Third Grade Writing Lesson Plans: Narrative, Opinion, and Informational

Third grade is the year writing instruction shifts from "getting words on the page" to structured, purposeful composition. Students are expected to produce three distinct text types — narrative, opinion, and informational — with growing independence. Here's how to teach all three effectively.

The Three Writing Types

Narrative: tells a story (real or imagined) with a clear sequence, descriptive details, and dialogue. Third graders write personal narratives and fictional stories.

Opinion: states a clear opinion on a topic and supports it with reasons and linking words (because, therefore, also). This is the foundation for later argument writing.

Informational: explains or describes a topic using facts, definitions, and details organized around a central idea.

Each type has a distinct structure and purpose. Students need explicit instruction in all three, not just the one that comes most naturally to the class.

The Writing Workshop Model

Most effective elementary writing programs use a workshop structure:

• Mini-lesson (10 min): one focused teaching point. Not two or three points — one.
• Independent writing (20–30 min): students write while the teacher confers with individuals or small groups.
• Share/closure (5 min): one or two students share; teacher names the strategy demonstrated.

The mini-lesson drives everything. If your teaching point is clear and specific, the independent writing time has purpose. If it's vague, students drift.

Narrative Writing Unit (4–5 Weeks)

Week 1 — Generating and choosing a story:

• Mini-lesson: Storytellers write about small moments, not big topics. ("My whole vacation" is not a story. "The moment I got stung by a bee at the beach" is a story.)
• Practice: Generate a list of small moments. Share with a partner.
• Goal: every student has a chosen topic by end of week.

Week 2 — Drafting with structure:

• Mini-lesson sequence:

- Day 2: Show, don't tell — describe instead of labeling emotions

- Day 3: Stretch out the important moment — slow down the scene where the most happened

- Day 4: Dialogue makes characters come alive — add one line someone said

Week 3 — Revising:

• Focus on adding details, not rewriting. Students add to existing drafts.
• Peer feedback: "What do you picture? What do you want to know more about?"

Week 4 — Editing and publishing:

• Focus: sentence variation, end punctuation, capitalization, basic spelling.
• Students produce a clean final draft.

Common mini-lesson topics for narrative: strong leads, specific word choice, showing feeling through action, writing endings that feel finished.

Opinion Writing Unit (3–4 Weeks)

Third graders often confuse preference with opinion. "I like pizza" is not an opinion essay. "Students should have more recess because physical activity improves focus and reduces stress" is an opinion essay.

Week 1 — What's an opinion? How is it different from a fact?

• Sort cards: opinions vs. facts. Discuss the difference.
• Mini-lesson: A strong opinion statement names the topic and takes a clear position.

Week 2 — Developing reasons:

• Mini-lesson: One reason per paragraph. Each reason needs a "for example" or "one time..."
• Students practice writing a reason paragraph with at least one piece of evidence.

Week 3 — Linking words and conclusion:

• Mini-lesson: Linking words (because, also, another reason, in conclusion) hold an argument together.
• Students revise drafts to include linking language.
• Teach: a conclusion doesn't just repeat the introduction — it calls on the reader to do or think something.

Informational Writing Unit (3–4 Weeks)

Week 1 — Choosing a topic and generating facts:

• Students choose a topic they know something about or research a content-area topic (animals, weather, communities).
• Generate facts using a graphic organizer: What is it? What does it do/look like? What's interesting about it?

Week 2 — Structure and organization:

• Mini-lesson: informational writing has a lead paragraph that introduces the topic, body paragraphs each covering one sub-topic, and a concluding section.
• Students draft one body paragraph.

Week 3 — Adding features:

• Third grade informational writers should know: headings, bold vocabulary, diagrams with labels, a table of contents.
• Mini-lesson: Add a heading to each section and bold one key word per paragraph.

Week 4 — Revision and publishing:

• Focus: Does each paragraph stay on one sub-topic? Is there enough detail? Does the conclusion leave the reader with something to think about?

Assessment

For each writing type, use a genre-specific rubric with four dimensions:

1. Structure — does the piece have the required parts?
2. Development — are there sufficient details, reasons, or facts?
3. Language — word choice, sentence variety, linking language
4. Conventions — punctuation, capitalization, spelling

On-demand writing (students write independently from a cold prompt in one sitting) gives you the clearest picture of what students can do without support. Use on-demands at the start and end of each unit.