4th Grade Persuasive Writing Following Calkins Unit

[MissAinCA]

Hello All! I am in search of information about ideas on teaching persuasive writing to my 4th graders. We are finishing weeks of work on essay writing using Lucy Calkins. However, I am not seeing anything specific in this genre by way of the Calkins books. I have no problem researching my own way (this is my first year with 4th grade), however, I am seeking some type of continuity if at all possible. I imagine I could always still use the "Lucy" model and tweak it for the genre. Any thoughts or ideas are sure welcome! Thanks a bunch!

[cheer]

We use the book I Wanna Iguana. The book is made up of letters from a boy to his mom communicating back and forth about a pet iguana he wants. I have the class research a pet they would like their parents to get them. Then write a letter to their parents trying to persuade them to buy the pet they researched.

[MissAinCA]

Thank you for the idea! I will look into it.

[MissAinCA]

K-2 uses this book so I'm just going to keep searching the web for ideas. I'm a teacher so I've got all the time in the world, right?

[stargirl]

I'm not familiar with Lucy Calkins...so here is how I introduce persuasive writing to my fourth graders. I read the book "Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia" to my students; we make a list of pros and cons of having her as a teacher. We talk about weighing pros/cons to decide on your opinion, trying to persuade somebody to agree with you, etc. I introduce the format for a persuasive paragraph, and we write one together to our school principal to persuade her to either hire/not hire Amelia Bedelia for our school. We talk about point of view and keeping audience in mind, etc. Then, I have students choose their own topics to write their own paragraphs.