Hannah Sauerhage

CIED 321
E-Notebook
20 March 2022
Instructional Strategy E-Notebook Entry Assignment
Early Writing and Composition Strategy: Four-Square Writing

Teacher Candidate’s Name: Hannah Sauerhage Date: March 20, 2022

Reference: McAndrews, S. L. (2009). Emergent writing and writing composition. In Diagnostic

literacy assessments and instructional strategies: A literacy specialist's resource (p. 219).
International Reading Association.

Purpose: This activity will help students to organize their thoughts and develop prewriting skills in
detail that will support the writing topic at hand.

Standards – I have so many standards because this is an activity that could be used in several different
grade levels with many different lessons to achieve the standards below. (We spoke about this in class.)

Reading: Literature:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3
Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and
the ending concludes the action.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions
contribute to the sequence of events
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text
(e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
Writing:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.5
With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers,
and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.8
With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from
provided sources to answer a question.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.5
With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by
revising and editing.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3.A
Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds
naturally.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.A
Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event
sequence that unfolds naturally.
Speaking and Listening:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.4
Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.4
Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking
audibly in coherent sentences.
Hannah Sauerhage
CIED 321
E-Notebook
20 March 2022

Procedure: There are a couple of different ways that this tool can be used depending on the age and
level of understanding that the students are currently at. If writing is new to students, this activity can be
used to form a paragraph. The teacher can print out or prepare a paper that already has four boxes, or the
students can fold their papers into four equal squares. This can be done by folding the paper by both the
width and the length. After that, students can write their topic in the middle of the paper, or on the
designated line if using a printed version. In three of the squares, students will write down details that
support their topics; these details can be words or sentences. In the fourth square, in the bottom righthand
side, students will write down a conclusion; this can be feelings or a concluding statement on the topic by
writing words or a sentence. After writing all of that, students can then draw photos in each of the squares
to represent what they have written down. At the end of this activity, students will form a complete text
based on what they have written in each box; this can be a sentence or a paragraph. This strategy can be
adapted to work for different grades or levels of understanding. For example, students that already know
how to form a paragraph can make their paragraphs on this sheet before creating a full paper on their
topic. It can also be used to categorize research findings for a report. This is a tool that can be changed
and made to work with many different scenarios.

Materials: This activity does not require a lot of materials unless the lesson that it is paired with has a lot
that is needed. Students will each need a blank piece of paper to fold or a printed out Four-Square Writing
worksheet, a pencil, coloring utensils if drawing, and any other materials needed for the paired lesson.
Here are a couple examples of the four-square writing worksheet:

Strategy Instruction Example:

1. If this was to be done in second grade, with the standard “CCSS.ELA-
LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning
introduces the story and the ending concludes the action,” in mind, students could
make a four square writing plan about the plot of a story.
Hannah Sauerhage
CIED 321
E-Notebook
20 March 2022
2. To start off the lesson, students will learn how to use a four square chart. A chart can
be printed off or the students can fold a paper to make their own. I would print off a
chart for my class. Then, students will learn about each square in their writing plan.
The writing plan will look like this:

3. I will explain to the students that the “first” box is where they will be explaining the
beginning of the story and what lead up to the action. The “then” and “next” boxes
are the actual action in detail. The “finally” box is how the story and the action ends.
Students will be instructed to pay attention to the story details and timeline as the
story is being read.
4. Now that the students are aware of the assignment, a book will be read to the class.
As students read, they will be filling out the writing plan as it relates to the story.
5. Finally, once the book is finished, the students will complete their writing plan and
make a paragraph out of the sentences that were created in the four-square writing
plan.
Hannah Sauerhage
CIED 321
E-Notebook
20 March 2022
Scoring Guide:

Instructional Strategy e-Notebook Scoring Guide

Scoring Guide: ____/100 points
Points

Ideas and Details:

Alignment shows that title and reference for strategy are clear, accurate and ___/60
match specified literacy instruction area and grade 1-3 level (10 points)

Purpose is clear and accurate (10 points)

Procedure includes detailed steps with materials listed (10 points)

Materials align with what is required in instructional example (10 points)

Example includes modeling, realistic dialogue, specific teacher and student

responses, and graphics or photo (20 points)
Evidence of Peer Evaluation (10 points) ___/10

It is expected that each of the following writing traits will be evident in each Total
instructional strategy entry. No more than the following points specified below Points
will be deducted for each pattern of errors for each of the following traits: Deducted

Organization: Correctly used template format and all elements clearly ___/12
identified. References were in APA format. (4 points deducted)

Sentence Fluency: Ideas were clear and flowed from one to another. Writing was
___/3
concise and precise with complex sentence structures. (1 point deducted)
___/3
Voice: A professional voice for an educational audience was evident (1 point
deducted)
___/6
Word Choice and Academic Language: Used specific academic language and
explained terms and acronyms. (2 points deducted)
___/6
Conventions: Correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization and spelling was
correct (2 points deducted)

Total ___/100