supporting All Writers: High-Leverage Small Groups and Conferences, 3–5
- Grammar and Spelling Conventions
- Spelling Modules: Essential Building Blocks, 3-5
- Access to Online Resources
- Anchor Chart Sticky Notes
- English and Spanish Trade Book Packs
Unit 1, Turning Life into Literature, introduces students to personalized
writing toolkits which include versions of narrative checklists, copies of charts, exemplar texts, and
other resources which will help them as they learn about personal narrative writing and writing about
the things that matter most to them. In Unit 2, Literary Essay: Opening Texts and Seeing
More, students read to comprehend, interpret, and analyze texts, and then take that
work onto the page by crafting an essay that clearly conveys those arguments and ideas. In Unit 3,
Research-Based Argument, students will build on and practice their ability to
structure their writing so that it includes claims that are supported by reasons that are backed by
evidence that they gather from sources. Unit 4, Journalism: Researching and Writing
Articles, strengthens students’ information writing skills, rallying them to
live as reporters, noticing article ideas all around them, conducting interviews, making observations,
and writing news articles.
From the Heinemann Blog
Overview
Download the Units of Study in Writing, Grades 3–5 Overview Brochure
Ordering Information
Have a sales rep contact you about ordering the Units of Study in Writing, Grades 3–5.
